Daily Ripper - ‘94 Jeep ZJ

[mjmaddox89]

Here she is, my daily driver, family camper, desert and mountain cruiser. It’s a 1994 Jeep Grand Cherokee ZJ with the 5.2L. It was a single owner vehicle, bone stock and probably never put into 4Lo. I bought it for $2000 in 2018 with only 61k on it.

Now it’s on 4.5” springs, short arms, tuned Fox 2.0’s, Prothane bump stops front and rear, and some other stuff to keep it strong and reliable as a daily driven toy. Stock axles and gears for now but the front is built up with sleeves, gussets, new brackets, etc. after bending the last Dana 30 housing.

We take it camping, and it gets wheeled in anything I can other than mud. I like rocks, whoops, trails, slow, fast, or just a scenic cruise.. My goal is to keep it street-able and comfortable, but capable of running all around the southwest, primarily in California.

Future build on this will be a hp44/9” swap, 37’s, and a mix of go-fast and crawling parts. I’ve got the axles, but that’s about it.

@rockpile_zj on the ‘gram if you care to follow along I’ll try to update this too.

 

[mjmaddox89]

I went out to Johnson Valley last weekend for our annual Halloween/desert season kick off trip. Ran this little Jeep harder and faster than any other time before. I’m getting a lot more confident in it reading the terrain and judging speed coming into rough stuff, and it was working pretty damn well. It was skipping across bigger whoops at higher speeds than I’ve able to do before, I’m pushing it about as hard and fast as I comfortably can without a cage or harnesses, which are on the list.

I found the limit of the prothanes though. I’ve ran these on a couple Jeeps over the years and always liked them but I think it’s time for air bumps. I run these little stainless flanged caps on them to keep them from getting chewed up by my upper bump stop post, but this time I forced it down into the bump stop. Back to the drawing board, again. Also blew my right rear shock, so it’s time to crack ‘em open and I might play with some of the valving on the rear.

 

[badlinesgoodtimes]

Welcome dude. Sweet XJ. Looks like you went a little too hard in the paint out in JV? Slliders need to be in your future ! You work at Accutune? I think I remember talking to you at the Alesmith event? Maybe?

 

[mjmaddox89]

Welcome dude. Sweet XJ. Looks like you went a little too hard in the paint out in JV? Slliders need to be in your future ! You work at Accutune? I think I remember talking to you at the Alesmith event? Maybe?

Ehh, a little hard but she did great! Drove it 200 miles each way, nice and comfy, good tunes, slept in it.. what more can I ask for?

Yea man sliders are the next big undertaking I think. I did frame stiffeners a couple months ago to prep for sliders so I have a solid “frame” to tie into.

Yea dude that was me!

 

[badlinesgoodtimes]

Ehh, a little hard but she did great! Drove it 200 miles each way, nice and comfy, good tunes, slept in it.. what more can I ask for?

Yea man sliders are the next big undertaking I think. I did frame stiffeners a couple months ago to prep for sliders so I have a solid “frame” to tie into.

Yea dude that was me!

Hell yea... sorry I'm weird and I remember that ✌