Converted's 96 XJ Build

[Converted96XJ]

Here I will fill you in on my 1996 Glaval Converted XJ.

In 1996 Glaval Corp, who does all the conversion vans, was originally going to do a conversion on the Jeep GC, well plans changed and they did the conversion the the standard XJ.

What was done with their Conversion package.

Exterior:

Custom Front and Rear bumpers
Custom Running boards
Custom Grille
Color Matched fender flares
Extended Roof

Interior:

All had leather interior
woodgrain trim on dash and door panels
overhead console up front including pull down to hold radar detector with Cig outlet there, 2 cubby flip open holes for glasses or door openers. Fog light switch in OH console, along with custom dome lighting.
Back there was a TV, VCR (now upgraded to PS2 for DVD playback) stand alone rear cassette radio, swith for tv speaker or headphone use, volume control for tv speaker via a special knob, 2 cubby hole storage pockets up top, 2 1/4" headphone jacks to either listen to tv or radio.
In the top of the rear is custom "mood lighting" which looks like little stars on a custom light bank.
Speakers were also relocated to the backside of the raised roof and out of the hatch.

I came into this jeep coming from a conversion van, that ironically enough didnt have a raised roof, but did have a conversion done.. it was my DJ gear hauler, but was so decked out inside it wasnt even funny. being a 350 V8 and terrible in the winter I was looking for a 4x4 and something I could put my gear in. I really liked the XJ, though at the time didnt even know they were called that.. lol. I searched and searched and came across this, with a custom MJ trailer for 3500 in Pittsburgh. So I went down to check it out. wasnt as clean as originally told, but was nice, and i was digging the trailer to help haul some of my gear. Took it for a ride, heater didnt work, well wasnt blowing hot air... got him down to 3000 and figured I would deal with it from there. I liked unique and different and loved the trailer. besides my gear i do a lot of building and it would be perfect for hauling drywall, wood, 2x4's anything.. including 1700lbs of sand... :out:. So back in November of 2007 I became an XJ owner.

When I first got it...

http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/167041_1589499776328_1200841298_31338574_6982803_n .jpg

http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/164109_1589500176338_1200841298_31338577_8077151_n .jpg

http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/167711_1589500696351_1200841298_31338580_7542223_n .jpg

http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/162676_1589501016359_1200841298_31338583_210854_n. jpg

http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/168259_1589501096361_1200841298_31338584_5123715_n .jpg

This is a little bit later photo, the trailer did have a white tonneau, but really limited my space, so i found this cap which kinda flowed well line wise with the jeep.

http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/215696_1748465510372_1200841298_31574453_1772193_n .jpg

http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/216784_1748466470396_1200841298_31574459_5145377_n .jpg

whewwww, smoke break...... More to come very soon..

[Converted96XJ]

Ok, so now that i got a smoke in... lol and also just got a maglite installed in the Jeep I am back to fill you in on more.

The boring stuff.... Up until this year it has been a DD and commuter for me. It still is today but its sitting alot different now. Anyway I just worked on different issues and replaced things as needed with it.

I am proud to say..lol... that i joined the DW club about a year ago, but got that sorted out with tierods, then new ball joints.

As i was saying, its all boring stuff so im not going to tell you about all the work I have done and things I have replaced.

We will skip ahead to this year, which marked a new plan for the jeep, it was still to be my daily driver, but also a weekend warrior. This plan almost got scrapped in the spring, because i found pretty bad rot in the trunk, and new my floorboards were rotted as well. If this would have been any other old XJ i woulda scrapped it and bought another, but im in it for the long haul now. And will address the major rot and doing some frame repair next year.

I started collecting some parts, nothing lift related, just bought a bunch of things that go on a trail rig, as i wanted to get alot of the dumb stuff in and worked on early, as I still didnt really know which way I wanted to go with a lift, how high, who with. I have looked at and researched lift and components ALOT over the past few months.

Some stuff I did was just upgrade like stereo from what i had to new, and then other stuff as I will show pics of. I havent dont a whole lot, but I am tight on money and do what I can.

Onto stereo, I originally had a couple old crappy bazooka 12's, in a crappy box, running off a 35x4 amplifier, which was also powering the 4 speakers in the jeep.. lol. its was a crossfire amp, so underrated and actually was pretty loud, considering what i had running.

The first thing I did was get some new 12's, Crunch Ground Pounder DVC speakers, they are now configured at 4 ohms, orginally was 1 ohm on the amp I will tell you about.

Box building after a week of throwing numbers around.

http://deezentertainment.com/images/Jeep/box.jpg

http://deezentertainment.com/images/Jeep/SpeakersPort.jpg

http://deezentertainment.com/images/Jeep/SpeakerTerminals.jpg

This then got carpeted in a tan carpet and set in my house as i did this in the winter time. It sat in my house for a few months til it went in.

When I redid the entire stereo I ran 4 gauge from the battery to a Power block in the back, that has 3 4 guage outputs, 2 to the amps, and the third is reserved for a future power inverter. I ran all new RCA, put in a 150 Amp breaker at the batter, put in all brass terminals, ran new 4 gauge under the hood to the alternator and for grounds.

I also put in planet audio 6.5 in the back, 5.25 in the front, and there will be 3" going in the knee bar.

The subs are running off a Audio Pipe 1500W mono amp, with remote bass control, I then am using the crossfire to power the Planet Audios until i get a new Audiopipe 4 channel for them.

The headunit is an old pioneer 7700 series.

With the size of the box I ran out of space to get my groceries in, since im the grocery shopper in the house 90% of the time by myself, I needed to fix that. I also needed a place to put tools, gear down the road when I hit the trails. So I came up with this...

http://deezentertainment.com/images/Jeep/cargorack.jpg

it was too tall so I shrunk it down.

http://deezentertainment.com/images/Jeep/cargorackonhorses1.jpg

on the box...

http://deezentertainment.com/images/Jeep/cargorackpainted.jpg

and roughly finished... roughly cause i put my cargo net custom build on hold, and i still have yet to install my eye bolts which would be for the net.

http://deezentertainment.com/images/Jeep/cargofinished2.jpg

Also note the fire extinguisher that I put in on the right side, did that the same day as the rack, you can never be too safe.



Around the same time as the stereo I went and put a CB in. I purchased a Cobra 29LTD Army Edition, a 3FT Firestik Firefly Antenna, and the MK201 Mount kit with cable. This is also setup as a PA system with a 50Watt horn mounted in some free space below the radiator. The Cb isnt done yet, I plan on getting an amp with line level inputs to hook the PA output and the EXT. speaker output to it to run the PA speaker from one channel, and 2 3" speakers in the knee bar on the other. For now it works well enough, though I hate leaving things unfinished, but are they ever done? :rotfl2:

http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/215255_1758389838474_1200841298_31586833_1282467_n .jpg

http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/205064_1758390078480_1200841298_31586835_8062060_n .jpg

http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/205619_1758389078455_1200841298_31586828_4003999_n .jpg

Stay Tuned...

[cantab27]

pop top, coolies.........................welcome aboard

[PEI-XJ]

i like the sub box u made and never knew cobra made a army Edition cb

[KH96XJ]

Different, but still cool.

[Converted96XJ]

pop top, coolies.........................welcome aboard

Thank You!


The next thing I wanted to do was a light bar. I dont know what it is, but I wanted lights up on the roof, even if I didnt use them but twice a year, i like the look and functionality of it.

My raised roof posed a clearance question, which I soon found out was a problem.

I ordered the CARR light bar from quadratec. And ordered a couple sets of Westin Driving lights from Advance Auto. I had to trim and grind on the gutter brackets a bit to fit around the contour of the roof, as well as mount the bar on top of the brackets instead of inside. I cut some pieces of the left over light bar and filled in the gap and used black silicon to fill the gaps, didnt come out too bad. here are some pics.


http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/283170_2044778038000_1200841298_31899870_3164838_n .jpg

http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/263359_2044776837970_1200841298_31899864_7007546_n .jpg



So at this point I am still thinking about a lift, researching a bit more, since this light bar was done the end of June, and still couldnt figure out the best option for me and how much cash I had to gather.

But in the mean time with my research, I came across these on Craigslist....

31's on aluminum rims.... $80

http://deezentertainment.com/images/Jeep/31sintrailer.jpg

i eventually had the tires taken off the rims... scrapped the wheels for 67 bucks, so 13 dollars in the tires... lol.


.................................................. ............................................

So nothing really after that, had a couple things going on in July and didnt work on the Jeep much at all. Just sold my DJ gear cause I got out of it and put the money away for a lift and other parts. So I guess now comes the real work... Go get a cup of coffee or make a sandwich cause this is going to be a bit..... lol

Ill try to cut it down some. First off I knew I was close to going with a lift. It didnt matter what company it was with or the components I used, I knew it was going to be lifted soon. So, i set out to replace the big aftermarket bumpers with stock bumpers and pull the running boards so as to not damage the irreplaceable parts that they were. I hit up a JY that i frequent and found an early 90's limited XJ with front and rear bumpers, for 75 for the pair. The cool thing is the front bumper had the tow hook brackets, so i killed 2 birds with one stone as I now solved my front recovery point.

here are some pics...

new stock front bumper installed

http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/321129_2065575437922_1200841298_31925179_1366043_n .jpg

relocated 2 of my lights.

http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/296707_2065710401296_1200841298_31925266_3592715_n .jpg

new rear bumper.. painted it first and bedlined the rear rocker.

http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/313563_2075513526368_1200841298_31937466_7916251_n .jpg

painted front bumper and installed 2 new lights on the light bar.

http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/307853_2075530446791_1200841298_31937491_7397215_n .jpg

removed the running boards

http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/254720_2076803318612_1200841298_31938824_3553805_n .jpg

Ahhhhhhh it was already looking higher. LoL




Now that that was done it was onto the lift.

After all the lift companies I looked at and read about, budget wise and what I wanted to do I was going to go RC 4.5 X series kit. This kit had it all that I was looking for and was a pretty complete kit, so with the discount and stuff I was going to get the kit for about 830 shipped. Well I asked several times if I could please swap the 4.5 leaf packs for 3" leaf packs with the lift shackle, so I could get a little bit better flex out of the rear.. i was rejected several times and RC lost an 830 dollar sale over that. So digging around and talking with FrankZ on cherokee forum, who owns www.seriousoffroadproducts.com, I started looking into Rubicon Express products, and he was running a decent sale on their stuff being that RE just came back into business the beginning of August.

What I ended up with.

Rubicon Express 3.5 Coils
RE SuperRide 3.5 Leaf Packs
RE ADJ. track bar
RE TC drop
RE Ubolts

Rough Country Hydro shocks
RC brake line ext. brackets
RC sway bar links
RC lower control arms

Everything came out to around 800 with shipping.

Christmas In August....

http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/316137_2078164952652_1200841298_31939953_4426890_n .jpg

http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/302694_2078187593218_1200841298_31939967_599123_n. jpg

http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/319307_2079437264459_1200841298_31941455_6036892_n .jpg

Now was time to get started on the lift..

Unfortunately I dont have many pics of the lift, as cursing was in the air, every other minute of this thing. While I learned alot, I am not in a hurry to lift another jeep.

The rear leaf spring bolts were a nightmare, the fronts anyway, the rears I didnt even bother with them and I cut them out. As for the fronts, PB blaster didnt help much, the bolt on the driver side was turning... with a lot of pressure and breaker bar. BUT it is important to check your socket every turn, I was but it was good so i quit checking it to make sure it was seated.... and this happend.

http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/317081_2083027394210_1200841298_31945699_3924997_n .jpg

4 stitches..

http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/318495_2084184023125_1200841298_31947170_2509228_n .jpg

And to this day its not fully healed at the bone. The socket snapped off and i had all my weight behind a breaker bar, which i was going in the up direction so i punched my wheel well, the breaker bar smashed it, then on the ricochet ripped my finger open. Not fun, but was back on the Jeep the next day, as I didnt go to the ER when it happend, I threw a bandage on and kept working.

Anyway i had to cut the eyes off the springs, then cut that off the bushing, slice the bushing out, use an air chisel on the sleeve and heat it up and got them out of both sides. The shock bolts werent bad, worked them back and forth and got 3 of 4 out, one broke and i just fished a new bolt through the frame. So the rear got done probably like 12 hours later new bolts from the dealer and blood sweat and tears.

http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/314437_2092340667036_1200841298_31956795_3244450_n .jpg

http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/320567_2092351427305_1200841298_31956832_2546344_n .jpg


Now it was on to the front, which i knew would go considerably better. And it did, except for a couple control arm bolts, one that i had to screw around and cut the control arm out to get to the bolt so i could cut it out.

some pics of the front

http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/310739_2099264920138_1200841298_31963282_230642_n. jpg

http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/321240_2102651604803_1200841298_31967459_5739738_n .jpg

http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/312049_2102652164817_1200841298_31967461_1341290_n .jpg

http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/293591_2102652524826_1200841298_31967464_2670159_n .jpg

And how it sat after the front was back together...

http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/307580_2102651284795_1200841298_31967458_3713573_n .jpg

Now it was time to take care of those tires, so i went online and ordered some Cragar V5's from summit and had my 31's thrown on them.

http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/319559_2118450399763_1200841298_31980588_193656586 5_n.jpg


http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/296379_2118450559767_1200841298_31980589_766391106 _n.jpg

Also It was time to paint those flares black, so I threw on some paint made for plastic bumpers. Came out pretty good, its not perfect around the edges in some spots, but I dont care.

http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/307929_2122404138604_1200841298_31984468_114308068 0_n.jpg

http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/318761_2122404218606_1200841298_31984469_196504226 7_n.jpg

Then it was time to take it out on the beach near me just because its a cool place to go...

http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/312651_2141616738907_1200841298_31997847_209415053 3_n.jpg

http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/309786_2141538296946_1200841298_31997804_156429369 7_n.jpg

That brings us up to 2 weeks ago... Break time.. lol

[Converted96XJ]

Next issue was the trailer hitch, the receiver that was in it I could tell had never EVER been removed. it was rust welded in place, no getting it out at all. I even hooked it up to a telephone pole and all i did was burn rubber it wasnt moving. So i ordered a Curt Class III hitch to replace. Along with a 3.25 drop ball mount. I needed a lower drop from before with the lift, and i wanted to be able to use my D-Ring Receiver.

Pics of the Hitch, which actually tucks better than stock.

http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/296381_2159151577267_1200841298_32011200_564646333 _n.jpg

http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/294504_2170032009271_1200841298_32020549_136473451 0_n.jpg

Also this week I replaced the sway bar bushings.. man were those things toast. I removed the splined bolts for the sway bar links and put in grade 8 bolts so make them easier to disconnect. My links are about an inch too long, would work better on a higher lift, so quick discos are in the planning. I also have Poly tie rod bushings sitting here to replace the rubber ones on the TRE's. As well as a New ZJ tie rod upgrade to do.

After that I need to do Control arm Bushings as the axle side bushings are ridiculous, I am really surprised I dont have DW and that it actually handles ok with the amount of play in those.

In between posts I mounted this...

http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/317038_2187820173964_1200841298_32033040_182546566 9_n.jpg


That pretty much brings it all up to speed as of now.

More to come... Stay Tuned

[cherokeewrecker]

Great start and I'm diggin' the jeep. Looks pretty sweet. Its coming along nicely. Good job man

[Mudderoy]

After seeing all the same builds over and over again (which I do still enjoy) this is a very refreshing change. Thanks. That rack on the sub box is very nice.

[Converted96XJ]

After seeing all the same builds over and over again (which I do still enjoy) this is a very refreshing change. Thanks. That rack on the sub box is very nice.

Thanks alot.. Modifications might slow up a bit now, with the weather change, christmas, some birthdays coming up. But im still gonna plug away at it. Most important thing now is a few repairs that need to get done. Upper arm bushings and getting my ZJ tierod upgrade done.

[Firemanray]

Very interesting XJ, can't say I've ever seen one like it. Cool build!!

[bigjim350]

Cool build. Good idea on removing the bumpers and running boards. Would get smashed up quick, and look kinda weird on a lifted jeep.