What is the most important

What type of small things can I do to get my xj ready. When I get my long arm kit I plan on welding the insides of my upper and lower control arm brackets on the axle and welding some reinforcment plates on them. What about under armer what is the most important that I should buy first? What are unibody tie in brackets? Is it complicated to put the RC long arm kit on if I get those unibody strengtheners?

If your goin for Long arms I'd go with a kit that mounts to an included belly pan that way you gain more clearance and have all th protection of a belly pan http://www.jeepinoutfitters.com/scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=705

1. Rethink the RC long arm kit if you wheel your rig.
- Poor ground clearance (low hanging CA brackets)
- Exposed tranny mount nuts (poor design)
- Drops drivetrain 1" (no point for this if you have an SYE)

2. Weld the insides of the axleside stock LCA brackets and weld a piece of 3/16" to the front of it as a skid/gusset to tie the sides together.

3. Reinforce the pass side UCA mount by plating the front of it, thereby tying the two sides together. They have a tendency to fold/rip off when subjected to the binding of a radius arm kit.

4. If you plan to wheel hard, and move up in tire size (looks like you're on 33s?) then definitely start looking into plating the unibody. I'd buy the whole set of HD Offroad stiffeners (front to back) and consider plating the floor where the front/rear leaf spring mounts are with 1/8 - 3/16". Whoever you purchase your long arm kit from, make sure you tell them you've done this.

5. You should be covering your gas tank, t-case, and have rocker protection at this point. Stock is ok for grazing over rocks, but any hard hits require more beef to be able to last.

6. Have you addressed your steering? With increased flex comes increased stress on the steering components. Please don't tell me you have stock steering and it's "working fine".

Again, this all assumes you wheel at all. I don't know if you just want a better ride on the street or not, at which point I would tell you to just get drop brackets and be done with it.

I already have the RC long arm coming. I'm still brand new to the off roading. All the RC stuff is cheap so I can build a decent learning Rig. I have a 99 xj that has Dana 44 in the back. Everything is stock right now on it I plan on building that jeep up slowly with higher end parts. Right now I'm just builing me a learning rig to get experiance. I want toughen it up. Thanks for that write up, I'm going weld all those brackets up like u said. What should I do to beef up my steering I have kinda researched it but there is alot out there. Also can u explain what the RC lon arm kit does that lowers my drivetrain 1 inch?