Christmas break project. hydro assist? bumpers? sliders? all of them?

basically being in college sucks, when i do make it home i don't have time to do anything to the xj but im on naxja for 3 hours a day looking at stuff i COULD be doing.

My question is what upgrades would you recommend for doing over christmas break. The bumpers and sliders i and a friend will fab, so they are next to free. I already have a stinger bumper up front but will probably ditch that in favor of a nice clean winch bumper. So the real thing im debating here is if i shoud do hydro assist. From my understanding it is a fairly simple job, well simpler than you would think. My pump is in good condition with only 70k on it so i dont know if i would do the rebuild or not. So.. i've read many threads and know the steps. Just tap the pump and use a ram and hoses that you can get at several different stores or there is also a spreadsheet upon here from an interenet supply store. I've been dealing with steering issues for a while and attribute most of that to halfa$$ alignment and cheap tires. I think that the hydro assist would help out alot with that and prove to be a worthy upgrade in the future especially when i go bigger.

setup:
99 4-door, 4.5" kit, adj trac bar(not in pic), custom knuckle to knuckle steering, 33" mt/r's coming up w/in a month.

Hyrdo Assist with 33s? How about new gears for the 33s and a locker or two if you can swing it.

cause hydro is cheap and very very effective. i can do the bumpers, sliders, and hydro for like $200 or less. i can't fab gears, although i do think i could use them. i'm saving gears for summer. i will also go bigger than 33's in summer after gears.

I know a whole bunch of guys who wheel hard very regularly with 35's and 37's who don't have hydro assist. I can't see how you could possibly need it with 33's.

If you just want to do it, then do it........but then why ask for opinions here?

There are a whole bunch of things you could do to your rig that would be beneficial before adding hydro assist with 33's.

Goatman said:

There are a whole bunch of things you could do to your rig that would be beneficial before adding hydro assist with 33's.

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Like adding cup holders if you haven't already :laugh3:

the hydro assist would be in preparation for bigger and better things but would be nice and stable now. when somone sticks 35's on w/o preparation they get flamed so i'm getting something done i can do w/in a day or two and still drive it the rest of the time while preparing for bigger stuff

a_hiatt said:

the hydro assist would be in preparation for bigger and better things but would be nice and stable now. when somone sticks 35's on w/o preparation they get flamed so i'm getting something done i can do w/in a day or two and still drive it the rest of the time while preparing for bigger stuff

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Then can we flame you when you have Hydro assist and 37s on your Dana 30?

i didn't know that hydro assist was permanent on the axle :idea:

so what should i do instead of hydro then, any suggestions that wont cost me an arm and a leg. i'm in college = dirt poor

a_hiatt said:

i didn't know that hydro assist was permanent on the axle :idea:

so what should i do instead of hydro then, any suggestions that wont cost me an arm and a leg. i'm in college = dirt poor

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Yeah save for gears. Doesn't anyone save money anymore? Why does it have to be something cheap, now, just to do something.

a_hiatt said:

i didn't know that hydro assist was permanent on the axle :idea:

so what should i do instead of hydro then, any suggestions that wont cost me an arm and a leg. i'm in college = dirt poor

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Rock rails.

Fix your steering issues by figuring out what is wrong with it. Check your alignment with a tape... have your tires balanced. Have someone turn the steering wheel while you check out the TRE's.

Plenty of info if you search on these topics.

well i did see it as something that would be useful later on. i havent been able to make myself get gears yet, so much money can go into that kind of stuff. but i should probably get them.
just for the record you didnt have to be an asshat about it

i have searched, rock rails will be done w/ bumpers over christmas probably. the tires on there now are just rediculous but i am realigning it this weekend along w/ balancing the tires. since they're cheap they barely stay balanced though, thats why i am going w/ mt/r's

OBA on the cheap...

There's a few write-ups using the stock AC compressor or using a york.
RevDen helped me do my axle swap using impact tools running off his and after that...

I'll never mock OBA ever again!

besides that...

a good CB?

Hi-Lift?

Tow straps?

dual batteries?

There's quite a few things you can do to prepare for "bigger" things to come without jumping up to hydro assist.

got an SYE yet?

get some buddies together and road trip to Chicago, have a night on the town, stay in some sleeze bag motel, then go to Gil's after paying the whore and buy the MT/r's

return home

enjoy MT/r's




for real - if you do discover a problem with the steering box - taping it and putting plugs in it for now makes it easier later...

I thought you lived in Ill, Not Idaho?


Although the angle is not "that" bad, how is the Bumpsteer?

XJ_ranger said:

get some buddies together and road trip to Chicago, have a night on the town, stay in some sleeze bag motel, then go to Gil's after paying the whore and buy the MT/r's

return home

enjoy MT/r's




for real - if you do discover a problem with the steering box - taping it and putting plugs in it for now makes it easier later...

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minus actually paying for it thats pretty much my plan for next weekend...

and OBA is actually on the list, i might look into it before break, the break part is something a few missed

Geepfreak said:

I thought you lived in Ill, Not Idaho?


Although the angle is not "that" bad, how is the Bumpsteer?

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i am in IL, bumpsteer isn't too bad, with the new tracbar on the geometry is pretty fair. once i get those god awful tires and rims off there it will be great

dosn't matter what you pay for the tires if there ballenced the only way that they can become unbalanced is for the weights to fall off. The difference incheep tires and good ones is the amount of weights they take to balance there other things to but not for this topic.

how about uneven tread wear, lugs getting torn off, etc. this hasn't happened to me but im sure it could. either way after driving on this things im going to mt/r's. the worst low speed vibs and noise of any tire i've ridden on. about 3x worse than my old worn down swampers

scoobyxj said:

dosn't matter what you pay for the tires if there ballenced the only way that they can become unbalanced is for the weights to fall off. The difference incheep tires and good ones is the amount of weights they take to balance there other things to but not for this topic.

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I disagree.. Next time you are wheeling make a mark on the side wall and the rim with a sharpie, Lower air pressure to 12 lbs or less. Wheel as you normally would. Check marks. 8 out of 10 times the tires will rotate on the rims.