bRIBEGuy's 2000 XJ

[bRIBEGuy]

Well, after lurking around on this site for quite some time, I finally decided to start making a few posts, and figured I'd toss up some pics of my Jeep.

I have a 2000 XJ Classic that has been in my family since new.  When a new DD was in order for the fam, I bought the XJ as a play/utility vehicle.  It had about 225,000km on it and a few issues, but since it was garage kept and never taken off road, it was in great condition overall.

[YoungFluff03TJ]

Neat.

[bRIBEGuy]

The A/C didn't work, and windows only rolled up/down intermittently, so a new drivers side switch module was in order (cheaper then fixing the a/c ....lol).  The disc brakes were shot, so the front got new rotors and pads.  






Next up was a bike rack, as I intended to use the XJ for many a mountain bike trip.

[bRIBEGuy]

The Infinity amp was shot, and the factory head unit was intermittent, so I decided a new stereo was in order.  I didn't want to sink too much coin into it, but still wanted the ability to bump some decent tunes, so I got to work.

The factory head unit came out, and a Pioneer CD deck went in instead.  Dual pioneer 6.5" coaxials went in the rear, while a nice set of Auditor 5.25" components slipped into the front doors (6.5" wouldn't fit here, sadly).





I wanted to run a better amp and a sub, but didn't want to loose a ton of space, so I cut out one of the rear panels, and built a custom sub box from MDF.










Internal volume worked out to be right around 1 cubic foot.........perfect for a single 10" sub.  I decided to integrate the amp mount into the box design, and started carpeting.








I've had very good luck with Focal in the past, so decided to stick with their budget "Auditor" line, and dropped in one of their 10" woofers.




Amp was supposed to be much cheaper then this, but I happened to have to 4 channel Eclipse amp kicking around, so in it went.




Once the construction was finished, I got AudioConceptsMobile to hook it all up, and then I made up some trim pieces to finish it all off.












The set-up sounds good overall, though in retrospect I should have spend the extra cash of a better deck.  Oh well..............

[bRIBEGuy]

It was around this point that I realized the running boards were on their last legs after putting my foot through on of them in Canmore. 

So off they came.

[bRIBEGuy]

The back of the XJ was riding a little low, and I knew all 4 shocks were shot.

After MUCH research, and a lot of back and forth deliberation, I finally decided to pony up and ordered a 2" heavy duty Old Man Emu lift from Northridge4x4.ca. 








The new springs, leafs, shocks and bushings made a HUGE difference in the way the truck rode, and the load carrying capacity is WAY better then ever before (rides smooth and level with 1000lb+ in the back). 

The lift netted ~1.75" in the front, and over 3" in the back (oddly enough). 












Looks a little bit wacked at rest, but levels out nicely when fully loaded.

[hps4evr]

dang, nice build! not to mention nice bikes! i havent seen a full comp trials bike around here before. maybe im out of the loop though. keep up the good work. maybe ill catch you on the trails.

[TL-Iguana]

ITS NOT RED!!!!!

You are one of the few round these parts it seems Very nice lookin XJ, and yes, I as well hope to see that one out on the trails

[bRIBEGuy]

dang, nice build! not to mention nice bikes! i havent seen a full comp trials bike around here before. maybe im out of the loop though.

I'm impressed you recognized a trials bike.....most people still just can't figure out why a bike would be so small and have no seat......LOL.  And no, there are not a lot of guys still riding them around Calgary.

As for seeing you guys on the trails..........I sure hope so!  The XJ has 232,000km on it right now, and has never seen anything more offroad then some rutted gravel roads.  I'm hoping to change that this year!  I don't want to destroy the Jeep, but I'd certainly like to take it out on a few runs.  I'm also interested in the "Odd Road 101" that I've seen mentioned on this site.

I'm hoping to get some new shoes for the XJ soon (lookin' at 245/75/R-16 Goodyear Duratracs), so that should help it's non-pavement capabilities a bit (and give it a bit of a better stance, IMO).  Also on the near future project list is eliminating some mild 80km/h+ driveline vibes that the lift created (thinking about going full SYE), replacing the fog lights (they're shot), maybe leveling the front suspension a bit, and possibly a H4 headlight swap.

[Raspberry]

Also on the near future project list is eliminating some mild 80km/h+ driveline vibes that the lift created (thinking about going full SYE)

Just to chime in with a little bit of advice here, take a look at both of your driveshafts and make sure its the rear that is the problem first, before you smack down the cash for a SYE! When I lifted I had some vibes once I got up to 90km/h and it turned out to be two of the three u-joints in my front driveshaft, they had seized and were not allowing the driveshaft to rotate easily. Eventually this cost me a transfer case!

I have since replaced the front driveshaft with one that has good u-joints (and also the transfer case!) and even with no SYE yet I don't have any vibes with 5.5" lift!

[bRIBEGuy]

Just to chime in with a little bit of advice here, take a look at both of your driveshafts and make sure its the rear that is the problem first, before you smack down the cash for a SYE! When I lifted I had some vibes once I got up to 90km/h and it turned out to be two of the three u-joints in my front driveshaft, they had seized and were not allowing the driveshaft to rotate easily.

Hmmmm........good advice, something I'll definately have to check.  The vibes only started after the lift, so I just assumed it would be the rear.  One more thing to add to my "to do" list. 

[YoungFluff03TJ]

Hmmmm........good advice, something I'll definately have to check.  The vibes only started after the lift, so I just assumed it would be the rear.  One more thing to add to my "to do" list. 

This is probably a long shot but the tires may be something to look at.... if theyre old they may tend to separate a slight bit and a certain speeds they cause a bit of a wobble, especially in the steering wheel (happened on my dads vehicular)... might be the trac bar too as I hada wonderful scare driving down glenmore after I put on my lift...trac bar wasnt as tight as it should be and I nearly pooped when a death wobble came from no-where.

The box looks sweet in the back! I need to get my sub working....

[halfcRoOk]

quick question, where did  a buy the carpet for the sub box?

[bRIBEGuy]

quick question, where did  a buy the carpet for the sub box?

I actually picked it up at AudioConcepts in the NE.  Pretty much a perfect match for the stock carpet.

[bRIBEGuy]

This is probably a long shot but the tires may be something to look at.... if theyre old they may tend to separate a slight bit and a certain speeds they cause a bit of a wobble, especially in the steering wheel (happened on my dads vehicular)... might be the trac bar too as I hada wonderful scare driving down glenmore after I put on my lift...trac bar wasnt as tight as it should be and I nearly pooped when a death wobble came from no-where.

The box looks sweet in the back! I need to get my sub working....

Thanks for the kind words on the sub box, I'm really happy with how it worked.

As for the rest..........tires only have 10-20k on them, so that's not it.  I've never had an issue with the death wobble, but I've been meaning to check the trackbar anyway as the front steering seems a bit sloppy as of late.

I'm almost positive it's the driveline angles............just need some free time to figure out if I'm right or not.