This is a little improvement on the previous RR thread that got booted out of the official RR forum...
I bought this thing when I was 17, sold it shortly thereafter, and my mom bought it back for me for Christmas 2004. I used it as my dd in college, and started building it for weekend 4-wheeling trips.
Here's what I started with... a nice-driving, smooth-riding, shiny, rust-free, solid, straight 1995 Cherokee that could knock down 24 MPG on the highway.
Next, how I went about destroying all of those great characteristics!
The first wheeling trip- totally stock with little tires in the snow at Iron Rock ORV park in Gilbert, MN- it did better than expected, but still got stuck a lot.
March-ish 2005:
Here's summer 2005 at Iron Rock OHV area after a Rusty's Offroad 3" AAL lift and some 30x9.50R15 Goodyear Wrangler GSAs (teh SUCK).
The look and capability vastly improved and the gas mileage vastly suffered with the addition of some Cooper 31x10.50R15 ATs on black Rock Crawler steelies. This picture was taken after a debate with my friend over what the purpose of the big stupid rock in his front lawn was. Fall 2005
After that pic was taken, the Jeep was parked due to the torque converter lockup not wanting to function. 13-15 MPG I could handle... 8 was another story. So, it sat on the farm and occaisionally went out around the property. I had every intention of fixing it ASAP and getting it back on the road, but life and such got in the way. I joined the Air Force in the fall of 2006, and just for the hell of it I renewed the registration and insurance on the Jeep for the last couple of months I lived in MN, even though the tranny was still sucking at life. She continued to sit as the windshield leaked and the floors dissolved while I worked in Florida. I even went so far as to make a deal to sell it again, but I just could not bring myself to do it. When I would go home on leave I would always drive it around and wash/wax/vacuum it before it was parked again.
Fast forward to 2009. I'm sitting in the middle east sweating my ass off, but making good money. Hmmm... money, you say? What can I blow a large portion of that money on...
So after ordering many parts while in the sandbox and doing much research, I had a plan. Upon returning to the States I flew home to MN and started wrenching. Before I made the trip back to FL with it I had some work to do- fluids, tuneup, new exhaust header, new motor mounts and troubleshoot that damned transmission. Turns out the reason I had to park it for all those years was because of a damned $30 solenoid that took about an hour to install.
Enough gabbin' already and on with the pics!
Here's How she looked summer 2009 with a lot of money sunk into her:
The parts list:
Rough Country 6.5" lift with control arm drop brackets
Omix slip yoke adapter
Tom Woods CV driveshaft
JKS Quicker disconnects
Detours Backbone (winch wount/steering brace/unibody brace)
Detours Tailbone (unibody brace/rear tow point/tire carrier) (not in pics)
JCR Offroad rock sliders (not installed)
Kuhmo KL71 33x12.50R15s
Iron Rock Offroad HD Over the Knuckle steering conversion (not yet installed in the pics)
Dirty 4.0:
Dirty interior:
The latest 'wheeling trip- a little over a month ago:
And finally, how it currently sits- with properly trimmed fenders, only 1 slider installed, and NO FLOORS!
I'm gonna flintstone this biotch! But seriously though... carpet is evil.
I bought this thing when I was 17, sold it shortly thereafter, and my mom bought it back for me for Christmas 2004. I used it as my dd in college, and started building it for weekend 4-wheeling trips.
Here's what I started with... a nice-driving, smooth-riding, shiny, rust-free, solid, straight 1995 Cherokee that could knock down 24 MPG on the highway.
Next, how I went about destroying all of those great characteristics!
The first wheeling trip- totally stock with little tires in the snow at Iron Rock ORV park in Gilbert, MN- it did better than expected, but still got stuck a lot.
March-ish 2005:
Here's summer 2005 at Iron Rock OHV area after a Rusty's Offroad 3" AAL lift and some 30x9.50R15 Goodyear Wrangler GSAs (teh SUCK).
The look and capability vastly improved and the gas mileage vastly suffered with the addition of some Cooper 31x10.50R15 ATs on black Rock Crawler steelies. This picture was taken after a debate with my friend over what the purpose of the big stupid rock in his front lawn was. Fall 2005
After that pic was taken, the Jeep was parked due to the torque converter lockup not wanting to function. 13-15 MPG I could handle... 8 was another story. So, it sat on the farm and occaisionally went out around the property. I had every intention of fixing it ASAP and getting it back on the road, but life and such got in the way. I joined the Air Force in the fall of 2006, and just for the hell of it I renewed the registration and insurance on the Jeep for the last couple of months I lived in MN, even though the tranny was still sucking at life. She continued to sit as the windshield leaked and the floors dissolved while I worked in Florida. I even went so far as to make a deal to sell it again, but I just could not bring myself to do it. When I would go home on leave I would always drive it around and wash/wax/vacuum it before it was parked again.
Fast forward to 2009. I'm sitting in the middle east sweating my ass off, but making good money. Hmmm... money, you say? What can I blow a large portion of that money on...
So after ordering many parts while in the sandbox and doing much research, I had a plan. Upon returning to the States I flew home to MN and started wrenching. Before I made the trip back to FL with it I had some work to do- fluids, tuneup, new exhaust header, new motor mounts and troubleshoot that damned transmission. Turns out the reason I had to park it for all those years was because of a damned $30 solenoid that took about an hour to install.
Enough gabbin' already and on with the pics!
Here's How she looked summer 2009 with a lot of money sunk into her:
The parts list:
Rough Country 6.5" lift with control arm drop brackets
Omix slip yoke adapter
Tom Woods CV driveshaft
JKS Quicker disconnects
Detours Backbone (winch wount/steering brace/unibody brace)
Detours Tailbone (unibody brace/rear tow point/tire carrier) (not in pics)
JCR Offroad rock sliders (not installed)
Kuhmo KL71 33x12.50R15s
Iron Rock Offroad HD Over the Knuckle steering conversion (not yet installed in the pics)
Dirty 4.0:
Dirty interior:
The latest 'wheeling trip- a little over a month ago:
And finally, how it currently sits- with properly trimmed fenders, only 1 slider installed, and NO FLOORS!
I'm gonna flintstone this biotch! But seriously though... carpet is evil.
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