I want to know what people think are the top ten mods to do to an XJ for off road performance. Once I have a good number of posts I'll average them out and post what should be a fairly authoritative list even though I know opinions will differ. I'll start and try to put them in somewhat of an order:

1) Lift kit (Suspension) minimum 3 in.
2) AT or Mud/Terrain tires (31in. min.)
3) Dana 44 rear axle with 4.56 gears
4) Front and Rear lockers
5) Sway Bar quick disconnect
6) Tow hooks, lift points, and recovery gear (winch)
7) Aftermarket skid plates (Min. 1/8-1/4 in. thickness) and armor (roll cage if your doing serious wheeling)
8) Snorkel or other cold/dry air intake (not a bad idea to replace cat/exhaust with higher flow version)
9) Additional lighting
10) The most important by far a audio head unit for the iPod lol (I Ran out of ideas for essentials)

Let me know what I forgot. Hopefully we can get this to the point where it can be used as a checklist for new XJ owners just getting into off-roading.

 

Cb radio for on the trail

 

cooler full of beer for when i get to my destination.


number one should be armor! bumpers, sliders, and cage.....you gotta protect your "investment".

 

Tires
Axles
Lockers
Tools
Spare parts and fluids
Hi lift
Cb
First aid kit
Recovery points and strap
Flashlite or head lamp
AND common sense(that is a mod for some)

 

How about spare parts! Nothing worse than a serpentine belt or a u-joint going bad and being stuck just because of that!

 

These aren't all performance mods (as the OP stated the list should be), but it's what I consider the order you should do things if you plan on taking your XJ offroad

1. Recovery (points, strap, winch, come-along, Hi-Lift)
2. Built in First Aid (so it's always with you)
3. Spare parts/fluids
4. Tool kit including flash light, coat hanger, duct tape, and fire extinguisher
5. Lift/Tires (combined because larger tires generally go with larger lifts)
6. Armor
7. Aux. Lighting
8. Lockers
9. CB
10. Snorkel

 

1) a good offroad bumper with recovery points
2) Aggressive tires
3) Lift (but not too high of a lift, keep it low COG)
4) retrofitted HID projector headlamps
5) Rock sliders
6) Skidplates
7) No doors mod
8) Swaybar quick disconnects
9) Lockers
10) AW4 Shift mod with torque converter lockup

 

Good question... I guess it kinda breaks down into two categories for me: recovery/repair equipment and vehicle capability. For the tools category:
-a well stocked tool box
-enough recovery equipment to get unstuck yourself (hi lift, straps, chains) or just a winch..
-extra fluids for you and your jeep
-shovel
-spare tire, gas
-cb radio (at least for longer trips)

For the vehicle:
-tires!! They are your only contact with the ground!
-lift/locker: lift is good for maneuverability over stuff, but the lockers will offer more in the way of traction than any lift ever could. If I locked the front and rear with luchboxes it would cost about 800 shipped and installed. Basically the same as a lift will cost. BUT! The difference in the two vehicles would be that even if it gets gnarly, all 4 tires are gonna spin no matter what. And that's more important than 3.5" of extra clearance... IMHO.
-Protection! Underneath, front, back and side to side..

 

Ok so far we've got:

1) Lift kit (Suspension) minimum 3 in.
2) AT or Mud/Terrain tires (31in. min.) with full size spare
3) Dana 44 rear axle with 4.56 gears
4) Front and Rear lockers
5) Sway Bar quick disconnect
6) Tow hooks, lift points, and recovery gear (winch, hi-lift, shovel, axe, tow straps/chains)
7) Aftermarket skid plates and rock sliders (Min. 1/8-1/4 in. thickness) and armor (roll cage if your doing serious wheeling)
8) Snorkel or other cold/dry air intake (not a bad idea to replace cat/exhaust with higher flow version)
9) Additional lighting (360 degree for reversing off obstacles and seeing the best line)
10) Toolbox with tools and work light good supply of spare parts (anybody got a list of parts we should put in it?
11) I know I said 10 in the OP but additional items/mods include; CB radio and first aid kit

 

Who needs sway bar discos when you can just take them off?

 

My XJ's my DD and I take it on long road trips sometimes.

 

X2
I have jks discos but for a few months nothing and I personally liked the way it felt driving without, discos were free so thought what the heck.

 

Lift 3"+
31" + offroad tires
recovery(EVERYONE get stuck)
armor(underneath at least!)
axles
lockers
Roof rack(spare, gas, supplies, maybe a cooler)
extra lighting
Snorkel/ intake

And it doesn't count, but like some1 else said, extra parts as well as first aid/fire ext.

 

Updated:

1) Lift kit (Suspension) minimum 3 in.
2) AT or Mud/Terrain tires (31in. min.) with full size spare
3) Dana 44 rear axle with 4.56 gears
4) Front and Rear lockers
5) Sway Bar quick disconnect or completely remove sway bar
6) Tow hooks, lift points, and recovery gear (winch, hi-lift, shovel, axe, tow straps/chains)
7) Aftermarket skid plates and rock sliders (Min. 1/8-1/4 in. thickness) and armor (roll cage if your doing serious wheeling)
8) Snorkel or other cold/dry air intake (not a bad idea to replace cat/exhaust with higher flow version)
9) Additional lighting (360 degree for reversing off obstacles and seeing the best line)
10) The last few are not performance mods but stuff we all seem to agrees should be in your Jeep before you go off-road: Well-stocked toolbox and work light, good supply of spare parts (anybody got a list of parts we should put in it?) CB radio, first aid kit, and fire extinguisher

 

Don't necesscarily need a dana 44 with 4.56 gears.
Chrysler 8.25s are plenty strong, especially the 29 spline version.
Gearing goes hand in hand with tire size, if you're running 31s like me, 4.56s are too high of a ratio. My XJ has the tow package and has 3.73 gears stock. The 3.73s are perfect to suit my needs.