'89 XJ Lift, Ground Clearance & a Short Wife

Okay guys,

Let me have it up front as I know I'll be the subject of much abuse w/this subject line.

For me ground clearance is the big issue. However, I do not want ride quality on our public road system to degrade either, or very little degradation if at all. Ground clearance means large tires. My wife is 5' 2" and we now have a 5-month old so he needs to be comfortable.

How much lift can I install with these criteria? I do think my wife can handle a 3" lift easily but I have no idea how much more floorpan elevation she could tolerate . How much lift do you need for 33" tires? When does changing the wheel offset become a factor in this strategy?

Then again, do lifts that can accommodate 33" tires lose too much ride quality?

Please advise.


Thanks,

Rick

you could easily get away with a 3 to 4 inch lift and some trimming for those 33's. And still have a niice ride. As far a wheel backspacing im not sure ill have to let some one else chime in, because im not to sure. Im thinking you would prob want just a little bit less than stock so you are not rubbing control arms but enough so that the tire still stuffs into the fender.

RAVC1 said:

How much lift do you need for 33" tires? When does changing the wheel offset become a factor in this strategy?

Click to expand...

Be one with sawzall!

I'm just installed a 3" lift with 32x11.50's. I used 15x8 wheels with 4.75" backspacing, and the tires stuff inside the stock fender flares in the rear with about 1/4 to 1/2" to spare. I did have to trim the front and back of the rear flares. I haven't trimmed the front yet, but with the swaybar connected it doesn't rub.

It seems like I could fit 33's on my setup, but it would require quite a bit more trimming; and maybe I couldn't retain my stock flares, if that's an issue for you. I like the 32's for being able to fit well.

My wife is also short, and we have two 6-month olds that we carry in the jeep; everybody seems comfortable. My wife commented that it is harder to get in than before the lift, but it is still much better than my Toyota, which had 33's and a 3" lift.

The ride is also quite comfortable with my lift. I bought the Rusty's 3" AAL kit with the heavier rate coils. It comes with new shocks that are probably pretty low end but they work fine so far. The spring rates seem well balanced and the truck feels solid on the road.

There's no way to stuff 33s into stock wheel wells.
I wouldnt suggest stock gearing with 33s as a daily driver, I would stick with 31s.

However, if you're set on 33s & around 3" lift:
You will need to remove your flares, and trim to fit something like TJ flares.
You will need to extend bumpstops for the larger tires.
I personally like the ride quality offered by the Rocklizard BB & variations of it.
A set of Quadratec HD springs & a stock pack minus the 2 smallest leaves put together will net you 3" lift in the rear. You can get coil spacers & ZJ v8 coils for the front or 3" lift coils.

I personally have a wife that's like 5' 4", 2 little kids (9mo & 2 yrs) and we have no trouble with the 3" & 33s combo. It just gets like 12 mpg though with stock gears. I think my XJ rides better than it did stock.

So far good news,

I do not own the 33" tires; I'm merely using this size as a mental benchmark for ground clearance. Ground clearance coupled w/wide stance for stability is what I want.

I know of Rusty's well and they have taken good care of a few friends so they are a big plus. I only recently noticed some posts regarding Rock Lizard so I'll have to do more work to learn about them.

However, the 12 mpg is completely unacceptable from a vehicle currently yielding 20-22 mpg. What rear axle ratios should I consider w/32" or 33" tires? My 1989 has an Aisin 5-speed manual and my 1997 XJ has a NVG 5-speed manual. I'll have to compare the gear ratios but I suspect they're similar as the '89 gets a little better mpg.

Flare sizes & trimming - From what is written in the responses here it sounds like the larger diameter/width can rub the interior of the stock XJ fender flares. So if I trim it or replace it (as one respondant suggested) with a lower profile inner flare I should have no issues. In my part of the US (MI) tires are required to be covered by flares by law (however; I do not know this is enforced). Do the 32" or 33" tires extend beyond the outside dimension of the stock flares, leaving tire tread uncovered? Who offers good aftermarket flares to remove this issue?

Thanks,

Rick

What is yor stock gearing? To maintain the same APPEARANT ratio...use the percentage of the size difference between the stock tire diameter and the proposed tire diameter....numerically increase the gear ratio by that percentage.

In my case, (with 3.73 stock gears) the new ratio came out to something like 4.77....I installed 4.88's

The only flares that I can personally attest to knowing they will technically cover 12.5s are Bushwacker....I have a set on the Heep. Most people here just remove the stock flares and trim as needed...there are no fender laws here.

I am vertically challenged at 5'4"....not to mention being a old fart to boot....and have no trouble at all getting in the heep.

All other things being equal, you can bet you'll lose MPG and ride comfort with bigger tires. More rolling resistance will affect the economy and more unsprung weight will affect the ride. Plenty of things can be done to mitigate that if you're willing to experiment, but the most effective solution will be to buy premium brand tires with higher speed and treadwear ratings. The expense will be traction, but (IMHO) the most noticeable effect of those big knobs that make all that noise on blacktop is the sound of gasoline being burned just to scrub rubber off your tires. I like Toyo Open Country myself. I don't know how big they go, I've not seen them bigger than 31", but when the cheap knobbys that came on my Jeep are gone that's what I'm going to buy. People laugh, but I have used them on plenty of Cascade foothill snow trips and they have done just fine.

I'm running 35's with 7-8" lift...

Wife's 5'5"...

I've got a 4 year old...

It's good exercise for the wife to swing her leg up and hold on to the door sill and pull herself up...

My daughter loves using the tires to climp up into the back...

if it's too high for the wife at 3-5", fab a little removable step...

or just pick her up like a kid into a car seat.



The upside of this setup is that my wife refuses to drive the Heep.