moonshiner1991

hey everyone ... im cj and new to the site .. i recently purchased a 01 xj sport ... got a good deal on it and is in great shape .. has under 70k so i figured it would be a solid vehicle ... since i have registered i have been having problems with it ... i was told it has a rough country 6 inch lift but i think its a 6.5 as i dont see they make a 6 ... when i drive the vehicle at any speed there is alote of knocking and clacking in the front end it seems like its going to fall off .. i brought it to a shop iv always brought my vehicles to to get a tune up and have it checked out and do a full break job ... the guy got it back to me 2 weeks later and said he tightened up the whole front end and everything looked good ... i still see no difference and its starting to worry me ... i notice that when i take the shock i can move it from side to side like the bushings are shot .. i am going to be replacing those but i think iv got bigger problems then that ... the jeep also sits low on one side and am thinking this could just be a crappy shock ... im gonna post pics tomorow of the lift and front end and maybe you guys could help me identify that it is a rough country and what kind .. long arm or short ... if anyone has any suggestions for fixing my front end problems i would really appreatiate it alote ...

looking forward to meeting some cool people and hopfully going wheeling locally soon

thanks in advance

Back_In_Black

Honestly man all I can say is welcome to the world of xjs! Haha I'm sure you do have some worn shocks, and steering stabilizer, but for the most part xjs are pretty noisy haha watch out for the cylinder head on that year as well, its an 0331 cast head that has the defect of cracking between cylinders 3 and 4...I'm in the middle of changing mine now, and even doing it by myself with all new stufff I'm spending well over 500 bucks. Just don't let it overheat....constantly check the oil for milkyness, and keep an eye on the coolant resivour fill tank.

And again...welcome to the dark side.

Xjay98

Yup check the shocks first. Then move to the control arm bushings. Mine clunks like a SOB in the winter.

xj101

x2 on welcoming u to the drak side hahah .... u should see if the trac bar has been replaced for an aftermarket one , the top ball joint on the stock ones suuuuuck. also check the trac bar upper bracket mine was loose and made a horrible clunk noise . check all ur steering. have a buddy sit in ur rig and turn the steering wheel back and forth and u look at all ur steering components from the front . some thing might be looose , ya never know. also check sway bar and links , if there disconnects check them too mine were the crappy dual pin style they made so much noise i thought my front axle was gonna go bye bye hahaha , and again welcome to the darkside of always crawling under ur xj to see wtf is making the next noise haha...

bigjim350

Alot of times, if a Tcase drop was installed, sometimes the driveshaft will come into contact with the exhaust pipe. And if a Tcase was not installed and no sye was installed, at that highet the front ujoint on the rear driveshaft can bind and make all kinds of racket

Poloboy406

If there is a lot of vibes on the front end it could be because your front axle is a low pinion D30 which would put the front drive shaft at a high angle which is no bueno.

If its just noises than I would suspect control arm bushings, shocks, or maybe your tie rod ends.

alloutperform

if it sits low to one side check your rear springs for a bend of break

alloutperform

check the bolt at the axle side of the track bar...if it has loosened it may have ovaled the hole and tightening won't stop the slop (had that happen to mine) it drove like hell too

moonshiner1991

thank you everyone for helping me out ... since i have read your replies i have gone through the whole front end .. i found that the louder most annoying noise has somthing to do with the steering stem / rod ... when you like jerk the steering wheel over it makes this loud noise .. i have not yet figured out how to fix it .. the other thing was the front shocks had shot bushings ... and the shocks where shot .. i ordered new ones for a 6-8 inch lift but they dont fit !!!!!!! they are like 6 inches to short .. my old ones when you fully pulled them out had 8 inches of length on the little rod in the middle and the side that doesnt sit low had 9.5 inches ... so im trying to find out if my lift is bigger than a 6 inch cuz the shocks did not fit ... i took measurments from each corner of the jeep ... where i took them was right behind the tire at the door .. i meansured from bottom of jeep to ground .. the measurments where ... ....

right front - 23.5

right back - 23

left front - 23

left back - 22

if anyone has any ideas on how to tell me my life size by those numbers that would be great as i really need to get these new shocks ... ahhhhhh


thank you all again

ericfx1984

measure the old shocks from end to end fully compressed and then fully pulled out

moonshiner1991

ok i will do that tomorow .. once i do that how do i found out how much lift i have ?

thanks

ericfx1984

measure from the wheel hub to the bottom of the fender flare (assuming that they are stock fender flares)

stock in the front is 17.5", in the rear is 17"

so a 3" lift would be around 20.5" in the front and 20" in the rear

a 4" 21.5" / 21"

a 5" lift would be 22.5" / 22"

you can figure it out from there

moonshiner1991

ok that seems much easier than measuring the shocks and having to take them all off again ...

quick question though ... so i subtract stock length to get lift size ... now since i have larger tires than stock do i have to subtract anything else ?

thanks fellow jeepers

moonshiner1991

ok so for the front measurments ... the side that is sitting normal is 24 inches and the side thats sitting low is 23.5 so its a 6 or 6.5 lift ...

i measured from the hun straight up to the bottom of fender ... is that how i do it ? its up u measure right ?


how accurate is this test ? can i go by it for ordering shocks ?

also say you have a 6 inch lift .. is it better to order shocks for a 4-6 inch lift or shocks for a 6-8 inch lift ?

btw i am picking up a new pair of tires ... a friend of mine and his dad build rock crawlers and offroad vehicles .. they have tons of tires for sale .. so im either getting a set of 33s or 35s .. i know the 33s will fit with no fender mods as i had a pair on it when i got the jeep but where shot ... but im not sure if the 35s will ... what do you guys think ?

thanks everyone for all the help

looking forward to getting this chump aaaa lump running how i want it to and going on some nice wheeling trips ... just ordered some new add ons for the vehicle ..

btw i am going to add my jeep to the build section along with my 89 wrangler that i flipped the day i got my license lol ... yes it sucks .. but thing is in good shape still it just got the soft top messed up good and the windshield broke and snapped and blew up and the leaf springs twisted into slingies and the shocks snapped .. so i have all the parts for it the only problem im having is getting the damn tire off the vehicle so i can get to work .. i spent 4 days on it ... tried everything .. a blowtorch , 2x4 , sledgehammer, lots of pb blaster , gunk , im sure alote more ... but yesturday i was rolling it out of my garage as i was cleaning up for the rebuild and i did not have the lug nuts on rear tires ... as i was pushing the left rear tire some how came undone from the rust mess i was dealing with and it fell of hehe ... i jacked her up and im happy it happened .. now i just need to get the other off

thanks everyone