1989 MJ Short Box 4X4 w/5" and Rubi rims (pics)

So, my other thread was a mid-way couple of shots. This is the finished product. Big shout out to Dave and Andre of www.Xtension4X4.ca for the gear and Matt, Craig and Aubrey for the install at APJ Automotive in Sackville, Nova Scotia. They came through big time on this "Christmas Gift" for myself!

Picked up the truck this afternoon, and 20 minutes later had it on the rocks! The new Bilstiens ride amazingly! The truck handles like a dream and hitting the train tracks at 50 MPH results in a couple of muted whumps from the tires...and that's it.

The RockKrawler front springs and trackbar are super. New, longer flex lines are a wise investment - learned that on the old Cherokee...LOL

The spring over in the rear netted roughly 6" of lift for me - sweet!

Only a very slight vibe passing through 30MPH can be felt (not worth tracking down) - other than that, she's rock solid up to 70 or so. Still waiting on discos, and I'll likely pop for UCA's now, too...stockers are maxed and have the axles tilting back a bit.

Onto the foggy afternoon pics!

Nice looking MJ ... good job!

Les

nice!

nice

then its time to save for some bigger meats. looks awesome.. mj's are sweet. definitely a job well done

why'd ya keep the D35 rear? more importantly, why did you sink money into it?

so far so good, carry some spare rear shafts.

welcome to the MJ club my bed got chopped off tonight

BrettM said:

why'd ya keep the D35 rear? more importantly, why did you sink money into it?

so far so good, carry some spare rear shafts.

welcome to the MJ club my bed got chopped off tonight

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Please post pics of the bed-chop...

As for the D35, I kept mine because it's paid for and plenty strong for 31's and my style of easy-on-the-gas wheeling.

I did not "sink money into it". The D35 I'm talking about was built by another gent, and I'm getting a smokin' deal on it, so it doesn't make sense to upgrade to a different rear axle when the other D35 will be fine for my needs.

Now, should I start running 33's...well, THEN, I MIGHT consider looking for something else...for now, the D30/D35 combo should work fine.

Glad to see folks like the look - not too many of these beasts left and some folks even gave me heat when I told them my plans - "Why do that to something that's rare...save it as is", they said...

My response was "Uh huh...bet you've never pulled up on that other level in the cab, have you...?" LOL

Merry Christmas gang!

Looks good sportsguy. Where did you find those Rubi wheels, and what's their width and backspacing?
B.

Well, they are stock Rubicon rims. Another couple in the club I belong to have a Rubi and went with steelies for off-roading, so I got the five rimes/tires for a bit under a grand (CDN). Great deal and I love the look of them on the truck.


As for the width and backspacing, I must confess, I have no idea. I simply went with the recommendation made by the owner of the shop that work son this truck made. I've been with them for a few years now, so I trust them and their judgement.
Hopefully someone here will know the specs you're after. I can say though, that they bolts straight on and I onlyhad rub when fully locked and the suspesion started to compress. In daily driving, zero rubbing. Now of course, I think I'd flip the truck before I could get those tires to make contact with the fenders...LOL

Lookin' Good!!
A set of wheel spacers to bump the rims out a couple inches might be nice. It'd be a bit less "tippy". It's nice to find someone who isn't after the absolute biggest tire possible. 33s only give 1" more ground clearance than 31s, but increase the headache-factor a lot.
Jeep on!
--Pete
ComancheClub.com

Pete M said:

Lookin' Good!!
A set of wheel spacers to bump the rims out a couple inches might be nice. It'd be a bit less "tippy". It's nice to find someone who isn't after the absolute biggest tire possible. 33s only give 1" more ground clearance than 31s, but increase the headache-factor a lot.
Jeep on!
--Pete
ComancheClub.com

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Not to mention the $$ factor...LOL

Gotta check out that URL of yours...might be my kind of place..hehe

I agree.. the wheels look a lot better than I would have thought if I had to draw it up in my simple little mind!

I might paint them black with polished rims. Maybe black with red rims.

Nice rig!

The stock Rubicon wheels are 16x8's with a 5 inch backspacing. My dad drives one and I keep trying to convince him to get new rims and larger tires and give me the old ones!

And seriously nice rig!

Very nice rig indeed....I just bought a '91 MJ....now i have a clear idea what to do with mine!!!!

Thanks for the props guys.

Hadn't thought of a color change for the rims - decent idea, though with the rocks, mud and gravel around here I'd be touching them up all the time, I fear. Still, worth considering.

Glad I could give some folks some inspiration with their MJ projects.

Why did you lift it so high if your going to run 31s?

That Comanche looks very nice. Keep up the good work, and get those control arms replaced so you can have a nice ride

nate said:

Why did you lift it so high if your going to run 31s?

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Well, I'll ask if you've ever done a SOA flip on an MJ before? I hadn't, but had been told to expect about 6" of lift just by doing the SOA flip...and it turns out the rumours were true.

In the front, we went with 4.5" springs, which while not needed to clear 31's, do allow the assurance of never rubbing and space later for upgrading to a 32" tire or 33's with trimming. (We started with 5 1/2" out of the springs and after a couple test drives, they settles down about a 1/4". I expect to lose another 1/4" - 1/2" after a few trail rides. That's should put me dead on what I wanted...OR, I could just hang a big-old bumper out front to drop it a tad if needed.

The thing is, though, the total lift for MJ's is generally dictated by the rear end. If you end up with 7" out back doing your SOA with say, new MJ leaf packs, then you're going to be doing one of 2 things:

~ Going back to spring under for the rear and building a limited/smaller lift while dragging shock mounts, etc across the ground (the shock mounts hang down on MJ's)
~ Lifting the front to match the rear, since you've already done the work

I can also say that I'm a big believer in enabling your tires to do as much as they can without rubbing. This combo will accomplish that.

...and they were what came on the tires, and since the goal on this project was to keep costs down, replacing new tires with others didn't seem prudent. I'm certain the 31's will not be a hinderance to me off road.

As for the control arm concern - i currently notice a sharp hit on low-speed bumps when the front rides over them. The rear end is like butter! High-speed bumps, though, seem to be this set-up's rear strength - the faster I hit the bumps on my dirt road the other day, the better the ride was. I'm sure there is a limit to this, but I wasn't up for pounding around my subdivision at 60 MPH...LOL When I replace the UCA's I'll post up the difference.

Nice! The Rubicon wheels look good with the silver stripes, I'd like to pick up a set of those wheels myself, I think they look better on XJs and MJs than they do on the Rubicon TJs.

Bed chop