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Help! 35's on an xj, how much lift??

My 2000 has right at 10" of lift right now. I don't see the need for the transfer case drop AND the SYE w/ CV driveshaft, at 8 inches mine was fine without the drop and yes the front shaft should be good. I ran a Rubicon Express drop pitman arm with 8" and did great with that, but had to go with Pricejacker at 10".

As for trimming, do it, and do quite a bit of it. Make sure you don't forget to trim the bumper you get as I forgot this, I know now.

Acceleration with 3.55's suck obviously so let me know how it goes with the gear swap, as far as braking goes, it ain't great but it gets the job done.

By the way, where is State Road, NC? Hope all goes well.
 
ZMfx said:
They guy at the 4x4 place said bushwackers won't fit on a '97 xj.. i knew they only made them for 84-96's but i figured they'd fit. His explanation was that the problem was with the back door, and on 97's the flairs didn’t meet properly?? Sarvermr’s jeep earlier in this thread looks fine to me. Can anyone help me with that? Oh, and Rustys has a larger flair kit, what are the thoughts on that, and will it offer as much clearance as bushwacker? Seccond the 4x4 shop said I’d need a front long arm kit. I was planning on getting one in the future, but not before putting on my 35's.
Does anyone know if I truly need a long arm kit to run 35's or is its necessity simply for better articulation? If I replace my stock upper arms do you think I can run my new tires until I get the money for my long arm kit? What do you guys think?
Click to expand...
I have them, so I know that Bushwackers will fit on a 97+, however you will have to do a couple of things to make them fit. The cutting etc. is the same as on earlier jeeps, but you need to be extra careful that you don't screw up the windshield washer reservoir inside the driver's fender while cutting and drilling. It can be done with only minor modifications to the reservoir (read remount it up), however some folks relocate the reservoir elsewhere. (i did not, so i can't speak to where to relocate it).
The other thing that is different on a 97+ is the rear bumper endcaps. They will have to be removed or modified to fit the bushwackers on the rear fenders, but that is very simple to do with a sawzall and an exacto knife.
Personally, I think Rusty's are not as attractive as the bushwackers, but i have heard stories of folks who have torn off bushwackers on rocks, trees, etc, and have not heard that from people who run rusty's.
You don't NEED a long arm kit, but it will help keep some of your geometry more stock-like, hence giving you a bit better articulation and definitely a smoother ride on road. Depends on what you do. If its a daily driver and prerunner, then do the long arm for sure. Otherwise, do it when you can afford it. More importantly will be to beef your steering, brakes and axles to as better over stock as you can afford. 35's will kill your stock steering pretty quickly.
Enjoy it eh? Sounds like its gonna be fun...
Buck :canada:
 
FUL8INCH said:
My 2000 has right at 10" of lift right now. I don't see the need for the transfer case drop AND the SYE w/ CV driveshaft, at 8 inches mine was fine without the drop and yes the front shaft should be good. I ran a Rubicon Express drop pitman arm with 8" and did great with that, but had to go with Pricejacker at 10".


By the way, where is State Road, NC? Hope all goes well.
Click to expand...

From Kernersville State Road past Winston Salem on Hwy I-40 which turns into hwy 421, and 11 miles north from where it intersects Hwy 77. ( if that helps any )

As for the Trans drop, that was a temp solution for driveline vibes until I could get my SYE and CV driveshaft. As for no problem running at 8" stock! I don’t see how. After just 4.5" on mine before my Trans drop I could feel my teeth chatter at 15mph. It was so bad my CD player in the dash wouldn’t work b/c it kept skipping. With the inch drop it ran, but there was definitely still a noticeable vibe sound resonating through the entire jeep! It was ok to crawl I guess, but road driving was out of the question.
 
Cherokid said:
How well will the stock axles hold up with 35's? (if I may jump in)
Cherokid
Click to expand...


Nice avatar. (that's my rig from about 2.5 years ago) I'm running 'stock' axles, reverse D30 and XJ D44 in the rear. I carry a few spare parts, but mine have held up semi-OK. I'm kind of light on the throttle (mostly).
 
I have 8" lift with 35s and bushwackers and If I do some extreme obstacles I rub! very little but I do rub.
I can't imagine having less then 8" with 35's

I can send pics thru email but I can't post pics on here! Don't know how to.
If interested.
 
Cherokid said:
Mind if I borrow it 'til I get a pic of my clapped out stocker posted?
Click to expand...


No, borrow away. It's good to see it doing something other than taking me to work everyday. (ah, Moab, so near, yet $o far)
 
Small lift with big tires owns! Cheapxj is definitly right. All y'all with 8" of lift and higher are just gettin nosebleeds. You'll come back down to earth when your suspension unloads and you end up served rubber side up.
 
As for the Trans drop, that was a temp solution for driveline vibes until I could get my SYE and CV driveshaft. As for no problem running at 8" stock! I don’t see how. After just 4.5" on mine before my Trans drop I could feel my teeth chatter at 15mph. It was so bad my CD player in the dash wouldn’t work b/c it kept skipping. With the inch drop it ran, but there was definitely still a noticeable vibe sound resonating through the entire jeep! It was ok to crawl I guess, but road driving was out of the question.[/QUOTE]




axle shims
 
I just got some new shoe on my ride yesturday and I think that I need to go another 2" to get good articulation up and down. I want a total of 7 to 7.5 to clear 33 MT/R's.
 
I have 8" and 36s.


BTW,

you can run just a TC drop for now. I have 8", and all i have is a 1" drop and I only get vibes around 68-72 MPH, which is rare for me to drive that fast anyway.
 
tall lifts suck.

plain and simple.

LIFT for a little ground clearance and TRIM for tire size.....

I'm running 37's on 7" of lift and run trails that would put you 10"/stock width axle'd folks on thier sides and roof.

keep the CG loooooowwwwwww

there is another thread that goes into this.......
 
Beezil said:
tall lifts suck.

plain and simple.

LIFT for a little ground clearance and TRIM for tire size.....

I'm running 37's on 7" of lift and run trails that would put you 10"/stock width axle'd folks on thier sides and roof.

keep the CG loooooowwwwwww

there is another thread that goes into this.......
Click to expand...

Oh stop generalizing. You also have a buggy, and 7" is a tall lift.

There is virtually nothing that you need to do for a 7-8" lift that you also don't need to do for a 5.5-6" lift. I'm talking driveline, steering, etc. Axle upgrades always depend on tire size. So you can cut the crap out of it and save 1.5" of lift, or you can lift it a bit extra (and extend track width) and perhaps optimize your suspension instead of limiting it (see all the bumpstop requirement comments in this thread).

Stabilty has a lot more to do than with just COG, as you 4-linkers damn well know. I strongly prefer my current setup at 8" than my previous at 6" in terms of stability and predictability, and that's a coils/leaf springs/arms/track width thing, not because going to 8" was some sort of panacea.

How much lift should be dictated by the wheeling you do (and I agree that anything over 7-8" is unnecessary in the great majority of cases). Putting big tires on a 3" lift is great, but if you deal with a lot of tall ledges you are going to suffer the lack of lift in a big way. Generalizations cannot apply to all scenarios.

I think that nobody should skip 33's on the way to 35's unless you've done it before. The best way to find out "how much lift for 35's?" is to run 33's for awhile, because that experience will help you decide whether to cut for larger tires (i.e., the larger tires are because you only need some more diff clearance) or to add additional lift along with the extra trimming because you also need better angles and more optimized suspension travel.

Nay
 
Nay said:
Stabilty has a lot more to do than with just COG, as you 4-linkers damn well know. I strongly prefer my current setup at 8" than my previous at 6" in terms of stability and predictability, and that's a coils/leaf springs/arms/track width thing, not because going to 8" was some sort of panacea.

Nay
Click to expand...

for a guy that whimpers like a poodle anytime you get off camber, I figured you'd be looking to get your junk lower.

interesting.
 
Beezil said:
for a guy that whimpers like a poodle anytime you get off camber, I figured you'd be looking to get your junk lower.

interesting.
Click to expand...

My whimpering is much less these days. I'm more likely to scream like a stuck pig. Just a bit less inhibited is all.

But it ain't just COG and I don't get why this thread is stuck solely on that point. C'mon, for a guy who built a buggy you know there is no such thing as one variable to any suspension equation. Keep it at 5" and put the tires on stock rims with soft springs and crappy shocks on your sidehill. I'll take 7" with full width axles, stiffer springs, and shocks with stiffer compression valving, thank you. I might still wihimper a bit, though (but only after rolling up my windows so nobody can hear).

I did lower my junk down to 5" a few years ago, and I really didn't like it. Suspension was a lot softer (using Rusty's coils) and also tippier plus it's harder to make non-stock crap fit, which is a major reason people end up at 7-8" on XJ's once they kick the D30 to the curb, IMO. Or maybe there's another reason you have a 7" lift than a front 44, wishbone, and proximity of those parts to the oilpan at full flex?

But I'm a poser, and nobody should listen to me. Seriously. You should design your rig solely around center of gravity, because nothing else really matters.

I think you should put full width axles (68" WMS at least) plus really low rim backspacing with a stock suspension, and get the tires so far out of the wheel well that you can run 37's without any metal contact. That way you don't have to trim anything, you'll never roll it, and it will climb anything.

Nay
 
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