The MandiWagon: This ain't yo mamma's mall machine. . .

[OldGreen]

Post Here. Now. Often.

[iaccocca]

Yes please. That is one of Bill's (many) rigs. The lift on it I helped put on with great difficulty . I'm sure much of that will be disposed of, but I look forward to seeing it back on the trail.

[OldGreen]

WAIT.. .RED TWO DOOR?

Now I am paying attention.

[iaccocca]

WAIT.. .RED TWO DOOR?

Now I am paying attention.

Green 4 door. The red one (4 door) is still in Bret's possession. The green one's engine was SHOT. I'm glad someone wants to take on the project.

[Livin4Today]

PROJECT? OMG!

So I starts with a well running oil & smoke spewing green dung heep...

Grab a 110k motor out of a Grand and spend the next 7 days almost single handedley doing the motor swap. There were multiple delays due to beer, parts needed, and massive amounts of cleaning (OK ONLY 4 days cleaning).

Now she sits in the garage, awaiting her title so we can tab her up and run her around. Yes she still has a Rusty 3" lift on her and Rancho shocks, and a set of mall tires on Rubi wheels.

As Lee mentioned most of which will be discarded, unless Brett decides to swap his white rig to get her back (which I'd be okay with after cleaning years of old French fries out it - how in the hell do you get petrified French fries under the back seat?). Ms. Mandi has visions of 35's to keep up with Lee, so we'll be modifying things just a bit to make her dreams come true...

Pics and the rest of this build thread to follow once I get to my Mac and off my phone...

[Livin4Today]

Okay, Jimmy's ADD is kickin' my A$$, so we go to the mac and edit poorly written phone message and decide to add a speal and pics after only 1 beer (I'm getting old! Oh and for Trashy's sake I welded the effin engine mounts in so she's hella stable).

So here are picks from our first look... (Remember Green HEEP)








Next we pick her up drive her the 3 blocks to BryansFab, and begin the transformation, from Heep to Heep with a functioning motor...

New-er motor arrives...






Old Motor Comes Out


After a FULL DAY of STEAM CLEANING!


A new radiator was a must, after almost vomiting from looking inside the old one...


New-er motor fully assembled and ready to drop in...



Note how BIG that water pump is! Yeah, the Grand, and Cherokee are somewhat interchangeable however, the water pump and pulley don't... I'd already had the radiator, and fans out thrice and here we go again...






Then I drove her home Thursday night... And spent all day doing a mini detail, that Mandi will undoubtably do all over again over the weekend...










Currently we have just under a grand invested, and 80 some hours of labor, not a bad little toy for Mandi. Next on the list figuring out our axle needs, first and foremost we will need to replace the upper and lower ball joints and bearings, and some exhaust work. Then we can look at the fun stuff... That's all for now...

[Grumpy]

[OldGreen]

Excellent start!!!!

[SquirrelCrusher]

Cherokee woohoo! Best damn rigs out there. I love mine. Looking forward to seeing what you guys do with it.

[Grumpy]

Yeah, don't tell anyone where you heard this, but I actually do think a well done Cherocar is pretty cool

[iaccocca]

You do know that if you put that XJ on 35s Mandi will out wheel you. But her rig will be too light to pull you up the hill.

I kid. I'm liking this build!

[Wrench]

If I were you, I would drop in lockers before new tires. The ones that are on it have far more capability than you realize.

Spartans are quality units.

[Mandi]

If I were you, I would drop in lockers before new tires. The ones that are on it have far more capability than you realize.

Spartans are quality units.

Good to know..... The locker is definitely higher on the list especially since the 35's require solving clearance and other issues.....
As much as I want it all right now..... My pay checks will pace me....

[OldGreen]

What rear end?

[TJDave]

Nice. Something about Rubi wheels on Cherokees just looks good.

Too bad they don't play well with larger tires without wheel spacers. That's why I let mine go. But I think they are happy where they are now.

[Roman]

https://www.ballisticfabrication.com/mo ... p#page-103

[OldGreen]

Yeah. . .that doesn't work from a mobile phone. What are you getting at?

[Wrench]

What rear end?

Ditto.

If it is a Dana 35, drop a Spartan in the front first and find a used limited slip for the rear. If it's a Chrysler rear end, lock 'em both.

FWIW, I found the only advantage to a Mud-Terrain tire is, well, in the mud. An all-terrain actually works better than a mud-terrain out at Juniper; doesnt dig as fast.

[OldGreen]

Snow. . .MTs have much better lateral traction on deep/snowy sidehills.

[tobyw]

Oh and for Trashy's sake I welded the effin engine mounts in so she's hella stable).

Ummm.... You do know that motor mounts are a regular service item, right? Especially on the XJ platform... The comparatively pliable unitbody structure is hell on motor mounts; take a look at a some 100k mounts from an XJ vs. those from a 100k YJ or TJ and you'll see what I mean. If you wheel an XJ, it's not if, it's when you'll be changing motor mounts, and if you're doing it right (the wheeling that is), it's likely annually. Just my $0.02, carry on.

[Livin4Today]

What rear end?

8.25

[Livin4Today]

Oh and for Trashy's sake I welded the effin engine mounts in so she's hella stable).

Ummm.... You do know that motor mounts are a regular service item, right? Especially on the XJ platform... The comparatively pliable unitbody structure is hell on motor mounts; take a look at a some 100k mounts from an XJ vs. those from a 100k YJ or TJ and you'll see what I mean. If you wheel an XJ, it's not if, it's when you'll be changing motor mounts, and if you're doing it right (the wheeling that is), it's likely annually. Just my $0.02, carry on.

So you're saying I shound't have welded those in? Damnit, 1 step forward 2 steps back....

[Livin4Today]

Mandi Detail

As I alluded yesterday we spent another 6+ (x2) hours cleaning the heep today. She came out pretty nice, and even Syler approves now. Had 2 offers on her already to boot...

[Livin4Today]

You do know that if you put that XJ on 35s Mandi will out wheel you. But her rig will be too light to pull you up the hill.

I kid. I'm liking this build!

Me, mebbe, mebbe not, you definitely....

[Livin4Today]

https://www.ballisticfabrication.com/mobile/home.asp#page-103

Jose, did you mean these?

http://www.ballisticfabrication.com/Offset-Leaf-Spring-Shackles_p_1650.html