Rotorhead84
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Nebraska
The Jeep: 97 XJ. 220k on the clock. 6.5" lift. 33" Duratracs. D30 front (no idea on spline count) and a D35 in the rear. 4.0, automatic, 3.55 gears.
The plan: Trashing the D35 and going with either an 8.25 or an 8.8 depending on what I can find at the junkyard. Also my Duratracs have about ~50k on them and I'll need new rubber soon enough and I'll be going to 35s.
Driving Environment: This jeep is my DD and will remain my DD for at least another year. Lots of highway miles. I drive about 80 miles a day on the hwy when I'm on duty. While it is my DD I also use it to play a little bit, and I have plans to retire the jeep to toy/winter beater status in a year or so.
I am a flatlander. I live in the midwest. Nothing to climb to speak of. Sandy minimum maintenance roads, mud/mudholes, and snow/ice are the "offroad" environment it will see. Nothing extreme. I am willing to suffer a bit on the DD manners until the the jeep "retires" to achieve better results during playtime.
What I need help with:
Trying to figure out what I should do in terms of locker/posi set ups for each axle based on my driving environment. I still need it to be streetable, wife will drive it in the winter. Not sure if this rules out lunchbox lockers or not. I have been doing a lot of reading about this here and if I'm understanding correctly, a lunchbox in the front will not make a lot of ratcheting noise or cause any steering issues at all until the jeep is put into 4wd correct?
Since it won't be an offroad monster, I was thinking of putting a lunchbox in the front and a truetrac in the rear.
Guide me. Is this a bad idea for my driving environment? Overkill? I don't need or want anything crazy, but I want to be able to get out whatever trouble I can get myself in. I have also played around with the idea of selectable lockers (cable or electronic) front or back, limited slip in both front and back, etc. I really have no idea how to proceed from here.
If I had to pick a "priority" I would pick snow/ice performance. I really need it to excel in the winter months.
The plan: Trashing the D35 and going with either an 8.25 or an 8.8 depending on what I can find at the junkyard. Also my Duratracs have about ~50k on them and I'll need new rubber soon enough and I'll be going to 35s.
Driving Environment: This jeep is my DD and will remain my DD for at least another year. Lots of highway miles. I drive about 80 miles a day on the hwy when I'm on duty. While it is my DD I also use it to play a little bit, and I have plans to retire the jeep to toy/winter beater status in a year or so.
I am a flatlander. I live in the midwest. Nothing to climb to speak of. Sandy minimum maintenance roads, mud/mudholes, and snow/ice are the "offroad" environment it will see. Nothing extreme. I am willing to suffer a bit on the DD manners until the the jeep "retires" to achieve better results during playtime.
What I need help with:
Trying to figure out what I should do in terms of locker/posi set ups for each axle based on my driving environment. I still need it to be streetable, wife will drive it in the winter. Not sure if this rules out lunchbox lockers or not. I have been doing a lot of reading about this here and if I'm understanding correctly, a lunchbox in the front will not make a lot of ratcheting noise or cause any steering issues at all until the jeep is put into 4wd correct?
Since it won't be an offroad monster, I was thinking of putting a lunchbox in the front and a truetrac in the rear.
Guide me. Is this a bad idea for my driving environment? Overkill? I don't need or want anything crazy, but I want to be able to get out whatever trouble I can get myself in. I have also played around with the idea of selectable lockers (cable or electronic) front or back, limited slip in both front and back, etc. I really have no idea how to proceed from here.
If I had to pick a "priority" I would pick snow/ice performance. I really need it to excel in the winter months.