descisions- what vehicle?

[Economos]

$4500 if you can do the work yourself. It also depends on the year of the vehicle you get. I paid $4500 for mine and had to turn around and drop another $1200 on mechanical **** after a month. Just be sure you're not getting something thats been ridden hard and put up wet.

I'm running 33x10.5 BFG-MT/KMs on stock TJ Canyons. I've got 5" up front and 6" in the rear and it has worked out really well so far; great flex and very stable. The lift consists of 4.5" RE coils, SuperFlex LCAs, RE adjustable track-bar w/ heim joint, rear 3" Rusty's leafs (sagged), Rusty's 1.5" shackle and a homemade 1.5" solid block. I'm running a set of TeraFlex long-travle TJ shocks, slightly modified.

The idea is to get the suspension as balanced as possible. The front flexes very nicely even with the short arms, and since the rear Rustys springs sagged on me, that has allowed for better flex. A flatter spring with less arch will allow for a much better range of upward and downward travel. I had to compensate for the loss of lift with the block and shackle. BTW, the shackles suck, I've had spring wrap since day 1 with them.

When I drop in the Waggy 44s, I'm removing the Rusty's shackles and using a 2" Chevy lowering shackle, these actually supply 2" of lift for the XJs. I'll eventually replace the springs as well.

If you get something for $3000, and spend the rest on suspension and tires, you could probably get away with it. But be prepared to spend more, cause budgets are made to be broken.

 

[1968jeepthing]

See? even Toyota owners bash on themsleves! lol its all in good fun though.

 

[Economos]

Originally posted by yellowjacket
What do you need to be able to be fully flexed with 33's, 10" lift?

Umm no, 10" of lift, I could stuff 38s with the help of a sawzall.

Here is my posing junk.

5" RE front, 6" rear, 33x10.5s.

 

[1968jeepthing]

yeah, i hear you on the budget thing. it kinda stinks but yeah, its definitley true. how hard is the lift to put in?

 

[1968jeepthing]

Dude, that thing looks so sweet, cherokees are so cool.

 

[Economos]

I wish I had the money I paid to have my first lift put on. Yes, it is THAT easy. I did a kid's 3" lift w/ new springs with about $10 worth of tools in one night. That was not fun, and it took longer, but its not hard either. Get a buddy thats done it before and you'll be in business. Good tools make all the difference too. Also, it helps if the rigs suspension has soaked in PB-Blaster or WD-40 or some sort of penetration fluid for a few days and the under body is somewhat clean. This will losen the rusted bolts and hardwear and will allow a much smoother wrench session.

 

[1968jeepthing]

I think i've made my decision, chrokee it is. If anyone objects speak now or forever hold you peace. lol no really, if anyone has any other ideas of somthing that will work good for me, i'll still be open to suggestions or ideas, but for now it looks like cherokee will work good. thanks everybody for the help.
-Brian

 

[Economos]

Originally posted by IntelaToy
I have two buddies with Cherokee's lifted 10" and there bad ass and all but it sure seems that 33's and 35's barely fit let alone not hurting their flex.

Did I say that right?

It seems to me that your friends don't know how to build rigs then. You should easily be able to stuff 35s with 7" and fender cutting. If I was to go as high as 10" of lift, the only way I would feel stable enough to pull out of the driveway would to be on full width axles, 65"-67" wms-wms on a 37x12.5 tire wrapped on a 15x8 with 4.5" of backspacing.

Also, wheels play a major role in what will fit and what won't. XJ fender wells aren't that large, so a wheel with a shallow backspacing is gonna cause the tires to hang way outside of the fenders (I'm speaking in terms of 4" or less backspacing). If you keep your tires closer to the body of the rig, you'll find they stuff a lot better. My Canyons have a 5.5" backspacing.

 

[yellowjacket]

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by Economos


Umm no, 10" of lift, I could stuff 38s with the help of a sawzall.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I have two buddies with Cherokee's lifted 10" and there bad ass and all but it sure seems that 33's and 35's barely fit let alone not hurting their flex.

Did I say that right?

 

[Economos]

Originally posted by 1968jeepthing
Dude, that thing looks so sweet, cherokees are so cool.

Haha, thanks dude!

 

[yellowjacket]

Originally posted by 1968jeepthing
I think i've made my decision, chrokee it is. If anyone objects speak now or forever hold you peace. lol no really, if anyone has any other ideas of somthing that will work good for me, i'll still be open to suggestions or ideas, but for now it looks like cherokee will work good. thanks everybody for the help.
-Brian

Bri, Your not hauling around a family and do you have a place to mod this thing?

 

[1968jeepthing]

No, i dont have to haul around a family but i do have all of my girlfriends. no really, i have tons of friends who i'd love to take wheelin and i could really use the extra room. as for modifying it, well maybe the school will let me use their shop, or maybe my good friend YellowJacket will let me borrow his place for a day or so . or if he is too mad at me for bashing on his toyota i'll try the parking lot.

 

[yellowjacket]

Originally posted by 1968jeepthing
No, i dont have to haul around a family but i do have all of my girlfriends. no really, i have tons of friends who i'd love to take wheelin and i could really use the extra room. as for modifying it, well maybe the school will let me use their shop, or maybe my good friend YellowJacket will let me borrow his place for a day or so . or if he is too mad at me for bashing on his toyota i'll try the parking lot.

It doesn't matter what you buy.....you can use my garage.

 

[yellowjacket]

Originally posted by Economos


It seems to me that your friends don't know how to build rigs then. You should easily be able to stuff 35s with 7" and fender cutting. If I was to go as high as 10" of lift, the only way I would feel stable enough to pull out of the driveway would to be on full width axles, 65"-67" wms-wms on a 37x12.5 tire wrapped on a 15x8 with 4.5" of backspacing.

Also, wheels play a major role in what will fit and what won't. XJ fender wells aren't that large, so a wheel with a shallow backspacing is gonna cause the tires to hang way outside of the fenders (I'm speaking in terms of 4" or less backspacing). If you keep your tires closer to the body of the rig, you'll find they stuff a lot better. My Canyons have a 5.5" backspacing.

I don't know for a fact, I just saw their tires and fender wells, it just didn't look like a good combo. One of them is running 35x14.50 Boggers on a $4,500 Factory Tubular suspension.

I'm not trying to make any enemy's, your jeep does look good.

 

[Economos]

Originally posted by yellowjacket
I don't know for a fact, I just saw their tires and fender wells, it just didn't look like a good combo. One of them is running 35x14.50 Boggers on a $4,500 Factory Tubular suspension.

I'm not trying to make any enemy's, your jeep does look good.

No, that was my mistake in bad wording. I wasn't harping on any rigs at all, I was just trying to say that there are much better ways to get larger tires on smaller lifts, thats all I was trying to imply. My mistake. I love to see how other people have tuned and designed their rigs, I think its a fun part of wheelin.

No enemies made here and thanks for the compliments on my rig. I'll be much happier with the Waggy 44s under it.

 

[SmokinCamel]

Give me a "Z" ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
Give me a "U" UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
Give me a "K" KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK

What do you got???

Darn Tootin.

Wouldn't you??

 

[ewander]

If you look around, you can find a low mileage YJ 4 banger for 3000 - 4000 dollars. I just saw a 92 for 4K, obo. I bought my brother's 92 with the 4.0 HO for 3700, and it runs great. If you do buy a YJ, stay away from the 87-89 six cyl. with the 5 spead. It's not fuel injected, and it has a crappy transmission. A buddy of mine got a 90 4 cyl for very cheap, and it seems to work fine.

I figure, if you did the welding, you could do a spring over swap on a cherokee for $300 (shocks included). We could do some creative stuff in the back for the lift, with some add-a-leaves, etc...You will just need to put a stiff cross member along the front of the unibody.

Either way, there is no totally cheap solution. Gears and lockers are always expensive. You can get away with higher gears with the automatic.

I love the wheel base of the Cherokee. It makes certain trails easier than a YJ. Yeah, you can't take the top off in the summer, but who cares (It seemed cool 5 years and no kids ago).

Buy American!

 

[ewander]

Greg, can I send you a couple pictures of my brother's cherokee? Can you post them here?

Eric

 

[TRD270]

Just on the whole chermut fender chopping I don't know about NC but remember your in UT if you chop your fenders to much your gonna get pulled over everyday. UT's a bitch to drive your modified rig on the road, with the exception of Von who some how drove to Moab with his and didn't get pulled over.

And as far as wanting room goes buy a 1st gen 4runner there out there I just picked up a 85 that pretty much meets all your expectations If you want room for more than you and a passenger don't count out the 4runner, there's one for sale on wildyoats right now for 1k all's it needs is a head gasket and a timing chain.

http://bb.wildyoats.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=500

 

[Economos]

Well, when I say cut fenders, I don't mean rock-buggy style, where there is absolutely nothing covering any portion of the tires. At the most, when I say cut fenders, I mean the flares have been removed and the bare metal has been trimmed back some, not "extreme". I don't know how UT is on tire coverage and things like that, it doesn't seem to be enforced as much here though. The fullsize guys out here like the whole wide tires wide wheels look. There is a local guy with a lifted Silverado and has what look like 37x18" wide tires; gayest thing I've ever seen, pertty redneck too if ya ask me.

Also, I have yet to be pulled or razzed about having my front doors off.