98 XJ - Rock Crawler / Precrawler / Rocklander

[Wakeland]

98 Jeep XJ that has evolved over the past few years. Its original purpose was to drive on the street to mild trails, camping, and home. I found rock crawling to be fun and it became a trailer queen. All work was done by myself in my garage.

I designed this XJ build to be capable of the following;
Keep it street legal. (Mostly trailered though)
Rock crawling.
High Speed Pre Running
Keep the windows functioning, AC/heater working.
Snow wheeling.
Able to camp out of on the Rubicon/Fordyce.


Stock 4.0L.
AW4 auto trans with dedicated cooler. Rebuilt with 1st gear lockout.
NP242J transfer case.
Custom interior/exterior cage.
Working AC.
Motobuilt 17 Gallon fuel cell using stock fuel pump, mounted above floor in trunk.
Corbeau seats.
Clayton off-road link mounts and belly skid.
Front is Triangulated 4link, All 1.25” heims.
Rear is Double Triangulated 4link, All 1.25” heims.
2.25” aluminum lower links.
1.75” DOM upper links.
2” .120 wall driveshafts with 1310 u joints.
Full hydro steering.
King 2.5” coilovers 14” front 16” rear.
King 2.0 x 2” bump stops front and rear.
40” tires.
Sidetracked Offroad 17” Beadlocks.
Badlands Winch 12K
On board ARB pump for front air locker and chuck to inflate tires.

Front Axle:
2006 Super Duty Dana 60
5.38 gears
Yukon zip air locker.
Barnes 4WD truss and full hydro mount.
2.5” x 8” big shocks double ended ram.
TMR weld on high steer arms.
Down To Fab Upper ball joint delete.
Newer superduty axle shafts with 1550 U joints.

Rear Axle:
2008 Super Duty Sterling 10.5”.
5.38 gears.
Welded differential.
Barnes 4WD truss.
Stock axle shafts.

 

[UR_Mawm69]

pictures! sounds badass!

 

[Wakeland]

Here is when I first purchased it.
35s and a long arm kit. A bit heavy overlandish.

 

[Wakeland]

Some of the first trips. Before I started any upgrades.

 

[Wakeland]

Wanting more turning power, I ported the steering box and added a ram assist. Big improvement for pushing around the 35” tires. A little slow to turn with the stock pump.

 

[Wakeland]

Custom built a front bumper to hold a winch. I figured whatever trail I can’t make it up, at least I’ll be able to drag myself up, even the gnarliest of waterfalls.
I powercoated the bumper, and realized this will be the last thing I powdercoat on this Jeep.

 

[Wakeland]

A trip up corral canyon connector, took a hard slam and self ejected the roof rack off. If it couldn’t keep up, it want meant to be on there.

 

[Wakeland]

Enjoying what it was at the time.

 

[Wakeland]

Smashed the fuel tank in on a rock, destroying the fuel pump. Required an on the trail replacement.

Beware to anyone with an xj without a fuel tank skid. One good hit to the tank will leave you stranded with a shattered fuel pump.

 

[Wakeland]

Deciding the whole jeep needed some under belly protection. Built a 1/4” thick plate belly skid plate and fuel tank protection.

 

[Wakeland]

Being able to wheel in between small upgrades made the jeep very enjoyable.

 

[Wakeland]

TIME FOR TONS!

I call this the start of version 2.0.





I finally understand why everyone says stripping these axles is a terrible time.

 

[Wakeland]

Kept the leaf springs in the rear. And same long arm kit in the front. Basically same suspension with super duty axles, so I could finally run 40s. Because I thought 40s were the only thing more I needed.

 

[Wakeland]

I built a cage before I wheeled with the axles, because I thought the heavier axles would tear the unibody in half.









Boatside bumper. One of my top favorite custom fabricated item.

 

[Wakeland]

Glad to get it driving again. The cage and 1 ton axles took about 4 months to complete. I was worried I might never get it driving again.

 

[Wakeland]

Fresh set of 40s. Ready to really try some trails.

 

[Wakeland]

More trimming for fresh tire lugs.

 

[Wakeland]

I then enjoyed the jeep for about a season before continuing the build.

First time trip to the Rubicon.

 

[Wakeland]

Some photos out on the trails

 

[Wakeland]

I built a ram guard, to keep from stranding myself on the trail with no power steering, as it was a prone to rock damage.

Check out the Ram positioning, I attached it directly to push on the knuckle instead of on the tierod how most people position it. I thought this was clever, and it worked well.



I was not too impressed with the flex, I think we will need to do something about this someday.







Attempting to help correct the terrible bump steer and drag link binding. I raised the drag link mounting point on the knuckle. This did help.