I read everywhere about people throwing their **** on monster tires right away and huge lifts.
personally, huge lifts i dont likie. not necessary.
the big you build the easier it breaks.

Must be compensating fellas lol jkjk

GO BIG OR GO HOME!!! lol.

Why buy a lift and make it small. Your lifting to get ground clearance to crawl over things. There is the LCOG builds but not for some people lol. I wish i would of actually gone with a bigger lift. I wanted the 8in with clayton but didnt have the funds and knew the 4.5 would be just perfect for whats needed lol.

I like the low clog. There is a thread that im subscribed too that talks just that and I've learned a lot about it. Mostly with bump stops and shock lenght.

Go Big or Go Home is right.

I went with a 3in then added pucks and shackles and now finally got my 6.5 long arms
Wish I would have just saved another few months and went big right away would have saved me alot of work and time

I plan on running my 33s till maybe thru winter and getting 35s in spring

It's all about personal preference. Honestly, bigger lifts make driving your jeep more expensive, literally on lift size and also on gas, rehearing, tire replacement cost, etc. Honestly short arm kits and 35s really just make for the look and not much ride quality or offroadability. The suspension travel is limited and you'll have to bumpstop the hell out of it. Drop brackets give you 4 inches of drop, and better ride quality but they hang low, and you still have short arms. If you want to wheel it hard, save your money up and get a long arm for 35s. If you want just the look, than I guess the 5.5 sa kit is alright, but for just a few more benjamins you could get a la kit from iron rock offroad and install it in your drive way, only having to drill two easy holes.

Just my $.02

Agree!!

If your ganna wheel it save the money and do it right. Unless you really for give 2 ***** then you can get whatever and beat the **** out f it.
Long arms are going to be amazing I can already tell

My ride quality actually isnt that bad. But its not like i drive it alot lol. Its alot rougher than my air ride in my exploder though. But i also dont wheel mine hard. Just mountain roads and trails. No rock crawling statues thats for sure.

Then why build it like a rock crawler I'd your not going to crawl rocks?!

lol cause i built it for going on moutian roads and trails.

Plus it looks awesome besides the paint which really isnt bad since it will get scratched by trees.

True, but you can also get a long arm 3 inch. Full traction makes it and its a true 4link too so with 33 or even 35 your axle is going to drop just as much as a 5 or possible a 6 inch because you have addressed your shock and bumpstop. It also spring vs leafs too spring will always out do leaf so front would be fine rear you would have issues. I could be wrong too but you would want low clog for crawling less chance of flipping.
Look at top truck low but have a lot of suspension travel and big tires too. Yea different set up but you get the idea.

Very true. Xjs aren't really the best vehicle for the concept though, any wrangler is as the frame allows for the entire removal of almost everything with rigidity still remaining. Xjs would require more mods and cutting to obtain it. Xjs are good offroad to a point, the coil/leaf setup sucks. Switching to all leafs or all coils makes our xjs pure beasts offroad, but it is a costly and very skilled change.

I think for this dude he needs to decide what he really wants and how much he wants to spend and go from there. Aesthetically, which is honestly how most of is go, 33s and a 4 inch ish lift is the norm and easy to accomplish and make work. For a newbie xj owner, anything higher with any tires bigger could be a pain in the ***.

So buddy, your lift and tires are up to you really. It all depends on what look you're going for, what money you got, what skills you have and what time you got.

Holy xj batman! I'm at the whole foods on carlisle and I've already spotted four xjs.

That's you who I saw! I was parked under the light post you were parked like 4 spots north of me. I like the rims, looked real good.

Wow I read all the post and still sort of a little undecided, long arm is a must then cause I plan to wheel pretty hard but which company has a long arm thats completely bolt on?

ok as of right now my rig has 8.8 rear,rebuilt ax15 trans rebuilt 231 w terra low,sye,new drive shafts thats it for now, I need a lift kit n gears.+tires.