Hi! This is my thread. Come on in.

OK. This thread is about lowering an XJ...sort of.

Instead of (or in addition to) lowering the whole thing, I'd like to explore lowering the engine, transmission, and transfer case. I got this idea from reading about budget transfer case lowering that the offroad guys do to band-aid fix drivetrain problems.

ENGINE-
Can it be lowered? How?
TRANSMISSION-
Can it be lowered? How?
TRANFER CASE-
It can be lowered? How?

I figure that IF some of this can be done, then the center of gravity (CG) will be lowered and that's a good thing.

I actually cinsidered that idea for a while, including relocated all the accessories to the lower part of the engine, and relocating as much as I can to the middle or rear of the engine.

As far as lowering the whole thing, there is plenty of room, however if you do lower the whole Jeep, then you have a problem simply due to the solid front axle. IFS would give you the room to really scrape that engine on the ground coupled with a dry sump oiling system.

XJguy

XJguy said:

I actually cinsidered that idea for a while, including relocated all the accessories to the lower part of the engine, and relocating as much as I can to the middle or rear of the engine.

As far as lowering the whole thing, there is plenty of room, however if you do lower the whole Jeep, then you have a problem simply due to the solid front axle. IFS would give you the room to really scrape that engine on the ground coupled with a dry sump oiling system.

XJguy

Click to expand...

I'm at school, havent seen my baby in a while, can't remember, does the RWD have an IFS? I know theres obviously no transfer case sticking out, but i cant remember if the front has a live axle or not? Any ways, if there is an IFS on a the 2wd, could above mods be done easier? Sorry, It's embarrassing I don't know that right now. Thx.

:anon:

No man sorry...the reason the XJ is such a good rock crawler makes it less good a pavement carver. Live axles front and rear. The 2wd version substitutes the axle for a beam. But there is no reason why you couldnt convert it to a IFS.

XJguy

Ya theres a few inches to be gained.but theteres other problems you need to deal with.
One thing I've been looking at is the lower control arm mounts. when you start getting low they get much close to the ground and the fact that its going to statrt realy screwing up the geometry. so something would have to be done there. Another thing isthe coil towers and bump stops they start to get in the way so what i would do is cut it of except for just a little (enufff forretaining the coils. or totaly doing away withcoils and going all air or going air inside the coils. another thing would be the tranny crossmember if were going that low its going to have to be made up like our flat bottom crossmembers on or rock crawlers. then we can see how low we can get thedrive train.