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When the idea was struck to undertake a project vehicle on a limited budget the first thing to do was set a budget. Various figures were tossed into the mix but basically as we initially planned to buy some items second-hand we set a budget of $1,300 for the suspension and $1,000 for tyres along with a further $1,000 allocated for a winch bumper. There were other items required such as snorkel, fire extinguisher and first aid kit which meant if we were to keep the project as a budget build we needed to keep costs to $8,000 including buying the vehicle - thus Project 8K was born. This then gave a purchase price of around $2,000-$3,000 for the vehicle and we quickly realised you don’t get much for your money, especially if looking to purchase some of the more popular Toyotas or Nissans. After a few months of toing and froing we began to sway towards the iconic 4WD, the Jeep Cherokee XJ. These have a basic and reliable American 4- litre straight 6-cylinder engine which is almost indestructible and at the time Japanese imports of these were flooding the market and the prices were very attractive, especially with our limited budget. Mechanically these Jeeps are almost bulletproof and being of light weight monocoque construction (no separate chassis) they had a very good power-to-weight ratio. The station wagon type body is compact yet large enough for the intended use and they perform surprising well off-road with leaf springs in the rear and coils in the front. They only negative for the Cherokee was be the perceived lack of suitable secondhand accessories on the market. We eventually settled on a 1995 Jeep Cherokee Sport with 214,000 km on the clock, immediately knocking $2,500 out of the budget. It was a Japanese import with driver’s airbag and had been in NZ since 1998. It had the advantage of having a swing away spare wheel carrier on the rear bumper freeing up precious cargo space inside and came with a stereo and CD player and a removable hitch tow bar that can take the Warn recovery hitch we had from an earlier vehicle. Outside there were patches of paint fading, not uncommon with Japanese imports, and the tyres still had plenty of life but were only road biased radials. The engine ran very sweetly and the gearbox changed well without hesitation but there was some movement in the rear which we thought was just worn bushes that would be replaced with the upgraded suspension. The Cherokee even has a power switch which electronically resets the automatic gearbox to a power mode, holding gears longer, or a comfort mode which makes driving more pleasurable and economical. The plan was to upgrade the suspension with a 50 mm lift, fit mud terrain tyres, a bull bar with winch, and a snorkel. We already had a second hand Warn XD9000i winch sitting in the garage so it would be fitted. Having purchased the vehicle the budget was confirmed as $8,000 made up as follows: Total cost $8,000
At the time we were looking GT Radials introduced a new tyre onto the market, the Adventuro, and pricing was pretty sharp for a new tyre at around $250-$270 retail each. The Adventuro was probably a little more aggressive mud tyre than your normal mud terrain radial tyre but the price was certainly attractive even if it did exceed the budget. We managed to get some cheap second-hand rims for a net cost of $20 after selling off the tyres that were on the rims at the time. It was then off to Mullin’s Tyres in Avondale to get the Adventuros fitted with tubes. Total cost was $1,425, taking a rather bigger chunk out of the budget than planned but it was beneficial as buying second-hand mud tyres for off-road is really false economy. The tread on a mud terrain tyre is at its best when new and by the time it is at 60 percent it is well used in terms of mud tyres. Yes, there is still plenty of tread but in off-road situations any tyre 40-50 percent worn is getting past its best. Suspension. This is another item you can’t really consider second-hand when setting up a vehicle. Shocks tend to need replacing every 40-60,000 km if you listen to the experts and springs also sag after a while so in the interests of getting the best for our budget we looked at new. As mentioned Project 8K is of monocoque construction (no separate chassis) with leaf springs in the rear and coils at the front with anti-sway bar so to achieve a goal of a 50 mm lift you can go about it in three ways - add a leaf and packers, extend spring hangers at the rear and packers, or replace springs and shocks. Another alternative is a combination of all three depending on how big a lift is required. One of the largest networks for suspension packages for most vehicles is the ARB Old Man Emu suspension kits. The biggest lift they had for a Cherokee was listed as 40 mm and they had the option of light or medium load for the rear springs and also heavier options for the front which we would require since we had added extra weight at the front in the form of the steel winch bumper and Warn winch. This still wouldn’t be enough of a lift for our purposes but Richard Brooks of Auckland 4x4, the Auckland ARB agent, has upgraded a few Jeep Cherokees over the years including his own one two or three years ago. Richard advised that the standard OME kit would need tweaking to achieve the sort of lift and ride we required, especially with the 31 inch tyres we had fitted. This is done by adding an extra leaf into the rear leafs and replacing the front springs with longer coils originally meant for the Grand Cherokee. Options also available from OME are new u-bolts for mounting the rear springs and a gear box spacer kit which lowers the gearbox and its cross member to take out vibrations that may occur with a suspension lift. This spacer kit is recommended because Jeeps have a fixed rear output shaft as opposed to a flange and universal joint found on most other vehicles. We should note that even though this was suggested to us by Richard from his past experience it needs to be said that this combination is not normally recommended by ARB and therefore may not necessarily be covered under warranty. The cost of the OME suspension upgrade together with the optional u-bolts and spacer kit was $1,760, considerably more than the $1,300 we had budgeted for. Broken down is was springs $837, shock absorbers $776, u-bolts and gearbox spacer kit $147. We also fitted new genuine rubber suspension bushes into the new rear springs.
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While doing the suspension we fitted a pair of Rugged Ridge JKS sway bar disconnects from Greg Hopkins at Off Road Specialities in Whangarei. At $310 these weren’t part of the initial plan of upgrades nor were they within the budget but they were needed to get the full articulation and benefit from the new suspension. Winch and bumper. For months we kept a lookout for a second-hand winch bumper for the Cherokee, or even something we could have modified to suit. We have always liked the style of the ARB bar but at $1,680 it was definitely outside our budget so we looked at getting something done as a “one-off” for Project 8K. Whatever we did it had to be able to take the Warn XD9000i winch we had sitting in the shed left over from a previous project. Our own skills certainly weren’t up to making a bumper so we approached Performance Metal Works in Silverdale. We took the Cherokee over to them along with the winch for them to have a look and see what they could do within our budget of $1,000. The difficulty with the Cherokee is that it doesn’t have a separate chassis to bolt a winch bar directly onto so special attention is required to ensure the mountings are strong and secure enough for off-road recovery. Warren and Jono took the time to discuss our requirements and made suggestions of their own and felt that they could make something that was suitable within our budget. The end result was amazing to say the least. The winch mount was made up first and then the ends of the bumper to finish it off. Extra strength was added to accommodate the recovery hooks on top so that we wouldn’t have to go searching under the vehicle to hook up a rope and they made two small pedestals either side to mount the spotlights. All within our budget of $1,000. We gave the winch a service and also replaced the power leads with heavy duty ones made from welding cable. The winch solenoids and electrical connections were given a spray with CRC Soft Seal to keep moisture out on reassembly. We stayed with the standard hawse for the winch rather than the roller fairlead as this would have impacted on the approach angle. Snorkel. Most people tend to think a snorkel is only required if you plan to do deep water crossings but it actually delivers a lot more benefits. A snorkel takes the air from outside the engine bay and higher up where it is cooler providing better engine performance. As the air is cleaner higher up a snorkel provides additional benefits in dusty driving conditions by reducing the amount of dust that clogs up the air filter and of course has the benefits of being able to go wading without the risk of the engine sucking in water. We had checked out the prices for snorkels from various suppliers that ranged from $350 to $750 and had also considered a DIY “one off” made up from steel tubing. Making your own has advantages and disadvantages depending on what materials you may have to hand but many home-made “one off” snorkels look cheap and don’t enhance the vehicle’s looks like a polyethylene (plastic) one. We managed to find one online from an internet retailer 4x4 Accessories in Christchurch (formerly Delta 4x4) for $349, well within our budget. It was the Gibson Airflow brand which is produced in Australia and fitting was relatively straight forward as long as you took your time and fully read the instructions. Miscellaneous. Rubber floor mats (deep dish type) were also fitted to keep muddy boots off the carpet. We also added a St John first aid kit and a 2 kg fire extinguisher. Due to its larger size we took our time before finally deciding on where to permanently mount the extinguisher and in the end settled on the left rear of the load bay. To securely mount it we had to add a steel plate behind the plastic trim panel and then it was bolted through the trim to the steel plate. The other item we fitted was an accessory plug in the rear to allow items such as a fridge to be used without surplus cables and leads running through the vehicle. This is permanently live and is mounted high up out of the way so the plug doesn’t get knocked by equipment carried in the rear. The few accessories fitted have transformed the vehicle into a very capable off-road vehicle that has certainly exceeded all expectations. The Jeep Cherokee was a good basis to start with and while we had ideas of using second-hand items we found there was a limited market in good second-hand items and that buying new was better long term. By buying new we managed to slightly exceed the budget, but then we also fitted the sway bar disconnects which weren’t in the budget originally and actually cost more than the amount we over-spent. We have now covered over 22,000 km during the two years since we started and have been very pleased with the reliability and performance over that time. We have only had one “break-down” when the crankcase sensor gave some grief but once the engine had cooled we were on our way again and the offending item was quickly replaced. Spend to date Actual Budget Vehicle $2,500 $2,500 Maintenance and contingency $1,000 Total $8,175 $8,000
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