The 4.0 straight six is a great engine. Reliable ,not horrible on gas mileage and makes plenty of torque for a heavily geared rock crawler. The only engine i would replace a 4.0 in a jeep is with a four cylinder diesel like the 4bt 3.9 Cummins. I look forward to future videos on the completion of the cage, especially the hard to weld sections on the back side of the pipes against the body. I remember how much of a pain in the butt it was on my cage. Your rims look awesome.
I’m a disabled Army vet kinda struggling to get by right now. I will definitely become a patron member as soon as I get back on my feet. My last surgery for my knee replacement is on Aug 4 probably hopefully be back to work by September 15. Then I will definitely become a member. I really appreciate all your videos and am building a 98 Cherokee xj clasic so yes they are so very helpful. This is my 5th Jeep. Hope to get back at it in September. Take care
I've watched many of your vids but this one is the first i've seen with this particular jeep... Just wanted to say this thing is looking Tuff! The front end bar work is some of the best i've ever seen. Can't wait till it's done!
This build is looking great. I really like all the fab you have done so far and am looking forward to see the finished product. For a while now i've had a vision of building a full tube crawler with XJ specs. This is very similar to what i would like to build and has given me lot's of ideas.
all I did the first 4 minutes of the video was stare at the notch and bend on the short piece of tubing in front of the hood and think how long it would've taken to do that steep notch. awesome job!
I know you're probably not concerned with this but I think a good finishing touch would be a custom headliner from an older model Cherokee(no speaker bar) I'm very impressed with all of your work. Not just the scorpion. Bleepinjeep is destined to have its own TV show in the near future. Maybe something like a Netflix original series. Would be huge! Keep it up!
I love this build. Keep it up! I was hoping yall would do a video of the different systems and how they work just like the one you did on the cooling system. Idk i just loved that video thanks!
I know you have a lot of work yet to do ,but 4 wheel steer would be killer!!!! . great job and very brave those kinds of modifications are not for the weak hearted ,Cant wait for more.
+BleepinJeep Well....I don't travel much and can only vote on what I've seen around here! Probably Hafta have ton running gear to be Pirate 4*4 material worthy though. ;)
Before you make that drive train permanent, consider the 5.2 or 5.9 out of a grand Cherokee, Durango, or Dakota. You can get it all pretty cheap at a pick n pull half off sale which usually occurs on holiday weekends. And you can pull matching transmission, T case, and engine... Just a thought.
HA! Maybe some day I could become a partner! I have a Jeep Liberty CRD I hope to tear into this summer, but we'll see. I have some other things to wrap up first, and I need to hone my fab skills too. You know you have my support on keeping the 4.0L ;) Love the wheels.
Matt - I think it would look cool if you could trim down the front fenders to make an insert to fit inside the cage just rear of the front tires. Looks great so far. Nice job :)
Hey Matt, have you thought about constructing a scorpion tail/stinger coming from the rear and curling over pointing toward the front end, possibly constructed with bent/cut and welded tube?? Or perhaps constructed with a material more light weight? @therealbleepinjeep I think it would look badass if it could be done without causing too much weight and center of gravity issues, that would limit the scorpion crawlers handling and off-road/trail capabilities, just a idea though. Keep up the awesome work this jeeps coming together beautifully!
Please wear a full face shield when grinding, I have seen enough safety videos of people that weren't wearing a face shield , I love your work on this jeep! Great exocage!
Hey, I like your bend tuber. Dont want to go thrue all comments. What bender and followers do you use and what tube size do you use. Plz send me links if you have where to buy. Thank you....
Love the project Matt! Keeping tubes tight to the lines of a Cherokee is no easy task and you have absolutely knocked it out of the park! By far the best looking CheroBuggy I've seen yet. Do you have plans to have it finished for Dixie Run this year? And, I know you don't have a rig right now but will you be coming to TrailFest in April?
You should see if you can find pod lights that would fit into the corners of the front of the roll cage just to look like eyes. I don't know about you but I think it would be badass
enter the jeep in top truck challenge 2016 or 2017 if you can get it finished in time! That would be awesome you dont see many jeep crawlers. Looks really good i have an 84 jeep cherokee 4.5 inch lift 5 spd manual tranny. And i want to do something similair to this, good videos!
I don't know if it has already been figured out but for the rear seat, a wrangler (tj) rear seat should fit well.. I think some of the older models had narrow ones as well. but depending on placement that could be a great option. unless you want 2 separate captains chairs...
I've broken 35 spline 4340 rear full float shafts with my 4.0 and hard old 39.5 tsls. My prediction is you are going to go through some serious growing pains with that XJ 44 rear. Maybe look into putting a Jantz Dana 50 ring gear kit and 35 spline shafts if you're dead set keeping it.
so is your plan just keep it light as possible and keep your right foot out of it as much as possible? i think the axles will hold up for awhile if you do. soon as you start bouncing rocks off the rev limiter is when they break lol
Just curious why not start with a Grand Cherokee ZJ rather than put all that work into doing coil over conversion for the rear? Where I live XJ's are big $$$ just because they're XJ but I'm looking to build a ZJ instead. Please lemme know your thoughts. Awesome vid Matt!
are you leaving the motor and tranny completely stock ? with the added weight of the rig your going to be working that motor pretty hard I would at least put a good intake and a performance exhaust on it to it can breath with the extra hard working its going to do. that ads a little power, gas millage and it's cheap too. I would tie in a roof rack to the exo cage as well up on top for extra gas cans , tires and maybe a air compressor. good luck with the build can't wait to see that on the trail.
+ostynn cotton That's what gearing the axle's down is for. Is a trail only rig so he can run pretty high ratio's in the axles. Roof racks usually add weight pretty high up, then adding a 39.5 tire and other things can make it a little more top heavy as well. They look nice but not really good for a true trail rig. Compressor can be built in or even use the old AC as an air compressor with tanks hidden somewhere.
have you thought about dimple die gusseting?its light and yet strong.mainly in the corners,especially in the cab area. if yeah have good onya.seen every vid ya hav made.yer doin dam fine job.
What do you estimate the cost of the tubing has been, so far? inline 6: it'll be more than fine with all the chopping. Just removing the tail gate is such a weight loss! Sound system: hope this one doesn't jam the CD in. ;) Shop: count your blessings, I'm working out of a 2 car garage with 2 XJs and a Kia in it. :)
I just got a jeep yesterday it's a 1989 jeep Cherokee XJ for $1,200 I'm fairly new to this jeep thing but my dads going to help me out on this . I would like to make videos with you guys as well. Names Mark from California
Hey Matt. What are the plans for the engine. I know you've probably said but I didn't catch it. Stock or modified? I have an 87 Comanche and I can't make up my mind to do a swap or gear it.
Some channels make garbage videos and have lots of views, you make great videos and have relatively few. I wonder if it's because you specifically target "jeeps" instead of off roading/welding/fabbing/etc in general? I don't own a jeep, yet I still watch your videos - at least the non jeep specific ones.
Who ended up tuning the ORI’s on scorpion and do you recall the pressures for the upper and lowers that finally worked best? Also what anti rock did you use on the rear? I have an XJ on 04 super duty tons with 14” ori fronts and 16” rears and suffer from body roll currently and haven’t been able to tune the struts properly yet. Any help would be appreciated.
hey you could buy some lexan make a mold shape that you like out of wood pop it in a microwave and it should take the shape of your mold witch then you would have costom 1 off lights just thought I would help out awsome vids keep up the good work
This may be a stupid question, but maybe road rules are different in your state- Will the Scorpion be able to be registered and driven on the street, or will you trailer it to the trails?
I see that you're set on D44's and you've been getting a lot of flak on the forums. You might want to check out the Jana K4 setup from Jantz4x4 to get the most strength out of that D44 setup. Gotta buy gears either way. Might as well be able to use the new stronger JK gears. If they had it available when I bought my Dynatrac 44/60 hybrid front I might have gone that route instead. Good Luck with the build.
Just curious. But it looks like you only have maybe 20% of the original vehicle...that being the case why not just fab the whole thing from scratch??? Wouldn't it have been more adaptable if it was 0% purpose built from the beginning???
I think you should get some Adventure tube doors and just make custom door mounts (probably reuse the old door mounts) because you know your going to get sick of crawling over and busting your balls on the cross bar or whatever you want call it. I think it would look good!
I feel like an ass now that I read all the hate on your NAXJA post. Like you said, so what if they break! Then you build it bigger! It's not like this is your daily driver and you need it to get to work on Monday! Wheel the piss out of it!
![[006] Ultimate Showdown - Comanche VS Scorpion w/ @bleepinjeep](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/bjOGogu3a_M/mqdefault.jpg)
that is one of the cleanest looking front ends I've ever seen on an xj
The 4.0 straight six is a great engine. Reliable ,not horrible on gas mileage and makes plenty of torque for a heavily geared rock crawler. The only engine i would replace a 4.0 in a jeep is with a four cylinder diesel like the 4bt 3.9 Cummins. I look forward to future videos on the completion of the cage, especially the hard to weld sections on the back side of the pipes against the body. I remember how much of a pain in the butt it was on my cage. Your rims look awesome.
Moving right along Matt thank you for taking the time to show us your progress! You are a talented fabricator.
+peerless-d6r thanks!
I’m a disabled Army vet kinda struggling to get by right now. I will definitely become a patron member as soon as I get back on my feet. My last surgery for my knee replacement is on Aug 4 probably hopefully be back to work by September 15. Then I will definitely become a member. I really appreciate all your videos and am building a 98 Cherokee xj clasic so yes they are so very helpful. This is my 5th Jeep. Hope to get back at it in September. Take care
I know it's an older video, but this is the one that convinced me to chop my H3 to pieces. Thanks.
I've watched many of your vids but this one is the first i've seen with this particular jeep...
Just wanted to say this thing is looking Tuff! The front end bar work is some of the best i've ever seen. Can't wait till it's done!
awesome video matt. planning on helping support the channel as best i can. by far my favorite parts of the week are watching bleepin jeep videos
Once I get back from Italy I will have to remember to do the patrion thing. Bleepin jeep has helped me plenty of times
Thanks, I appreciate it
This build is looking great. I really like all the fab you have done so far and am looking forward to see the finished product. For a while now i've had a vision of building a full tube crawler with XJ specs. This is very similar to what i would like to build and has given me lot's of ideas.
all I did the first 4 minutes of the video was stare at the notch and bend on the short piece of tubing in front of the hood and think how long it would've taken to do that steep notch. awesome job!
+Jacob Aaron it was a pain, plus it was in a bend which means you cant use the notcher.
Can't wait for the custom dash!
Thank you for taking the time to make the videos. I know it adds a lot of time to the project. The progress is amazing. Keep the updates coming
I know you're probably not concerned with this but I think a good finishing touch would be a custom headliner from an older model Cherokee(no speaker bar) I'm very impressed with all of your work. Not just the scorpion. Bleepinjeep is destined to have its own TV show in the near future. Maybe something like a Netflix original series. Would be huge! Keep it up!
I love this build. Keep it up! I was hoping yall would do a video of the different systems and how they work just like the one you did on the cooling system. Idk i just loved that video thanks!
that front tube work looks bleepin great...well done
That looks awesome. Keep up the good work. Cage looks great for your first one. They are not easy to fab.
front end looks amazing. Is this your first time doing tube framework?
Yep
I know you have a lot of work yet to do ,but 4 wheel steer would be killer!!!! . great job and very brave those kinds of modifications are not for the weak hearted ,Cant wait for more.
I just started watchin today. These videos are really good. keep them coming, love what you do bud.
Those invisible axles are AWESOME!!!!
that is like a dream jeep I would love to build something like that in the future
Looks awesome! Best Cherokee build ever. Keep it up.
Naaaaiiiiiiiice!!!!! Bleepin Jeep, none of the boring stuff ;-)
Nice Wheels Matt. I have the same ones in black with aluminum rings.
Extremely nice work Matt!!! Probably going to be the nicest XJ in the Southeast!!
Only the southeast? Damn!
+BleepinJeep
Well....I don't travel much and can only vote on what I've seen around here! Probably Hafta have ton running gear to be Pirate 4*4 material worthy though. ;)
worthy of the sema show as it sits. would love to do that to my zj.
Amazing jeep, love watching the build
awesome work dude, been binge watching since i got my first XJ in January lol. i love the wheels, wish they came in 15" :(
Before you make that drive train permanent, consider the 5.2 or 5.9 out of a grand Cherokee, Durango, or Dakota. You can get it all pretty cheap at a pick n pull half off sale which usually occurs on holiday weekends. And you can pull matching transmission, T case, and engine... Just a thought.
So dope Matt! I love where this is going love your videos!!! 👍🏻
damn this is one of my favorite builds yet!
HA! Maybe some day I could become a partner! I have a Jeep Liberty CRD I hope to tear into this summer, but we'll see. I have some other things to wrap up first, and I need to hone my fab skills too. You know you have my support on keeping the 4.0L ;) Love the wheels.
Looks Bleepin Good
Matt - I think it would look cool if you could trim down the front fenders to make an insert to fit inside the cage just rear of the front tires. Looks great so far. Nice job :)
I gave them away but I did so too early and I need to find another set
Hey Matt, have you thought about constructing a scorpion tail/stinger coming from the rear and curling over pointing toward the front end, possibly constructed with bent/cut and welded tube?? Or perhaps constructed with a material more light weight? @therealbleepinjeep I think it would look badass if it could be done without causing too much weight and center of gravity issues, that would limit the scorpion crawlers handling and off-road/trail capabilities, just a idea though. Keep up the awesome work this jeeps coming together beautifully!
Please wear a full face shield when grinding, I have seen enough safety videos of people that weren't wearing a face shield , I love your work on this jeep! Great exocage!
kinda reminds me of an axial wraith :) looking super awesome Matt!
Hey, I like your bend tuber. Dont want to go thrue all comments. What bender and followers do you use and what tube size do you use. Plz send me links if you have where to buy. Thank you....
Amazing approach angle @ 8:10
ily, Thanks for the series! I will get a shirt for the rag bin ,.... where they mostly end up anyways.. hahahahhaa
Love the project Matt! Keeping tubes tight to the lines of a Cherokee is no easy task and you have absolutely knocked it out of the park! By far the best looking CheroBuggy I've seen yet. Do you have plans to have it finished for Dixie Run this year? And, I know you don't have a rig right now but will you be coming to TrailFest in April?
Thanks, ya I'll be at both but probably won't have my rig done for trail fest
This is really impressive work. I can't help but wonder how much it costs to transform a Jeep like this.
All I know is it costs over a year of your life, blood, sweat, and tears.
You should see if you can find pod lights that would fit into the corners of the front of the roll cage just to look like eyes. I don't know about you but I think it would be badass
one awsome rig matt, great video godbless
I need more Lincoln . Please make that an intro thing.
greatings from Jeep Club Romania! following your vids for a long time,the rig looks great, I m looking forwoard for the end product!
That looks badass!
enter the jeep in top truck challenge 2016 or 2017 if you can get it finished in time! That would be awesome you dont see many jeep crawlers. Looks really good i have an 84 jeep cherokee 4.5 inch lift 5 spd manual tranny. And i want to do something similair to this, good videos!
why would he do that, so he can destroy his awesome jeep for no reason? Matt probably off roads for fun not for money ..
+John Smith or just repair the damage and that why he's got a rollcage
I don't know if it has already been figured out but for the rear seat, a wrangler (tj) rear seat should fit well.. I think some of the older models had narrow ones as well. but depending on placement that could be a great option. unless you want 2 separate captains chairs...
Hell yea Matt. Awesome brother !!!
Thanks
THanks fellas. you are awesome!
you should do some led's in the triangular bits up front where it looks like headlights would be. That would look super aggressive!
I've broken 35 spline 4340 rear full float shafts with my 4.0 and hard old 39.5 tsls. My prediction is you are going to go through some serious growing pains with that XJ 44 rear. Maybe look into putting a Jantz Dana 50 ring gear kit and 35 spline shafts if you're dead set keeping it.
+gravesdiggerxj I just looked over your thread on NAXJA. I'll post over there.
i ran 38 inch swampers on a 29 spline 8.25 for awhile and a built hp 30 lol it went pretty good i just tried to crawl mostly everything and it did.
looks great, good job!!
so is your plan just keep it light as possible and keep your right foot out of it as much as possible? i think the axles will hold up for awhile if you do. soon as you start bouncing rocks off the rev limiter is when they break lol
Just curious why not start with a Grand Cherokee ZJ rather than put all that work into doing coil over conversion for the rear? Where I live XJ's are big $$$ just because they're XJ but I'm looking to build a ZJ instead. Please lemme know your thoughts. Awesome vid Matt!
بصراحة عمل رائع انت أستاذ تستحق التقدير شكرًا للك
Random idea... some linear led lights along the grill would look pretty awesome
holy cow, that's awesome
Support from KSA
looks awesome as always Matt. Are you going to run an atlas? And those huge wheel wells are begging for some sick rock lights!
No it's a Tera low.
+BleepinJeep oh that's right I watched the vid, my mistake lol
are you leaving the motor and tranny completely stock ? with the added weight of the rig your going to be working that motor pretty hard I would at least put a good intake and a performance exhaust on it to it can breath with the extra hard working its going to do. that ads a little power, gas millage and it's cheap too. I would tie in a roof rack to the exo cage as well up on top for extra gas cans , tires and maybe a air compressor. good luck with the build can't wait to see that on the trail.
+ostynn cotton That's what gearing the axle's down is for. Is a trail only rig so he can run pretty high ratio's in the axles. Roof racks usually add weight pretty high up, then adding a 39.5 tire and other things can make it a little more top heavy as well. They look nice but not really good for a true trail rig. Compressor can be built in or even use the old AC as an air compressor with tanks hidden somewhere.
Hey I've subscribed to both channels and I came from madram 11
have you thought about dimple die gusseting?its light and yet strong.mainly in the corners,especially in the cab area. if yeah have good onya.seen every vid ya hav made.yer doin dam fine job.
I'm looking forward to seeing this trail ready. How long do you think it will take?
Can I ask how much you'll have invested?
Should be done the summer, I don't know the cost
I think it might look really cool to put lights in the spaces in the front exoskeleton. Right between each little bar and the the front bar.
Would be cool but I don't think anything will fit
Oh, forgot: any paint plans? Is that why the exo cacge is tacked, or just for convenience while working, to be fully welded at the end?
What do you estimate the cost of the tubing has been, so far?
inline 6: it'll be more than fine with all the chopping. Just removing the tail gate is such a weight loss!
Sound system: hope this one doesn't jam the CD in. ;)
Shop: count your blessings, I'm working out of a 2 car garage with 2 XJs and a Kia in it. :)
I spent a grand on tubing, probably another grand on other metals.
You should measure your approach and departure angles. I think everyone is curious.
I won't be able to tell until the suspension is in and the axles are set and the ride height
I just got a jeep yesterday it's a 1989 jeep Cherokee XJ for $1,200 I'm fairly new to this jeep thing but my dads going to help me out on this . I would like to make videos with you guys as well. Names Mark from California
Good job
Hey Matt. What are the plans for the engine. I know you've probably said but I didn't catch it. Stock or modified? I have an 87 Comanche and I can't make up my mind to do a swap or gear it.
+Nate Kelly stock
is your beast of a rig going to be road legal? if it is you should definitely look into going on the ultimate adventure. that would be so sick
+MrJewripper no wipers, no headlights, probably not...
Some channels make garbage videos and have lots of views, you make great videos and have relatively few. I wonder if it's because you specifically target "jeeps" instead of off roading/welding/fabbing/etc in general? I don't own a jeep, yet I still watch your videos - at least the non jeep specific ones.
Who ended up tuning the ORI’s on scorpion and do you recall the pressures for the upper and lowers that finally worked best? Also what anti rock did you use on the rear? I have an XJ on 04 super duty tons with 14” ori fronts and 16” rears and suffer from body roll currently and haven’t been able to tune the struts properly yet. Any help would be appreciated.
90psi in lowers and fill uppers to ride height. For me that's about 400 or so. You will still do better with a away bar, this one is a 36" universal.
hey you could buy some lexan make a mold shape that you like out of wood pop it in a microwave and it should take the shape of your mold witch then you would have costom 1 off lights just thought I would help out awsome vids keep up the good work
This may be a stupid question, but maybe road rules are different in your state- Will the Scorpion be able to be registered and driven on the street, or will you trailer it to the trails?
No, it will be trailered.
I would like to see a complete ground up purpose built tube chassy with an LS or even a Cummins in it. With all those same Goodies
How much do you think this whole project will cost you not counting the price of the jeep before the build
that novelty beard is hilarious ...(whisper, whisper), What's that? It's real? Oh. ...ah OK then.
Could do a rear radiator setup to get that bumper in even tighter for a 0 approach angle
Awesomeness!
I see that you're set on D44's and you've been getting a lot of flak on the forums. You might want to check out the Jana K4 setup from Jantz4x4 to get the most strength out of that D44 setup. Gotta buy gears either way. Might as well be able to use the new stronger JK gears. If they had it available when I bought my Dynatrac 44/60 hybrid front I might have gone that route instead. Good Luck with the build.
facebook.com/MadRam11/videos/919771684738366/
This guy is running their stuff in a front 44 too. (probably an older one though)
Everybody should have a darkroom timer in their garage!
+PB Salfen you never know
Just curious. But it looks like you only have maybe 20% of the original vehicle...that being the case why not just fab the whole thing from scratch??? Wouldn't it have been more adaptable if it was 0% purpose built from the beginning???
I am getting a lot of ideas from you
I think you should get some Adventure tube doors and just make custom door mounts (probably reuse the old door mounts) because you know your going to get sick of crawling over and busting your balls on the cross bar or whatever you want call it. I think it would look good!
+Logan Marston I probably will get tired of it but its not about looks... It's all about safety
Any worry of axle durability with 44's and 40's? Rig looks awesome! Keep it up!
+Ronin Off Road yes of course, but thats why I went with huge trusses and lifetime guarantee axles.
I feel like an ass now that I read all the hate on your NAXJA post. Like you said, so what if they break! Then you build it bigger! It's not like this is your daily driver and you need it to get to work on Monday! Wheel the piss out of it!
+Ronin Off Road its cool, I got hate for my D30 on my last crawler and wheeled the snot out of it anyway
First! Amazing work Matt
hey love the channel and swag but I'm a big guy are you going to get the periodic table of jeeps in a size 5x? stay cool.
+Kirk Parkinson sorry, 3x is the biggest I can get.
Any plans for paint yet? I'd fully rhino-line that baby!
+perfect aesthetic protocol ya, black and green
Are you going to close off the openings in the new rock slider?
Yep
Is there any way to number your videos to keep them in an order. I watch two then realized I watch them back words
That fucking thing is dope!
Might be a stupid question, but are those rims offset? If so by how much?
I agree with you keep the 4.0l engine in it
bad focking ass keep up the good work
Awesome
so i was thinking you could take the fins out of the grill and put mesh instead. just an idea.