mmetzger19

Hey guys, I'm new to CF and glad to see some experienced Jeepsters . I'm curious as to see what y'all think a good mod for this youngin' is. it's a 1996 Jeep ZJ Laredo. She's been babied most of her life, and my pops gave it to me. I have an old light rack im modifying that came off of a Wrangler to somehow fit onto the stock sliders on the roof rack. They're KC HID's. I am on a slight budget, as a college student and part time employee of Advance Auto Parts. However I've got a plethora of great people to help me out. So far All I've done is thrown some 31 x 10.5's x 15's on it. Baja Champs, no less. Suggestions on a budget would be amazing. Thanks in advance y'all, have a good one!

-Mmetz

ol"blue

Welcome to CF.
You need to get a budget boost to give those 31" tires a little more room.

mmetzger19

Too true. I was thinking about just doing some spacers between the coils, since it is on a budget and the cheapest lift is mighty expensive. bonus, 20% discount on items through AAP, which does include 3rd party lift kits. ( I think rock Krawler?) I know better than to go rough country. The 31's on the front give me a little tire rub on the lower control arms, but nothing too bad unless i really crank it.

Bustedback

Shop around and you'll find a spacer lift for less than a hundred bucks.

mmetzger19

That's what I just got done checking out. I was also tempted to try something I have yet to see. a full on conversion to a pickup truck. IE remove the back seats, carpet, weld in some supports... it wouldn't really be heavily functional, but I think it might be pretty nice. I have alot of ideas floating around up here. Which is both good and bad.

Bustedback

Don't hack it up, you'll only regret it.

mmetzger19

I take it that's from experience? :P. Nah, it was one of those fleeting thoughts, plus I love pickups...but the extra weight would probably be a major benefit on the trails for traction.

Bustedback

I made my 87 Mazda B2000 pickup into a convertable when I was young and stupid (now I'm just old and dumb). I even used a kit to make it a hard top convertable and leaked like you would not believe! Fun to drive? Yes, for the first ten minutes each time I took the top off. After ten minutes I was just a wind blown and sun burned mess.

blackjack12982

Once you start removing the roof, rear hatch, and doors you start to really compromise the integrity of the uni-body. If you intend on keeping this driveable after rear "halfing" this, you're going to need a full cage. The uni-body will just twist itself. Read through a couple of threads about people doing this. They only really started this after rolling the ZJ's, so the top was buggered anyway.

mmetzger19

Yeah, i did a little research and saw that the unibody would become wicked weak. I thought about reinforcement, however it still defeats the functionality of an SUV. Back to the paper. any other mods anyone would suggest? By summers end I should have roughly 1500 to dump into her.
So far
Lights, already owned modifying the bar to fit on the roof rack
Tires, 31 x 10.5 x 15 Baja Champions
Spacers (in the process of, two weeks into work I'll have them)

The only other thing I was tempted to snag was a set of Wrangler rims with the offset for the tires. They fit PERFECTLY when I used my buddies wheels to test the rub on 31's.

Aside from that, anything else is open to debate!

blackjack12982

You don't even need to get the spacers if you're not afraid of cutting the fenders. I've seen 35's on just 2" if you're willing to do some serious work w/ a sawzall on the fenders and bumpstop correctly.

If it were my ZJ and I had the money you're talking about, I'd swap axles, go for an HP30 out of an XJ and an 8.8 out of a Ford Explorer. If it's got the 249 transfer case, swap it for a 231, and get an Aussie/Spartan/etc for the front. With a good set of tires you'd have a pretty capable rig.

mmetzger19

Much appreciated for the input. It's been a thought. the only thing I really care to do is remove the front bumper. i was going to get a piece of an aluminum I-beam and mount it to the front (since the Steel I-Beam decintegrated the suspension on my ramcharger) as the new bumper.

I'll have to sit back and take a look, see where she really needs to go. That all sounds like a hell of a setup on the fly though. Thanks again

Monterey ZJ

amazon. com has BB right at $100.00

sc0r1a

I lifted mine 4.5" inches for around 300 bucks.



bought 4.5" front coils from iron off road and flopped the stock springs to the rear and then bought some rough country shocks off ebay. and also cut the fenders.

mmetzger19

That is awesome! I definitely think I like this idea. Thanks for the help everyone, I really appreciate it! I'm the only one in our group with a ZJ. my buddy has a WJ and my other two buddies have TJ's so I'm left in the dust.

Anything else y'all can toss on here for add-ons would be awesome!