Young'in looking for some criticism on setup?

Hey Guys and Gals,

So I don't own a Cherokee yet (waiting till spring to sell my car) But I've been scouring and searching the forums for over a year (my old name even got banned because I didn't post anything :sad1: ) and I've come up with a future setup that I'd love to hear some say or nay say on. I'm lower on the budget scale, but have decent fab experience, and I hate to buy something I can't find another way to do from the junkyard!

So, (Yes I'm darn picky) I'll be hunting down a 97-99 4 door with the AX15 and 231. (maybe 3 on autotrader in the whole country, haha). I like the body style and the HP d30 before 2000.

To this, I'd like to do the following:
- Rusty's 4.5" springs up front (for their ride quality)
- Adjustable Track bar (some brand that's cheap yet strong)
- Lower control arms (some brand that's cheap yet strong)
- Hack and tap "sye" and a ~1990 aw4 front driveshaft
- S10 Bastard pack rear leafs
- 3:73 gears (I won't go over 31's and it will never see a rock in it's life)
- 31x10.5's on crager soft 8's with 4.5" backspace
- Shocks of course
-
- Anything else I'm forgetting?

Please let me know if this is not ok to write a post like this. When I sell my car I should have a tad of money left to get started and I want to be fully prepared for what i'm getting into (If that's possible :laugh

Thanks ya'll!

I'm running 3.37 and 31's behind my AX15 and its a very comfortable drive both around town and on the highway.

Bilstein shocks.

Soft 8s are the way to go!!
But the rest looks like it will make a capable and driveable rig.

I was hoping someone else had done this and liked it. Heck, I used to have a k5 blazer with a 210 horse 350, 31's and 3.08 gears! I don't know what GM was smoking, but It was ok for me
So the Bilsteins are good ones eh?

I love the look of soft 8's, and you gotta love their price too!

nothing like a good looking DD that can still hold it's own on the trails

No matter what you say, you won't stick with 31's. I said thats the biggest i was ever going to go. Now I'm on 33's. I said 33's were the biggest I'd ever go, now I'm getting 38's.

look at rough countrys new lower control arms, they look pretty tough and the price was 159, its in the vendors form

Haha, thanks 88manche, I know I'm just lying to myself, but let me live with the dillusion for a little while longer :laugh2:

159 is a nice price...

Before you decide on specific parts, watch classifieds on here and ebay. You can piece together a good lift very cheap-it may just take a while to put together.

http://www.ironrockoffroad.com/ has some good parts and prices

noChrome71 said:

H
- 3:73 gears (I won't go over 31's and it will never see a rock in it's life)

Click to expand...

But that begs to ask what are you building it for? Running fire roads?

Also, I think you would be happier with 4.11 gears.

You are going to need brake lines and steel shims.
Some protection underneath would be wise also.
Have fun.

if he does the chevy 1500 shackles he may not need shims to correct the pinion angle.

http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=978252&highlight=1500+shackles

How aggressively are you going to wheel? You also have to look at that. Is this going to be an on road only, gravel roads, mud, or rocky trail type jeep?

Heres my Input on springs.

If you don't do your bastard pack right, you will flex like a Toyota, and no one wants that. When i say that, i mean your back will flex very little. It will ride rough, and you won't be happy.

I've heard good things about DPG rear springs. They can get spendy though.

DO NOT do an add a leaf, unless you want to re build your leaf pack in a year.

I got the rusty's 3'' full leaf packs and coils. After breaking them in, i was sitting at 3 1/4'' above stock. Now, the leaf spring bushings DID wear out. I had about 1/2'' of side to side movement. That was the only bad thing about them though. It rode and drove better than any other lifted vehicle i have been in.

Even with 31's, I would go to 4.10s. Try to find a 4 cyl 5 spd or a 2.8 V6 automatic XJ and take the axles. Those have 4.10's stock. You'll be glad you did on steep hills.

Keep in mind, you can fit 33's on an xj with a 3'' lift and not much else in the way of mods. I have pics if your interested.

Awesome stuff guys, thanks!

Well really the only thing I do off road is snow, mud and trails (all there is here in southern Michigan) and I just really don't want to affect my highway manners. To me, If I need lower gearing I'll throw it in 4 low. I've had some junker trucks with low numerical gears and never seemed to have a problem. Obviously I don't want to argue with the knowledgeable here, but I'm just trying to asses what I do, since most of the gearing related threads on here seem centered around crawling rocks...

But If I can have 4.somethings, 33's and still hit 18 on the highway, i'm all in!

Gearing is your friend not only for crawling rocks. Steep hills, stuff like that it is pretty beficial to having gears. Pulling people out without having to get a rolling start or flooring it also. Just something to think about.

I'm just worried about road manners, that's all. After calculating out the rpms at 70, I could live with 4.10s after all, and at least that way I can go bigger on tire later.

An another note, those aftermarket leaf springs do provide a good ride? I don't want any of this toyota flexing you talked about! ; )

Road manners ain't bad with 4.10's. You'll like it a lot more.

DPG, and rusty's have probably the best that I've noticed. You can build flexy leaf packs, but it takes some experimenting.

88manche said:

I got the rusty's 3'' full leaf packs and coils. After breaking them in, i was sitting at 3 1/4'' above stock. Now, the leaf spring bushings DID wear out. I had about 1/2'' of side to side movement. That was the only bad thing about them though. It rode and drove better than any other lifted vehicle i have been in.

Even with 31's, I would go to 4.10s. Try to find a 4 cyl 5 spd or a 2.8 V6 automatic XJ and take the axles. Those have 4.10's stock. You'll be glad you did on steep hills.

Keep in mind, you can fit 33's on an xj with a 3'' lift and not much else in the way of mods. I have pics if your interested.

Click to expand...

I have the same lift in mine and the front coils have sagged BAD! I have 2" spacers on the front to kinda level it out and it still sits about an inch lower than the rear. I was thinking of going with some 4.5" coils in front and a 1" shackle in the rear, but am weary bout going with Rusty's again. the nice thing about the soft spring is that I have great down travel.

Do you offroad now? I know you said you have a car. If you currently go offroading with friends and what not, you may have initial expectations and requirements. If you read about offroading online and want to get into the sport, I suggest that you start small. There is a lot of stuff on your list that you can ditch if you stick with 30's and a 2" lift. The SYE, LCA's, and gears can drop from the list at first. Instead of going to 31's. You can pick up a set of Rusty's 2" springs for $99. Keep the S10 bastard pack and you are good to go. You can even skip the shocks if they are in good shape. I'm not really into 'mudding' (right now), but I can't imagine that you need much in terms of shocks for mud and show. Get used to your new rig in 'near factory form' and upgrade later.

In most cases, you'll see that my opinion doesn't represent the majority. Most will claim that you'll get 'inchitis', or to 'go big the first time'. I've considered a larger setup than my 2" OME lift and 30's, but I just can't justify the upgrade considering my experiences so far. Each environment is different and I know you don't plan on rock crawling, but I've found that most of the 3.0 to 3.5 rock crawling trails that I've been on can be handled with 30's and technical driving. In almost all cases, the people that i'm wheeling with are runnig 33" tires with a 4"+ lift. They are at the point where moving up to a 4.0 or 4.5 trail requires 35"+ tires with guaranteed body damage. My point is that there is a great amount technical discussions on this forum, which is the main reason that I like it. However, there isn't a lot of discussions about what it takes to complete a trail without damage, and without breaking the bank. Look around your chapter forum and see what a 2" XJ can really do. Once again, if you already know what you 'need' and not what you 'want', ignore this message.

Also no worries about joining early. It's great that you are doing your research ahead of time. I started reading up on XJ's in 2000. It was really maddening because it was right at the time that Mopar was ditching factory skid plates and other cool parts for pennies on the dollar. I didn't get my XJ or sign up for any forums until 2001.

noChrome71 said:

Hey Guys and Gals,

So I don't own a Cherokee yet (waiting till spring to sell my car) But I've been scouring and searching the forums for over a year (my old name even got banned because I didn't post anything :sad1: ) and I've come up with a future setup that I'd love to hear some say or nay say on. I'm lower on the budget scale, but have decent fab experience, and I hate to buy something I can't find another way to do from the junkyard!

So, (Yes I'm darn picky) I'll be hunting down a 97-99 4 door with the AX15 and 231. (maybe 3 on autotrader in the whole country, haha). I like the body style and the HP d30 before 2000.

To this, I'd like to do the following:
- Rusty's 4.5" springs up front (for their ride quality)
- Adjustable Track bar (some brand that's cheap yet strong)
- Lower control arms (some brand that's cheap yet strong)
- Hack and tap "sye" and a ~1990 aw4 front driveshaft
- S10 Bastard pack rear leafs
- 3:73 gears (I won't go over 31's and it will never see a rock in it's life)
- 31x10.5's on crager soft 8's with 4.5" backspace
- Shocks of course
-
- Anything else I'm forgetting?

Please let me know if this is not ok to write a post like this. When I sell my car I should have a tad of money left to get started and I want to be fully prepared for what i'm getting into (If that's possible :laugh

Thanks ya'll!

Click to expand...

this is coming from a old one lol. wheel it stock then piece a 3" lift with a adjustable trac bar,lower control arms.brake lines,sway bar discos, decent shocks.build a bastard pack using dodge 1/2 ton van leafs,1 1/2"boomerang shackle and 1" block or shackle relocator and standard 1 1/2 " shackles. and buy a xj with a auto tranny and 3.55's. run 30's. then save up and regear later.armor in between.you will be totally suprised what a 3" lift will do with flexy leafs and a good adjustable trac bar and some quality lower control arms.on the newer xj's at 4.5"your looking at a sye and driveshaft. at 3" you can get by with a t/c drop.a old one's point of view. have fun.