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Bug Out Vehicle Built for Everyday Use.
Bug Out Vehicle Built for Everyday Use.
We here at Prepping 2 Survive have started building a bug out vehicle for everyday use. We wanted to build something that wouldn’t stick out like a sore thumb. It needed to be 4 wheel drive, dependable, be mass produced, and have a strong aftermarket following. After some careful research and planning, we decided to build a Jeep Cherokee. The Cherokee is known overall for being built to last. It does have some weak points depending on what factory options it has, but overall they are close to bullet proof, and those issues are easily addressed. The 4.0L inline six cylinder engines are known for there longevity. 200,000 miles is considered just broken in. The hunt then began to find a clean with NO rust, low mile one. Finding one with low miles wasn’t too hard, but finding one that wasn’t a rust bucket or all beat up was. Jeep stopped making the Cherokee here in the states in 2001. Yes, I know they started making a car under that name again in 2014, but its based off a car and standard equipment is front wheel drive. Not what I would call a truck! Finding a 14 year old or older Cherokee that fit our list proved difficult, but not impossible.
What We Started With…
After a long search, almost 2 years, we finally found what we had been looking for. We purchase a 1998 Jeep Cherokee Sport with 77,000 on the clock and ZERO rust. It was equipped with the 4.0L engine and the Chrysler 8.25 rear axle which is the stronger of the 2 that Jeep offered in this year. It had A/C and cruise, but no other power options. I found this a huge plus. I spent 8 years of my life working as a Chrysler mechanic and now all too well the problems that Cherokee’s have with power window and locks. It usually starts with the wiring harness breaking in the door jamb and goes on from there. We wont have to worry about those problems here.
It just so happened that part of our job was already done for us too. The Cherokee came with an IRON ROCK 3 inch lift already installed and 31/10.5 General Grabber mudders sitting on Rock Crusher rims already installed. The lift kit, rims and tires were new. They only had a hair over 250 miles on them at the time of purchase. The lift kit is not the exact direction we were planning on going for the lift, but it will do the job. It also gave us the ability to upgrade other parts of the build, and come back to the lift we plan to do later.
Lets get started shall we...
The first issue I needed to address was the fact that the oversize tires on the offset rims rubbed the bumper and fenders on turns….BAD. There are 3 solutions to this type of problem. 1. Install smaller tires. (Not an option here) 2. Install a bigger lift kit to clear the tires. (While we do plan on installing a different lift kit later on, It will only be 1 inch more of lift and would not give us the end results we are going for.) Since we are fans of tucking a big tire on a small lift, (It keeps the center of gravity low where you want it to be to keep the vehicle stable.) we went with option 3. Open up the fender well. We needed to make the hole bigger so the bigger tire would fit.
Read the rest at Prepping 2 Survive.com
Look for the next installment soon!
What lift are you planning on going with next?
We will be doing a low budget build on one of these soon. May I contact you for a few questions?
Hey Tin, Feel free. You can contact me though the web site. Thanks!
What lift are you planing on using next?
Sweet, Thanks. Nice looking rig by the way!
I have an 2001 Cherokee Sport. Looking for a few modifications that I can do to it to make it a better BOV without changing the ride height.