Hey all,

I used to have a '95 green 2-door xj, manual with a rusty's lift and 33" swampers. It was fun, but topped out at 60mph and had no heat. I know there was some work I needed to do under the hood, but I didn't have the resources back then to revive it.

Now I have a red 4-door 2001 XJ. I plan to lift it slightly for better traction in snow and when camping and hunting. However, the XJ is my daily-driver and with the build I don't want to sacrifice acceleration, response or fuel mileage too much.

Is there a significant difference between 30s and 32s? I'm looking for lift/tire size suggestions that would be good for a moderate build. Also, what can I do to increase engine performance without opening up the engine? Everything's stock, so I was thinking intake, exhaust, fuel injectors, but I'm not sure what's the best bang for the buck with the current market is.

I appreciate the help,
-Mike

 

bigger tires = bigger gears... and there's lots of threads on performance mods.

 

I have a 96 2 inch shackles and spacers as my DD on 225 tires. Mpg and acceleration havent changes. Easy simple to get the look with extra clearence but not sacraficing everything.

 

Bigger tires don't always need bigger gears. When you get in to the 33 inch and up range then yes but staying around the height you are looking for, stock gears should be fine.
I've done 3 inches with 30's, 3 inches with 31's, tried 3 inch with 32's, Did 4.5 with 31's and now have 4.5 inches with 32's. All with stock gears and mud tires. It depends on how hard you want to hit your wallet. If you want to stay in a managable range for daily driving, I'd recommend a 3 inch lift with 30's or 31's. With the correct offset, you could still hit some trails and not damage anything if you so choose to. I would go with a street tire if this is strictly a DD. If you plan on doing moderate trails once in a while, I'd go with an All Terrain. They are quieter than an aggressive mud tire on the road.

 

when i first got my 2000 xj it had a 3" RC lift with 235x75x15 at's on it with stock rims and it looked great and drove even better...