Transplant Patient - 1996 Jeep Cherokee XJ

“Jeep JK’s have great brakes and 30-spline axles,” says Faustmann. “It seemed like a great idea to upgrade the Cherokee with many of these spare OE JK parts that are inexpensive and readily available.” Aside from the JK axle housing that has some potential problems, the Cherokee uses JK axle internals in a new Dynatrac Pro-Rock 44 front housing. The Dynatrac JK axle housing is five inches wider than the stock XJ unit and can be ordered bare so that the new perches and shock mounts can be welded on separately to accommodate the XJ suspension components.

With the leaf springs and factory coils gone, Faustmann used a Rock Krawler tri-link front kit and adapted the control arms to the Cherokee’s frame with some new mounts. At the rear, the Cherokee uses a factory JK axle that’s been upgraded with Superior Axle’s new Evo Shafts and 5:38 gears, as well as an ARB Air Locker and Dynatrac cast iron cover. The factory transfer case was also dumped for an Atlas II unit, which gives the vehicle a 4.3:1 ratio for superior crawling abilities and added strength.

To keep the interior clean and useable for passengers, items like a Hi-Lift jack and spare tire are mounted on a Gobi roof rack that has a set of KC HiLites off-road lights mounted to it that illuminate the trail once it gets dark.

Faustamnn has had his Cherokee at various events and has unintentionally sparked a renewed interest with other XJ owners who want to make these modifications on their Jeeps. “Now that people know they can easily adapt JK components to the XJ, we’ve seen more people doing it successfully,” says Faustmann. With an abundance of factory JK parts available, you can expect to see more XJ’s back on the trail using some of these components. So, if you know any JK owners who are upgrading their axles with aftermarket components, you’d be wise to offer to remove their old parts from their garage.