Masonn61

Martlor13

Cheap and big rocks dont go together haha.

theres not a "best", especially if you dont want to pay to play. You will need a decent size lift, preferably long arms, to play in the rocks. But to do that setup right you need a little bit of coin. Cheaper lifts would work, but they take some dialing in as well.....not to mention the armor and body stiffening needed to make an xj hold up doing serious offroading

WyoCherokee

pick a tire size and go from there. Cheap and rocks dont go together well. That being said, ive put together a 4.5" short arm lift, enough to clear 33" tires for under $1,000 by scrounging parts and browsing classified adds.

Masonn61

WyoCherokee

Zone or Trail Master. whats your budget?

Masonn61

studmuffin

I have parts from zone in my 4.5. Well everything except the leaf springs. For the money I really don't have any complaints. No premature wear on anything either. Short arms will work for most trails and moderate rock crawling. My rig has been through some bad stuff in Arizona on short arms just fine, but I'm also on 33's. If you can fabricate some long arms that would be great. I plan to upgrade my shorties for long eventually. However when my xj was stock on 235's it was extremely capable on trails. Realistically if you lift over 3 inches and go at least 31 inch tires you'll have a beast on a budget that you can build from there. Get your hands dirty and do the most that you can mechanically that way she doesn't give you any problems when you're having fun. Welcome to the forum.

WyoCherokee

Here's what i would recommend, take it for what it's worth.
i was able to get most of this on amazon for a pretty fair price for my most recent build, and it works pretty well

Rubicon Express 4.5" coils
Rubicon Express track bar/bracket/brace
Ironmanfab4x4 adjustable short arms
Crossover steering(cav-fab/dirtbound/bkfabworks/b.lee)
Homebrew Swaybar disconnects
Daystar extended Bumpstops front and rear

Rubicon Express 3.5" leaves
Ironmanfab Shackles and shackle relocators

flex out and measure for bilstein shocks on collapsed and extended lengths

Stainless 4-6" brake lines of choice (i run the RE lines on the last 4 xj/mj's i built)
33" tires of choice
trimmed fenders and/or flares

you may or may not need a SYE, Degree Shims or T-case drop pucks

Recovery bumpers of choice

Masonn61

Rogue4x4

Here's my advice.

Get it in prime running condition first. Have a solid foundation to build on.

Once it's road worthy and reliable, take it wheeling. Go with friends. Find out for yourself what it's capable of and what you want it to do.

Before you go hog wild on a lift and other mods, just remember the old mantra "lockers get you in trouble, winches get you out", lol...focus on recovery and protection.

As far as lifts go, while you're doing the rest, start reading the stuff you say isn't clear, until it becomes clear, haha...educated decisions are way better than snap decisions.

xjnm

There's a lot of cheap mods you can do to start out, and I think roninofako is right. Take it wheeling and see what you need. I am also on a high school budget, and that's how I started. It was pretty much stock and I have a pretty nice rig now.

2 inch lift, sway bar discos, Rubicon shocks, and on 30s. She "plays on the rocks"!!

Whatever you decide to do, good luck! cherokees are awesome high school vehicles.

Joshua White

This all day, wheel it and mod as your skills and confidence grow.

First things you should do is add recovery points and some armor at stock height (build simple bumpers tied into the unibody correctly, build simple sliders doing the same) and invest in the recovery gear to use those recovery points safely and correctly. From there you can get some cut out flares, simple 1.5" puck and some shackle relocation brackets with extended shackles, and clear some 31s no problem (shocks, brake lines, bumpstops all need to be addressed as you go too). From there you're at the limit of reliability of your rear dana 35 so hunt for an 8.25, build it out of the rig as much as you can, add a locker in that sucker, then toss it in! Boom you're rockin and rollin over time all while you learn a bit more about your rig and develop your skills.

Djbtraxxas

I am in high school too and I'm working on building my xj with a limited budget. Mine already came with a 3" lift installed and a 4.5" in the trunk that was missing a few things. I spent about $60 on the missing parts. Anyways try to look on your local craigslist or Facebook marketplace for used lifts. I've seen a few used but complete 4.5" lifts for under $500 on there. For a budget build, that's what I would do. You might need new bushings for the leaf springs and maybe the control arms but they're fairly inexpensive. Next topic is tires. Again, you could look on your local selling websites and find used 33's (best for that size lift) already mounted on the wheel for around $500 in decent condition. Another cheap way to go is get TreadRight tires. They are re-treaded tires for a little over $100 a piece I think. I am planning on getting some soon for mine since it looks weird lifted 4.5" on 31's. Another thing you'll want is frame stiffeners. Since the XJ is a unibody, the frame flexes when you go over big rocks and sometimes you cant even open your door while on a rock if it's big enough. Frame stiffeners are pretty expensive for what they are. I dont have any yet so I dont have first hand experience with them, but I heard they make the unibody almost like a actual frame. Another thing you'll want are diff lockers. The cheapest route is to weld the diffs. You can find videos online of how to do that. "Lunchbox lockers" are the second cheapest option at about $250 per diff. They're automatic lockers that lock and unlock on their own. I'm planning on getting some for daily driving. Those are the main things you'll want to get for offroading. Some other things you might want eventualy are steel front and rear bumpers, a winch, rock sliders, a light bar and roofrack (because why not), and bigger fender flares so your tires dont rub when you fix the suspension. Sorry for the long reply but I hope this helps

Joshua White

You're on the right track here but you need the bumpers and such before you need stiffeners, safe and strong recovery points as well as armor in the areas you'll first impact and then drag off an obstacle will save your body work and sometimes save your ***. TreadWright is not a bad option for new tires, plenty of folks have run them without issue in all types of wheeling and they range in price but always cheaper than the brand name counterpart. Stiffeners are a great mod, and as you progress to heavy duty wheeling they're a necessary modification, not just for the stiffening but for the protection on your unirails as you come down on those rocks. Unless you've got a tow rig and trailer (not budget friendly) don't weld diffs, there is no forgiveness there for the street.

Starting out you need to focus on reliability, recovery, and then skills (meaning experience wheeling with folks willing to teach the right way)

Next you focus on modifications to suit your driving style, terrain, and capability (tire size vs lockers, flex vs travel, expedition vehicle vs trail rig)

Then once you've graduated to real trails and had some close calls you'll have a really good idea of where you need to toss your money at. I've taken bone stock rigs with 31s (fender trimming ftw) and kept up with the dedicated trail rigs all day, but I came back knowing the limitations of my rig (and my skills) for next time, every time. You don't need a ton of mods to go wheeling, you need some aggressive tires and a group to go with, that's it. You'll be welcomed into more events to test your rig and your skills if you come prepared with a good attitude, meaning you've got recovery points front and rear, you've got your own recovery gear taken care of, and you've got the safety equipment/mindset to back all that up. Don't fall for some redneck tree bouncing bull****, everyone loves cheering the new guy on while he bounces his rig off the rock wall until it's time to get that guy and his budget built rig off the trail and home somehow.

Djbtraxxas

That's true. Recovery equipment is really important. I've had my $900 XJ for about 6 months and I've been working on it here and there to get it street legal because I still only have my driving permit. Theres a older guy that loves right down the street from me and he has some small trails (probably easy enough for a Prius to drive) through the woods and a really fun stream to go down. Ive done yard work for him and helped him find a wedding ring in his yard with my metal detector so he gives me permission to drive there. I've been learning all about how my XJ drives and handles offroad and theres such a variety of obsiticals in the stream that it helps me determine what some of the next modifications will be. I got wedged with a huge rock in under my front diff and my rear diff was wedged between 2 more rocks. I already had a winch so that helped me get out. I would probably have to leave it sit there for a few days to have a friend pull me out if I didn't have one. I was scraping a lot too so thats when I decided to go to the 4.5" lift. I havent went there since but I think it would help a lot. I'm hoping to get 33s this winter and probably a lunchbox locker in the spring once I have enough money put aside. The best way to know what you need for your jeep is to take it out on the trails and see what areas it doesnt do well in. Then see what mods you can get to help you get past those obstacles