Building a simple XJ

I'm sure most of ya'll have a ton more experience with xj's than I. I want to have a capable, tough xj while keeping it small. By small I mean I don't want to lift it. I like a low-slung 4x4. What would ya'll recommend to run 31x10.5x15 on stock suspension? Is anyone doing it and have pics? Modifying the body is not big deal to me, I'm just looking for advice on what exactly to do. I've got rancho shocks and BPE's but don't want to have a tall XJ.

2" spacers and trim the crap out of it!!!

trim it all up, throw on some 31's and some lunchbox lockers and call it good

I like the trim an lock route. Has anyone fit 31's with no lift? I'd like to see pics of the trimming.

31's could easily fit with no lift as long as you trim.
The more you trim the less you will need to bumpstop. You might also want a more offset wheel (about 4.0 BS would probably be good).

Lots of armor, locked, good tires and you should be good to go.

Michael

there was some guy on here selling a xj with 34 10.5 and he said it had stock suspension that DIDN'T rub but i never seen the pics of it

On my XJ, I'm currently working on a similar project. The front is pretty easy to trim out. The back is a little more tricky. To maximize the space gained in the back, I trimed the body and the outer fender well out, and beat back with a BFH the hump that's there for a spare tire on both sides. The back of the wheelwells is the limiting factor, and would require cutting the floor to stretch the wheelwell. from my crude measurements, it appears that 35s (33s definitely) can be fit on 2" of lift as long as you aren't shy with the sawzall.

NOTE: Be VERY careful trimming the fender well, as the brake light harness runs along the body on both sides. I accidentally cut one and had to splice it back together...it sucked! Its pretty much right above the seam, so i recommend cutting it out about 1" away from the seam, angling the blade back towards you if possible to avoid cutting any wires and grinding it out the rest of the way.

you can run 31s on stock but do not go for offset rims as you will have to bump stop the shiz out of it or be ready to have sliced tires. i have a buddy who is running 31s stock he just trimmed the wheel wells. also i used to have 31s on stock with stock rims and cut fenders it only rubbed on the control arms so if you always remember that when you have it full lockedyou wont have issues, i then put offset rims to stop the rubbing on the control arms but then had sliced tires when it flexed cause i had dissconnects so then i jacked it 6.5" on 33 swampers locked front and rear and chopped it all up! haha hope my bad experience helps you. dont run 31s on after market rims with an offset!

I would like to run the stock rubicon wheels with the 31's on my xj. If work goes well, I'll have saturday off and start the fender trimming. This is my first jeep, and I'm stuck on it, these little things are amazing!