WJ ideas, Cody? (and others)

[Bear T]

So, I've got an 04 WJ, with the 4.7 and its been a great vehicle. I bought it with the intent of turning it into a crawler/expo rig, but have found the aftermarket to be lacking. since the value of the WJ has dropped from $17,000 at time of purchase to about $5000 now, I guess I might as well keep it and follow through with the original plands.

I have seen the Clayton offroad 6" long arm kit, and it looks like the best I've found so far. I like the way the get rid of the tri link in the rear.

What I hope to do, and this is of course is going to take a long time due to funds, but I'm wanting to turn it into a capable, DD/Expo rig. My wife is now driving the WJ to haul around my 2 boys in car seats still, so it still needs to be highway friendly, but able to take on most any trail we want when on road trips. I was going to just build another scout as the family expo rig, but she informed me that whatever I build must have A/C,

Start of with a front bumper to replace the one that lost a fight with an armored car.(really)

Then looking to build my own long arm kit, copying the Clayton design, using their springs,

After that, rear bumper, snorkel, possibly some upgraded axles, (JK 44's)

I know that I am probably going to want to do a T-Case swap when lifting it that much, What I'm really looking for, is some real world insight into whats the best way to get this thing in the air, make it drive good, be reliable, and so on.

Cody, you seem to be the resident WJ expert so please chime in.

thanks,
Bear

 

[GOAT]

Start here:

http://www.nagca.com/

http://www.mallcrawlin.com/

 

[Bear T]

Thanks Goat, that GC forum has a lot of great info on it.

 

[bobmed]

I think Cody runs the NAGCA site

 

[Greg]

I think Cody runs the NAGCA site

Yep, he sure does.

 

[GOAT]

Thanks Goat, that GC forum has a lot of great info on it.

No problem. NAGCA helped me quite a bit when I owned my old ZJ. IMHO, you cannot go wrong buying a clayton kit. Attempting to fab up your own kit, and then attach it to a unibody is a real PITA. Ask how I know

 

[Bear T]

I don't think I need to ask. It will be awhile, like next summer ish, before I get around to it, hopefully I can save the pennies to just buy the lift. I'm confident I could build one, since my dad is pretty awesome at metal work, but yes I would prefer to buy it and be done.

Going to start with a bumper, I smashed it last winter and the wife is tired of looking at it, so I will build one of those this fall, then the T-Case swap, then we'll see what happens.

 

[Zombie]

I'll second the clayton kit. I looked really hard at it, and I wasn't saving enough money by building it myself to make it really worth the time, the guesswork, and especially not the warranty. Buy Clayton.

 

[Cody]

I think a v8 WJ would be a killer expo rig. I would run about 4.5 or so inches of lift, some 33's and call it good. Depending on how much weight is in your bumpers and you plan to carry, you might need an extra inch or so. WJ's, although bigger, are harder to fit tires into and need a little more lift compared to a ZJ.

The WJ's have front CV driveshaft issues (as in, they break if you look at them wrong) and also CV front axle shaft issues. the axles will probably be fine unless you're trying to do some more difficult stuff, but definately get rid of the front d-shaft.

Clayton's is tried and true, but if you're pretty handy with the welder you can replicate it for much cheaper. It's not rocket science and there are probably plenty of rigs running around with the setup that you can look at.

If you want a DD/expedition WJ, just keep it simple. I wouldn't mess with big lifts (over 5"), axle swaps, or anything too crazy. You may need to swap to a 231/242 t-case if you have the 247, but really the 247 isn't that bad and the little bit of extra traction you get from that setup will be better than nothing.

Even though I use my ZJ 90% of the time for expedition/camping type stuff, it's way overbuilt. I wish I had something a little less conspicuous, narrower, shorter, and with functioning AC.

 

[I Lean]

Iceland Offroad's fender flares will fit 35's with around 4" of lift on WJ's. They're pretty slick that way. (I know this because Emil has a Tera 4" lift on his, with 35's.)

 

[Bear T]

As always, thanks for the input.

I was wanting the 6" kit because I am going to build a kinda heavy front winch bumper and rear bumper with tire carrier. So with the weight, it should sit just right for 33's, maybe 35's with the right wheels and trimming. I have a smashed fender too, and I found some aftermarket bulge type fenders to make up for the width, and to give a little more clearance.

Definitely going to swap out the front driveshaft.

I am looking into the 242 swap, since my 247 is slipping. The quadracrap hasn't worked right since I bought the Jeep, but the dealer I bought it from won't offer their "all inclusive" extended warranty because it was a "prior existing condition". Ya Carmax can suck a big one.

It is going to be a slow going project since i am still unemployed, but hopefully might be starting a new job on Monday. If I can just save the money up, I will buy the Clayton kit, if not, I will build it.

I would do the Tera 4" kit if they did something with the rear, but the one I rode in kinda felt like a shopping cart in back. (no offense Carl, you guys make great stuff.)

Going to start with the front bumper, then do what I can afford as I get to each step.

Should start the bumper in the next few weeks, I'm going to kinda copy this one from the NAGCA site. With a few changes to make it mine.