hedbutter

So i was thinking about getting a lift for christmas, and then buying some wheels for it off my own money.. Well some **** hit the fan(radiator blew, comp died) and now i can only manage the lift so i started thinking. Instead of running around on the lift with stock tires from dec. - summer when i am out of school, why not armor it up/get a front hitch (engine, tcase, stabalizer and rock rails(already have a gas tank skid)) and just get the lift/tires together over the summer.. Let me know what you guys think.

xjbuddy

i think you're better off with the lift. its fun to have the lift on your rig, instead of having all that ARMOR on your rig on stock suspension, not fun. IMO get the lift first, the armor up as you go.

XJ?2010

I say the oppsite get your armor or just save your money towards some wheels and tires in the meantime. You lift to fit larger tires not the other way around. It all revolves around the tire. Lifting your jeep and keeping the stock tires can be unsafe to drive around town not to mention look dorky. I say do what you can with stock suspension and remember the junkyard is your friend. You can get the OEM front and T case skids for cheap. Oh and I have a Rough Country stablizer and love it. HTH!

clayton3854

how can it be unsafe to drive it lifted with stock size tires?!?

but anyways. i say lift it lift it lift it! unless you plan on running extremely agressive and ruggid trails when you wheel it you shouldnt need armor that bad

XJUnknown

i armored mine up before i got a lift. yea its nice have a lift but with stock tires its just dumb. go with the armor

winston427

All the extra weight of the armor could cause the inadequate stock coils and leaf springs to sag even more than normal. So if it were up to me, I would go for the lift and keep your eyes open for a decent set of used tires. Someone is always looking to part with some for some badly needed cash.

taythegibs

i would look on craigslist and at j/y and get whatever i could find a good deal on

XJ?2010

Well i shouldnt say all lifts are bad with stock tires, mild lifts are alright.

However with about 4.5"+ you run into problems

*Largely* lifted Jeep + stock tires = Unstable

theres a reason most guys that run there jeeps as DD's run more backspacing...No rubbing and wider stance to make it more stable

Im not saying dont lift it Hell I love lifts and was gonna install mine with my stock tires but some crap came up and I had to abort and after stuck with a stock jeep for a year now I have came to these conculsions.

Do what you want its your jeep

mocXI

i understand both sides here, but to me if your gonna have stock street tires, its not worth it to lift it. you gain a few inches of graound clearance, but no traction. a big part of going from stock to lift is putting on aggressive tires that give you better traction on the trail. without that extra traction there isnt a whole lot of point.

if your stock tires arent street tires i say go for the lift. if they are i say go for the armor, ive seen damage happen even on mild trails, and i swear by rock sliders. IMHO

TXstiGuy

lift it look on craigs list for tires

cjmass47

id say go with the armor itll protect your jeep and the lift with little tires would look goofy also craigslisting tires apperently doesnt work to great becuase ive been looking for 33s for a month and a half

4.3L XJ

I have done it both ways with two different XJs I found that without a lift, I was utilizing the armor and giving it a good test. When I did the lift first, I wasn't really in need of it on intermediate trails.

jonnyb78

you should have made this a poll. i would say it really depends on what kind of wheeling u do but i say armor it first. its relatively cheap insurance that u wont damage something vital while out on the trail. u can try to be careful on obstacles but ur gunna end up hitting something. armor it and wheel it stock. u will learn ur rig really well and it will make u a better off road driver

TrollHammer

Running bone stock for the last year, I have to whole heartedly agree that the lift should be the last thing to worry about.

Lift does three things: allows larger tires, (can) increase articulation, and raises your center of gravity. While those first two things are goals, the higher center of gravity is an enevitablity with a lift, increasing the likelihood of rollover and instability.

My rule: dont' lift if you don't have to!

There are some free things you can do with your jeep, but like all things you will have to weigh each thing against your driving style, off road/on road needs, and the like. 1) disconnect/remove sway bars (I can only recomment this for trail only, as it ruins on road stability) This will increase your articulation DRAMATICALLY, allowing you to keep your tires on the ground. 2) strip out and trim the fenders for larger tires (on the front, you can get more fenders, saving your 'good' ones, but on the back it's a one way conversion.) If you're good with metalwork, pop-rivets, and whatnot, you can reattach the old flares in such a way that the average person doesn't even know you did anything! 3) strip out the skirt under the bumper. This doens't do much, as it's just a flimsy piece of plastic, but IMO, it's just a piece of plastic that won't do much, I took mine off to save as a spare for my DD (along with the flares in all one piece, I have an extra set of flares I'll be using for OR.

After that, theres other cheap things you can do, like fab a bumper to get pulled out by, go to junk yards to find a reciever if you don't have one, anything to beef things up or help you get pulled out, since the stock bumpers are way too flimsy for this.

My next endevor is to grab some springs from a V8 grand cherokee to help the front a little ($20 for 1-2" of spacerless lift), weld the back axle (if I don't go with a cheap 8.8 I can get ahold of), and start stuffing tires under it. I'll probibly need to put in about 1-2" of lift in the end (hence the springs above), but I'd rather cut the wheel wells than to roll it because of a high CG and ruin the whole vehicle. In my case, I'll probibly try to find some way to increase the downtravel of the axles and use the bumpstops to keep the tires from coming up too high in the wells and rubbing.

I guess there is one other purpose to lifts, if you plan on going in deep mud it'll keep your engine higher out of the water, but I'd rather avoid the mud altogether after my experience this year (disk brake siezure from fried mud).

In other words, I'd go with armor, or tires long before I messed with lift. It all depends on what you want to do. If you're just going for looks, no one can tell you what to do, but if you're going off road, it depends on what kind of terrain you've got. Rock=armor, Dirt or mud=tires, Roots or mogols need suspension work (articulation and tuning). If you are going for function, unless you're on the flat or in deep mud, I'd recomment as little lift as possible to clear your tires, or in my case, get enough undercarrage clearance to keep from hanging up on anything mid body.

One other thing that is often overlooked, especially on Cherokees: Roll cage. If you're doing off camber, loose rocks, heavily rooted hills, or anything that can cause you to roll, you'll want a cage before you lift. The taller you are, the greater (and easier) the fall!

kellan_musseau

How much lift you planning on doing?

I say lift it, and get some disconnects then just keep an eye out for some used 31s or 33s.
With say a 4.5" lift, 235's or whatever you have, and disconnects, you'll be getting more flex then most of these *******..