Picked up this 88 in october for 1100 bucks. It needed a new brake booster right off the bat. Aside from that i figured it would be a fun build and something to keep me busy.

It came with a 3 inch lift and 31's but since it still had the stock wheels i had some issues with rubbing. I picked up a set of crawler wheels on craigs the second week i had it and put those on but i dont have those pictures yet.



In the past two months I have replaced the following...

Thermostat Housing
Thermostat
Put in a 3 core all metal radiator
Fan Clutch
Water Pump
Serpentine Belt
Aux. Cooling Fan
Redid all cooling lines. (kept the close loop system which actually works very well when it isn't full of oil, dirt, and plastic)
New oil cooling lines
Cut the intake line and routed it to behind the driver side light for cooler air.
New fill tank
Master cylinder
Brake booster
Brake lines
Rear Drums
Rear shoes
New rear brake hardware
Push Button Start
Stereo install
Fuel pump kill switch.

Everything was running good and seemed to be holding together well on it until last weekend. Took a trip up to Greeley in it to see the family and on the way back I blew the transmission as well as the rear main seal. There's 240k on the body but only 100k on the motor so my best guess is that the tranny has 240k on it as well. My brother just picked up a new AW4 for me and after the holidays we're towing it to his shop for that install. Ill do my best to keep the pictures coming through all of that and onto the rest of the build.

Future plans.

Safari rack. I build one already for it but i used stainless for some of it and after loading it up with too much weight i broke it so i have to start over from scratch.
Custom Rear bumper Building one with a tire carrier and jerry can rig as well. Most of the design is finished I'm just looking for metal now.
Custom front Bumper Im going pretty basic on this one. I just want something a litter stronger and a hitch receiver incase of towing.
4" lift Havent decided what brand yet, just looking for a little more clearance for a set of 33's
rust removal Tear down and weld on sheet metal in the rough patches before it spreads beyond repair.
new fogs for the safari rack in both the front and rear, on the front bumper, and on the sides for light while camping.
More to come...

 

Here are a few more pictures. More to come soon. (i hope)

 

No new updates from the last post but I got some pictures of my AR-15's finally. New tires (treadwrights) are coming next month to replace the crap rubber that came on it.

Currently waiting for parts to come in for my homemade Posi-lock and EMT safari rack.

 

I like the Jeep! I have had my retreads on for about 2 years and had no problems. Be sure and post pics and info on this posi lock. I just shimmed my CAD fork over so it acts like a one piece shaft.

 

Nice 88 man! Is it a pioneer?

 

Great build so far!

 

I'm doing a full write-up on it. The PTO cable I got was special order so I'm still waiting on it to come in then I'll get all the pics up. Did you get everything balanced with the shim? i have heard problems with shaking and loss of milage doing it that way.


yep, its the pioneer. So far I'm loving it aside from all the neglected maintenance that I have been getting to do. I'm pretty sure the last owner just ghetto rigged everything til it finally gave up on him. I found a full handfull of plastic and metal in the cooling system when i replaced everything.


Thanks!

 

I have no idea on MPG, did this about the same time I went up 4.5" and added 33s . It does cause the front DS to spin even in 2wd, but that doesn't bother me. There is no shaking. I added washers and I nut to space the fork over. Its been like that for 2 years and about 10 wheeling adventures. I have had zero problems.

 

New Toys. More info coming soon, just wanted to take a quick picture.

 

Spent most of my weekend grinding down a 1/2 piece of rigid conduit so that it would fit inside 3/4 EMT as sleeves.

Here is my supply list for the safari rack
7 pieces of ten foot 3/4" EMT
One piece of 36" 1/2 rigid (Grind the entire piece down so that it slides inside of the 3/4 EMT and then cut it into 2 inch pieces. Total of 16 sleeves needed)
One box of 1/2" with 1/4" heads Teks screws
8 90 degree bend 3/4" EMT
1 piece of 36" aluminum plate for the sides cut into 12 3" pieces. (1/8" thick by 1 1/2" wide by 36" long)
6 JCR gutter mounts for XJ
4 Harbor Freight offroad 100w lights
4 Harbor Freight Clear Lens Halogen Lights


I have the frame finished now and am waiting for the floor pieces to get back from the machine shop. I took them in to press the ends flat so that i can drill them straight into the rack with the teks screws. More pictures should be up this week but this is all i have right now.

 

Cool project, I am looking forward to seeing how your rack turns out..

 

Looking good so far

 

I have been working on the rack off and on for the past week and finally have it more or less done. I took all the floor pieces to the machine shop and had them press the ends flat so they were easier to run the teck screws into. I also pre drilled all the aluminum side rails so that they were easier to run screws into. The hardest thing that I ran into was running self tappers through the rails and the rigid inside. I think I broke about 15 drill bits before i finished all of those. I drilled an additional hole in all of the JCR mounts so I could put u bolts through each of them to mount them since i couldn't find another way to mount them. I still have to throw it up on the roof and mount the fog lights this weekend however the basic layout is finished now. I'm also building a custom switch panel on the dash right below the heater controls. My switches, LEDs, bezels, inline fuses, and ABS plastic should be here next week so i can start on that.

Thanks for looking. More coming soon.

 

The rest of the photos for tonight.

 

One more with the fogs just sitting on it to see what its going to look like..