Steves XJ

[Steve F]

I lost my build thread in a terrible forum accident a few days ago so decided I'd put up a new condensed version.

First up I got the XJ in November 2002, joined SJC in Feb 2003 (first meeting of the year) and went from there.

I'd already done some mods with a simple budget boost lift and 30x9.5 AT's. It got a dual battery setup and false floor not long after this.

Below is a pic of my first trip offroad.

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc200/steveff/Jeep-pics.jpg

It stayed like that for a while and then in 2005 some time it went to 4" of lift, it also had a tyre carrier on it by then and had done a Jambo and the Flinders Ranges

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc200/steveff/100_1044.jpg

Next it got some 31's it had also got a home made front bar and snorkel in there somewhere as well as homemade rock sliders.

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc200/steveff/Jeep007.jpg

Next.......

[Steve F]

Jump forward to 2008 and it got 32" tyres and had a few other mods including a bit more lift, it also had a CarPC at this stage for offroad and street mapping

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc200/steveff/NewLift1.jpg

Next it was time for some big changes, 2010 prior to Jambo. First up was a D44 with locker, ratios (4.56) and bushwacker flares along with other bits and pieces.

Shortly after that 35's went on and a homemade roofrack for the roof top tent

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc200/steveff/IMG_4170nonum.jpg

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc200/steveff/Jeep%20on%2035s/IMG_4655.jpg

And finally the latest bigish mod has been to build some drawers and hard mount the compressor etc.

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc200/steveff/Storage%20System/IMG_0097.jpg

And then......

[reyzor]

looks good steve..... spewing you lost the other thread.....

[Steve F]

The latest addition..... some homemade mudflaps ;)

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc200/steveff/Mudflaps/IMG_0420.jpg

The total build spec so far includes..

Suspension
5" lift, RE adjustable super flex lower arms, RE coils, Bilstein 5150 piggy back front shockes, OME rear LT shocks, Rear RE leaf pack with boomerang shackle, JKS disconnects, control arm drop brackets up front.

Exterior
Homemade winchbar (with 8500lb winch), rear bar with tyre carrier and sliders.
Homemade roofrack, Snorkel, Homemade mudflaps, raised gearbox xmember, Narva 175 lights with HID inserts, LED rock lights, rear LED work light, Bushwacker flat flares
Soft 8 15x8 wheels with Maxxis Bighorn 35x12.5 tyres.
Rear D44 diff with 4.56 ratios in Detroit Locker, front D30 with 4.56
Towbar, 120lt fuel tank
BA Falcon front disks and calipers, extended brake lines, Wooders Panhard and panhard bracket, custom steering dampner mount, RTC steering dampner.
Dual battery setup, reversing camera in rear bar, LED rear lights, aftermarket taillights.

Interior
GME UHF, CarPC with touch screen on dash, rear storage system, cargo barrier additional 12v power, all LED lighting, alarm with paging remote
12V twin head compressor, 50lt Waeco Fridge and again more.

I think that might be it all :)

Cheers
Steve

[Wolfe]

I like your mudflaps steve I was admiring them on the swingbridge trip I'll have to see how you did them to see wether it will work with mine


---
I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=-33.788321,151.087125

[stevet]

Sounds like you are in the running for monthly "Buggar" award Mr.Web Master....:p....................lol...:)......... Sorry you lost all those good build-up stories on there.:(.......:)... Do the web folk's keep a seperate log/record of our site??...........

[Steve F]

Sounds like you are in the running for monthly "Buggar" award Mr.Web Master....:p....................lol...:)......... Sorry you lost all those good build-up stories on there.:(.......:)... Do the web folk's keep a seperate log/record of our site??...........

I have a backup but its a bit tricky pullingone or two threads out of it so I'm not going to bother with the time on it :)

Cheers
Steve

[stevet]

I have a backup but its a bit tricky pullingone or two threads out of it so I'm not going to bother with the time on it :)

Cheers
Steve

Still in line for the award though..lol......:)..

[Steve F]

Mounted the awning to the roof rack today in preperation for the cape :)

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc200/steveff/Roof%20Rack/IMG_0635_nonum.jpg

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc200/steveff/Roof%20Rack/IMG_0639.jpg

Cheers
Steve

[bogged]

Nice Growth!

[Steve F]

Finished the shelf for above the fridge, it attaches to the cargo barrier with hose clamps, it isn't going anywhere. I'll be adding a chain from the corners closest to the tailgate up to the child seat clip on the roof, I'll also add some turnbuckles to put a little tension on it to support it, it'll stop it making the cargo barrier flex at all and should be very solid. It'll be used for light but bulky stuff so I can make full ise of the available space in the back :)

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc200/steveff/Storage%20System/IMG_0712.jpg

The cutout on the shelf is to allow the pass thru hatch in the cargo barrier to still open. I also made the shelf short enough so the fridge lid can open ;) and I can reach the controls.

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc200/steveff/Storage%20System/IMG_0715.jpg

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc200/steveff/Storage%20System/IMG_0702.jpg

Cheers
Steve

[Steve F]

Added the shelf supports, I used some turnbuckles and chain with heatshrink (the type with glue in it) over the chain so it doesn't rattle with no load on it.

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc200/steveff/Storage%20System/IMG_0719.jpg

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc200/steveff/Storage%20System/IMG_0721.jpg

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc200/steveff/Storage%20System/IMG_0718.jpg

Cheers
Steve

[Steve F]

Added the inverter today, it's temporarily wired in to a merit plug (25A which is about 250W-300W) and is fused accordingly, this is enough for the cape trip as all it has to do is recharge my laptop and run a 110W vacuum sealer. When I get back I'll wire it in to much thicker cable so it can support the full 120A (startup load). I mounted it under the shelf so it was nice and high, my last one was mounted under the front seat and died when I drowned the XJ and got water and mud up over the top of it.

Also stained and lacquered the small table top that sits on top of the drawer, it only covers half the drawer and is just to put things in when I take them out of the fridge etc when there is no room anywhere else :)

600W/1200W ALDI inverter $59.95 on sale :)

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc200/steveff/Storage%20System/IMG_0800.jpg

You can see its location under the shelf here

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc200/steveff/Storage%20System/IMG_0799.jpg

Cheers
Steve

[reyzor]

looks good steve

[Steve F]

Made a bracket to mount one of the fire extinguishers. It's 4mm plate and mounts to the front seat bolts, I had to noth it to fit around the seat uprights but that meant I could mount the bracket higher than the seat bolts and give the extinguisher enough room to clear the floor.

The extinguisher bracket is bolted to the mount through some tapped holes and then with some thin nuts on the back. Last thing I want is for it to come off and roll around the floor at my feet. Also wrapped the bracket in carpet as I had some left from my drawers.

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc200/steveff/Storage%20System/IMG_0808.jpg

Cheers
Steve

[memfis]

Hi can you tell me what the cargo barrier is out of thanks
It all looks good

[Steve F]

Hi can you tell me what the cargo barrier is out of thanks
It all looks good

It's from a 98 Magna wagon, got it given to me and was a shame not to use it :) The commadore wagon ones fit pretty good as well I think.

Cheers
Steve

[Steve F]

Time for another upgrade, the eeepc car pc is being replaced (no problems with it but the lure of Android got me) with an Android tablet (Motorola Xoom) it was cheap, is on the list for Android 4.0, it has a better screen resolution, 32GB built in (adding another 32GB in the micro sd slot for movies and music). So far I have Androzic and all my Oziexplorer maps on it as well as Sygic for street mapping and Torque for the ODBII bluetooth software. Now I need to get a mount for it and do the swap.

Cheers
Steve

[Steve F]

http://www.4wdaction.com.au/articles/2011/then-and-now

Cheers
Steve

[Wolfe]

You're a superstar!!!!

[Negdriver]

Nice one Steve. Looking real nice there too.

[Steve F]

That's an article from the mag early this year (Feb I think) actuall shot last year, recycled for use online.

Cheers
Steve

[Steve F]

My stock seats were flat and worn out from 200K with a lot of that offroad. Rather than repair them I picked up some WJ seats as these are more comfortable and a better seat to start from if I needed to repair them.

Turns out I just needed to pull the base cover off of the drivers seat, glue the split foam back together and then glue some cloth over the top of it to stop it splitting again. This was on the underside of the drivers seat where the frame cuts into the foam and on the door side raised section on the base that gets flattened as you get in and out.

It's an easy fix if they aren't too far gone and it's worth doing to any second hand seat to make them last much longer. Even new seats are worth reinforcing where the frame touches the foam. Anyway, the pics. You can see the seat cover on the drivers cushion needs a bit of a steam to get the wrinkles out where it was stretched slightly from the foam starting to split. It's all good now (foam wise) and I'll steam the seat to tighten the cloth back up.

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc200/steveff/Seats/IMG_3757.jpg

New seat colour and pattern, not a perfect match but close enough especially since the back of the seats is just a single colour grey cloth.

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc200/steveff/Seats/IMG_3761.jpg

I took the switches out for the power base and glued a piece of carpet that I had left over from the drawers in there to cover the hole.

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc200/steveff/Seats/IMG_3753.jpg

And the stock back seat colour and pattern.

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc200/steveff/Seats/IMG_3758.jpg

Much more comfortable than stock, worn seats. They raise me up about 1cm and have more padding on the base of them as well. A great swap.

Cheers
Steve

[Steve F]

New tyres ordered today, for some reason nobody can get much in the way of 35x12.5x15 in a MT. Anyway, after much deliberation and finance checking I went with BFG KM2, I've always liked these so keen to see how they perform and how they last. Should go on tomorrow sometime.

Cheers
Steve

[SteveC]

The KM2 are great Steve. Not only do they grip well on and off the road, but reasonable quiet (if doing more than 80)

[Steve F]

Got my BFG KM2's fitted today :)

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc200/steveff/20120913_145502.jpg?t=1347514136

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc200/steveff/20120913_145736.jpg?t=1347514129

Cheers
Steve

[Dieselcon]

They look huge for 35".... Like it.

[Steve F]

Mounted the 20" light bar on the roof rack, I wanted it under it so I could still put my canoe up there. Now to wire it up and align it properly. A quick test shows its pretty bright at 60w and perfect for crawling at night which is what I wanted it for :) More pics tomorrow.

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc200/steveff/IMG_4107.jpg

Cheers
Steve

[Steve F]

Finished it, all wired up to the rock light switch/relay for now

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc200/steveff/IMG_4119.jpg?t=1349591304

Thats my HD Video camera mount in the middle

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc200/steveff/IMG_4122.jpg?t=1349592175

Cheers
Steve

[Wooders]

Steve,
I didn't know you were making snorkels ;)
http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/1022612852/Jeep_Cherokee_XJ_Liberty_car_snorkel.html

[Hunno]

Steve,
I didn't know you were making snorkels ;)
http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/1022612852/Jeep_Cherokee_XJ_Liberty_car_snorkel.html

Took me a minute to work out what you where on about Dave.
but the snorkel is cheap, at that price I'd buy one for the beater.

[Steve F]

Apparently able to knock out a thousand a month as well @!!!! Bec won't be happy with my garage time :(

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2