Velcro

Also, although not the tire that blew, my off-road work on the farm wound up breaking my wheel studs on my driver side. I made a 200 mile trip like that. Thank God I survived. I'm never running wheel spacers on any off road vehicle again, too much leverage on the studs and can't see when they are broken/loose.

Velcro

It's been a while but here is the progress so far.



The jeep is sitting nice right now on it's new wheels and tires. It's been regeared to 4.56s with a Detroit Truetrac in the rear.



Wound up having to get bushwhacker flat flares because the new tires were rubbing on the sides and not having fender flares can get you in a good bit of trouble around here. Think they look alright anyways.



Also new is the control arm drop bracket from rubicon express. Currently I don't have the braces on because they mount to where my transfer case crossmember goes, which the two bolts snapped off of. So I actually only have half a transfer case drop on.

Hopefully soon I can get a better steering system, as well as SYE and a new driveshaft. Also I've got new brakelines and bumpstops for it, but just haven't gotten around to putting those on yet. If anyone has any suggestions on a good steering system for me, please let me know.



Also just for fun

GreenXJ98

So far it's a rad build. Looking forward to seeing it on 35's!

Velcro

Thanks man.

Those are 35's

Now you've made me want to go to 40s...

Velcro

Jeeps been in the shop a month now, they messed up the gears in the front somehow. This is why I usually stick to doing things myself...

Installed a SYE kit and a custom driveshaft from Tatton. It's a really good piece by the way. On par quality with Tom Wood's and better service.

About to order an IRO OTK Steering Kit for it. Also considering buying a set of Metal Cloaks 5.5" dual rate coils for the front to help with highway use, because right now it's more than a handful.

Broke 2 of the crossmember bolts putting on the t-case drop, so still have to sort that out soon.

Velcro

Installed an Iron rock off road track bar a while back which is a lot better than the rough country one. Tightened up the front end and should have more flex.




Their steering kit is decent but clanks a lot whenever I turn the wheel or go over a bump. I think something is binding, but there is nothing wrong with my setup according to IRO. Hoping to do the WJ swap as soon as possible.




I replaced the crap adjustable ball joints with Synergy HDs. Camber is now back to normal. No one seems to be able to properly align my jeep so I've been slowly trying to get everything into spec.

Will be buying a welder and synergy long arms soon. Still don't know what to do about shocks, coils, and leaf springs, but the long term goal is to ditch all the rough country crap.

Also installed a Hurst shifter, pricey but a really nice upgrade for manual XJs.

Velcro

Finally ripped off the rough country crap and installed my Synergy 4 link long arm upgrade kit. Definitely more involved than most other kits and pricey, but was worth it for me at least.





Not a ton of reviews on the kit so I'll list the pros and cons quickly.

Pros:
1. Double Adjusters for control arms: Can adjust length of all 4 arms with the jeep on the ground.

2. 4-link setup: In my opinion and for my uses, better than radius arms.

3. Can drop crossmember without removing the control arms.

4. Rubber bushings and Johnny Joints.

5. Extremely beefy and looks cool with the gray powder coat.


Cons:
1. Difficult install compared to many other kits. Took longer to put on than my lift kit, although that included painting the crossmember and brackets as well as bedlining my floor pans.

2. Reuses stock crossmember. Not that bad though.

3. Expensive.

4. Flag nuts to tighten upper control arms. Just not easy to get started, but work fine. Using stock control arm bolts helped get them started.

5. Powder coat is durable, but not amazingly so, protects about as well as a good rustoleum paint job.


Overall a great kit though for my intended purposes. Not for everyone though. I wasn't looking for maximum flex, if I was I would have probably gone with IRO's long arm.

Sadly, I've got a leaking radiator and some moisture coming from exhaust, although a block test says I'm all good, so just have more stuff to figure out.