I just read all 23 pages and I’m glad you’re still posting in 2019. Your build log is very well done.

 

I have a confession to make.

One of the reasons work on the XJ has been so slow is I've been testing out a potential replacement. You see, my wife and I have found we only been able to pick two of these three things whenever we head out - people, dogs, and stuff - and we'd like to pick all three. Plus it's triple-locked and supercharged!



Sure, it has 392k miles on it and still runs. Sure, it tows so much better than the XJ. Sure, it's quieter and seats seven. But, after trying it out for a while and using it on a few wheeling trips, it's not going to replace the XJ. I just don't like it. It's too big. Too expensive. And frankly, the XJ does better on the trails (even mine with open diffs).

So why do I bring this up? Simple. Because of this Land Loser, I'm more motivated to continue building the XJ and finding a way to carry people, dogs, and stuff together. Stay tuned for more updates later this year as the build progresses - some ideas are already in the works.

 

WOOHOO Keep the XJ!

 

I must be getting old as I'm finding the XJ to be too noisy inside. Given the LC was so quiet, I figured I'd do a little sound deadening in the XJ.



I went with Dynamat. Yes, it's a bit more expensive than the other brands, but it's made in the USA.



While the interior was ripped out, I found $1.38 rebate in change.



I didn't want to put the old nasty carpet back in, so I got new carpet from stockinteriors.com and grabbed some new jute padding.



Once installed, it had to be cleaned.



Installed. With a road test and my dB meter in hand, I found I'm averaging 6dB quieter than previously. Woowoo!



I also wrapped the steering wheel with leather from wheelskins.com.




One last bit to the interior reconditioning project is to do something with the rear seat. As I was putting it back in, I realized how uncomfortable it is and how the cushions don't really sit very well. A lot of that has to do with the fact that I didn't mount the seat backs like most people do. I mounted them so when they fold down they are flat instead of having a nice 1-2 inch lip. I also realized that I have never used the split bench. So, out they went and in with an XJ bench. I kept the seat backs from the ZJ because they are taller and much more comfortable (not to mention they create a longer floorboard when folded down and the bench removed). It took a little bit of modifying, but I'm happy with the end result.

 

Thankfully its packing a cannon

Sweet build thanks for sharing your website

 

I used to own a 1997 Land Cruiser. While it was solid and an absolute tank, the more I drove it the more I wanted to get back into a Cherokee. That's what I did. The Land Cruiser (no lockers) got about 10mpg around town and 11 mpg on the highway. There was very little aftermarket support and parts were outrageous expensive. (Replaced a radiator that cost $600 just for the radiator.) And the AWD system never gave me confidence on the trail. The car was too heavy. On snow it was not confidence inspiring either. The 4wd on the Cherokee is so much better with the ability to be in 2wd. Parts are cheap, and its incredibly nimble. I am so happy I left the Land Cruiser world. Only thing I miss from the land cruiser is the tailgate and the sunroof.

 

Thanks for letting me know your experience which does sound quite similar to mine. I'm not a fan of the "Land Cruiser Tax" as I call it as all OEM and aftermarket parts seem to be more expensive simply because it's a Land Cruiser. I was ecstatic to have a sunroof with it as I've never had one before but it didn't take me long to learn that I don't like them so I won't be missing that feature.

 

Given one of the newer goals of this vehicle to have the ability to carry people, dogs, and stuff at the same time, I spent some time re-engineering how to carry gear to make room for other things. Traditionally I've carried tools and recovery gear in two plastic tubs and other stuff just laying around like this:



Here's mostly what I carry in the those tubes:


(Toolkit, tire repair kit, winch remote, ****** blocks, bow shackles, gloves, air compressor, first-aid kit, tree strap, tow strap, chain, tire iron, duct tape, ratchet straps, paper towels, cargo bungee net, awning wind breaks, and camping chairs.)

I've found they take up too much space so I've come up with this design to store the same items (plus more) in a more compact design. This involved fabricating a frame out of square tubing and flat bar which mounts to the spare tire mount and two factory screw/bolt locations on the body.



Then add a piece of MOLLE paneling to it.



The MOLLE panel was purchased as a different design, but it still works fine for this. Once that's in, add a JCR window MOLLE panel and a couple of RotopaX storage packs and load it all up.





There's significant space-savings with this design and so far I'm pleased with how it turned out. On to the next project...

 

Three years ago I found my rear lower quarter panels had a rust problem. After studying the situation, I found they rusted because of improper drainage so dirt and water just sit there and then rust from the inside out.





I also found a bit of body damage on the passenger side. I guess I got a bit too close to a rock at one point.



So, this year I finally got around to tackling the repair. Yes, I know a lot of people do the cut/fold, but I'm not most people. So, here's what I did to fix it.

First, I cut out the rusted panels:







Then I noticed the driver side was rusted worse so I cut some more rust out and formed/welded some scrap sheet metal.





I painted the inside with POR15 Rust Prevention and their Top Coat and then sealed the seams.



I bought some replacement lower quarter panels from Raybuck Auto Body Parts (parts 0482-133 and 0482-134) and cut them to size.



Flanged them and held them in place to be welded.







At this point, I opted not to add body filler to smooth out the panel because I planned on installing some armor. So, I painted the lower quarter panels and drilled the holes for the well-nuts that were included with the Dirt Bound Lower Quarter Panel Armor.



I then ran into two problems. One is that I drilled the well-nut holes one size too large for the well nuts and the other is one of the bottom well nuts would not fully sit in the hole because the body behind it was in the way. So I scrapped the DB-design and welded some stainless nuts and washers to the body on the inside.





Once the outside panels were repainted and ready, I applied the POR15 and seam sealer treatment to the inside. Once that dried, I also top coated the inside with some refrigerator epoxy paint because it's hard and super slippery. I also added an additional drainage hole where dirt and water typically sits.

Attach the armor to the body, trim the Bushwacker flares, and call it done. Time will tell how long my "fix" will last.

 

A project that's been three years in the making has finally come to completion.

I bought an assembled rear bumper from Dirtbound Offroad and the DIY swing arm tire carrier in 2017. After a couple of months, the bumper and box of tire carrier metal arrived and I performed an inventory. Unfortunately, there was no parts list or documentation of any kind so I had no idea if I received everything, let alone know what each piece was designed for. So, I called Dirtbound and left a message. No reply so I called again...and again...and again. I sent an email. Since I'm not on social media, I had my friend send a message through fakebook. Still nothing. I finally got an email reply about an hour after I filed a PayPal complaint and requested a full refund. Wow. Anyway, I was directed to an assembly video on YouTube which I watched several times while taking an inventory. Then I found the video was incomplete. A couple more emails requesting information on specific parts and I finally had a complete inventory. So, let the build begin...



Since I ordered the bumper fully welded, it came with the mounting tie-in brackets fully welded...well, so I thought.



One wasn't even straight.



And there was an excess of nuts that came with it.



I thought about contacting Dirtbound about the brackets, but decided it would be much faster and less of an ordeal to figure out how to deal with the crooked bracket given my previous experience trying to contact them. So the build continued.



I'm quite glad I got the DIY tire carrier because not only did I learn a lot about welding and fabrication, it also gave me opportunities to improve on the design. One example is there were no provisions made in the original design to keep the swing arm open. So, I made one by adding a T-handle and a bracket to accept the pin.





Another is I was able to make provisions to support the JCR RotopaX mount.







I had to add some angle iron to the JCR bracket to keep it from wobbling though (not pictured). An added bonus is the RotopaX handle is a convenient place to open/close the swing arm from!

After the parts got powder coated, a wire harness for the extra lights and trailer harness had to be built.



In the event the bumper ever has to come off, only one plug needs to be disconnected and the trailer harness, bumper lights, and license plate lights can all remain attached.



Other changes I made include filling in the Dirtbound text in the gusset. I did that mostly because I saw the cutout letters being a great place for dirt and water to collect and potentially getting between the metals pieces and begin corroding.



I also did not care for the bear claw latching mechanism in the original design as the release was under the bumper and seemed quite sensitive to open. It was also in the way of the trailer safety chain rings. Every time I looked at that design, I kept thinking that the swing arm would open while driving. So, I went with one of these latches.



I also saw the only thing bearing the swing arm weight was the pivot pin. So, I added a windshield bump stop from a JK to support the weight when closed.



I also added more support brackets the mount for the swing arm as there wasn't much there to keep the arm from sagging over time. I've read and heard from others with this same bumper talk about it sagging over time.



The other thing missing from the original design that I wanted was a place to mount a trailer harness. So, I added a flush six pin.



I looked at several options for mounting the license plate and finally decided the best/cleanest place seemed to be on the spare tire. I just didn't like the idea of having to remove the license plate every time I rotate my tires. I succumbed and got the Smittybilt bracket that allows the plate to quickly disconnect to get to the tire. I also got the Rugged Ridge LED bolt lights to illuminate the plate at night. Because of the lighting, I had to make a connector so the lights can be disconnected with the plate.



That about does it for the rear bumper build and modifications. While it was a rough start with poor support and several things to modify, I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. I'm sure my fuel economy just went down with that extra weight though. I know my rear suspension lowered by 1/8 inch...

 

Looks Great!

 

Ever since I learned about the factory high idle capability with the automatic, I've been searching for a way to get electronically controlled high idle with the manual. It seems most people just use a thumb throttle with a lock. This just wasn't good enough for me.

I looked at tapping an unused vacuum port on the intake manifold which did raise the throttle just about right, but that didn't work because air was getting in unmetered so the computer would idle it back down after a second or two. After thinking about it some more, I realized I'll have to come up with a compromise -- mechanically open the throttle valve using electronics.

First, I bought an Arduino Nano Every and soldered some pins on it.



Then I wrote the small program that simply moves a servo arm to a defined position when there is a voltage detected on one of the pins and moves the servo arm back to the predefined starting point if there is no voltage detected on the pin.

Next, I built some wiring harnesses (used a buck converter to step down the 12V to 5V to power the Arduino and servo), bought a bicycle brake cable and high torque servo, and 3D-printed a box and small part. The wiring harness to the box contains power and ground for the Arduino and servo when the ignition is ON and power from the high idle switch.




I took the gas pedal lever off and drilled a hole and then slid the brake cable and 3D printed part through it.




The gas pedal got remounted and the servo box was mounted to a factory bracket using factory holes. The brake cable was cut to length and secured to the servo arm.



After some tests, I needed to print a new box that was taller and had an extra leg. Here's the final outcome:




So, when the switch is is turned on, the Arduino moves the servo arm which pulls the throttle lever a bit just like if your foot pushed on the pedal. Now I can idle around 1,200 RPM whenever necessary (winching, jump starting another vehicle, charging my discharged battery, etc.). I think v2 will contain a GPS module so the Arduino will only move the servo arm if the vehicle is stationary.

 

Dang man, save some engineering skills for the rest of us! Very well thought out project.

Also - I noticed you're running a different wheel/tire set up with some Coopers - sorry if I missed it but when did that happen?

 

Haha thanks! The tire/wheel combo snuck in at the beginning of 2017. What I didn’t explain was I stepped up to a larger size on 16s running the metric equivalent of 32s. So far it does what I need it to except it loves to collect rocks.

 

Ah, silly me - thanks for the link. Those tires are load range E, right? Did you notice any ride-quality changes because of it? I'm about to slap some load range D metric 33s on a 16 wheel and do have some worry the ride will get unnecessarily harsh.