Rubber boots...no, not the kind for your feet.

When I first removed my transmission for the clutch replacement and conversion, I found this:


The small boot fits directly over the shift tower of the transmission and the large boot bolts to the transmission tunnel above the smaller boot. The third boot, not pictured, is the one seen on top of the other two in plain view from the driver's seat.

The small shift tower boot is readily available from various suppliers, but requires that the shift lever be removed from the shifter shaft that comes out of the housing attached to the transmission. In the picture below, the black shifter, barely visible at the top, would have to be separated from the lower shaft that goes in to the housing.

Initially, I purchased the OEM boot but was unable to remove the shift lever. I suppose I wasn't doing it right, even after reading about how others did it. I tried to stretch the OEM boot over the bottom of the shift lever but ended up splitting it wide open. It was, unfortunately, now useless.

After some pondering, I visited a local tire shop and raided their trash bin. They allowed me to take a punctured inner tube meant for a large truck. Here is my score!

I cut a section out and used a socket and a hammer to punch a perfect little hole for the shifter. The inner tube material was much thicker, yet just as pliable as the OEM material, so I was hoping to stretch this over the shifter handle without it tearing.

I then cut the outer diameter slightly larger than the shifter opening it was meant to cover.

With a little help from a glob of grease, the boot slipped over the shift lever without tearing!

I then fastened the outside edge to the shift tower with a zip tie to seal it and keep it in place.

It looked good until I moved the shift lever. As you can see, an unacceptable gap formed when the shifter was moved in to various gears. This won't keep muddy water out!

To fix the issue, I attempted to simulate an accordion design to give it some room to flex. With an accordion design, I figured that there would be enough give to prevent the hole around the shifter from opening up and letting foreign objects into the shift tower. These are the two peices I used to build the accordion, sticking them together with rubber cement.

I then put some rubber cement on the boot that was already installed...

...and stuck the accordion peice on top of that, ending up with a boot that provided a good seal around the shifter. No muddy water in the transmission now!


With that done, it was on to the next boot that seals the transmission tunnel and keeps debris from slinging up onto the carpet inside. After what I had learned by doing the small boot, I planned on making another accordion-like contraption to aid in keeping a tight seal on the shifter. First, I cut away the ruined boot from it's frame and used the frame as a base for my homebrew boot.

I then made a series of pieces to stick together and form the accordion.

The accordion was then attached to the original frame and bolted to the transmission tunnel to form a water tight seal around the shifter. I don't have a picture of the finished product, but it works great and keeps the carpet dry when I'm wheelin'. Even better, it didn't cost me much at all...if you ignore the torn OEM boot, of course!

Clutch Conversion

The above captures my feelings concerning this whole clutch replacement and conversion thing I decided to embark on recently. The end result is spectacular but the process was frustrating at times. I would love to say that I am a masterful mechanic and this job was child's play (like some of the guys online) but, alas, it was a pain in the ass. Don't get me wrong. I enjoy working on my Jeep, and I enjoyed this job too. I just didn't think it would take so long.

It all started by necessity, as my internal slave cylinder began leaking rather profusely. The clutch and it's components/hydraulics had accumulated just over 100,000 miles since they had been replaced and the clutch chattered consistently. I elected to replace everything since I would have to pull the transmission to fix the slave cylinder anyway.

I thought that it was really stupid to have an internal slave cylinder in the first place. I had read about others converting the internal system to a late model external setup. This made a whole lot more sense to have the hydraulics on the outside and accessible in the event of leakage or premature failure. With the slave on the outside, I would be able to replace it without removing the transmission again. I embarked on my quest for information concerning the conversion.

My parts list consisted of the following (my XJ is a '91):
'94+ AX-15 bellhousing
'94+ AX-15 front bearing retainer and input shaft oil seal
'94+ AX-5 or AX-15 shift fork
'91 Pilot bearing
-Federal Mogul
'91 Flywheel
-www.dial-a-clutch.com P/N LFW193 - LuK
'94+ Pressure plate/clutch disk/throwout bearing kit
-www.dial-a-clutch.com P/N 05-065 - LuK
'91 Master Cylinder
-www.dial-a-clutch.com P/N LMC206 LuK/Raybestos
'94+ Slave cylinder (external)
-www.dial-a-clutch.com P/N LSC309 Luk/Raybestos
Advance Adapters TJ Slave Cylinder Hose Replacement
-P/N 716130TJH
Advance Adapters YJ Master Cylinder Fitting
-P/N 716130
-Plus all of the unknown ancillary BS that always comes with these projects:)

Since I wanted to keep the cost down (best laid plans, of course) I went to the local junkyard to search for the parts I would need to convert my internal slave cylinder to an external type. I was very excited to see a '96 XJ sitting in the yard with the engine missing and the transmission already removed. Without further thought I removed the bellhousing, took the shift fork, and unbolted the front bearing retainer. Unfortunately, the junkyard guys didn't appreciate my removing the front bearing retainer from the transmission...they made me put it back, unless I wanted to buy the whole transmission. Bummer. I was still happy though because I had just scored a bellhousing for twenty bucks and a shift fork for five.

And it begins...

The XJ poised and ready for transmission removal

My victory at the junkyard was short lived. I had removed components from an AX-5, not an AX-15! I had failed to check whether the junkyard XJ was a 4.0L! It was, in fact, a 4 cylinder XJ with it's requisite AX-5 in tow. The bellhousing was useless to me but the shift fork would work just fine. I ended up getting the proper bellhousing from a junkyard in Oregon off of a late model TJ...well they shipped it to me anyway. It was a lot more than twenty bucks. Below is a shot comparing the three bellhousings I came to own.

Shown separately, here is my original AX-15 bellhousing. It is missing the required attachment point for an external setup. Instead, it has a hole where the hydraulic lines for the internal slave cylinder pass through.

Here is the late model AX-15 bellhousing, complete with the studs to mount the external slave cylinder. On the right side of the picture you can see the back side of the stud that holds the shift fork pivot point.

Here is the AX-5 bellhousing...I am still kicking myself over this one. My wife thinks it's funny. I think the quote went something like, "You mean you don't know everything about your Jeep???" (Accompanied by giggling) Very funny...

A hint as to why the junkyard was willing to part with this one!

With the proper bellhousing in hand, I anxiously awaited the arrival of my front bearing retainer. It took me quite a while and a lot of phone calls to find one, but I finally had success with Transmission Rebuild Center of Kent, WA. They shipped out a beautifully reconditioned front bearing retainer, complete with new paint and everything. Very impressive for used parts! It also wasn't cheap. I see a trend developing for this project...moving on. Here is a picture comparing my old bearing retainer and the installed long snouted retainer from TRC.

This is the original slave cylinder which sat on top of the short front bearing retainer. The new throw-out bearing will ride on the long snout to disengage the clutch.

More pictures of the late model front bearing retainer installed


Here, the bellhousing is also installed. Although I don't have a picture of the shift fork and throw-out bearing, the throw-out bearing encircles and slides on the snout of the front bearing retainer and the shift fork spans from the pivot ball on the left, clips on to the throw-out bearing, and continues to the open space on the right where the slave cylinder (not pictured) protrudes into the bellhousing.

With the transmission ready to accept the late model clutch hydraulic system, it was time to replace the flywheel and clutch components. I went with all OEM replacement parts because I don't have substantial engine improvements that would require more clutch clamping force. It turns out that Luk provided the clutch components originally found in the Jeep, so I decided to go with them. I ordered all of my clutch parts, including the master and slave cylinder and flywheel, from dial-a-clutch.com. They had the best prices and free shipping! In the aftermath, I am very happy with the parts that I received. I compared my new LuK parts with the Sachs parts that came out. The difference in material thickness and overall construction was startling. The LuK components looked like they were a lot more heavy duty and the clutch plate 'fingers' were much more stout along their entire length.

While I was doing the clutch work, I got to thinking about the shop that did my clutch over 100,000 miles ago. I didn't know much about my XJ then, and didn't have anywhere to work on it myself anyway. When I got the Jeep back from the shop, it worked well...for about 20,000 miles. The clutch began to chatter badly and continued to work it's way up to unbearable until this clutch job. Something that I learned while researching for this conversion was that a 4.0L flywheel is not supposed to be resurfaced because of it's convex shape. I dug through my receipts and, sure enough, the flywheel was resurfaced on that clutch job long ago. I don't recall whether it was resurfaced at my suggestion (possible) but it irks me, regardless. Here is a shot of the grisly looking flywheel that came out of my tooth chattering XJ. Notice the large amount of burn marks on the surface. Yes, I know how to drive a stick:)

Here is the new one, bolted on and ready to go. Acheiving proper torque on these bolts was a challenge without a partner preventing the motor from turning over. I ended up wedging a long screwdriver between the frame and the teeth of the flywheel. I thought that torque wrench would never click!

Getting closer...the new pilot bearing is installed in the crankshaft and the pressure plate and clutch disk are bolted on and torqued. I love new parts.

With all of that installed, it was time to return the AX-15 to it's rightful place...and off of my garage floor. I removed the transmission and transfer case (and front driveline, but that's a different story!) as a unit with a transmission jack, so I went back to Lew Rents and rented the jack again. Since I am working alone most of the time, this jack was the only way to go!


Just getting the engine and transmission engaged took me a long time. Working alone, with a mirror and a flashlight, I thought I had pretty good alignment with the engine and transmission but it refused to budge the last couple of inches. I finally gave up and went inside to have some dinner and simmer down. When I returned I laid down on my back, looked at it for a moment and gave it a shove...it went right in with very little protest. I didn't even have spinach for dinner. Dumb luck, I guess. With the transmission and engine finally engaged, it was time to bolt it back up. This posed it's own little problem. With the removal, my buddy JD came over and helped me access the two hard to reach E-12 bolts on the top of the bellhousing. He turned the wrench from the shifter hole inside the Jeep while I held the socket and 'wobbly' on the bolt head. Peice of cake. I didn't have the help during re-installation, and didn't grow 10 foot articulating arms in the interim. Another plan of attack was required. Drawing from other experiences I had read about online, I made up a long series of extensions so I wouldn't have to use the 'wobbly'. For those of you who don't know what a 'wobbly' is because I don't know what it's really called, it is at the bottom of the picture below the chain o' extensions.

By using a series of extensions, I was able to make a straight shot to the E-12 bolts from behind the transfer case. Some contend that I should have replaced the E-12 bolts with a regular hex head, but I actually found them to be quite handy. The E-12 socket was easier to keep on the head of the bolt than a regular socket and hex bolt head would have been.

Victory was declared. I now attached the master and slave cylinders to their respective places. I bought separate master and slave cylinders rather than the all-in-one, pre-bled style because I had heard of many instances where the hard plastic hydraulic line would crack and spill the clutch fluid out of the system, rendering the clutch useless in the middle of nowhere. Instead, I called up Advance Adapters and had them send me a steel braided hydraulic line and a YJ master cylinder fitting. Everything went together without drama and it didn't even leak! Advance Adapters rocks, but isn't budget friendly. They sure deliver though, and the brass fittings I received were beautifully made. After bleeding the system, properly on the second try, my son Daniel re-installed the slave cylinder. I got to sit back and take pictures!



The new clutch works beautifully and has been operating for a few months now, trouble free. I'm pretty sure it is due to the work Daniel did at the end. I am happy again, and not nearly as dirty:) The next post will be the shifter boot fiasco, coming soon...

Axle Upgrade

The time had come to do some serious maintenance on my axles. Both of the axle u-joints on my Dana 30 were wasted, the ball-joints were worn, the brake disks were shot, and my passenger side caliper was sticky and barely functioning. My Dana 35 was leaking profusely from the pinion seal. I felt that I had reached a crossroads. I could either sink a bunch of money into my existing axles or upgrade to stronger axles. I was loath to spend any money on the Dana 35. I knew that it was a weak axle to begin with, and I would simply be polishing my turd...I would still have a turd when I was done. My Dana 30 just needed to be upgraded for strength, but I was unhappy with my stock gear ratio on both axles since I was running 31" tires. There was no way I was going to spend the money to regear a Dana 35. The 3.07 gear ratio had to go...cheaply.

After doing some math, I found that the stock axle ratio from the automatic transmission equipped XJ's would work pretty well. The 3.55 gear ratio would put my engine back into it's intended RPM range, and then some. Axles with the 3.55 gear ratio are plentiful in the junkyards so it was just a matter of searching. I had originally intended to find a Dana 44 to put in the rear but the asking prices, both at the junkyard and through private parties, were more than I wanted to spend.

From what I had read, the Chrysler 8.25 29 spline axle found in late model XJ's was very strong and recognized as being able to accommodate 35" tires with a locker. Since that is bigger than I ever intend to go, the Chrysler 8.25 fit the bill and was available at a much lower cost. Soon after making this decision I ran across a 2001 8.25 with 3.55 gears and only 89,000 miles on it. Perfect! I picked up the axle at a junkyard near my house and it was in beautiful condition. It didn't need any work except for a brake line which had been cut during removal. This wasn't an issue since I planned on putting a longer brake line from a mid nineties Dodge Dakota on it anyway.

I was also lucky enough to find a '96 Dana 30 in 3.55 at the same junkyard. This one had about 150,000 miles on it. Although it needed some work, the price was right and would provide the late model axle shafts capable of accommodating the larger 5-760x u-joints that I wanted to use. It also had a lot shallower film of rust than my current axle! Let the games begin!

This is the Dana 30 and Dana 35 that came out. Note the leakage and overall scabby appearance...under the mud!


This is a picture of the 1996 Dana 30 prior to the restoration and rebuild phase.


Here is the 2001 Chrysler 8.25 29 spline...not much restoration to do here!


Here is the new Dana 30 with a few hundred miles on it after the restoration and rebuild. I completely stripped and wire brushed the axle housing, axle shafts, and any other components that would stand up to it. I then painted the axle housing with primer and Rust-Oleum flat black. I decided to use red on the differential cover. I think it looks good with the Warn diff. guard, otherwise the red is too much. I replaced the ball joints on the passenger side, installed higher strength 5-760x u-joints in both axle shafts, and installed Superior axle tube seals to keep the Northwest's mud and water out. It also received a complete brake system replacement with new disks, calipers, and pads. Yes, that is power steering fluid all over everything and yes, it is now fixed:)




The Chrysler 8.25 came out well too. I just painted this axle since it didn't have any rust on it to begin with. It didn't need any work aside from the brake line. I used a mid 90's Dodge Dakota brake line which netted a lot more length than the stock brake line. I also used the springs off of the 2001, which were in much better condition than my old rusty ones, with my Skyjacker add-a-leaf. I had new high strength u-bolts made, purchased a shorter stock driveline from George the Jeep to fit the AX-15/Chryco 8.25 set-up, swapped in my driveline u-joints, and was ready to go! I also left the rear sway bar off to allow for better articulation on the trail. The red differential cover is a bit much but I plan to put a black diff guard on it at some point in the future. This should mute the red nicely so it's not so obnoxious!



The end result is fantastic! On the street the XJ accelerates briskly in town and cruises on the freeway without a need for downshifting, except for mountain pass-type hills. It crawls much slower on the trail and the stronger axles give me peace of mind knowing that they are overbuilt for my 31" tires and open differentials. It also drives as smooth as glass. I feel like I got a new Jeep after the swap!

My XJ's History

I bought my 1991 Jeep Cherokee Laredo XJ in January of 1998 as a replacement for my car that was destroyed in a serious car crash. I would love to say that I knew all of the details about Cherokees when I bought mine, but the truth is that I didn't know very much about them at all. Yes, I knew I wanted the 4.0 liter engine, but I had no idea which axles were offered, what other drive train options were available, or the subtle differences between the model years. My wife liked them a lot and she was actually much of the reason I began looking for one. After seeing a lot of bad examples I just wasn't sold on the idea until I took a trip down to Vancouver, WA.

I was responding to a classified ad from a salvage dealer that specialized in acquiring wrecked XJ's, rebuilding them, and then selling them. I was looking at a different XJ that was advertised in my price range but, after driving it, found that the automatic transmission didn't shift properly and the 4.0L motor was very tired.

When I returned from the test drive I zeroed in on an XJ on the other side of the lot that had caught my eye earlier. It was out of my price range but it was beautiful! The red paint with grey trim really caught my eye, as it was in great shape. The interior was grey and in perfect condition, with the exception of a slightly bent steering wheel and small cracks in the dash under the steering column. It had just under 100,000 miles on the odometer.

It became apparent that this Jeep had been in a frontal collision and the driver had caused the damage to the steering wheel and dash upon impact...ugh. This prompted a check under the front end of the XJ. From the outside it looked pretty good, with some of the body panels showing slightly tighter gaps in some spots and wider gaps in others. A check underneath showed a left lower control arm flange that was tweaked but workable. The right front frame had been straightened and rewelded. I decided I couldn't live without it so I talked the guy down quite a bit and drove the Jeep home.

As I know now, I happened to get a pretty good XJ model. My Cherokee Laredo has the 4.0 liter HO motor (good), AX-15 5 speed manual (good), NP231 transfer case (good), high pinion Dana 30 non disconnecting front axle (good), and the Dana 35 rear axle (bad). Only one 'bad' is pretty good considering I wasn't even looking for most of this stuff. After all, I could have ended up with the Peugeot BA-10/5 transmission or a vacuum disconnect front axle, right?!

Little did I know, this would be the beginning of a long and pleasurable relationship! The Jeep gave us many many trouble free miles and I simply fell in love with the thing! It endured multiple family adventures, mild off-road excursions, and a trip to Michigan and back.

After spending 5 years of it's life in the salted winter roads of Michigan, my good looking Jeep started developing scabby rust on it's entire undercarriage and on some of the body panels. When we moved back to Washington State it was time to provide some much needed maintenance. I had grandiose ideas about lifting it, but knew that the cost would be prohibitive. Did I mention I didn't have much disposable income! All of the springs were sagging and rusty and the shocks weren't doing much damping anymore. They still had the Chrysler factory logo on them in 2004...OEM shocks from 1991! The horror! I looked in to stock replacement suspension parts. It became apparent that this option was also expensive so I began to search for a good deal on a mild lift kit.

One additional reason for lifting it presented itself one sunny afternoon while driving along some forest roads with my daughter Madeline, about 5 years old at the time. We were driving along in Capitol Forest and a conversation similar to this ensued:

I say, "Hey Madeline, look at that road that splits off. I wonder if it goes up to Capitol Peak?"

Madeline says, "There is a big berm in the way Dad."

I say, "I think we can get over it."

Madeline says, "If we try to go over it we'll get stuck and then we'll have to walk. I don't want to walk because it is a LOOONG way home."

I say, "Let's try it. I think we can make it."

(Sound of frame slamming down on berm)

Madeline says, "I knew we would get stuck! You promised we wouldn't get stuck!"

I attempted the shameful recovery process while my daughter blissfully played in the dirt, chased butterflies, pooped in the forest, and occasionally reminded me that she knew we would get stuck, but "that's OK Dad, this is still a lot of fun." I finally realized that I was ill-equipped to rectify my high-centered situation so I called my father-in-law, Gary, to pluck us from the jaws of Capitol Peak. Not very big jaws, mind you, but big enough to snare a stock XJ. Gary came to the rescue and I still haven't lived this one down...probably never will.

After many hours in front of the computer and multiple websites over the course of many weeks I finally stumbled across a screamin' deal at 4wheelparts.com that fit my budget and my near term goal for the Jeep. Amazingly, they were selling a 3" Skyjacker lift kit complete with front coil springs, rear add-a-leafs, extended lower control arms, track bar relocation bracket, and 4 new Hydro 7000 shocks for $320. This included free shipping and no tax with the internet order! I bought it and wrung my hands in anticipation of it's arrival.

I am pretty handy with a wrench and have been working on vehicles of various types for quite a few years. I hadn't worked on suspensions much at all until this project though. The lift installation didn't look too hard but I hadn't factored in the sheer amount of corrosion that I would run into. I figured that it would take two days...it took six. What a pain in the ass. Honestly, I had a great time doing it but quickly tired of breaking off bolts and getting flakes of rust in my eyes and nose. Even with safety glasses it seemed to find it's way into my eyes!

During the course of the lift I had to make multiple trips to the store to purchase new bolts as the originals snapped off...all but two shock mount bolts, track bar bolt, you get the idea. I also broke off one of the sway bar end links which required a run to the junk yard to find a replacement. This is when I found the novelty of the local pick-and-pull junk yard. I had no idea so many people liked to wreck their XJs! I quickly realized that I had stumbled upon a gold mine of available used parts. The Cherokees in the junk yard were, in many ways, in better shape than mine. With nearly 3 million Cherokees manufactured between 1984 and 2001, these things are everywhere in the junk yards! This would continue to come in handy over the course of the next several years. More on that later...

With the lift installed, the Jeep looked great. I still had the 30x9.50 mud tires on it with stock rims, so that looked stupid, but other than that it looked much better. One of my biggest fears was that I would lose ride quality or it would drive funny after lifting it. That quickly disappeared on the first test drive when I found that the Jeep now rode better than it ever had. It handled beautifully and had a nice tight ride without being harsh. Nice job Skyjacker! After about 50 miles I noticed that the steering was acting real funny. Further inspection showed that the track bar relocation bracket appeared to be loose. I checked the torque and it wasn't loose at all. A phone call to 4wheelparts provided a solution. They said that the bracket frequently does this and the best fix is to tack weld it in addition to the bolt. I drove up to their retail location in Tacoma and they tack welded it for free! Problem solved!

I finally scored some 31 x 10.50 Michelin X's from my Dad. I had just purchased Type 62 15"x8" alloy rims from Discount Tire because my stock rims were badly corroded (one even had a small crack developing!). The Michelins were originally off of my Dad's beautiful Jeep CJ-7 and he was generous enough to give them to me. The new rims and tires really filled out the fender wells and made the Jeep look good, aside from providing amazing on-road ride quality. Off-road was a different story. Rocks or dry dirt didn't present too many problems, but the instant moisture was added they failed miserably. Since I live in Washington, the XJ was screaming for mudders. More on that later...

My Dad was also generous enough to buy a K&N FIPK for me when I started towing our travel trailer. I was looking for simple modifications that would allow the engine to breathe a little better, and the K&N intake was the first step in that direction. The intake provides about 7 horsepower (according to K&N). Even better, it makes the 4.0L engine sound bad-ass at wide open throttle! An aftermarket header and Dynomax "cat-back" exhaust system is in the future. One day I noticed that the ol' XJ was starting to leak anti-freeze on the driveway. The anti-freeze was easy to see because the fluid beaded up nicely on the oil slick in my driveway from the various oil leaks from my engine:( The source of the dripping was the water pump. Coolant was leaking out of the little hole on the bottom indicating bearing failure. Great. I limped it along until payday. As I began to look closer at the water pump I noticed that the radiator fins were badly corroded. I ran my finger along some of those fins and they turned to DUST...just disintegrated. After I had a little fun turning 1/3 of my radiator to dust while chuckling to myself, I hit the phone book and started piecing together the parts required to restore the cooling system. The Jeep recieved a complete cooling system makeover for just over $300. While I was doing the work my neighbor, who is a mechanic and owns his own shop, asked me what the heck I was doing to the Jeep this time. I explained and he said, "Why don't you just buy a new car?". I asked him how much his monthly car payment was for both of his brand new Chevy trucks. "I see your point...", he said. The fact is that the Jeep had been largely maintenance free up until this point. I was more than happy to pour some cash into it to keep it going. The brakes would soon wear out...ok, not more than happy to pour some cash into it, but you get the idea.

After nearly wearing out the Michelins I finally broke down and bought a set of BF Goodrich Mud Terrain KM's. Wow what a difference! The on-road ride is good and they aren't noisy at all. Just a soft hum that I rather like! Off-road they are spectacular in mud and rocks. Anybody who has ever owned a set knows what I'm talking about. The only question mark is how many miles I will get out of them. Time will tell! I continued my trips to the junk yard, picking up various parts along the way. I added some extra leaves to the rear spring pack for towing our trailer (I later removed them when we no longer towed with the XJ). I added a temperature sensor, which my XJ was missing from day one. The overhead console was there, but the temperature read-out didn't work. Three bucks at the junk yard fixed that problem. I also picked up a replacement tail light box after some idiot kid clipped my rear bumper and cracked it. Five bucks from an '84 XJ...problem solved. I have replacement headlight bezels and just need a grille to finish replacing the peeling front end...5 bucks each for the bezels and 15 for the grille when one shows up. Everybody seems to smash the front end so it will probably be a while before I find one. While looking for a grille with Madeline, we ran across an XJ with a Yakima gutter mount roof rack on it. It included 4 towers and two cross bars. This set up would cost $200 bucks new...I got it for $16! I have plans for this setup in the near future after I get some new keys from Yakima to unlock the towers.

By far the best score I have had at the junk yard was finding an XJ with the Up Country package on it. These Cherokees came with a factory one inch lift, tow package, and front tow hooks, among other things. Most important to me, the Up Country also had a full complement of skid plates on it. I was able to grab the front skid plate, the fuel tank skid plate, and the transfer case skid plate. They were all in GREAT condition and bolted right up. The fuel tank skid required modification to fit around my Draw-Tite hitch, but the modification was minimal. The front skid covered most of my steering gear and also provided an attachment point for my JKS disconnect storage pins. The transfer case skid leaves a little bit to be desired but, hey, it's better than nothing. The best part? $25 for all of it!! $25!!

I wanted more articulation out of the front end so I began searching for some front swaybar disconnects. The bushings in my stock swaybar end links were completely shot. I am a firm believer in the idea that if you bother to replace something, replace it with something better...if you can afford it, of course. I would kill two birds with one stone by replacing the swaybar links with the disconnecting type. New bushings and the ability to disconnect, all in one. I bought a set of Skyjacker disco's but it became evident that these would be an utter pain in the ass to reconnect on anything but perfectly level ground. They were drilled incorrectly anyway so it provided a great excuse to return them and get what I really wanted, a set of JKS quicker disconnects. Let me just say that as far as manual sway bar disconnects go, these things are awesome. They are so easy to reconnect compared to other styles. They are also fully adjustable so I was able to dial in the correct geometry. My original stock links had been a little too short, so I guess I killed three birds with one stone...not bad!

Every modification is a slippery slope. Upon ordering the JKS quicker disconnects I realized that if the axle will articulate more, then the brake lines will have to be longer lest I pull a brake line out of the caliper and spew brake fluid everywhere...and pick the nearest tree to hit so I can stop. I pulled up some of my favorite websites and quickly discovered that extended steel-braided brake lines for the front end are at least $99 per pair. That wasn't in the budget. I didn't factor this in and now my Jeep is apart with yet another broken link. Yes, the other swaybar end link broke during removal. I wasn't going to replace that one with a junkyard piece just so I could put it back together until I could afford the brake lines. It was time for another plan. With a Google search I discovered more websites with great technical write-ups. MADXJ had already done the homework for me and discovered that brake lines from a '93-'95 Jeep Wrangler YJ were about 3 inches longer but still bolted right up to the XJ brake system. They also had extended metal ends that would protect the lines better than the original XJ brake lines did. I found the brake lines at the local auto parts store for $16 each. Much better than $99! I bolted everything up and am still surprised at the difference this makes in off-road traction.

In order to keep doing this...

...it became necessary to extend the breather tubes from both of my axles and my transfer case. The pictures above were taken in Tahuya State Forest. I extended the breather tubes in preparation for this trip and, upon inspection after the trip, didn't find ANY water in any of the running gear. My buddy Jeff couldn't say the same thing about his 2008 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon (JK). His rear differential was full of water...he extended his shortly thereafter.

Since I was doing a lot more wheelin' with the Jeep I realized that it severely lacked any kind of recovery points. If I did get stuck, I was looking at causing collateral damage during the recovery process. I found some front tow hooks from Rugged Ridge that not only attached to the bumper bolts, but also attached about one foot down the frame rail for added strength. That took care of recovery from the front, while a birthday present in the form of a hitch receiver d-ring took care of a recovery from the rear. Now my friends with winches could pull me out! Also added to the mix was a Hi-Lift Jack and a hefty tow/recovery strap.
This is what the Jeep looks like now. It is far from done...definitely a work in progress. At 202,000 miles it is still running well and will get it's upgrades as the checking account allows. It does pretty good "as is", but there are just a few more things I would like to do!:)