New YJ: tire, lift, etc. questions

[Crew11]

I recently purchased a bone-stock '95 Sahara.

First off, does anybody have any strong feelings on Chilton vs. Haynes repair manuals?

Next, I have to get rid of these wimpy 215 highway tires. I've already purchased the Cragar 15X8 wheels i like, but haven't pulled the trigger on tires yet. I plan on a 2-3.5" suspension lift, but that isn't in the cards right now. I'd like to do 31" (goodyear mt/r, bfg mt) tires. So, for a quick fix, I was thinking of a 1" hockey puck bl and maybe a 1" shackle lift. My Sahara has the body colored flares (which I like) so I'd rather not do the TJ flares. Will this give me enough clearance to run the 31s with light off-road action?

thanks for any help. any pics of mildly lifted jeeps with 31" and smaller tires would be good to see too.

 

[Sparky-Watts]

I recently purchased a bone-stock '95 Sahara.

First off, does anybody have any strong feelings on Chilton vs. Haynes repair manuals?

Next, I have to get rid of these wimpy 215 highway tires. I've already purchased the Cragar 15X8 wheels i like, but haven't pulled the trigger on tires yet. I plan on a 2-3.5" suspension lift, but that isn't in the cards right now. I'd like to do 31" (goodyear mt/r, bfg mt) tires. So, for a quick fix, I was thinking of a 1" hockey puck bl and maybe a 1" shackle lift. My Sahara has the body colored flares (which I like) so I'd rather not do the TJ flares. Will this give me enough clearance to run the 31s with light off-road action?

thanks for any help. any pics of mildly lifted jeeps with 31" and smaller tires would be good to see too.

First of all, both the Haynes and Chilton suck.....but if I had to choose, I'd say Haynes is worse.

Next, and this is just personal preference, I'd go with the MT's in a 31. I ran 31's on my YJ for over 2 years and never had a problem with rubbing, except for a very slight rub on the front edge of the rear flare. From what I've heard, I'd avoid a shackle lift, as it will mess with your pinion angles and all that other stuff. You can go with a small shackle lift, but it's not really necessary. As for body lifts, again personal preference, I don't like the looks of them. I definitely wouldn't go any higher than 1" on that, if you decide to do it. I think you'll be fine with 31's and no lift for a while. Take a look at my '94 in my sig pic with the 3.5" BDS lift and you can get an idea of where you'll be. I debated going with just 2", but figured I might as well do it right the first time. Road manners are as good or better than stock, and off-road, well....heheheheh....I like it!!!!

 

[Wrangl3r93]

Yeah you can check my pictures in the reader rides section. It was a stock 93 sitting on 31x10.5 BFG A/T's and even stock i didn't have very much rub offroad or on unless i had 3 other people riding with me then i had a tad bit in the rear when i took turns. Like Sparky said I'm not too hip on BL's and everybody i know that tries to go small on their first lift regrets it later on. Jeeps are a disease and I haven't found anyone yet that is perfectly content to keep their jeep just the way it is so you might as well go big the first time and save the money. I swore up, down, left, and right i was gonna keep my jeep stock when i first bought it and now i'm sitting on a 4.5 RE lift and I'm waiting for gateway tires to call me so i can go have my 33's put on today.

 

[TWDJ]

Seeing as you are starting with a stock Jeep like I did, and assuming all appears to be in good shape, here's what I did:

1 - Check out all bushings, spacers, axle bumpers, shackles ... anything rubber. Replace as needed ESPECIALLY motor mounts, transmission mounts and U-joints. When hitting the trail is not the time to find that things are torn, worn and out of alignment.

2 - Suspension Lift kit. Forget body lift as you will also find, as you research, there are alignment issues regarding transmission and Xfer case linkages. I went with the RE 2" and have been very happy. It comes with the Xfer case drop that will hold you until you can do the SYE.

3 - I'm still running my 235x75/15 tires and they get me wherever I want to go ... including some places I didn't think I could. Tires are important but make sure you budget the maintenance that SHOULD have been done by the prior owner. Great tires and wheels on a broken Jeep makes for a good looking driveway decoration.

Remember, know the condition of your Jeep to be safe THEN have fun (old guy talking).

 

[mud4feet]

Seeing as you are starting with a stock Jeep like I did, and assuming all appears to be in good shape, here's what I did:

1 - Check out all bushings, spacers, axle bumpers, shackles ... anything rubber. Replace as needed ESPECIALLY motor mounts, transmission mounts and U-joints. When hitting the trail is not the time to find that things are torn, worn and out of alignment.

2 - Suspension Lift kit. Forget body lift as you will also find, as you research, there are alignment issues regarding transmission and Xfer case linkages. I went with the RE 2" and have been very happy. It comes with the Xfer case drop that will hold you until you can do the SYE.

3 - I'm still running my 235x75/15 tires and they get me wherever I want to go ... including some places I didn't think I could. Tires are important but make sure you budget the maintenance that SHOULD have been done by the prior owner. Great tires and wheels on a broken Jeep makes for a good looking driveway decoration.

Remember, know the condition of your Jeep to be safe THEN have fun (old guy talking).

:agree:............wholeheatedly!!!!!

Play around with it stock for a while..........it'll give you an idea of what needs to be done for the driving you want to do!! Sand, mud, rocks, mild -trails, the Rubicon, etc, etc. all require different set-ups. Play, read, post questions, play!!!!!!!

Still stocker ('cept for 31's),
mud

 

[slo-wrench44]

when you decide on what you want for a lift. remember you get what you pay for. a cheap lift kit will end up being a cheap lift and wear out quickly and you wont be happy.

 

[TwistedCU]

I recently purchased a bone-stock '95 Sahara.

First off, does anybody have any strong feelings on Chilton vs. Haynes repair manuals?

Next, I have to get rid of these wimpy 215 highway tires. I've already purchased the Cragar 15X8 wheels i like, but haven't pulled the trigger on tires yet. I plan on a 2-3.5" suspension lift, but that isn't in the cards right now. I'd like to do 31" (goodyear mt/r, bfg mt) tires. So, for a quick fix, I was thinking of a 1" hockey puck bl and maybe a 1" shackle lift. My Sahara has the body colored flares (which I like) so I'd rather not do the TJ flares. Will this give me enough clearance to run the 31s with light off-road action?

thanks for any help. any pics of mildly lifted jeeps with 31" and smaller tires would be good to see too.

Mine has a 2.5" Rubicon Express suspension lift and 31's. It's adequate for most any type of wheeling except rocks. I intend to modify it further as time progresses but I am pleased with how well it does in it's current form:

 

[Crew11]

Mine has a 2.5" Rubicon Express suspension lift and 31's. It's adequate for most any type of wheeling except rocks. I intend to modify it further as time progresses but I am pleased with how well it does in it's current form:

Twisted, you've got my favorite color sahara. Do you know what years that color was available?

Now I'm starting to like the look of the Kumho MT KL71s, but haven't seen any good shots of them on a jeep. Anybody have these?

 

[jfrabat]

Crew,

I also purchased a used YJ a couple of months ago (I bought the S version in green with the 2.5L 4 cylinder engine, as I did not want to spend too much on the Jeep! Boy, has that train of thought changed!!!!). Let me tell you some of the things I did and more or less what they cost:

Put in a K&N filter (and removed the air intake restrictions; see posts on this site about that): $53.98
Did a complete maintenance (oil change, oil filter change, rear and front differential fluid change, radiator flush and refill, serpentine belt replacement, sparkplug wire replacement, new distributor cap, new distributor rotor, new Accell ignition coil, brake check, brake fluid flish and fill, transmission fluid change, new battery, new battery terminals, new Gibson Cat-back -old muffler was broken- and instalation, and new wiper blades): $1,623.93
(I could have done some of this myself, but I was traveling too much, so I got it done at different places, making it more expensive than it needed to be)

As for the lift, I am currently runing Bridgestone Duelers H/T in 31" with no lift, but I have found that they do rub a little (these tires came with the Jeepn and are fairly new, so I'll stick to them until they wear out). I have been doing A LOT of research about the best way to go for lifting the Jeep, and from what I have read, the best option for both clearance and suspension travel and ride comfort is not to get a lift kit, but rather do a Spring Over Axle (SOA) conversion.

This will most likely be more expensive than a lift kit, and will be more work, but you will also get the same ride as stock (because you will use the same springs), it will add about 4"~5" of lift (which means you can go with 33" tires with no problems), and you will have the most suspension travel. I think Rubicon Express does make a kit for this, but I am planning on going my own way.

I found a good site that will give you a step-by-step instruction on how to do this, as well as an estimate on costs (http://www.jedi.com/obiwan/jeep/soa.html). Some things have changed since the article was written, but it is a good starting point. In my case, I am still debating wether or not to use the revolver shackles... Still have to read a bit more to be convinced, but I can always do that at a later time.

Felipe

 

[augdog]

ok so i am new to this site and new to jeeps all together. i just bought a 91 yj 4 banger from some kid with a spring over kit and 3in lift springs for a toatal of ... OH MY GOD 16" AHHHHHH. so i dident roll the thing on my way home, thank god, but i have run into some problems reversing the spring over kit. i had to shim the rear-end. it does have the c-v conversion. anyway here is my question. i have lowered my t/c 2" and now my t/c lever is riding on my body. so do i notch the body and live with the spacers or do i cut off the factory spring perches and remount them so i can run w/o shims and spacers? any way if someone has any input please help. -augie

 

[TwistedCU]

Twisted, you've got my favorite color sahara. Do you know what years that color was available?

Now I'm starting to like the look of the Kumho MT KL71s, but haven't seen any good shots of them on a jeep. Anybody have these?

91 was the only year with the fuel-injected 4.0L and the last year for that color. I believe they can be found in 89-90 years with the 4.2L carbuerated engine.

I searched a good while for this year/trim package. I've wanted one for years.