lengthening the xj wheelbase a few inches?

i was thinking about trying to lengthen the wheelbase on my xj 3-4" or so for better climbing ability. while i like the 101" wheelbase more than the shorter tj wheelbase, i thought a few extra inches couldn't hurt. has anyone ever tried this? can it be done without hacking up the back end of an xj? i saw a pic in an old JP article that said some guy's xj, (with the back chopped off behind the rear set of doors, if that matters), had like a 106" wheelbase and from the pic it didn't look like he chopped up much of the rear quarter panel, if any. though i will admit it was kinda hard to tell from the angle of the pic, it looked as though he left the rear quarter panel relatively intact.

searched a little on this topic but didn't find anything in the first 4 pages. maybe this isn't even a worthwhile idea, just a thought i was tossing around. feel free to condemn me to he!! if this is a dumb idea.

Reverse the springs and deal with the newly in the way gas tank.

Good for 3" IIRC.

my front axle will be 1" forward of stock when i move the axle mounts up...

trimming of the front fender wont be too bad on my pre 96 with the washer bottle not in the way...

what size tires are you gonna run opie

my front axle is about 2" forward of stock, works fine with about 7" of lift, 35s, cut outer fenders, and about 5 inches of uptravel until the bumpstops are fully compressed.

Ramsey said:

what size tires are you gonna run opie

Click to expand...

33's are in the side yard as street tires, saving the cash for the 35" MTR's... maybe someday 37's...

XJ_ranger said:

33's are in the side yard as street tires, saving the cash for the 35" MTR's... maybe someday 37's...

Click to expand...

$200 for some very useable 35" mtrs pretty close to you: http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=361169

i didnt think it would work, but i guess i'm wrong. massively trimmed front fenders and my 33's still did rub on the piece that hangs down on the inside, although a bfh has helped to open up the inner fender quite a bit.

BrettM said:

$200 for some very useable 35" mtrs pretty close to you: http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=361169

Click to expand...

you suck brett

i cant make the jump to 35's with out wheeling the 33's and adjusting to that first...

XJ_ranger said:

you suck brett

i cant make the jump to 35's with out wheeling the 33's and adjusting to that first...

Click to expand...

so grab those and hold on to them

nice Hi-jack job..



The gas tank will be your big problem.. I have heard of different leaf spring configurations to get a few more inches, but I think with the long side up front axle wrap gets worse. also, they rear quarter behind the wheel wells need to be trimmed/removed. If you do a search for rear wheel well trim or the like, there is a guy here that cut the rear lower section of the quarter off.. w/pics.. to get an idea. to get 5-6 inches of WB, you would have to move both axles I think, moving the rear the full amount would give you problems with the frame set up..
Get an MJ for the trails... They have a much longer WB..