Wheel well openings/tire clearance

Hey fellow XJ'rs,

I have a 96 XJ Classic, auto/231/8.25 with 3" coils in the front and Dakota 3" in the rear. I am currently tossing around tire size. I have searched the infamous "tire size for 3" lift" topic extensively, but still have a question:

One post mentioned that the 1996 and later XJ's have a smaller wheel wells opening than the previous years. (I also believe the same is true for 2 door vs 4 door regarding the rear wheel well.) Is this correct, or was the change in 97(?) when the body style changed slightly, or any difference at all?

I am leaning towards 30x9.50 BFG AT for DD and gearing reasons, but I may sway towards 31's if 97 was the year wheel wells got smaller. (if at all)

One more question: Does anyone know of a 31x9.5 besides the Super Swamper Radial? Or a metric equivalent?

The vehicle use will be mostly DD with a little light 4 wheeling (camping, fishing, etc.)

Thanks for your input.

With the size tires you mentioned clearance should not be an issue.
Most any 31" should also clear..
not sure about 9.5" width tires though...
Rick

If you switch to a 16" rim, you could use a 245/75R16 which approximately translates to 30.5 X 9.6, which is probably as tall as but skinnier than a 31x10.5R15. The wheelwell changes occurred in '97, BTW, and 2-doors do have more room in the rear wells. I'm not sure what is available in 15" metric tires, but a quick search on tire-rack should answer that.

I've never done any real wheeling but my first jaunt with the 3" lift and my 31s went well with no rubbing. Again, it was a real light outing.

How are the Dakota leaves working for you? I was going to do that. I had always heard that it would lift you anywhere from 4-5 inches though. Are they hard on the road? Did you use all but the main leaf? Spill it!

97 and newer have smaller openings not 84-96 all the same, 97-01 all the same.

SouthernXJ said:

I've never done any real wheeling but my first jaunt with the 3" lift and my 31s went well with no rubbing. Again, it was a real light outing.

How are the Dakota leaves working for you? I was going to do that. I had always heard that it would lift you anywhere from 4-5 inches though. Are they hard on the road? Did you use all but the main leaf? Spill it!

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I did the dakota leafs in the back and it gave me about 3" as well
I used the xj main with all the dakota pack except the 1/2" overload under it, just cut the dakota main leaf to match the xj one.
it rides a little bit rough but not bad, flexes pretty well too

I have a 99 with 3" lift and 31's, i do some serious off roading and had some tire fender contact, at full stuff when i turned occasionally even after i removed the flares, nothing bad though.

SouthernXJ said:

I've never done any real wheeling but my first jaunt with the 3" lift and my 31s went well with no rubbing. Again, it was a real light outing.

How are the Dakota leaves working for you? I was going to do that. I had always heard that it would lift you anywhere from 4-5 inches though. Are they hard on the road? Did you use all but the main leaf? Spill it!

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Southern XJ: The Dakota leaves are working good, maybe a little stiff, but I have nothing to compare to. (Never ran an add-a leaf or 3" spring on an XJ before.) It still rides nicer than my CJ w/3". I also used to have an MJ w/a 4" Trailmaster lift....and the rear was STIFF, it used 1 add-a-leaf to get 4"! I used the 2nd and 3rd Dakota leaves with the XJ main leaf and the shortest XJ leaf, tossing out the Dakota main and overload leaves and the balance of the XJ leaves. My XJ was a rear sagger, not it sits about 1" higher in the rear. Doesn't look bad though with the smaller wheel well opening (4 door). I also assembled the spring pack using only the dakota 2nd and 3rd leaves w/the XJ main...no short XJ leaf. That netted about 1/2" higher in the rear. Since both the dakota and XJ springs are used, I don't expect the springs to "break in" or sag, but I thought they might settle in a little, therefore I figured after I install the new tires and drive it a while I'll decide which way to run. I figure I got about 3.5 of lift. You can get 4.5" to 5" using the dakota main leaf with the eyes cut off according to other posts on this web site.

Thanks for all your comments.

I have the 3" AAL kit from Rusty's and I cant complain a bit. When the rears start to sag, I may go that route out of cheapness. Did you run the F150 springs in the front? I imagine those are pretty rough...

SouthernXJ said:

I have the 3" AAL kit from Rusty's and I cant complain a bit. When the rears start to sag, I may go that route out of cheapness. Did you run the F150 springs in the front? I imagine those are pretty rough...

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I'm running a set of BDS 3" coils in the front....found them used on this site's swap board. I had some time to drive it a little more (it is my wife's XJ) and I don't think the rear is too stiff w/the Dakota leaves. It's about par with the front BDS coils. All in all I'm very happy with the results. BTW I ended up going w/30x9.50 BFG AT's...they look pretty nice, not necessarily too small. I like to run a narrower tire for better handling on snow and ice covered roads.....and with the price of gas I figured I may be able to maintain a little better mileage.

Sweet. It's cool to know there is more than one way to skin a cat. I'm gonna keep this AAL setup till it sags, then I'm definatly looking into the Dakota leaves.