What are the best mods to start with!

:new:My wife is ready to retire her 2000 XJ sport, 4.0L, Auto, Selecttrack for something new. I'm planning on keeping it as a daily driver and ocasional trail rig. I want to keep it safe for DD but also want to make it fun off road.
Here's what I'm thinking:

• 3.5" lift (who's is best?)
• 31x10.5 tires (who's have good meat but are still quite on the street?
• Bumpers and rocker rails
• Winch
• Maybe rear locker (Can someone with limited mechanical knowlege install?)

Does this sound like a good starting plan or are their other mods that I should make before I make these that would make a more capable rig?

Make sure you have sturdy front and rear tow points before anything else. After that, it's up to you. Even a stock Cherokee, with aggressive tires on it, will go places that will surprise you.

Goodyear Wranglers are the quietest tires on the street with a decent lug. The MT/R's are their meatiest. Ive got the Wrangler AT/S's on my F150 and theyre silent. Had BFG at's before on the Furd. I definately recommend the AT/S's for an all terrain for sand and snow and shit but If I were buying new tires for something Id be wheeling Id want something meatier then an all terrain. Its all up to what your gunna be needing it for.

Maybe 2 sets of tires is the answer. Do you think stock size tires will look wrong with a 3.5" lift. I guss it's not that high!

Priority #1 Tow points and safety equip (fire extinguisher, first aid, etc,)
Priority #2 Armor

The rest just falls into place.

You'll lift to fit bigger tires, you'll change your gears and add lockers to turn the bigger tires, you'll get stuck and want a winch. Then you'll want bigger tires, and add to your lift, and realize that you need an SYE. It will never end, but if you armor it up first you'll still have a decent jeep left when you decide you want to run 35's.

Tow points, without tow points you can't get pulled out by guys with winches then get rocker protection

goodburbon said:

Priority #1 Tow points and safety equip (fire extinguisher, first aid, etc,)
Priority #2 Armor

The rest just falls into place.

You'll lift to fit bigger tires, you'll change your gears and add lockers to turn the bigger tires, you'll get stuck and want a winch. Then you'll want bigger tires, and add to your lift, and realize that you need an SYE. It will never end, but if you armor it up first you'll still have a decent jeep left when you decide you want to run 35's.

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The best advice yet. Wish I would have gone that way.

X5. on the tow points. Everyone will need them eventually. It is a never ending cycle. You buy one thing which causes you to need another, and so on.

Armor and a 3.5" lift is a good start after that. Just my $.02..i'm happy with my Rubicon Express lift (it rides great).

If you get a 3.5" lift just get an SYE to go with it. I want to kick myself in the junk for not having the money to get one at the moment.

I have tow hooks that were stock on a friends older XJ that came with a offroad package!
Which Rubicon Express lift did you go with? What's a SYE?

SYE=Slip Yoke Eliminator.

The rear driveshaft needs to change length as the rear suspension cycles. From the factory jeep achieved this using a slip yoke on the transfer case end of the driveshaft, and the driveshaft essientialy slides in and out of the rear of the transfer case as the suspension cycles. This works fine at stock height, but as you lift, you increase the angle of the upper u-joint and pull it further and further out of the t-case, causing vibrations and possibly damage. To remedy this, we install an SYE. The SYE converts the output of the t-case to a fixed yoke similar to the one on the front output of the t-case. Then a CV-style driveshaft with a slip joint is installed so the driveshaft has the capability of changing length as the suspension cycles.

Oh and there are many many lift kits out there, the search function above will yield a plethora of information on any subject pertaining to your xj.:read:

goodburbon said:

Priority #1 Tow points and safety equip (fire extinguisher, first aid, etc,)
Priority #2 Armor

Click to expand...

ok, now can we further prioritize the armor? i already have rocker protection. can i get some opinions as to order of importance? also, my Y2K XJ is stock, but i will soon be lifting it. does that make a difference in my selection of armor? i don't want to waste money by purchasing skids that will need to be swapped out due to the lift.

I'll eventually go to 33's but I regeared mine to 4.10 and put a 44 in the back with a locker. Here's a pic on 31's and the RE6200 5.5" lift. Drives great on the street and looks good, plus I have clearance for 33's in the future. Drop brackets are worth the $$. Factory hooks up front and factory hitch in the back $50 total from the local yard and I got the harness and nut strips for the factory hitch.

goodburbon said:

Priority #1 Tow points and safety equip (fire extinguisher, first aid, etc,)
Priority #2 Armor

The rest just falls into place.

You'll lift to fit bigger tires, you'll change your gears and add lockers to turn the bigger tires, you'll get stuck and want a winch. Then you'll want bigger tires, and add to your lift, and realize that you need an SYE. It will never end, but if you armor it up first you'll still have a decent jeep left when you decide you want to run 35's.

Click to expand...

Definitely good advice. I had to lean my XJ hard on the rock rails the second time I wheeled it. And I was on a forest road, not rock crawling.

altierior said:

ok, now can we further prioritize the armor? i already have rocker protection. can i get some opinions as to order of importance? also, my Y2K XJ is stock, but i will soon be lifting it. does that make a difference in my selection of armor? i don't want to waste money by purchasing skids that will need to be swapped out due to the lift.

Click to expand...

Armor priorities depend on the terrain you will wheel, and how concerned you are about the body.

1. Rockers are first priority regardless of terrain and concern

2. everything else. If you plan to keep the stock d-30 front it is a wise idea to beef/skid the front axle side LCA mounts. Frame rails are vital, as is belly. If you plan on keeping your rear quarter panels keep in mind that these are the second thing to get damaged.

Products like rockratz rails are not sufficient if you actually plan on wheeling. My wife bought me a set for christmas, and though they have saved my rockers from certain death, my doors are now slightly modified.

For the occasional offroader, consider getting the factory gas tank skid and an aftermarket transfer case skid plate. I found the front skid plate to be about useless on a lifted rig.

Hey I have 99 xj that is my daily driver and i go wheeling maybe once a month to paragon. I have old man emu 930 coils and rubicon express add a leaf in the rear. Im also running 31 in BGF A/T KO which are awesome on and off road. you can get the coil from rockyroadoutfitters.com and the add a leafs from rubicon express. It will save you alot of money so you can pick up some rocker guards, dif, guards and gas tanks skid. Im soon getting an or fab front bumper from quadratec. I have about 2 grand into my jeep and I keep up with tjs and yjs with 4in lifts and 32 in tires are paragon with out beating my jeep on high greens and blue trails. If you want i can send you some pic what my jeep looks like to give you some ideas..

Okay, am going to risk the rath of senior knowledgable members and ask a typical newbie question here. I have modified S-10s and have wheeled with a few clubs that were mainly Jeeps and Yotas and decided to keep a "look out" for a deal on a Jeep "beater". After wheeling with the Jeeps and looking at their rigs I decided to get one to work with. Purely street legal to get to the location of a trail ride under it's own power because I do not have the funds to get a tow rig and a trailer. My current DD is a '02 S-10 Crew Cab and it cannot tow a rig. I picked up a '94 XJ 4.0L HO "Country" version with all the options (I think) from a nieghbor for $1500. I have watched him wash and wax it for over 10 yrs and tow it to FL every yr behind his RV. I am leading up to the fact that it has 182K on it but, it is flawless. Leather is perfect and the only thing I can find that needs attention is the shocks (which will be replaced with a lift) and the "Low Washer" fluid light is on when it is full.

I have moderate wrenching experince and can handle a lift but, through my 10 days of searching, I am a little confused in handling the SYE and TC drop. I am planning on a RE 3.5" lift with the spring packs (no AAL) and I keep getting conflicting search results. All I can gather is that it is a "maybe", "maybe not" requirement. I have experience in trimming and do not care a bit to go at fenders with a cut off wheel or sawzall. I'd like to run 31.50/10.50 x 15s in the BFG AT/KOs or Yokohama Geolanders in the same size when finished. Should I go ahead and just plan on having the SYE on hand when I do the lift or not?

Thanks for bearing with me. Here are a couple shots of the stock XJ and many "non-wheeling" friends have told me to is too nice to trail ride with. For the price I really don't care what happens to it. I just need to know if, I am on the right track or not. TIA, Reed



EDIT, I forgot to mention that rock sliders are enroute and I am shopping combo bumper/recovery mounts already.

With a 3.5" lift you don't need a SYE, but I believe it's wise to have one. You may not ever "drop" the rear shaft, but it could happen as the splines won't make as much contact. With a 2.5" lift on my first XJ I noticed just how much the rear shaft pulled from the TC. With 3.5" of lift, you're getting that much closer to the end.

I've heard it said that a SYE, along with the aftermarket shaft, is stronger than the stock set up. I don't know if this is true, but suspect it is. Besides that, using a TC drop puts unnecessary strain on the motor mounts and is counter-productive to putting on a lift in the first place.

For a temporary condition the TC drop should be fine, but I personally wouldn't do any hardcore wheeling, especially given how far the rear shaft is pulled out of the TC.

If the expense doesn't concern you then definitely get the SYE. If you need to save up a bit, then the TC drop should suffice until you can afford the SYE. Just my opinion.

Thanks, Tom. That is what I thought that I would hear but, was hoping for otherwise. I'll keep on searching, researching and looking for new and used deals on what is needed. It's going to take a while to gather all that is needed. "Maybe" some wheeling in the XJ by next fall. I've got the sliders to keep me busy for awhile.