Finishing the Easy Half
[Project | Jeep Cherokee | Part 24]
The previous part of this story can be found here, but if you’re just joining us the beginning is all the way back here if you’d like to catch up.
November 2015 | 181,250 miles
With the rear axle painted it was time to put it back underneath the Cherokee. The suspension I chose to go with consisted of several ARB’s Old Man Emu bits. As it pertains to the rear, Dakar leaf springs (with an integrated helper leaf) and Nitrocharger Sport shocks.
I didn’t have any extreme plans in mind for my Jeep. I wasn’t building a rock crawler. But I also wasn’t building a high school budget shitbox. I wanted to wade into the quality aftermarket parts world, and by all accounts at the time Old Man Emu was hard to beat for expedition-style Cherokees.
I snaked some bolts up into the holes left over by the broken-off studs so I could secure the new shocks. In hindsight I might go back and do something a bit more sturdy, but at the time it seemed like an adequate solution.
The heavier leaf springs should do away with the need for the rear sway bar, which by all accounts is pretty useless on a Cherokee. In fact, earlier trim packages that came with the trailer package or unicorn Dana44 axle didn’t even have them from factory (I’m a little out of date on the specifics here, but you get the idea).
With everything bolted in it looked pretty good, and felt good to be this far along. Still loads to do, but much of it will have to wait until other items are done at a later date. At least it was back on four wheels again…at least for a little while.
