Well I finally got another Cherokee. Found one on Craig’s list for $700.00 and I talked the lady down to $600.00. I even drove the thing 50 miles back home to Kokomo.
So as of now I am working on tear down. I've ordered a 6.5 long arm lift from Rusty's, a SYE and Tom woods drive shaft, engine & Tranny skid plates, Roll bar, and a super 88 kit to go with the new Ford 8.8 that I picked up on Friday.
Here are the pics that I've taken so far... As of last night I have rear end out rear suspension is out both drive shafts are out, and front end is about half way out. Front bumper, grill, and all fender flares are off. I'm starting a nice little pile of scraps.
2005 TJ - 4" Skyjacker Susp. lift, 1" Body lift, 33" Goodyear MTR's, Badlands custom front and rear bumpers.
Scratches just add character 96 XJ - Parts on order....6.5" Rusty's Long Arm, Dana 30 front, Ford 8.8 rear (sitting in garage waiting to build), Rusty's roll bar, Rusty's engine tranny skids, Super 88 kit.
Front of the Jeep
Drivers side
Close up of fender notice the wheel liner rubbing the tire, that’s for extra traction!!!!
Drivers side
Looks small
This is the good side
Back end
Head liner has got to go…
Can you see the busted windshield?
Was impounded before I got it
Check out the belt on this bad boy and it made it all the way home with out breaking!!!
Engine again
2005 TJ - 4" Skyjacker Susp. lift, 1" Body lift, 33" Goodyear MTR's, Badlands custom front and rear bumpers.
Scratches just add character 96 XJ - Parts on order....6.5" Rusty's Long Arm, Dana 30 front, Ford 8.8 rear (sitting in garage waiting to build), Rusty's roll bar, Rusty's engine tranny skids, Super 88 kit.
Finally in the garage ready to start ripping apart
Bumper and grill off
Front bumper had to be cut off because it was wrecked… not too bad still fix able
Stock ride height at the bottom of the unibody up front… lets see how much it grows
Front corners had to be cut
2005 TJ - 4" Skyjacker Susp. lift, 1" Body lift, 33" Goodyear MTR's, Badlands custom front and rear bumpers.
Scratches just add character 96 XJ - Parts on order....6.5" Rusty's Long Arm, Dana 30 front, Ford 8.8 rear (sitting in garage waiting to build), Rusty's roll bar, Rusty's engine tranny skids, Super 88 kit.
Cutting Emergency break lines was way easier than taking them off
Had to cut rear fender to get to the back bolts on the leaf springs
Rear Axle is out!!!
After the cut of the rear end
Had to borrow this 1500 ft lbs impact to get the front bolts out of the leaf springs, it was a huge beast!!!
Using the air hammer to cut the front shock off
2005 TJ - 4" Skyjacker Susp. lift, 1" Body lift, 33" Goodyear MTR's, Badlands custom front and rear bumpers.
Scratches just add character 96 XJ - Parts on order....6.5" Rusty's Long Arm, Dana 30 front, Ford 8.8 rear (sitting in garage waiting to build), Rusty's roll bar, Rusty's engine tranny skids, Super 88 kit.
So today I didn't get much done, but still progress moving fwd... Kyle and Jim bob came up to Kokomo and helped me pull the front axle out. We ended up cutting the stock control arms off just to make it easier. The new Rusty's 6.5 lift is a long arm kit so I'm not even going to be using the factory control arm mounts. We also took a trip to the local Harbor feight and picked up a transmission jack for $120.00. We got back and found that the bolts on the transfer case linkage were rusted out. Well we decided that I needed to gut the interior before grinding the heads of the bolts off due to the fact that I almost caught the carpet inside on fire from sparks.
Once pulling some more carpet out I made a great discovery... MORE CANCER!!! the floor board at the drivers feet is almost all the way gone!!! but I think it can be patched with some sheet metal... I pulled all the seats and the center console. I also pulled about half of the carpet out before calling it a day.
More pics on the way just getting a little tired... been a good run considering that 2 days ago we drove it. Now it's sitting on jack stands, no axles, no suspension, no front bumper, no grill, so seats, half the carpet out, no wheel flares.... Pretty good for 48 hours I think...
I just looked up I guess I need to update my little saying at the bottom to add the 96 XJ.....
2005 TJ - 4" Skyjacker Susp. lift, 1" Body lift, 33" Goodyear MTR's, Badlands custom front and rear bumpers.
Scratches just add character 96 XJ - Parts on order....6.5" Rusty's Long Arm, Dana 30 front, Ford 8.8 rear (sitting in garage waiting to build), Rusty's roll bar, Rusty's engine tranny skids, Super 88 kit.
Well a lot of work has been done since my last post here is where I am now.
Front and rear axles are both out.
This was taken right after I took the front axle out. When I was in O’Reilly Auto parts picking up my new clutch some idiot walked in with a trac bar as show here in the pic. He didn’t even know what it was but was trying to order one for an 87 Cherokee. Well a new one was $100.00 so I sold him mine for $50! So that brings the cost of the Cherokee down to $550!!!
Again right after pulling the front axle. Sway bar is now gone and you can see the control arms in this pic before I cut the lower mounts off.
Passenger side
Front wheel well drivers side with sway bar gone, and trac bar mount gone. This was a bitch to get off one of the nuts was rounded off so I had to cut it off real pain in the ass!!!
Lower control arm mount at the unibody cut off to make room for the long arms. Still need to do some grinding but they are off. This is the drivers side, can see some cancer also in this pic.
Passenger side, not as clean as the drivers side but again needs more grinding.
Still have to pull the upper arms off also
The interior with all the carpet out you can see a little cancer in the back right corner here
New Ford 8.8 rear axle that I picked up at the junk yard for $300.00, waiting to go to Ft. Wayne to get 4.88 gears and welded up.
Cancer at the drivers floor board
Bolts that hold the 4x4 shifter linkage on are kinda rusty
Some parts pulled off so far
Axles again and more parts pulled
These are the tires that I’m going to run on it!!!
Yeah…. 215/70R15’s!!!! ok maybe those are what I got it with and will be used to get the thing in and out of my garage!!!
Trany & Transfer case out!
Inside, had to pull the shifter
So the top two bolts on the tranny are ETorx and we didn’t realize that until we had already rounded the head off. So this is the idea we came up with. After using my newly purchased Drimal to try to grind the bolt head off from the top side via the engine compartment. And an hour trying to pull the trany and it not going we decided to cut a hole in the floor board and cut some more on the bolt head. This is what is left of it
And finally the new clutch waiting to go in. I have also ordered a new slave cylinder that should be in today.
2005 TJ - 4" Skyjacker Susp. lift, 1" Body lift, 33" Goodyear MTR's, Badlands custom front and rear bumpers.
Scratches just add character 96 XJ - Parts on order....6.5" Rusty's Long Arm, Dana 30 front, Ford 8.8 rear (sitting in garage waiting to build), Rusty's roll bar, Rusty's engine tranny skids, Super 88 kit.
Ok so now it's time to pull the transfer case from the tranny and install the SYE. And I also need to replace the clutch. It didn't look in to bad of shape but better safe than sorry, replace it all now so I don't have to worry about it later!
I also need to call Branik motor sports and talk to them about what all they want me to do to the 8.8 to prep it for them. I want to take that out to them this weekend. Sooner I get that out there and get it going the sooner I can get it back and under the jeep.
2005 TJ - 4" Skyjacker Susp. lift, 1" Body lift, 33" Goodyear MTR's, Badlands custom front and rear bumpers.
Scratches just add character 96 XJ - Parts on order....6.5" Rusty's Long Arm, Dana 30 front, Ford 8.8 rear (sitting in garage waiting to build), Rusty's roll bar, Rusty's engine tranny skids, Super 88 kit.
Looks good! That transmission looks like it was a pain in the ass to get out. So much for cutting a nice clean hole in the floor to re-weld back in. Let me know how the SYE install goes I have never done one. It looks like you have hit the peak and now it is all down hill! Good Work.
Well I tried cutting 3 sides off and bending it back to make it easy to weld back on, but keep haveing to make the hole bigger to get to it...
2005 TJ - 4" Skyjacker Susp. lift, 1" Body lift, 33" Goodyear MTR's, Badlands custom front and rear bumpers.
Scratches just add character 96 XJ - Parts on order....6.5" Rusty's Long Arm, Dana 30 front, Ford 8.8 rear (sitting in garage waiting to build), Rusty's roll bar, Rusty's engine tranny skids, Super 88 kit.
Russ 09/02/2009 01:20 I need to start putting shit extra parts on Craigs list... If you know anyone that needs XJ parts send them my way... I have tons of extra shit to sell... Trying to make my $600.00 back...
Russ 09/02/2009 01:18 Also thought about JEED.... Jeep with a Ford rear end????
Russ 05/02/2009 12:49 Finally got my Cherokee!!! Tear down will start either tonight or tomorrow... pics and a build thread to come...
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but I think it can be patched with some sheet metal... I pulled all the seats and the center console. I also pulled about half of the carpet out before calling it a day. 
