Ted, The 2000 XJ

[jpnjake]

This is a project that has been sat on for quite a while. It was purchased 3 years ago with 280k miles, A blown engine, and rotted out floors and rockers.

When I was 16 I stripped the whole interior, cut the rot out of the rockers, put all the parts I need in random places and then just lost interest in it for a while. 
 

fast forward 2 years and I finally get the motivation to work on it again so I don’t have to daily the 60k mile survivor MJ in the New England salt land. The engine came out of 2001 XJ That rolled over and was then purchased by my dad in 2003 to be used as a parts truck for his MJ. The 01 Motor sat under a bench for 19 years and fired right up and runs great with a little seafoam in the oil to clean things up. The transmission and t-case came out of my dads old 98 2dr that rotted apart on us and got cut into pieces by us. 
 

Rip 98 2dr the rest is being saved for a future trailer build 

Old engine out 

The one ton crane from harbor freight doesn’t lift high enough to get the engine+trans out with the header in place 

 

New engine in

 

 

[jpnjake]

Fast forward some more and the floors get cut out and welded in with flat sheet metal on top 

also got the passengers rocker welded in But I didn’t get any good pictures of it. 
 

Finally got a new Acc black carpet to finish off the interior 

 

And here it sits now, it’ll be registered and inspected soon, as soon as I finished everything it stopped charging all of a sudden

[neohic]

Looks like a good start. I’m a sucker for a cheap XJ wheeler. 

[jpnjim]

 

It's been a pretty good Father/son project so far (while we wait to start on the Chief......)

 

Just to put all the specs, work done & future work in one place:

 

 

info:

2000 4dr XJ Forest Green Pearlcoat Dark Slate/Agate interior

280K miles

4.0L w/miss & slight rap

AW4 Auto

LP 30 front/8.25 Rear 3.55's w/Aussie Lockers Ft & Rear (front in box)

4.5" Rough Country short arm lift w/rear springs

new 33x10.5-15 BFG AT's on American Racing Atlas wheels

Factory (long) slip yoke, with T-case drop

some rot, rear bumper/quarter munched

also came with set of newish 225/75-15's (now on the Chief)

and a big box of spare parts/uninstalled new parts.

^Paid $1000 in 2020

 

2020-2022:

Jeep mostly sat in back yard waiting

Fixed rear bumper, pulled quarter out

cut out rotted rocker

Cleared out mouse nests

 

 

Sept 2022- Dec 2022:

Swapped in:

2001 4.0L (52k miles)

New Waterpump

1998 AW4 (90k miles)

1987 NP231 (for older style slip yoke)

removed t-case drop

Dropped lift to 3.5-4"

(removed 1 rear leaf, RE Ft Coils)

Burned in new inner and outer passengers side rockers

new front floors

new front ACC Carper (black)

LED Headlights

JKS Disconnects

Longer rubber ft brake lines

replaced front steel lines with Copper/Nickel

used Keyless entry module from 2001

Swapped black 1998 header panel on after using too-short Harbor Freight 1ton engine crane to pull old engine

(damaged 2000 green header panel)

 

Jan 2023

Installed BPI Front bumper

6000lb rear receiver hitch

Swapped wheels & tires a few times

(Snow tires for now)

Speakers & Stereo

LED Foglights

Swapped out bad steering wheel

 

Next stuff & later stuff:

Clearance/adjust lift height for 33's

Front brake pads

Re-cover headliner

fix speaker wires to ft passenger door

32 spline HD T-case output + Double Cardan rear shaft

longer rubber rear brake line

put front Aussie locker in at some point

recharge & diagnose A/C

 

 

 

[jpnjake]

As my dad said, I Installed my dads old BPI bumper off his 98 2dr, and installed fog lights on top of the bumper, the wheels and tires for now are the TJ Canyon wheels painted “Aged Copper” with 32” snow tires. Also replaced the belt because it was paper thin and Fixed my Charging issue instantly. I also installed a rear hitch rated for 6000 lbs, and a Gas tank skid plate. Finally my fan shroud had broken so my dad made one from sheet metal that imo looked extremely good, and is better than the original, And I Removed the airbox and replaced it with a round filter and heat Shield.

[jpnjim]

Looks taller all of a sudden........

[jpnjake]

Some updates recently

 

Mounted on some old school 32”BFG KM1’s made in 1998

 

 

 

 

 

Those stayed on for a few days and will be my around town wheeling tires. 
No highway of corse on those, but they did soften up a decent bit as I drove on them. 
 

Also replaced both transmission line’s as one blew and I had already patched the other. 
 

Today I put the rest of the RC rear spring pack back in, ended up lifting the back of the truck at least an inch 

Before:

 

After:

Also pulled the front fenders off and swapped them for the black ones off my dads old 2dr. 

 

Apparently that’s the only picture I took of it all done, I’ll grab some more in the daylight tomorrow.

Also my new 33” BFG AT’s will be going on very soon

 

And Finally I named the Jeep Ted, after this broken peice of a posted sign I found in the woods behind my house. His name proudly displayed on the passenger quarter window

To Do Still:

-Front axle(makes awful noises when in 4wd) 

-rear grey flares to match the front

-replace tie rod(I bent this one)

-Fix AC

 

 

 

 

[jpnjake]

More love to the XJ today. 
 

No more snow forecasted so the 33” BFG’s go on 

 

It was then time for some backyard 4 wheeling and flexing 

 

^Not Rubbing anything 

 

[Pete M]

nice!    more Jeeps = better

[jpnjake]

On 3/29/2023 at 7:47 PM, Pete M said:

nice!    more Jeeps = better

^

This is very true 

[jpnjake]

Went to the junkyard yesterday and picked up a liberty renegade roof light set, whenever the headliner gets done this will go on as well 

Its got that clean factory look to it, will probably replace my bumper lights with just the roof ones 

[Pete M]

score!  they fit surprisingly well considering the 2 Jeeps share so little.