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questions, questions, questions

B

Blind Driver

NAXJA Forum User
Location
West Chester Pa
Ok so I have searched to no avail. As an early graduation present/actually decided which college i'm going to present my parents are buying me a lift and tires and my dad is buying himself a winch to go on the front of my jeep (excuse for mom). So I have some questions

First the lift, my plan is to go with the rough country 3 inch series 2 full leaf pack lift. I have searched and read a lot about this lift and don't have any doubts but a little reassurance always make my parents feel better. http://roughcountry.com/jeep_xj_3x.html

Now here come the actual questions. For tires I am trying to not break the bank. I am looking at 31's. First can a 10.5 in ch wide tire fit on the stock rim? Then which tire is better I have narrowed it down to these two tires. It is going to be on the road most of the time but I do plan on wheeling. Which is a better tire?
this dick cepek which is a littlme more expensive http://www.quadratec.com/products/92606_2XX_PG.htm
or this procomp which I really haven't heard to much about http://www.quadratec.com/products/92609_10XX_PG.htm

now to "my dad's question" which winch is better, after looking at the specs they look the exact same but a different name is this true or is one better then the other.
http://www.quadratec.com/products/92122_1002_07.htm
http://www.quadratec.com/products/92109_1001_07.htm

Thanks in advance to any advise given.
 
If you are serious about doing this, don't make the same mistake i did. I started off with a basic 3" kit. not bad. I ended up always wanting more. If you want a nice kit, and don't want to break the bank. go for Rusty's 4.5" add-a-leaf kit. for 589 bucks you get a very nice kit. I run this set up on my 2000 XJ with 31" tires. It still handles nice on the road, and do not have any "death wobble" common on some lifted cherokees. You get an adjustable track bar rather than a drop bracket which tends to fail after time. Just think about it. If you just want it for looks, rough country is ok. But since you are asking about a winch, i'm guessing you will be wheeling with it. the smitty is a better winch.
 
First off, being a college student myself, I have a little insight to offer.

The lift that you picked out is great. Rough Country stands by their products 100%. DO NOT ORDER FROM THE WEBSITE! Send Grimus99XJ
a PM. He is a sales representative for Rough Country and can get you a better deal on that kit.

With that said, 3'' is a great height to start at. It is on the upper limit of the pre-SYE lift range, and you should be able to get by without needing one. As a general rule, the higher you go the more expensive everything gets, which sucks in college if something breaks. You will more than likely not have the facilities or tools to fix any major problems while you are away at college, so build it stout. The 3'' RC kit will solve these needs.

Do not get the Rusty's kit mentioned above me. This kit isn't bad...and
the price is even better, but the sheer fact that it is an AAL type kit
means that you will have some sagging eventually. Especially with your
stock leaf packs.

As far as the tires go, the **** Cepek FC II's are a great product. We put them on my mother's TJ before I left for college, and they are a pretty quite tire with nice road manners. I have seen many people run the Pro Comp all-terrains around here, but I have no personal experience with them. For the price, I would say get the FC II's. They are a nice tire, and they look a lot more aggressive than they really are.

I'm getting finger cramps lol.

The winch. Both of those winches look to be made by the same manufacturers, and then just rebranded. However, the Rugged Ridge winch has synthetic rope versus the steel rope that the Smittybilt has. Plus, the Rugged Ridge has a longer warranty. I would give the Rugged my vote in this case.

If you have any other questions, drop me a PM or post here. Good luck in college!


*EDIT* I didn't answer your wheel fitment question. I don't know which style of factory wheel you have, so it is hard to say. However, you will probably end up rubbing
the control arms with the stock offset wheels. My advice: find a set of cheap steelies with 4.5'' backspacing or a set of 15x8 Wrangler take off's.
 
Last edited:
10.5s are going to be fine on stock rims. I was running 11.5s on stock rims for a while and liked it.

You may want rims with less backspacing to avoid rubbing the tires on the control arms at full lock, but I don't think it'll be as much of an issue with 31x10.5s as it was for me on 32x11.5s.
 
Silver60th said:
"With that said, 3'' is a great height to start at. It is on the upper limit of the pre-SYE lift range, and you should be able to get by without needing one."

Silver60th has some good points however i must defend my original position. The 3" kit is not the upper limit of an SYE. I have built up six different XJ's over the years ranging from a 2" budget boost to a 9" long arm kit and you only need a SYE at 5.5" or higher. The rusty kit comes with a t-case drop and 6 degree shims which works nicely. I have zero driveline vibration. If you don't believe me call the guy's at Rusty's, They have a fabulous support staff and stand by every product they make 110%, or look at other threads on SYE stuff. I have installed lifts from rough country, skyjacker, teraflex, rusty's, and rubicon express. Rusty's had some issues years ago, but has since come along way. For the price you can't get any better.

Silver60th said:
"Do not get the Rusty's kit mentioned above me. This kit isn't bad...and the price is even better, but the sheer fact that it is an AAL type kit means that you will have some sagging eventually. Especially with your
stock leaf packs."

My AAL kit has been on for 4 years now and it has settled at 4.25" and i retain factory ride quality. A full leaf pack is going to ride like a truck unless you put some weight in the back.

Like you, I started all my modifications in college. Trust me on this. A year from now 3" will not be high enough. Save yourself the trouble of doing it twice.:conceited
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
You can fit 37s on 2" if you want to, and it performs well (ask ktm racer 419 or google for the pics.) 3" will be fine if he's not afraid of the angle grinder and sawzall, heck on 31s it'll be fine without even touching the sheetmetal.

Remember that height only improves body clearance, not axle clearance. It also makes your suspension geometry harder to deal with and makes your center of gravity higher.
 
go with the 4.5 you'll be happy you did in the long run. i run a bastard pack (s10 leafs under xj main leaf) and 2 inch shackle im at about 5in with no sye and i have 0 vibrations being that the stock main leaf keeps the yoke right at its stock point of it being pulled out. my setup is amazingly smooth, almost as smooth on dirt roads as my long travel ranger was.
 
What I haven't seen anyone ask yet is how are you planning on mounting that winch?

You will need a strong bumper that will tie into the unibody with more than the stock 6 bolts. That won't be cheap, so just a heads up.
 
DetoursUSA offers the backbone to mount the winch up front for a decent price. Pretty well built, ties into the unibody and also offers D-rings for shackles. Hard to beat the price compared to other winch bumpers that offer the same amenities.

Personally I don't like Rusty's products. I have several friends with lifts from them and they all ride fairly stiff and don't flex as well as my RubiExpress, even John with the Rusty's LA's... I'll outflex it all day, front and rear (not doggin' on ya John, heh).
 
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Did I just get inter-slapped? Meh. I was merely stating an opinion.

On a side note, the detours backbone mentioned is a great way to mount up that winch. You can't simply bolt it on to the stock bumper.

Well, you can but....
 
Haha, good deal. :cheers:

Anyway, to the OP, I hope you have some extra cash left over. The mounting of that winch is going to cost more than the winch itself unless you are an awesome fabricator with a bunch of free metal


Oh! And the most important question of all: What year/model with what options is your Jeep???
 
Ok to start I am going to go with the 3 inch kit because that is all my parents will allow. If I could I would go with a 6.5 inch long arm. Also I have a limited with a 242 so I have to do a hack and tap not SYE and that scares my dad. I have a suspension that is sagging and I would rather go full leaf pack then AAL. The two winches are both synthetic line so from what I have heard they are the same. Here is a link to my build thread, this will explain a lot of your questions.
http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1019775&highlight=amppe So in conclusions, it's go with the Dick Cepek because they are better and the rugged ridge because it has a better warranty. I am pretty set on the lift but I am open so please continue to give your suggestions.

Oh and one more thing this is a question thread not a this is better and you suck thread please try to keep it constructive.
 
Blind Driver said:
Also I have a limited with a 242 so I have to do a hack and tap not SYE and that scares my dad. .
Click to expand...

a hack n tap is a SYE. its just not a HD output shaft replacement SYE. a hack n tap still replaces the slip yoke at the transfercase and moves the slip joint to the driveshaft, but with out a transfercase shaft replacement. unless you go with a tom woods 242 sye that uses a modified(resplined and shortened) output transfercase shaft.

http://www.4xshaft.com/SYE/242LateDesignLatetransfercase27spline.html


i dont understand why people think a hack n tap is not a SYE.
 
Dammit. I remember reading that build a while back, I just didn't put "Blind Driver" and AMPPE together. Sorry!

No money needed for the winch platform :)

Nice build so far. You are heading in the right direction.
 
89xj said:
a hack n tap is a SYE. its just not a HD output shaft replacement SYE. a hack n tap still replaces the slip yoke at the transfercase and moves the slip joint to the driveshaft, but with out a transfercase shaft replacement. unless you go with a tom woods 242 sye that uses a modified(resplined and shortened) output transfercase shaft.

http://www.4xshaft.com/SYE/242LateDesignLatetransfercase27spline.html


i dont understand why people think a hack n tap is not a SYE.
Click to expand...

I've never understood this either. It is probably because of the name, but there is NOTHING wrong with it. It IS an SYE, and it works perfectly fine. 5 Years and nothing wrong with mine.
 
Ok I always heard them referred to as two different things and I never read anything to specific on hack and taps so I didn't get it, thanks for letting me know. Thanks for the build thread compliment. AMPPE is the disease that cause me to be Blind Driver.
 
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