So it's been a while since I've been on here. For a while I had a 76 Series Landcruiser as my main car, but the black jeep has always been around. A few things forced me to let the registration lapse on the black jeep, however it's always been there waiting to get back on the road. Late last year a friend was selling their XJ Cherokee, and it was too good of a deal to pass up. Same age as mine (96 model), but was a limited with all the features. Leather trim, electric seats, cruise control, the works. Anyway, I bought it, put some rego on it and set about transferring all the parts from the old black Sport into the blue Limited.
First up was Drivetrain, which took around 6 months of on-again off-again work to swap. The Sport had a completely new cooling and belt system, and the motor was a lot stronger with less kms. While the motors were out, I got hold of a late-model TJ intake manifold and a new set of exhaust headers, so fitted them up. Motor in, drove the car around for a few weeks, then started to get stuck into it.
Fitted the lift kit from the old Sport, albeit with a couple of changes. Kept the short-arm and drop-box combo because it rode perfectly at 3", but swapped the coils for some 4" coils instead. Also fitted a 1.5" bump-stop spacer to the diff as well as the 1" extended poly bump-stops so that it's all working properly when the new shocks turn up. Rear suspension was the same Lovell's Leafs, but with a set of extended shackles thrown in too. The car sits at a perfect 4" front and 4.5" rear, exactly how I wanted it set up. Also ditched the rear sway-bar while fitting the lift, as it wasn't needed with the heavier leaf springs. Also installed the Hyline Off-road hood louvre kit I bought probably 12 months ago, just to help a little when off-road and towing.
After all that, took the old girl out on Thursday night for some fun. Following a mate with his 4" patrol on 35's, the XJ didn't miss a beat. The only thing that held me up was the highway tyres compared to his muddies. So a set of 31's are in order I think.
Anyway, that's all for now. Will be updating a bit more as it goes, and hopefully see you guys out on the tracks again.