[Autotek79]

Hey y'all I'm Tim.... I'm a professional auto tech of 22 years and currently training to be Tesla certified.... I've never owned a 4x4 and only one truck all these years but last year I started watching YouTube videos of offroading with jeeps mainly cherokees. We'll last December I pulled the trigger on a rough shape 2000xj sport for $1300 clean title and virtually no rust....it wasn't really drivable at that time coz the suspension was shot. Like it barely turned to the left at all. So I've maybe put 5 miles on it since then and been building it little by little. Now she's sitting 5in higher on Rubicon express fully adjustable lift with complete rear leafs, trailforged crossover steering and iron rock offroad steering box spacer with frame rail brace., spartan rear locker, and an advanced adapters sye kit with Tom woods front and rear shafts with the front getting custom grind on the double cardan for 5 extra degrees....I went with the x spline on em too. This week the I should have everything installed and taken for alignment and can't wait to hit the trails next weekend. Any of y'all in El Paso Texas? Looking forward to learning from you guys and even more so to offroading together

 

[warriorsuspensions]

Congrats on the Jeep. The XJ is one of the most versatile platforms there is. Lots of goodies there. One rule of thumb here though, we are pic junkies so post up some pics. One thing you need to watch though in the hot weather you have there is overheating. That particular year and the 01 has the 0330 head and they crack easy. But I am sure you know how to keep your cooling system in shape

 

[Autotek79]

Hey y'all I'm Tim.... I'm a professional auto tech of 22 years and currently training to be Tesla certified.... I've never owned a 4x4 and only one truck all these years but last year I started watching YouTube videos of offroading with jeeps mainly cherokees. We'll last December I pulled the trigger on a rough shape 2000xj sport for $1300 clean title and virtually no rust....it wasn't really drivable at that time coz the suspension was shot. Like it barely turned to the left at all. So I've maybe put 5 miles on it since then and been building it little by little. Now she's sitting 5in higher on Rubicon express fully adjustable lift with complete rear leafs, trailforged crossover steering and iron rock offroad steering box spacer with frame rail brace., spartan rear locker, and an advanced adapters sye kit with Tom woods front and rear shafts with the front getting custom grind on the double cardan for 5 extra degrees....I went with the x spline on em too. This week the I should have everything installed and taken for alignment and can't wait to hit the trails next weekend. Any of y'all in El Paso Texas? Looking forward to learning from you guys and even more so to offroading together

 

[Autotek79]

Congrats on the Jeep. The XJ is one of the most versatile platforms there is. Lots of goodies there. One rule of thumb here though, we are pic junkies so post up some pics. One thing you need to watch though in the hot weather you have there is overheating. That particular year and the 01 has the 0330 head and they crack easy. But I am sure you know how to keep your cooling system in shape

I'll have to take more pics. I haven't really taken any to be honest. But I'll get on it. I'm waiting for the first flex pic haha. Iono how long it'll take to break in my springs tho

 

[warriorsuspensions]

Nice looking XJ. I had to take a second look. Casual glance almost looks like something wonkie going on with that roof line

 

[Autotek79]

Nice looking XJ. I had to take a second look. Casual glance almost looks like something wonkie going on with that roof line

Yup its sitting at an angle coz the rear leafs ain't settled at all lol

 

[Autotek79]

Yup its sitting at an angle coz the rear leafs ain't settled at all lol

Edit. And that roof of that house is what you're seeing huh lol

 

[warriorsuspensions]

yup

 

[Autotek79]

Well I finally got a lil more work done but gotta figure out ball joints next lol. I got the other parts I had ordered installed and here a few pics. It's getting closer than ever but I fear I might need to rebuild the transfer case soon as well.....trailforged hasn't shown a pic of the steering setup like this but being stacked on top of each other the way they showed it. It looked like a lot of torque would be applied to the passenger Knuckle so I stacked mine like that to have the highest clearance and distribute the load more evenly. What y'all think? It clears everything. Also thoughts on possible bump steer with the track bar and drag link angles. Since I'm in need of ball joints it'll be a while longer before I take for the alignment. I just really don't wanna pay for more than one haha. What kinda ball joints y'all tried and what's best

 

[warriorsuspensions]

The way you have it set up is the way to avoid death wobble. Your geometry is correct

 

[Autotek79]

I assembled it 5 times to get it where I was happy with it lol. Being a mechanic and really good builder/tuner of rc crawlers is gonna help me out I think. You have any input on the ball joints? On one end I wanna go with something that'll last. On the other I don't wanna spend too much on these axles coz in the future I wanna swap em out. I didn't realize this until I started building my own rig that the bottom ball joint holds ask the weight. That design doesn't make any sense me to at all so I've been reading about the ball joint delete and dual load carrying designs but man they are expensive. The oem Spicer ones will cost me about 160 for all four so if you know of anything with a better design and not too much more I'd appreciate the info. My experience with these things are customers bring it in for repair and that's all I see of it. Owning one is a totally different ball game lol

 

[warriorsuspensions]

Generally, Spicer is at the top of the list

 

[Autotek79]

Well it's been a good while since I got on here but man I love my xj more than anything I've ever owned!! I've taken it out quite a few times now. The suspension still isn't broken in but this thing goes anywhere I wanna go. Picked up the front tires climbing few times and just eased it on and kept going. My girl didn't like it tho haha. Here's a few pics. I ain't had this much fun in years!! If anybody is around el paso lemme know. I'm down to ride every weekend for reals

 

[warriorsuspensions]

Glad you are having fun. These really are very capable rigs

 

[xdopplerx]

Great to see that in action! Nice

 

[Autotek79]

Two things. I got new headlights from Amazon. They are amazing and fairly cheap at $90 bucks but wow they are bright. Second. I have put about 700 miles on it since I lifted it but it feels like the springs ain't broken in at all. It's been mostly paved roads but I have spent at least 20 hours on the trails and when I go I load up all my tools which is quite a few hundred pounds. Any ideas on how much longer it'll take? She ain't flexing Like it should or I think it should lol. This weekend I plan on loosening all the suspension mounting bolts and driving around a bit then tightening them again. I did set it on its full weight then tighten everything when I first installed the kit. Any ideas or input is greatly appreciated

 

[Gluckmysock]

what brand suspension? some like Rubicon Express take a long time to settle. I have RE and don't have any issues with flex.

 

[Autotek79]

Yup Rubicon is what I got. I'm going prospecting this weekend so maybe a couple hundred pounds of gold plus my tools will help settle it on the way home lol. I really feel the springs are just still too stiff to do any flexing. It's quite a bit taller than the 4.5 lift I ordered too. Also I didn't pay for fully adjustable upper and lower control arms but that's what they sent me. I contacted re and asked about the max length of them coz it didn't say anything about that in my instructions and the guy verified I wasn't supposed to get em but he said keep em and enjoy lol

 

[Gluckmysock]

Yeah RE are actually taller than spec. If you measure your height from the center of the axle to the bottom of the stock flare it will tell you how much lift you have. Stock dimension is like 17.25" on the rear. I wouldn't be surprised to see you at 22"+. Check out this link: XJ Specs It will tell you the length of your control arms. Do you still have stock spring shackles?

 

[Autotek79]

No they are lift shackles provided with the kit. When I got the jeep the fenders were already cut. Hacked* lol. is there a way to measure from the axles to somewhere under the body to see the height difference?