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I personally would not change a thing on your Jeep's height. I love stuffed fenders...that's how we fit 37's on my wife's XJ (aired down = more like 35's). If you want more up-travel, trim more and bump stop accordingly. If you start to notice you're rubbing the lower control arms at full lock, look to wheels with a little less backspacing, and most likely wider too. Your tire is designed for an 8.5-11" wide wheel. Only go out as far as you need to clear the control arms, as the further out your tire/wheel combo is, the worse your overall turning radius will be. (read up on scrub radius and the relationship between ackerman angle vs pitman arm & steering arm/knuckle length)
The WJ brake upgrade will be a nice addition...a little bit of an upgrade for the bigger brakes but a nice upgrade for the high steer arm mount. To take advantage of the WJ twin piston calipers, you may want to look at brake pads with the highest coefficient of friction on the market so you have the grip to go along with the additional clamping force. Take full advantage of that upper steering arm and build your 1 ton steering. Just buy a stick of 1.5" 0.250 wall DOM tubing, 4 weld-in 7/8-18 bungs (2 left hand threads 2 right hand threads) and a full set of 1 ton tie rod ends.
Do you have a buz box welder? Hobby shop on base anywhere with a welder? Welder buddy who likes to drink beer? A DIY kit is brain-dead simple to fold the panels over and tack things in place. Why pay someone else $$$ to weld when most of us could use the experience anyway?
I personally would not change a thing on your Jeep's height. I love stuffed fenders...that's how we fit 37's on my wife's XJ (aired down = more like 35's). If you want more up-travel, trim more and bump stop accordingly. If you start to notice you're rubbing the lower control arms at full lock, look to wheels with a little less backspacing, and most likely wider too. Your tire is designed for an 8.5-11" wide wheel. Only go out as far as you need to clear the control arms, as the further out your tire/wheel combo is, the worse your overall turning radius will be. (read up on scrub radius and the relationship between ackerman angle vs pitman arm & steering arm/knuckle length)
The WJ brake upgrade will be a nice addition...a little bit of an upgrade for the bigger brakes but a nice upgrade for the high steer arm mount. To take advantage of the WJ twin piston calipers, you may want to look at brake pads with the highest coefficient of friction on the market so you have the grip to go along with the additional clamping force. Take full advantage of that upper steering arm and build your 1 ton steering. Just buy a stick of 1.5" 0.250 wall DOM tubing, 4 weld-in 7/8-18 bungs (2 left hand threads 2 right hand threads) and a full set of 1 ton tie rod ends.
Do you have a buz box welder? Hobby shop on base anywhere with a welder? Welder buddy who likes to drink beer? A DIY kit is brain-dead simple to fold the panels over and tack things in place. Why pay someone else $$$ to weld when most of us could use the experience anyway?
4WheelParts has military discount btw...or at least they did last time I ordered shocks from them.
Thanks for the insight. I definitely don't want to get my xj very hight but still want some good up travle. I am running out of stuff to trim unless I go with a different fender set up. Looking back I wish I would have went with ice land offroad fenders. WJ knuckle and brake upgrade is on the short list as well as a truss for the d30.
Thanks for letting me know about those PAC springs. Now I've got to rearrange my budget ... again.
Rig looks awesome by the way!!! How is it to drive on 35s?
My old 33x10.5x15s handled much better on the street of LA. My new 35s are less reponsive, the old xj accelerates and stops slower even with 4.56 gears. But... I didn't put 35s on just to mall crawl. I am going out on a limb but I think I will enjoy the 35s when I get the off the pavement.
I will probably wish for 4.88s when I get loaded up fora long weekend.
Just take off all the doors....you'll shed about 200lbs The unibody will probably flex better too lol.
All jokes aside, your next move after the lift is settled and all your body mods are complete, is more torque. I'd suggest a 4.6-4.7L stroker like we built for my wife's XJ, but after spending a couple thousand in machining and another couple thousand on parts, I'd actually just recommend ditching the inline-6 for an aluminum Vortec 5.3L out of a Chevy/GMC. It's a popular enough swap nowadays where there are motor mounts and wiring harnesses for the XJ platform. My wife's 4.7L dynod at 190rwhp and just shy of 300lb-ft of torque at the rear wheels. It's damn near a tractor engine... for just the price of the stroker pistons, I could have had a low mileage junkyard 5.3L out of an Envoy or Trailblazer SUV, mated it up to a low mileage Chevy trans, and had even more horsepower and the same torque from the V8. In the end we'd probably have spent the same after you figure in exhaust work, fuel pump mods and all the nickle and dime miscellaneous junk, but we'd have a lighter engine, more horsepower and a much smarter/easier engine to tune. She likes her 4.7L though, but throughout the entire build we kept saying "why didn't we just get a 5.3L"....
Just take off all the doors....you'll shed about 200lbs The unibody will probably flex better too lol.
All jokes aside, your next move after the lift is settled and all your body mods are complete, is more torque. I'd suggest a 4.6-4.7L stroker like we built for my wife's XJ, but after spending a couple thousand in machining and another couple thousand on parts, I'd actually just recommend ditching the inline-6 for an aluminum Vortec 5.3L out of a Chevy/GMC. It's a popular enough swap nowadays where there are motor mounts and wiring harnesses for the XJ platform. My wife's 4.7L dynod at 190rwhp and just shy of 300lb-ft of torque at the rear wheels. It's damn near a tractor engine... for just the price of the stroker pistons, I could have had a low mileage junkyard 5.3L out of an Envoy or Trailblazer SUV, mated it up to a low mileage Chevy trans, and had even more horsepower and the same torque from the V8. In the end we'd probably have spent the same after you figure in exhaust work, fuel pump mods and all the nickle and dime miscellaneous junk, but we'd have a lighter engine, more horsepower and a much smarter/easier engine to tune. She likes her 4.7L though, but throughout the entire build we kept saying "why didn't we just get a 5.3L"....
Funny you mention that, as i was weaving through LA trafic today I thought to my self... man I need more torque!
Boom! Wired in the cb today. I hooked it directly to the hot 12v-20A power outlet in the dash and hid the power box under the passenger side dash. I am still waiting on the antena and mount and need to figure out where to put the cb hand set mount. I think it looks clean.
I let the majestic beast loose in it natural habitat for the day. Cleghorn Ridge in San Bernardino National Forest just out side LA. The new 35s crushed it!
The unibody will probably flex better too lol.
