PERSONAL BIO
Brian’s Cherokee has grown up a lot since he first started wheeling it. It started with a 4” lift and some 32x11.50 AT tires. Soon it needed another 2” of lift and some fender trimming to fit some 33x12.50 MT tires. The Jeep needed to be built a little stronger now so Brian swapped in a Dana 44 rear axle from an MJ stuffed with a Detroit locker and 4.56 gears. The front Dana 30 got 4.56 gears and some 297 u-joint shafts. Two more inches of lift and some more fender trimming to fit some 35x12.50s soon followed. Feeling that these tires weren’t aggressive enough, Brian decided to pound open the fenders a little more to clear some 36x12.50 Super Swampers on 15x10 beadlocks. The 36’s worked great but when he ran across a good deal on a set of 38” TSLs, he couldn’t pass it up.
Brian installed some Rubicon Express control arm drop brackets to cure the “deathwobble” and loved the flex from the front suspension but was disappointed in the flex of the rear suspension. At the time, Brian was studying (term used very lightly) Mechanical Engineering at the University of Cincinnati. For his senior design project, Brian designed a ¾ elliptic buggy-spring rear suspension. The Jeep flexed great now but the buggy-spring had its problems (mainly axle wrap during hill-climbs). The only cure for this that Brian wanted to consider was a triangulated 3-link coil suspension. Brian, with help from Andy Biggs, Marc Reiter, Brian Sykora, and countless hours from Alan Mcconnaughey, designed and fabricated a long-arm 3-link (triangulated upper link to avoid using a track-bar) coil spring suspension. To keep the unibody from folding up like an accordion, Brian welded in a ¼” wall 4x4 tube between the framerails just behind the front seats. By cutting out the floorboard and removing the backseat and raising the floorboard to the top of this 4x4, it gave plenty of room to mount the control arms to the 4x4 for better suspension angles. To match the rear, Brian installed an off-the-shelf Rockrawler long-arm up front. He’s not impressed at all with this kit and plans on building a custom long-arm for the front. Brian needed axles for his rig and found some that fit the bill perfectly. See to the right for details. The Jeep flexes great and the coils in the rear really helped the on-road ride of the XJ but it is much happier riding to and from the trails on the trailer behind Brian’s baby… a Black 98 Dodge Ram 2500 Quad Cab 4x4 Cummins Turbo Diesel (loaded (leather, power everything, sunroof, Infinity sound), #10 fuel-plate (full-forward), 3K GSK, 370 injectors, BHAF, 4” straight-piped exhaust, 16cm^2 turbine housing, H20/Methanol injection, CIPA extendable towing mirrors, EGT and boost gauges, Cobra CB). It doesn’t have any problems pulling the XJ around. ? Future plans include a roll-cage and build-up of the “Toy”… a recently purchased 85 CJ-7.
| Name: | Brian Watson |
| Hometown: | Shreveport, LA |
| Now Lives: | Cincinnati, OH |
| Vehicle: | 1993 Jeep Cherokee Sport |
| 4.0 inline 6 cyl, auto tranny | |
| Rusty's airtube, K&N filter & throttle body spacer | |
| 10 inches of lift and lots of trimming | |
| 38" grooved TSLs on 15x10 Allied Beadlocks (for the trail) | |
| " BFGs on sweet gold aluminum rims (for the street) | |
| 3-link long-arms front | |
| Adjustable coil over spacers up front | |
| Custom triangulated 4-link coiled rear | |
| JB Conversions SYE, Tom Woods d-shaft | |
| Front high pinion Dana 44, 4.56 gears, Detroit locker, Warn alloy shafts, CTM u-joints, flat-top knuckles with high-steer arms, superwinch lockout hubs, custom 1.25" tie-rod, drank-link, track-bar (all heims), 1/2-ton Ford/GM disc brakes | |
| Rear high pinion Dana 44, 4.56 gears, Detroit locker, Full-floater with Summers Brother's alloy shafts, Poison Spider 4-link diff guard, 1/2-ton GM disc brakes. | |
| ORGS steering box frame plates | |
| Warn 9.5TI winch on custom winch tray | |
| Rear swing-out tire carrier | |
| and a few scratches in the paint |
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