Grand Cherokee WG/WJ Modding Time

[spookie the aardvark]

2 hours ago, frosty said:

when i lived in France, my friend had a RHD WJ, we tried some 16"JK wheels on it, but they didn't clear the brakes, 

I have read the same about 16s not clearing the brakes and I think some Jeep owners with 16s have put 17s on to stop stones ect getting stuck and to allow better cooling of the brakes

[Marcus Durand]

On 12/10/2020 at 17:31, spookie the aardvark said:

I have read the same about 16s not clearing the brakes and I think some Jeep owners with 16s have put 17s on to stop stones ect getting stuck and to allow better cooling of the brakes

My WJ 4L has 16s and I have had rear brake overheating issues.

[Marcus Durand]

On 08/10/2020 at 10:30, Jules said:

“Front tow hitch”  I use on my 2004 WJ is a rear Ford Transit item.

Fits WJ chassis rails, front lower louvre grille opening....and works a treat.

Best part.......can be sourced in the UK!

How do I get hold of one of those Jules?

[V]

3 hours ago, Marcus Durand said:

My WJ 4L has 16s and I have had rear brake overheating issues.

Could be handbrake shoes. If the mechanism on one or both sides starts getting rusty or clogged with mud they don't release easily and start dragging the shoes which causes heat. Then the shoes wear out a bit and the auto adjuster ratchets up a notch. The shoe has good grip again but the mechanism still isn't free so the shoe drags again causing more heat. The cycle repeats until it eventually wears out. The tell tale sign on my XJs (with similar disc brake rears) is that the balance bar on the cable gets skewed towards the side that is wearing out.

[spookie the aardvark]

A lot of very good advice from some very knowlagible people

[spookie the aardvark]

Saturday the jeep got a set of 5 nice new boots - BF Goodrich A.T.s - 245/70/17 (just got to wait for the bluing to wash off of the white lettering). Didn't want to go too big and end up losing parts of the bumper. Just a small bit of rubbing in reverse at full lock, seems to be just the offside front, but think it is rubbing the inner wings a bit, so not too hard to sort that one out next time the bumper comes off.

 

Only bit I am still waiting for is the front tow hitch/ tow shackles from HK Offroading in the States - hopefully not to much longer but they only build stuff to order. Once I get the tow hitch/ tow shackles that will be nearly everything finished, sometime in the future I will treat her to a stainless steel exhaust but that might have to wait a bit as the wallet has taken a bit of a battering lately

 

This off roading lark gets expensive

[spookie the aardvark]

49 minutes ago, Jim said:

Looking good but I must disagree with you on the lettering as I like the white lettering.

Yes, be carefull when you reverse and on my WG, I only had to butcher trim a small amount of the bumper and I think that I am running bigger tyres as mine are 255/75/17 with a 2" puck lift.

 

Thanks for that Jim, I much preffer the white lettering on the tyres too, for some reason BFG now put a kind of blue dye on them that comes off when it rains. Not sure why but guess it makes sense to someone somewhere.

 

We always trim/adjust to fit, NEVER butcher . Yes you have the bigger tyres, I thought about getting 255/75/17s but had concerns about having to adjust to fit my bumper if I went too big. I will get round to adjusting the inner wing - or just not reverse - "forward - always forward" "no reverse - no surrender"

 

Mine has the Trailmaster 2 inch lift kit and 1.5 inch wheel spacers on it

[V]

5 hours ago, spookie the aardvark said:

for some reason BFG now put a kind of blue dye on them that comes off when it rains.

 

They have been doing that forever. It's a protective coating to stop the lettering getting dirty during warehouse storage and fitting.

[Stitch4x4]

Hi Frosty

That looks an excellent base for your project. 
Look forward to seeing it develop

Cheers

Bob

[Stitch4x4]

Hi Spookie

Your Jeep is looking good.

I had a chat with you at Slindon if you remember?

Keep it going and hopefully see you at the next meeting with your Jeep.

Regards

Bob

[frosty]

12 hours ago, Stitch4x4 said:

Hi Frosty

That looks an excellent base for your project. 
Look forward to seeing it develop

Cheers

Bob

thanks mate, i dont plan to do much more to it, it is a lovely car to drive, and i still have the Jk and TJ for serious off roading. 

[spookie the aardvark]

20 hours ago, V said:

 

They have been doing that forever. It's a protective coating to stop the lettering getting dirty during warehouse storage and fitting.

Thanks V never used BFGs before and was a bit concerned that the lettering was blue, but lost the concern when the weekend rain started to wash the blue off

[spookie the aardvark]

19 hours ago, Stitch4x4 said:

Hi Spookie

Your Jeep is looking good.

I had a chat with you at Slindon if you remember?

Keep it going and hopefully see you at the next meeting with your Jeep.

Regards

Bob

Hi Bob and thank you Yes I remember you from Slindon, learned a lot from chatting to people that weekend I really happy with the way mine is going, it will never be as nice as yours But the idea isnt to make an exact copy of someone elses Jeep, but rather rob all the good ideas people have and pick the best to see what happens.

Loving what my Jeep is becoming - not loving the cost of what my Jeep is becoming

[spookie the aardvark]

7 hours ago, frosty said:

thanks mate, i dont plan to do much more to it, it is a lovely car to drive, and i still have the Jk and TJ for serious off roading. 

Hi frosty - how many Jeeps does one man need??????????????????

[frosty]

17 hours ago, spookie the aardvark said:

Hi frosty - how many Jeeps does one man need??????????????????

you can never have tooooo many Jeep's. 

[Marcus Durand]

On 14/10/2020 at 14:58, V said:

Could be handbrake shoes. If the mechanism on one or both sides starts getting rusty or clogged with mud they don't release easily and start dragging the shoes which causes heat. Then the shoes wear out a bit and the auto adjuster ratchets up a notch. The shoe has good grip again but the mechanism still isn't free so the shoe drags again causing more heat. The cycle repeats until it eventually wears out. The tell tale sign on my XJs (with similar disc brake rears) is that the balance bar on the cable gets skewed towards the side that is wearing out.

The problem was the piston not returning into the caliper cylinder. I stripped it down and replaced the piston and seals which solved the problem. 

[Stitch4x4]

Hi Spookie

Yes you can pick up a lot at the meetings, I hope we have another one really soon. 
All our jeeps are individual I think. 
Yours is coming on well.  
Im putting some flared arches on next and some two inch spacers. 
that should give it a bit more of an aggressive look. 
it’s great fun building it and even more fun when you get them off road. 
if you need any tips just send me a message mate. 
I'm not sure with a two inch lift, but I changed my front prop shaft as I did a 4 inch lift. So might be a good idea to check yours, though I think with the V8 they already have the right one. 

[Stitch4x4]

Hey Spookie

This is my latest addition.

Going to install a leisure battery set up next. 
Then I’m getting a roof tent ready for the next weekend when one is arranged. 

[spookie the aardvark]

3 hours ago, frosty said:

you can never have tooooo many Jeep's. 

totally agree

[spookie the aardvark]

2 hours ago, Stitch4x4 said:

Hi Spookie

Yes you can pick up a lot at the meetings, I hope we have another one really soon. 
All our jeeps are individual I think. 
Yours is coming on well.  
Im putting some flared arches on next and some two inch spacers. 
that should give it a bit more of an aggressive look. 
it’s great fun building it and even more fun when you get them off road. 
if you need any tips just send me a message mate. 
I'm not sure with a two inch lift, but I changed my front prop shaft as I did a 4 inch lift. So might be a good idea to check yours, though I think with the V8 they already have the right one. 

Hi Bob, meeting and chatting to other Jeep owners is always great and there is always lots of advice available bout what works and what doesn't. Its also nice that people dont want newbies to waste money and will tell them if something will just make a jeep worse. That can be priceless

 

Thats the nice thing about modding our jeeps, we all do more less the same thing but in slightly different ways, I think it would be a great shame if we all turned up at an event and all of them looked the same except the colour. Plus there doesnt seem to be a wrong way to mod them - there probably is but I haven't seen it yet

 

I went with 1.5 inch wheel spacers and love the way it looks now so the 2 inch ones you want to fit should look even better, i would guess they are going to push your wheels and tyres out a bit so the flared arches are a good idea, and they always look good as well

I wish I had had the time to do all the work my self but work is kinda getting in the way, but I am having the fun of planning it all even if I do have to get a "compentent adult" to do the work and if I am honest I cant wait to try it all out off road.

 

You can be sure if I need any advice I will give you a shout, the offer is very much appreciated. Plus I cant wait to see yours when it is all done.

 

The one advantage with only doing a 2 inch lift is there are a lot less parts to have to take off and change, just the springs and shocks, but thanks for the heads up on the front prop shaft

Hopefully, depending on covid ect, there will be another event before Christmas or early in the New Year. There seems to be a lot of talk and support for some more events

[spookie the aardvark]

2 hours ago, Stitch4x4 said:

Hey Spookie

This is my latest addition.

Going to install a leisure battery set up next. 
Then I’m getting a roof tent ready for the next weekend when one is arranged. 

 

Loving what you are doing with the boot on your WG, did you build that yourself or get it from one of the other guys on here? I seem to remember a simular set up being sold a few months ago, which ever way it looks outstanding and gives loads more storage room

 

The roof tents are a great idea, Slindon you need a jack hammer to get pegs in the ground, and if your not using the roof to carry anything makes everything so much more simple

[Stitch4x4]

Yes you are right, there is always good advice available from fellow jeepers. 
I bought it off of someone on here who very kindly took it apart and posted it to me. 
I have some further improvements to do to it. 
I hope they arrange another get together very soon. 
keep me posted on your build mate. 
hope to see you soon. 

[spookie the aardvark]

1 hour ago, Stitch4x4 said:

Yes you are right, there is always good advice available from fellow jeepers. 
I bought it off of someone on here who very kindly took it apart and posted it to me. 
I have some further improvements to do to it. 
I hope they arrange another get together very soon. 
keep me posted on your build mate. 
hope to see you soon. 

Same here Bob hope to see you soon and I will update this thread as things get done, and let me know how yours is getting on too

[Stitch4x4]

Will do

[spookie the aardvark]

Following on from a discussion on TazMann's thread (Grand Cherokee WJ - Build) about transfer cases and the different types, I had a crawl under mine yesturday to see what I have got. As can be seen in the photos I have the 247J transfer case, my Jeep being the 4.7 V8 H.O. Overland Grand Cherokee, just as people on the other thread said it would be - nice to know everyone was right Red disk not blue so it is the original transfer case fitted not the MOPAR ???? one.

 

Never knew there different transfer cases or that you could inter change bits from one to another, it's amazing what you can learn on here

 

"Learn one new thing about your Jeep every day"