1997 Jeep Cherokee XJ - Building The Ultimate Cherokee, Part 2

In our first installment, we covered the buildup of our custom Currie Enterprises Dana 44s for our '97 Jeep Cherokee. The axles were built to stock width and loaded with ARB Air Lockers and 4.56:1 gears from Precision Gear. Upon completion, the axles were sent down to Off Road General Store (ORGS) in Laguna Hills, California, to be painted and installed along with the 51/4-inch ORGS suspension system. With some careful fender trimming, this will allow us to mount 33x13.50/15LT Mickey Thompson Baja Claws on 15x8-inch M/T wheels.

Off Road General Store specializes in Cherokee XJs and Grand Cherokee ZJs. After years of hard-core wheeling in these vehicles, ORGS owner Mark Hinkley has discovered a near bulletproof combination of custom and aftermarket parts to make these Jeeps no-compromise 4x4s--incredible trail machines as well as comfortable street machines.

Each part in the ORGS suspension has been extensively tested and selected because it works with the other components in the system. Up front, Hinkley found that Rancho 3.5-inch ZJ Grandy Cherokee coils provide the perfect spring rate (220 in-lb) and lift height when combined with his 1.75-inch billet aluminum coil spacers. Each stock front-suspension arm is replaced with an ORGS arm equipped with Currie Enterprises Johnny joints. The joints can be described as greaseable urethane-encased rod ends. For tracking and steering chores, ORGS uses a Johnny Joint-equipped Panhard rod or track bar that is adjustable.

Since this bar mounted in the stock location, and the stock pitman arm was reused, the steering linkage and track bar can cycle perfectly parallel to each other with very little bumpsteer. For maximum trail articulation, sway-bar disconnects were a must. Eliminating the sway bar altogether is something we've tried and can't recommend for a vehicle seeing street time. And the JKS units, much like ARB Air Lockers, provided the best of both worlds. JKS also supplied the adjustable tie rod and the upper and lower shock mounts that allow the use of normal eyelet-style Rancho RS 9000s.

In the rear, Hinkley used custom leaf-spring packs instead of blocks or an add-a-leaf. After testing five to six different combinations of leaf packs over the years, Hinkley thinks he has come up with the perfect compromise of ride quality and load-carrying ability without the dreaded spring sag. Like the front suspension, ORGS uses Rancho RS 9000 shocks in the rear as well.

With a taller lift on any newer XJ or ZJ, a transfer case short-shaft kit is a must. ORGS recommends the JB Conversions unit for its ultimate durability. This kit provides about four more inches of available driveshaft length, so rear driveline vibrations can be eliminated. JB Conversions also makes a slick two-wheel-drive low-range kit for the NVG family of transfer cases. This allows for the full transfer case reduction without front drive engagement. And speaking of transfer-case gearing, we opted to use 4 To 1 Manufacturing's 4.00:1 gears in our NVG 231. When combined with the 4.56:1 axle gears and automatic transmission's First-gear ratio of 2.90:1 and torque multiplication (approximately 1.90:1), these transfer-case gears should put our crawl ratio near 97:1.

The ORGS 5¼-inch Cherokee front suspension comes with replacement Rancho coils, billet coil spacers, bumpstop extensions, four Johnny Joint control arms, a Johnny Joint adjustable track bar, mini skidplates for lower control arms, a JKS tie rod, JKS sway bar disconnects, and JKS shock mounts.

Next time, we’ll set up the rearend, trim our fenders, and do some serious trail testing. With all these modifications performed on our 1997 XJ, all we’ll need is a winch to make this the ultimate Cherokee.