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Best and worst...

Kejtar

Kejtar

PostMaster General
NAXJA Member
Location
Westminster, SoCal
As I'm rebuilding the new XJ (ok, primarily just moving parts from one to the other) I have had some time to reflect on what I have and what I bought and what I wish I bought.
One of my biggest regrets is spending the money on SuperFlex arms while still choosing to go with fixed lowers. I'm really happy with how they work but I keep beating my head against the wall every time I think that it was only a few bucks more to get the adjustable lowers to match the adjustable uppers.

Another one of my regrets is when I chose to go with 4.11's when I was getting ready for 31's. I know it's one more of those debates which gears are better for what tires... well when I had the 4.11's and 31's I regret not having 4.56's.

On the other hand I am really happy with my front and rear detroits and 4.88's and 33x1250's.

OK, that's enough of my rambling... how about the rest of you? Recently we had a lot of people asking about what to do... what to get and I figure they might appreciate some thoughts about everything or a single thing from those who have been making the mistakes for a while now (lets face it... all of us have made at least one mistake when it comes to our xj's).
 
so far my biggest mistake was getting an aal instead of replacing the whole pack, REPLACE THE WHOLE PACK!!!!!
 
First regret, not paying enough attention in Auto Shop and Metals and Welding.
Second Regret: Getting a beat to hell 89 and proceeding to try and turn it into a 2004 with new parts :p
Third regret, and the question you're really asking..not sitting down and really figuring out what I wanted the jeep FOR..and building accordingly. I enjoy the jeep, but I think, given any luck at all, a 1996 or so, would have given me more of a break on replacing failing parts, so I could concentrate on upgrades, instead of maintenance someone else never intended to do. That said, I admire the people who take their time, and proceed with a plan, step by step. Me, I just rush from A to C, to B, to D..And doing the work yourself, not only do you get a feedback and personal self worth boost..you save 60 to 75 bucks an hour... :rtm:
 
Actually the best thing any XJer could do would be to join this board. Removable doors are also a great thing, really helps with your line.
 
Worst thing I've done to mine, bought black tail light covers, complete waste of $50...yeah, they're gone now

Best so far, upgrading most of the cooling system, although I still have a bit left to get, it's been a noticable improvement.
 
best mod, black steel wheels. Worst, that they already had Michelin LTX radials on them. That's about the extent of my mods...or maybe not buying a 2" BB already to fit the muds I bought from Matt...:D
 
this is gonna step on a lot of toes... but....


the worst thing I ever did was decide I wanted to run 35s. It would have been WAY easier and cheaper to reliably run 33s, and the 35s honestly make NorCal trails (Rubicon, Fordyce) too easy. Not to mention how much worse gas mileage 35s get compared to 33s.




oh, and the best thing I ever did by far was flat black paint
 
I've made many mistakes over the past 8 years in the Jeep...some really bonehead ones too....filling the framerails with insulating foam to reduce noise is the biggest. (now it retains water)

Best- Converting to dual diaphragm booster/master


Reminds me of This Thread
 
worse: OME lift with 1 1/2" boost for extreme offroading, flexs good, rides great, sags even better. now i am 2" taller than stock. 3/4" of that is tires
 
2offroad said:
worse: OME lift with 1 1/2" boost for extreme offroading, flexs good, rides great, sags even better. now i am 2" taller than stock. 3/4" of that is tires
Click to expand...

What he said.
I loved my OME lifted '99, until I destroyed my trail rig and started wheeling it more.
I have collapsed OME XJ and ZJ coils, losing up to 1" on a single trail run.
The stuff is great for street driving, and occasional offroad, but Paragon is not the place for OME.
Luckily, the resale on the stuff is good.
I am by no means installing the standard 5.5 XD lift, but I will buy some stuff from RE.
Also, locker and alloy shafts for my stock geared 8.25 rearend.
I have a 44 in the garage that I just had to sell because I cannot financially justify starting over on an open axle just for brakes that are 1" bigger.
Jet Stage2 chip that ended up being traded for an Optima Yellow Top.
Buying 30" tires.
Buying 31" tires.
Having the drivers seat rewelded and not just shelling out for a Mastercraft, twice.
I am sure I will add more to the list by the end of the week.
:jester:
 
So far the only regret for mods is that I did not buy the bigger Surco roof rack that covered almost the whole roof.
 
ChuckD said:
The best thing an XJ'er can do is join NAXJA, somebody has to pay for this wealth of XJ information. Our bandwidth is paid by members, please consider that.
Click to expand...

dont worry i am joining very very soon
 
I wish I had 4.88's, I wish I would have gone with full packs in the rear, and instead gone with 5.5" springs over the 4.5". I also regret buying BFG M/T's...they are a POS and wear out too fast, not to menting how often I lose a bead with these things... I should have stuck with MT/R's like my YJ.
 
the worst thing I ever did was decide I wanted to run 35s. It would have been WAY easier and cheaper to reliably run 33s, and the 35s honestly make NorCal trails (Rubicon, Fordyce) too easy. Not to mention how much worse gas mileage 35s get compared to 33s.

Brett:
Get a cheap 4 banger car for your dd and then just use your mj for trails. It is extremly hard and not nice over the long run to run the kind of trails we have in Norcal on a dd/wheeler. I have 35' mtrs and they do not get good gas mileage, but they are big, mean, and get the job done offroad. With your dana 44/toy 8" you should have no strength issues with your 35's. I have the rev dana 30/44 combo and 35's are a max size for me and I take it easy on everything when I wheel and don't hammer on stuff. I agree that trails have become very easy with dual lockers, 35's, and lower gears, but still fun and the scenery is great. Like you I have an arb front and don't use it all the time, my rear detroit does good by itself.

I'm sorry Brett, I didn't mean to critique your post, but if you can moving your mj to wheeler status and getting a 4/6 cylinder car is alot nicer to drive around town and elsewhere than a 33-35" trail rig. You will like your trail rig better too, if you retire to just that the trail. Maybe even get a cheap stock xj as a dd, well maybe with a 3" lift and 31's, you got to lift it a little bit. :guitar:
Troy
Troy
 
Last edited:
Big Red said:
the worst thing I ever did was decide I wanted to run 35s. It would have been WAY easier and cheaper to reliably run 33s, and the 35s honestly make NorCal trails (Rubicon, Fordyce) too easy. Not to mention how much worse gas mileage 35s get compared to 33s.

Brett:
Get a cheap 4 banger car for your dd and then just use your mj for trails. It is extremly hard and not nice over the long run to run the kind of trails we have in Norcal on a dd/wheeler. I have 35' mtrs and they do not get good gas mileage, but they are big, mean, and get the job done offroad. With your dana 44/toy 8" you should have no strength issues with your 35's. I have the rev dana 30/44 combo and 35's are a max size for me and I take it easy on everything when I wheel and don't hammer on stuff. I agree that trails have become very easy with dual lockers, 35's, and lower gears, but still fun and the scenery is great. Like you I have an arb front and don't use it all the time, my rear detroit does good by itself.

I'm sorry Brett, I didn't mean to critique your post, but if you can moving your mj to wheeler status and getting a 4/6 cylinder car is alot nicer to drive around town and elsewhere than a 33-35" trail rig. You will like your trail rig better too, if you retire to just that the trail. Maybe even get a cheap stock xj as a dd, well maybe with a 3" lift and 31's, you got to lift it a little bit. :guitar:
Troy
Troy
Click to expand...
but the thing is I WANT to DD my truck. If I didn't then I woulda really gone crazy and gone with 37s or 38s. I will never build a rig that I look at in the driveway and say to myself "nah, I'd rather take the Honda today".

and 35s with 2 lockers (even 1 a lot of times) is too easy on Fordyce and Rubicon. I like wheelin for the scenery, but I also want to feel challenged. the only place in NorCal I feel challenged now is the 50' of Little Sluice (and that might get leveled anyway). Now if I lived near Johnson Valley, I would definitely be glad I have the 35s.

now that the money is already spent, I'll leave it as is, but in hindsight I would have:

-toy 8" redrilled to 5 on 4.5, 4.88s, locked
-D30 build a longarm setup, 4.88s, 760x joints, maybe open
-shorten wheelbase to 108
-33" MTRs or TrXus

that way I might actually have to back up occasionally and try different lines on trails like Fordyce and Rubicon.
 
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