vtxGump

Meet Jenn-Nay!

Currently bone stock, but looking forward to the build.



Okay, here are some parts I'm thinking about. I need help narrowing this down.

Lift: Rusty's 6.5 inch long arm

Shocks: Rusty's RX200 bundled with the lift kit. Think these are comparable to the Bilstein 5100s, so might do that instead.

Tires: not sure if I want AT or MT in 285/70R17. options include:
1. Nitto Trail Grappler
2. Goodyear Wrangler Duratrac
3. BFG KM2 - this is my current tire on my TJ. 33x12.5x15.

This is going to be mostly a street rig, so the aggressive MTs might be a little overkill. My KM2s are really soft, but that may be because I only run 24 lbs of pressure in them for the street.

Driveshafts: Tom Woods front and rear. Already have the conventional double cardan shafts front and rear, but thinking the extra lift will require longer travel shafts.

Wheels: was thinking about using stock 17" Overland wheels, but am afraid the 285 tires will rub. Stock backspacing is 6.25 inches. Could use spacers, but at that point, might as well get new wheels and sell off the stock ones with the tires.

Front bumper: ProtoFab RockSolid
http://csloffroad.com/JeepWJBumperwithWinchMount.aspx
Will add some lights but don't know which yet.

Will eventually add a winch, but will likely troll around for a used Warn, but not committed to that.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be great. Thinking about doing the lift myself. Called a few shops and they didn't want to touch it with that much lift.

Anyone have experience with this much lift and any vibration issues?

vtxGump

Also, anyone have experience with the NV247 tcase in a lifted application like this? Issues to watch out for?

grn99

Sounds like a solid plan. However take time to look at that rustys stuff. Had a personal bad experiance with a trac bar. Look at Clayton 6" kit. I personaly have a Rough country long arm on my 99 which is also a viable option.
Your rig came with double carden shaft or you did swap?
247 will be great for a DD duty rig, and two tracking.

vtxGump

Double cardans came on the Jeep. Was a pleasant surprise.

I have heard good things about the Clayton lift, but it seems to reuse the a arm in the rear. The Rusty's has the new bracket for the rear diff with a new a arm.

grn99

No actually it replaces it with two seperate control arms triangulated in a-arm location. Far more superior design.

clayton3854

looking forward to seeing this build, i just picked up a wj for a DD so the cj can become stricktly a toy. looking forward to seeing what i can do to the wj when i have the money to put into it.

vtxGump

How do you like the Rough Country lift? I found a local shop that is a RC dealer and can do the install, but I noticed it uses rubber bushings on some ends. How long have you been running that lift and how much trail beating has it taken?

I liked the Rusty's kit cause it has heim joints on all the ends, but does that make for a rougher/noisier ride?

Since this is a DD and will only see the trails a few times a year, I want the best option for ride comfort. I'm backing off the 6.5" lift a little too thinking that maybe the 4" is enough with 32s, but I don't want to get into something and think later that I should have gone bigger. Decisions, decisions...

grn99

Havent had a chance to wheel it yet. However I do know from past experiance rubber wears. All joints are serviceable or replaceable. I would avoid TREs on a daily driver rig. They are noisy and will wear quickly. I used them on a steering set up on my XJ. Great at first but noisy and lose feeling after a years use. It was not a daily driver. From what I see the RC kit is a great one to build off of. Some other forums say you can adjust up to 6" also with it. I say pull the trigger on the RC kit.

vtxGump

Well I went round and round on this and today pulled the trigger on the Rusty's 4.5" long arm kit. It's done so there's no going back. Should be here by the end of the week.

Called and talked to them for a bit before ordering. The arms do adjust out to 6.5" if I wanna go higher later, but I should be fine at 4.5". Gotta find me some wheels and tires now.

aleet25

Good luck with the build. Let us know how that Rustys kit works out for you. I went with the RC kit and I love it.

vtxGump

What size tires are you running, and what back spacing on the wheels? That's about how I want mine to sit. Was thinking about a 33x12.5 with 4.5" bs, but thought that would be too far out.

Red82

Can't wait to see how this goes! We need more WJs here!

aleet25

I'm running 285/75/16 DC Mud Country tires on Fuel Offroad Revolver wheels. They have 4" backspacing and they sit perfect. I'm not sure though how much of a difference in width my tires are from the 12.5"'s that you're wanting to get.

vtxGump

Thanks for the info. I originally thought of going with a 285 tire, but the guys at Rusty's recommended the 33x12.5, but he did state his preference was for the tires to stick out a little more. I'm not really digging the "sticking out more" look. I hate to imagine all the dirt and mud that would fling up especially if the windows are down.

That seems like a perfect size. I was gonna do a 17" wheel, but tires on the 16" are pretty reasonable. I think I just narrowed down my wheel choices (size at least).

Got the shipping confirmation today. Looks like the pallet will be here Thursday. Planning a lift party at my house on 3/9. Got a few buddies from the local Jeep club coming over to help.

vtxGump

Unboxed the Rusty's lift today. Man they really pack their stuff good. Took over 2 hours to get everything laid out and the boxes put away.

Here's the major pieces all laid out:


Front radius arms and springs:


Cross member and rear arms:


Close up of the a-arm:


Shocks. Their RX200 series:


Steering stabilizer. Gonna have to rattle can it a nice silver or go black:


One of the shocks had a little oil all inside the packaging. None of the others had this. Gonna call them in the morning and see what's up:


Oh, and the mess of boxes: