[hodgexj1996]

Adventures with the pup. She has all the room for activities

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[hodgexj1996]

Some pics of my pods from the seat. Took the dog for a hike and adjusted them in the lot.

Pic 1- no lights
Pic 2- low beams
Pic 3- lows and pods
Pic 4- pods only.

When it's pitch black they disperse light everywhere. I like to adjust them at dusk so j can point the beam center as best I can with minimal light wash distorting the beam

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[hodgexj1996]

Wow it's been a bit since I've been on. Honestly haven't touched the Jeep much. Been driving the crap out of it. Still have angry o2 sensors if I do long trips on the highway but the light goes away so I don't pay any mind to it.

I've been tied up with my 1500, the house and life honestly. Have a dumpster coming this week so once thsts out of the driveway the Jeep is getting changed up.

After running it at 4.5" for a bit I'm gonna be going back to 6.5" lift. I have my old shock setup, front spacers and will adjust my shackle setup. My track bar and front dif cover have been hitting, and if I properly bump, my uptravel will be squat with 35s. I have to tear the axle down for the u joints and some tlc anyway so I'll just pull the coils and shocks, toss the bump stop pucks in with spacers and call it good. Down the road id like to do jK Rubicon axles, notch flares and 37s but that's a ways out.

Hope all is well with you guys. I haven't disappeared, tapatalk just makes enjoying the boards tough on my phone.

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[XJSuperman]

Yeah, tapatalk sucks. I keep a tab open in chrome on this site and it works much better. Try that and you may find it less of a hassle.

 

[hodgexj1996]

Yeah, tapatalk sucks. I keep a tab open in chrome on this site and it works much better. Try that and you may find it less of a hassle.

I'll give that a try. I forgot my login stuff so gave up on lunch break a while back.

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[1_2_XjU]

It’s a shame that the picture issue after the site update was never resolved on Tapatalk. Makes it not so fun to use. But using the browser version on my phone is not so much fun either. Consequently I haven’t been updating my thread as much either.
Hodge how bad is it with 35s on 4.5”? That’s been my plan all along as some folks say it’s possible but I’m second guessing now.

 

[XJSuperman]

All depends on how much cutting you want to do. At 4" with 31s I know I couldn't begin to fit 35s.

 

[hodgexj1996]

It’s a shame that the picture issue after the site update was never resolved on Tapatalk. Makes it not so fun to use. But using the browser version on my phone is not so much fun either. Consequently I haven’t been updating my thread as much either.
Hodge how bad is it with 35s on 4.5”? That’s been my plan all along as some folks say it’s possible but I’m second guessing now.

I have no additional bump stopping and it's not bad. I pushed my axle forward a little and that's where I'm having the issue between track bar and axle, which is my primary concern. The tires will slightly wrinkle the fender if the wheel is turned just right, but that's it. The rear, well that is stuffed , but the rubbing does no damage so i Ignore it since, again, it's minimal. For 99% of my time there's no rubbing, but under compression I'm hitting my dif cover, in order to stop that would require a ton of bump stopping.

At 4.5" i would consider 35x10.5s or 285 75 17s which equate to 34s. That would minimize all the tire issues almost 100% View attachment 227574

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[hodgexj1996]

All depends on how much cutting you want to do. At 4" with 31s I know I couldn't begin to fit 35s.

I only trimmed around the outside of the stock flares and did the cut and fold out back. Most of my trimming was inside at the pinch weld. I've seen some terrible hack jobs and I refuse to be that guy.

My end goal is notch flares, but they are more than I wanna spend right now.

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[XJSuperman]

Yes, flares are expensive, one of the reasons I have maintained my stock ones. I just moved the front up because I was rubbing at full stuff with 31s. I'm bumpstopped pretty good but still managed to rub while wheeling. From what I saw this weekend, I think I fixed that, but I would have to cut a lot more out to fit 35s and make it wheel-able. I realize we're almost comparing apples to oranges here since we have different suspensions, trims, and wheel offsets.

 

[hodgexj1996]

Yes, flares are expensive, one of the reasons I have maintained my stock ones. I just moved the front up because I was rubbing at full stuff with 31s. I'm bumpstopped pretty good but still managed to rub while wheeling. From what I saw this weekend, I think I fixed that, but I would have to cut a lot more out to fit 35s and make it wheel-able. I realize we're almost comparing apples to oranges here since we have different suspensions, trims, and wheel offsets.

Oh for certain there's too many variables at play to say something is cookie cutter. My track bar for example, I have a home made setup, with no bend in it, so where a normal track bar would be a non issue, mine is a headache. But I can't get back to a normal style since I used a not so common sized joint axle side. So for me, I need more lift. My last one was aboit 6.5" and I never had any complaints. Fingers crossed i don't open too big of a can of worms. These things are never ending as we know, and it's my toy so nothing is emergency to get done.

I almost vomited when I saw the price of the notch flares. But they are pretty much the only ones that will work with the cutting I've already done as far as I can tell. We'll see, i may just do all the cutting and stay flareless, I change my mind like I do underwater with builds so nothing is ever set in stone.

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[hodgexj1996]

Lifted 2" more via front spacers, rear shackle adjustments and added 5125s. Should alleviate the track bar and front dif cover hitting. Rides so much nicer having more bump travel.

Need to order IRO axle shaft kit and she's ready for the woods. Been dealing with alot of small issues. Ignition coil was goin bad so I added ksuspensionfab conversion to replace coil rail. Had some other annoying CELs I think I've ironed out. Needs front speaker relocation and a few interior bits. I love this stupid rig!

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[4.3L XJ]

Looking mean and green

 

[hodgexj1996]

Looking mean and green

I've still yet to really take it out yet. But she looks the part. U joints squeal like it sees mud every weekend too so it sounds the part of a shit box too lol

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[XJSuperman]

Im on page 4 of 12 and Im a little angry that I missed your thread for this long. If you haven't found it yet, my build has most if not all of what you have discussed up to page 4. Including the same green color. I will be Monstalinering mine this year to match my trailer. Jungle Love is the dark green monstaliner color. Im on 31s and 4" with stock flares (fronts moved up 1-2") and it all tucks really nice.

Anyhow, I've got more reading to do, but I love your build so far. Seems like you really have a grip on whats available to you and what you want. No spoilers now, I'll be back when I've finished reading.

EDIT: Im a moron and didn't realize I HAVE seen this thread. Apparently I just didn't read the fun part. I found my posts on the last page lol.

 

[hodgexj1996]

Im on page 4 of 12 and Im a little angry that I missed your thread for this long. If you haven't found it yet, my build has most if not all of what you have discussed up to page 4. Including the same green color. I will be Monstalinering mine this year to match my trailer. Jungle Love is the dark green monstaliner color. Im on 31s and 4" with stock flares (fronts moved up 1-2") and it all tucks really nice.

Anyhow, I've got more reading to do, but I love your build so far. Seems like you really have a grip on whats available to you and what you want. No spoilers now, I'll be back when I've finished reading.

EDIT: Im a moron and didn't realize I HAVE seen this thread. Apparently I just didn't read the fun part. I found my posts on the last page lol.

Hahaha it's all good! Thanks for the kind words. I haven't been on much since I really wasn't doin much except driving the jeep and fixing a bunch of gremlins. My daily drive has been seeing alot of miles and I ended up having to do a bunch of work to it so that ate up alot of jeep "fun money".
Plus it's been so damn hot and the xj has no A.C. it's not as enjoyable to drive lol.

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[hodgexj1996]

I actually did add a modification worth noting. Ksuspensionfab.com makes a ignition module conversion that removes the 2000+ coil rail and uses an msd style coil pack and plug wires. They have their own piggy back harness and it's plug and play. Honest to god, even with brown dog poly motor mounts which transfer every engine vibe, this thing idles so smooth now it's better than stock. And that's not an exaggeration. I can honestly say that it made the jeep much more enjoyable now, it used to vibrate like crazy sitting at stop lights, but now, it's smooth as glass. I only have a couple pics of the module and the mount.

I'm still not sure what tire and wheel combo I wanna go with. I'm not a huge fan of the spacers and jk wheels, but I had 17" tires in the garage and they fit the budget. The 315/70/17s are just so wide they rub all over and even at 20 psi I don't get a great footprint. Contemplating goin to 35x10.5s. My truck needs tires as well, so I might get proper wheels with good offset for the jeep and alleviate the jk wheels and spacers to see if it functions with less rubbing.

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[hodgexj1996]

Well well wellllllll.......its been a bit minute since I really had anything to post. Jeeps been running like a top and hasn't seen anything other than grocery trips and being my weekend rig/2nd vehicle.

I got tired of the big lift, but had no motivation to really change anything until this week. My buddy is slapping one tons under his xj so it was a perfect opportunity to get some help and make some swaps.

Soooo.....

OME 930 coils + 1.75 spacer (3.5" roughly)
OME Shocks F/R
Home Built leaf packs (2-2.5" roughly)
Rough Country 1.5 shackle

I pulled all the drop brackets and at this lift height my lower control arms are at almost the same angle as they were at 6.5" with drops, give or take a few degrees. Added some extra lower bump stops up front and we were in business. Since I had already cut for 35s at full stuff up front it's a non factor, and the rear will be getting cut and reworked soon.

LCoG is here!

 

[4.3L XJ]

3.5" with 35s, you don't see that everyday

 

[hodgexj1996]

3.5" with 35s, you don't see that everyday

Nope! I have a set of 33s that have been more reasonable to use for everyday running around, but these were sitting in the garage just calling my name. Considering the inner wheel wells were already cut to fit this tire/wheel/spacer combo I figured I would try it out. I'm sure the rear will be cozy if I get it really crossed up, but that's not common enough for me to be concerned. I have plans on cutting the rear lower quarters/ wheel wells out and opening it up similar to notch flares, I've just yet to have a time slot big enough to get that all done the way I would like. Hopefully these next few months.

Steering is still not pleased trying to turn 35s with a lunchbox locker under certain conditions but it's liveable. Other than that I enjoy all the things 35s gain you enough these will be staying on until winter time.

I had pondered it for quite a while lowering back down. It's something I wanted to try out since I've not done my own low lift build. It drives TONS better than it did at 6.5" even with beat up control arms. My hopes are to get some 35x10.5s as the next set I run to alleviate all the things these 315s like to munch on, they're wide suckers.