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how would you rebuild your xj?

iroll919

NAXJA Forum User
after having my xj for about 3 years now and doing all the the modifications on a budget in highschool i have decided to rebuild it the right way with some better parts. currently my xj has about 3-4"s of lift in the front composed of 3" sagging RC springs with a 1.75" coil spacer on top. in the rear i am running 4.5" RE leaf springs that are still just as stiff as the day i put them on and are netting me about 6-7"s of lift. over the years i have run rough country shocks"junk" and the cheapest procomps"junk" i could find. i also ran a set of 33" pro comp muds that were also "junk".

some things i did that i actually liked where an sye and new driveshaft,drop brackets, v8 zj tierod upgrade and an adjustable track bar.

ideally when i rebuild my jeep i want to keep it low. what im going to shoot for is a even 3"s of lift and 33s. i want to upgrade my shocks and keep things simple. i want this jeep to handle good on the road again but still be capable offroad.

if you could change some things on your jeep and rebuild it how would you guys do it? i am looking for more ideas to make a real comfortable daily driver again.
 
Rebuild for a daily driver? I stayed at 30" tires, 3.73 gears, LS diffs both ends, and eventually added 2" lift. I'm happy with it. Doing it again, I might go 31" and 4.10s same diffs, same lift.
3", 33s, would be OK. You'll have to fight with yourself about gearing, 4.10 or 4.56. Tough call on 33"s.
For a rebuild, or starting over:
I'm picky about ride. Most of the aftermarket lift coils and leaves have high spring rates and the resulting ride sucks from a stock comparison. Add a leaves out back are worse. So based on that:
Full spring packs in back, OME(my choice), or spend the coin and get Devers or National spring.
Up front, factory ZJ coils(upcountry V-8 spring) or look into the OME springs(I've never researched their spring rates, but they're supposed to be good. They pay attention to ride.) or, again blow some coin and get a set of high end progressive rate coils from National spring or Dever.
'Lotta people might think going full custom for anything short of a race car is stupid. I used to be like that too. Buddy of mine spent $1300.00 on National springs for his Scrambler. I thought he was nuts, but I gotta admit that thing had an awesome smooth ride on the street(and flex like mad!) Kinda changed my mind.

Shocks: Either spend the money and get a set of "low end" rebuildable shocks from Bilstein, Fox, etc, and be happy in the knowledge you are never going to have to replace them, or just get Monroes or Gabriels and throw them away ever 10K miles. There's really no difference between Pro-comp, Rough country, or pretty much any other "off-road" monotube hydro shock and your basic Monroe Sensatrac.(Actually, you might be surprised how many companies resell Monroe and Gabriel shocks) The high end sealed shocks, like the Bilstein 5150s, aren't worth the money in my opinion, because they're not serviceable. Shocks are a wear item. They can also get damaged. Damage a sealed shock, and you're buying a new one, no matter how much it cost to begin with. And before anyone starts in with the flames, no lifetime warranty covers damage. For my money, I'd spend 125-150 a corner on a rebuildable before I'd spend 90-125 on a sealed shock.

Drop brackets are iffy at 3" lift, but can probably be made to work. Heck, as long as the LCA isn't at an upward angle, it should be fine. If you actually have 6-7" of lift out back, going down to 3", check your driveshaft. It might be too long.

One thing I would change, if I could do it over, would be adding a lot more armor(mainly in the form of skid plates) before I broke something. :D
 
If I redid it, I would go with a 4.5" 3-link and trackbar, 44's out of a wagoneer, 35's, 4.88's, aussies F/R, and custom bumpers that covered underneath the rear quaterpanel from the get go.

If I were you I would take a leaf or two out of the pack you have, keep the axles and maybe just go to 35's, armor, some bilstein 5150 shocks, nice clean cut fenders and bumpstops.
 
Im in the middle of searching for another cherokee and will start over and do it a little differently this time around.

Front susp. will be a hp30 w/4.56's open, either currie steering w/tie rod flip or a wj knuckle setup/tera knuckle with highsteer. Some kind of 3 link, either RK again or the Ballisitc Fab 3 link, not likely but maybe TnT longarms for the bellypan. Lca skids, Tnt truss, reloc. trackbar bracket and custom trackbar with RE drop bracket and brace.Dom steering with either wj ends or 1 tons unless the Currie kit is used, steering box reinforcements and front to rear frame plating.

Of course an sye and new shaft. Stock fender flares for a while, no chewed up fenders or holes punched in the body, maybe tubes down the line. Armor out the ass, bellypan, sliders, engine skid, gas tank skid, f/r bumpers maybe with a winch.

33-35's, never steel wheels again unless they have a rock ring/beadlocks. Most likely aluminum wheels or something, xj 44 rear with shackle reloc. brackets, perches or ube's rotated for pinion angle adding up to 5-6", arb in rear ran off co2 for tools and tires as well. Full custom exhaust from headers back with a flowmaster 40/50, intake, flex pipe in the down pipe and a highflow cat tucked as high as possible.

Fully dynamatted, full stereo, cb, all installed done cleanly w/ correct wiring/fuses/relays. H4 headlight swap w/ new harness, fogs and hid aux lights. Full led interior lighting, hopefully leather or suspension seats up front.

This is a somewhat detailed list of my next build, possibly forgot things and it will be tweaked and tuned as I continue to do research and figure out what I want to do.
 
i'm in the process of doing this now. my old 93 xj had beat up 4.5" rustys suspension, longarmed, 35's, geared, locked and drove terribly. i parted it out due to drivetrain issues and decided to go smaller

this time i started with a rust free 99 xj, 3.5" re superflex, bilstein 5150 shocks, locked and geared dana 30 and 29 spline 8.25, wj steering, armor and some 33's.

i'm hoping it will drive nicer on the highway so i can take it on more camping/expedition trips
 
Im in the process right now. I want more reliability, more capability, and fresh parts.
I'm at 4 inches, short arms, 3.55 gears, and 31's.

The rebuild will put me at the same 4 inches, but with long arms, and nicer steering.

Also, I'll have 4.56 gears with 32's, which is perfect, because all the wheeling I've done has been ok on 31's, so 32's with gears will mix great capability, power, and efficiency.

My new axles will have new joints, lca skids, a locker in the rear, and i already have zj rear brakes.

Im going for a moderate expo rig.
 
How would I do it?

Cut up my XJ to accomodate 33's with a 2" lift, drop a HO motor into it, get some mean exhaust, body armour the hell out of it, and paint it olive drab.

Better idea is to get myself a TJ though. ;)
 
I like to think that i will never "rebuild" my XJ. from the beginning ive tried to build it up to where I want it to be in the future so ill never have to restart. granted its gone through many "stages", but ive never gone back and redone a bunch of stuff.

that said i just finished my 44/8.8 build about a year ago. Seeing how much money ive put into the 2 i probably could have started with 1 tons and only spent a little bit more money. Im happy with the 44/8.8 though. theyve held up great, and never given me a problem at all on the trail/street.
 
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