I’m thinking about this 3.5in suspension lift with an additional 1.5in shackle/spacer lift on 31×10.5×15’s
But one of my YJ driving coworkers says to go with a 4.5 in suspension lift on 32×11.5×15’s
Yeah, I know, not much actual difference and the pics suck, but take a look and tell me what you think. Either one will have me lowering the T-Case, but a 3.5in lift just doesn’t seem enough for a good expeditionary vehicle. The 31’s will ride better on the pavement, or so I’m guessing, and will give me more flex space, though I’ll be adding Bushwhacker flares shortly thereafter, so either one works.
The difference between 31″ and 32″ is a lot when it comes to usable power and fuel economy. You can probably give up in high gear with the 32s. I do know some one with 33″s and a 6″ lift on his 95 YJ, and he can only use high when going down hill. I thought that the reason you got Buddy was for commuting in it. The best thing that you can do for a good commuter that will also get you where you need to go if the SHTF is to not be concerned for the bodywork. I have seen a lot of stock vehicles go where modified rigs would not just because of concern for bodywork. That being said, I think that I would do the 4.5″ lift with only 31″ tires. That is my asshole, sorry, opinion.
Just remember the further you go over 3″ the greater the chances of getting the famed XJ “death wobble”. If you do go over 3″ you may need to replace your pitman drop arm and track bar to compensate, and this does not always guarantee an absence of “DW”.
I have been running a Rancho 3″ lift with 31.10.50X15″ tires for the life of my ’87 Cherokee and only had tire clearance issues in the rear when hauling a full camping load after my leaf springs went flat. I am currently doing a complete overhaul and plan to replace those old, tired, factory rear springs to prevent any further tire-rub.
What Christopher said. Your desire for a full-on “expeditionary” vehicle can only be made with a Cherokee by sacrificing ALL of it’s roadability on the highway.
Those Big Mutha tires ain’t for the road, bro. They’ll drive you nutz with their noise and poor pavement behavior.
What you’re lookin’ at here is two vehicles, one as a daily driver and one for off-road. There’s really no way to combine the two into one vehicle that does both well.
BTW, I have see perfectly stock WW2 military Jeeps climb hills on loose shale WAY better than a beefed civvy model (my Dad’s). You should consider a modest lift, under 3″, and high-aspect, narrow-profile tires, the suspension backbone to let you master body roll, and call it quits with that. You’ll still be able to go 95% of the places that full-on, off-road conversion will go, and you’ll get there with your teeth still in your head and gas still in your tank. If you’re gonna dump $$$ into the project, put it into what’s downstream of the engine, i.e. clutch, transfer case, differentials and axles. I broke every running-gear piece on my dad’s beefed ’65 CJ before it had 18,000 miles on it.
I would strongly recommend finding out what you and your rig will do in its current condition before making any modifications beyond a good set of tires.
You will likely be surprised with what you can accomplish if you *think* about what you are doing first, and work with what you have. Ultimately that is what you are going to have to do anyway.
Some excellent comments.
I’m tending to agree that going smaller will get you further toward your ultimate aims, and as Rivrdog states, what you’re really looking for is two vehicles for two separate purposes.
I’ve always been of the opinion that raising a vehicle passed a certain point is mostly just an aesthetic excercise. The lowering of the transfer case, as you stated would be necessary, negates the gains made by the lift. It only really gets more approach angle, I find, and still leaves the high-center and driveline occlusion probability about the same as before the lift, but with the addition of increased axle and diff stress, to name but two things that could be an issue with such lifts.
I think the “good tires and moderate lift” approach is probably going to get you about all you’d ever really need out of your rig, short of a full-on, purpose-built crawler.
There are obvious limits to what can both go on the road and do the things you are wanting to do off-road, so it’s largely a matter of your will, available cash and sanity, so, have fun!
Keep us all posted. I love this stuff.
I have to agree with ‘stanger, my S-10 Blazer currently wears the stock 235/75-15 for a 29″ tire which set me back right around $100 a tire installed with road hazzard. Going to a 31″ tire would have raised the price to around $150 a tire and gained me only 1″ of ground clearance. Remember, true ground clearance is measured at the lowest point of the vehicle which is usually the rear axle or the tranfercase. It has been my experience that when you crawl back into the woods to camp, you almost never see the flared, jacked up vehicles. Like me, for your neck of the woods floatation is bad and you need a skinny tire to dig down through the mud and/or snow to get to the traction, Jack it up too high and it just tips over when trying to travel across the hill.