OG build (pic heavy)

Rockchucker

New member
Snagged a 93 Grand (the original) for a decent price. Plan is to turn it into a capable family adventure vehicle on a budget. Hopefully I'll keep this thread updated as an ongoing thing.

1993 Grand cherokee with 240km, bought off second owner who had owned since '99, dealer maintained with every service receipt since it was new. Interior is 10/10, exterior is 9/10 minus a little rust problem...

The day it we picked it

r2vhlO5.jpg


As it sits today

FIT3Mkr.jpg


The plastic running boards did a great job of hiding the rust underneath, When I was loading it on the trailer one of the ramps fell off resulting in the loss of a running board exposing a rotten rocker panel. The previous owner looked like he was going to cry when this happened, he didnt know what my plans were...

In the garage and ready for surgery

mOgI5wd.jpg


Too much rust!

p2Ea7C7.jpg


smeOUzQ.jpg


0v8Auxz.jpg


74kLgs4.jpg


Too much of this!

XDDQ9RR.jpg


aOpFt8h.jpg


All gone!

wTEpvQ0.jpg


AVXYO4e.jpg


Cut and fold rear fenders. Drilled holes for spot welds before cutting

EENVbH3.jpg


Cut depth marked

Thn8d9X.jpg


Cut and fold!

Vjk9l1R.jpg


2x6 rockers

KfRHRwS.jpg


f2XmOYp.jpg


HNCSFPA.jpg


qrgElsO.jpg


5eInyQD.jpg


Prepped

BdO6Cco.jpg
 
Last edited:

Rockchucker

New member
Picked up a parts vehicle that came with these and had them blasted

LiW4vMl.jpg


Painted grey

XMMbYRj.jpg


Didnt like the grey and stripped after tires were mounted

EOs90p8.jpg


Suspension is T bird coils with zj front to rear swap. bird coils on right, zj coils on left

0J14bVp.jpg


Coil adapter buckets

mqQISkU.jpg


t9TFxaF.jpg


M8Y6DoX.jpg


GVpKL0S.jpg


97uf1Sj.jpg


t02BhT9.jpg


9b0P1kn.jpg
 

Dan Grec

Expedition Leader
Wow, really nice work - your fab skills make me insanely jealous!

Is that a V8 & Auto?
I don't know much about the OG Grands.

I'm looking forward to seeing more of this.

-Dan
 

Smileyshaun

Observer
great rig , miss mine because the ride was so forgiving and gravel road potholes where hardly felt with the suspension just soaking up the bumps .
 

BigDaveZJ

Adventurer
Love a good ZJ build. One of the best looking front bumpers I've seen on a ZJ too. With that much rust, what kind of shape are your unibody side control arm mounts in? They are prone to cracking and ripping off even on a rust free vehicle.
 

Rockchucker

New member
Thanks for the positive feedback. We put another 60km of gravel road under it yesterday. Definitely need to redo the exhaust now.

Its a 93 with a 4.0, which means there was a chance it had the aw4 transmission but unfortunately it doesnt, it has the other auto. I have an ax15 stuffed in the corner of my garage along with a 1.9tdi and the adapter to bolt both of them together. There is a small chance that combo will make it into this jeep but probably not. Maybe.

The ride quality is vastly superior to my one ton dodge or my 2 door jk. Some wheel base and coils on all four corners are neat for a jeep like this. I built an xj years ago, they have the same front suspension set up but leaf springs in the rear and it was wonderfully stable, permanently removed front sway bar with no ill effect. I removed the sway bar on the zj and there is more body roll than the xj for sure. I thought the increased spring rate of the tbird coils and good gas shocks might mitigate more of the body roll than it did. Might try playing with removing the rear sway bar and putting the front back on. Its not that bad though, havent had a sway bar on the one ton for 5 years now and wont be putting one back on. Made a world of difference.

That old xj made me a unibody (and dana 30) believer lol. I wheeled the ever living snot out of that old xj and it never let me down. locked front and rear on 33s. Between the xj and zj I did an second gen 4runner... my brother owns that pos now.

This zj had a ziebart tidy car package so the body is very nice, unfortunately those plastic running boards trapped moisture and destroyed the rockers. Underneath has an excessive amount of undercoating and looks like new. I never had any issues with control arm mounts on the xj and dont anticipate there being problems on the zj. If something happens it will mean a custom 3 link that does away with the factory stuff all together. Ive never seen a problem with CA mounts in person, havent heard of it either, but if its metal and it breaks it can be fixed. I'll keep an eye on them dave. PS control arms are usually upper and lower. Side control is for grappling.

Heres the ol xj. Its long gone now...
693VHO8.jpg
 
Last edited:

Smileyshaun

Observer
I would just slap a swaybar quick disconnect on there, I had a Rubicon express one on my ZJ and it worked great Actually the whole suspension worked flawlessly and with only 3 inches of lift it kept everything real happy with that short arm suspension.
 

Rockchucker

New member
Thanks Shaun, thats exactly what I will do.

DONE the RTT rack and posted it up in the rtt area. This is easily the best addition to the rig, but there are always selectable lockers.


ced9pMV.jpg


1sFDbwF.jpg


HsF2gc8.jpg
 
Last edited:

BigDaveZJ

Adventurer
I never had any issues with control arm mounts on the xj and dont anticipate there being problems on the zj. If something happens it will mean a custom 3 link that does away with the factory stuff all together. Ive never seen a problem with CA mounts in person, havent heard of it either, but if its metal and it breaks it can be fixed. I'll keep an eye on them dave.

I ripped 3 of the 4 UCA mounts off my ZJ before going to long arms, and my ZJ is still rust free 15 years after ripping them off so rust is definitely not to blame. You can repair the mounts, but they usually just crack again. I put Clayton's Long Arms on my ZJ back in '06 and haven't had any issues since.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
185,529
Messages
2,875,557
Members
224,922
Latest member
Randy Towles
Top