2000 Green XJ "Pocahontas" on 33's
 

I'll start off with a brief story of how it all went down and try to include pictures along with the events...

Before my family of 7 moved to NC, we lived in Iceland on a military base. Before Iceland, we lived in Florida. While in florida my dad had a black 3/4 ton Suburban. He put an 8 inch lift and 38s on it before being deployed to Iceland. While we lived in iceland for about 3 years, the suburban on 38's was our only vehicle we had there. It came in very handy during the Icelandic blizards.

While living in NC, my dad sadly sold the suburban. ( It wasn't the most practical vehicle at the time.) Before any of us were able to drive, in 2002 my dad bought a new jeep wrangler sport. He used the excuse, "The kids are going to need to learn how to drive a stick shift and this will be a perfect learning vehicle." For a couple years, my dad used it as his daily driver. Eventually the stock tires wore out, so he said he was taking it to the tire shop to get new tires. When he came back, it had a 3.5 inch lift on it and 35" super swampers... - I think because he missed his old suburban. Anyways, when my older brother was old enough to drive he drove it to high school and used it as his daily driver. Then when I was old enough to drive, I drove it throughout high school.... I really enjoyed the JEEP.
http://i1132.photobucket.com/albums/...6/IMAG0124.jpg

Anyways, after I graduated High School, I worked overtime engraving tombstones for the summer before starting college. At the end of that summer, I saved up enough money for my first Vehicle. I knew I wanted a 4x4 four door suv. I found a nice 2001 explorer for sale at a guys house and bought for $4400 just before starting school. It was very clean and I loved it.

http://i1132.photobucket.com/albums/...6/IMAG0214.jpg

I mildly wheeled it....
But then some guy ran a red light and I T-boned him... The night before my Chem Final.
My Explorer was totaled.
sad day.... luckily it was 100% his fault and Insurance Came through and I actually got $5650 back! : )
So then I went Vehicle shopping like crazy over Christmas break... And I almost bought a 5 speed Rav-4... Glad I didnt.
Then I saw this... And read some reviews on line about them... and fell in love.

http://i1132.photobucket.com/albums/...6/IMAG0303.jpg

So I bought it with only 103,000 miles on it!... And I was financially broke just in time to go back to NC State for my second semester. And while at school, I joined cherokee forum and jeep forum became Obsessed with my new jeep.

Then I wanted to upgrade it but I couldn't because I had no money. Then one day (knowing I wanted a roof rack) my dad said, hey if you want that packasport hanging up in the garage you can have it. I wanna get rid of it. The packasport was about 13 years old and we hadn't used it in atleast 5 years. So I said thanks and took it. But the paint was really oxidized, so it was almost white looking. So I buffed it until i decided it was good enough. Then I put it on my jeep.

http://i1132.photobucket.com/albums/...6/IMAG0385.jpg

Since the jeep isn't the biggest thing, I figured it would be usefull for camping and snowboarding trips etc. Plus I liked how it looked, most jeeps don't have those. I thought it kinda said "adventurous"...

Then I fixed my window lock button, added stickers to the packaport, Painted and trimmed the plastic trim, removed the door molding, and painted the wheels....

http://i1132.photobucket.com/albums/...6/IMAG0417.jpg

And I thought it looked a lot better.

And i did some light wheeling, just for fun to see what it could do stock...

http://i1132.photobucket.com/albums/...6/IMAG0429.jpg

Then I added some Autozone 2.5 shackles to the rear just temporarily since the rear was sagging so bad and so I could sand and paint my stock shackles. But then the back was like an inch to high so I added some 1" coil spring spacers to the front. And inticipation for the upcoming lift, I ordered 1.5" wheel spacers to give me a little better stance. The packasport came very handy this camping trip...

http://i1132.photobucket.com/albums/...6/IMAG0440.jpg

Then, Finally I ordered my RC 4.5 x-series lift kit (New full leaf packs, coil springs, shocks, adjustable track bar, adjustable quick disco's, adjustable upper and lower control arms, stainless steel break lines" from a local dealer, "Rides" for $800 with free shipping. I almost was going to have them put it on after hearing all the horror stories about bolts breaking and what not. Especially since this kit is so extensive. But then my Dad reminded me that I didn't want to look like one of those rich kids who used their daddies money to have their jeep lifted. So, I did it my self. My little brother helped me disasemble the rear end one night, 3 out of 4 shock bots broke.
The next morning I hammered the nuts out and dropped new bolts in. (thanks to a thread on this forum.) Then finished the rear by myself.

http://i1132.photobucket.com/albums/...6/IMAG0465.jpg

Then dropped the front axle. Then removed all the suspension components on the front end and then my dad decided to help me with the front end. It was kind of a pain since we were replacing all the control arms and stuff and didn't use spring compressors but we got almost all done that day. Then the next day I changed out the steering stabalizer, the adjustable trac bar, and bled the breaks, put the tires back on, and aligned it myself as best I could.

http://i1132.photobucket.com/albums/...6/IMAG0468.jpg

I got some driveline vibrations so I put in a transfer case drop... One of the studs wouldnt budge even after I welded the nut to the stud and eventually the stud broke at the uni body, so I drilled a new hole next to it and dropped a bolt down through the unibody. Fun fun. Very very minimal vibes now. Eventually I'll still do a hack n'tap though.

The lift netted me about 5.5 inches of lift after 2 weeks, It will probably settle to around 5 or so.

I did a lot of research on tires and decided I could clear 33's without trimming since I won't be doing very much hard core wheeling. I'm currently going to college at NC State which is about a 3 hour interstate drive from my house, so I wanted a tire that would handle well on the road while still being decently aggresive and something that would work well in the snow for snowboarding and mountain trips. After reading alot about the tires, I decided to go with the 33x10.5 bfg t/a Ko's. I used to like the look of wider tires, but I started falling in love witht the slightly narower tire. (not pizza cutters, just not real wide tires.) I thought the less wide tire makes it look better and more though out. Plus I have no use for a wide tire, the narrower tires will perform better in every environment that I will be using the jeep for. (a lot of road driving).

http://i1132.photobucket.com/albums/...6/IMAG0477.jpg

Then got it aligned by a professional...

http://i1132.photobucket.com/albums/...6/IMAG0480.jpg

and then a few poser shots just to see how the quick disco's work and see how well it flex's with no trimming.

http://i1132.photobucket.com/albums/...6/IMAG0481.jpg

http://i1132.photobucket.com/albums/...6/IMAG0482.jpg

http://i1132.photobucket.com/albums/...6/IMAG0484.jpg

It actually flexed decently well for 33's with a 4.5 lift and no trimming. When I pulled out of the ditch it flexed it a little more, but it only rubbed the plastic bumper caps, which i don't have a problem trimming.

How she's sitting now... And just in case anyone is wondering because they didn't feel like reading through all that stuff, This is the RC 4.5 X-series lift kit with 33x10.5 BFG T/A KO's
http://i1132.photobucket.com/albums/...6/IMAG0496.jpg
http://i1132.photobucket.com/albums/...ofIMAG0497.jpg

http://i1132.photobucket.com/albums/...6/IMAG0494.jpg
http://i1132.photobucket.com/albums/...6/IMAG0495.jpg

Just in case anyone wanted to see a before and after picture right next to eachother... I was broke then and I'm broke now, but it was Definitely worth it.

http://i1132.photobucket.com/albums/...6/IMAG0301.jpg

http://i1132.photobucket.com/albums/...6/IMAG0490.jpg

Am i the only one who cant see the pictures? i've tried on both ipod and computer

Read everything, but I still don't see any pictures...where are you living now btw? I'm just outside of Charlotte, NCSU is about 2.5 hours from here, and I go to Western Carolina. Where do you snowboard at?

And yeah, i'm waiting to see pictures still! :D What year and color?

Sorry about that, i screwed that up. I checked on another computer and I cant see the pictures either. I'll get it fixed in a second.

I'm living in the hickory area btw...

I usually go up to the boone area like beech mountain, sugar mountain, appalachian ski Mtn... And every once in a while Snow shoe, WV. I've never been to Catalouche or hwvr you spell it near western Carolina. I do have property on a mountain up near western though.

I personally use photobucket, pretty good website, but where are you posting the pictures to> the globe with a paperclip thingy or the mountain with a sun? and what site are you currently using

Cataloochee is nice, but it's still a 45 min drive from western which is lame. Beech is right near App, so i'm jealous of that haha.

The easiest way to upload the pics is to go to www.imgur.com and upload that, copy the link ending with ".jpg", and then either paste the link here, or paste the link into the "Insert Image" dialogue box, which u can find by clicking the picture above the comment box

Pictures Are Fixed! : )

Cool it sounds really good lol

Sent from the captains chair on the planet express

Funny how you live in the Charlotte area and go to NCSU and I'm from the Raleigh area and go to UNCC. If you come home for a weekend, hit me up. There are some decent trails right around the campus in Charlotte. Or, depending on when you head back to State, I might still be around the area.

Oh, and I would say great build but I'm at work and photobucket is blocked so I can't see any photos haha. But, from reading, it sounds like a solid build.

Where in the UNCC area are these trails? I live 2 miles north of UNCC in Harrisburg, for summers at least.