Drewjharper1900

Hey guys. Been on the forum for a few months, just ordered my lift so i decided to start a thread. Why project aussie? Well i have an australian shepherd and i thought it was a good name.

I got the xj in june 2011. Its a 1997 cherokee country, aw4 tranny, np231 tc, 8.25 29 spline rear. I had the money to lift it and everything, and then the tranny took a dump on me. Soooo there went the lift fund. So i decided that trimming the fenders would make it look more offroad worthy until i got the lift. I ordered the RC 3" Series II lift with AAL (Yes i know aal suck but hey, a 18 year in the full time fire academy isnt really able to rake in the dough.). I plan on running 33x12.50x15 bfg km2's on a set of 15x8 cragar soft 8's. I have alot more plans, but those plans are for a later time!

Heres a few pics of the jeep.

Drewjharper1900

Guess what came in the mail today!!!



Rough country 3" series II. Sucks that i cant put it on till next weekend though. I have my final on monday so i get to study all weekend! yay! But it gives me a little time to paint the lower control arms. I think i decided on orange. Maby somthing like this color?



Any thoughts?

JakeWI

Nice. Id say just leave the colors alone. A lot of people go crazy and make colors mixed-matched. But if you can keep a good clean Black and orange color scheme, the I say go for it. Just dont go overboard IMHO.

Drewjharper1900

That's my plan. I'm not gona do too crazy with it. I think prolly just control arms, diff covers and shackles on my bumpers. Not too much more than that. Skid plates too maby.

Drewjharper1900

Alright so i spent yesterday and the day before putting on my lift. All in all, everything went great! My dad helped alot. I could not imagine putting a lift on by yourself. We started with the back first and realized that someone had replaced the shocks before and had broken the bar pin bolts so they had replaced them with bolts and nuts for us. So that made me happy. We finished the rear on thursday and did the front yesterday. Nothing was really to hard, just took some troubleshooting on a couple things. So we did a diy alignment and took it on a test drive. And of course, i had driveline vibes! So i had to fab up a tc drop. Everything went great though and got to spend some times with my pops! Oh, and dident break a single bolt! I deffently need new front and rear breaklines. There pretty much maxed out. Im a little scared fo flex it out. I also plan on fabbing up some swaybar discos.

I had every intention of taking pics throught the process but of course, that dident happen. Sorry guys! I also forgot to measure before and after so im not sure how much lift i ended up with.

Drewjharper1900

My mom wasent to thrilled about this one!



And my breast cancer fire dept. sticker

Drewjharper1900

So today i disconected the front swaybar and flexed it out. My break lines are pretty much maxxed out so new lines are in the near future. I also cut up the front bumper. I figure it makes it look better until i can get a real bumper.

Drewjharper1900

Today i took the jeep to the local loading dock to test out the suspension. I have to say i am pretty impressed. It still had more to go. All 4 tires were still firm on the ground.

Drewjharper1900

I also put on a rough country sticker. Do you think it is noticible?

Drewjharper1900

Just ordered my wheels and going to be getting tires here soon. Cant wait!

Cragar soft 8's. 15x8 4" bs


Cooper discoverer stt 33/12.50x15

clayton3854

two of my buddies run those tires, iv only heard good things about them good choice.

Drewjharper1900

Awesome! I havent heard anything bad about them either. The guy at the tire shop said that there the best mt's out right now.

LeRoy90laredo

with 33's you'll have to trim a bit.

Drewjharper1900

Ive already trimmed a few inches but im not aftrad to trim more. Its more about bumpstopping anyways.

Drewjharper1900

Just placed an order for a hayden 405 tranny cooler. I figured that it wouldent hurt to have it with 33's.