Complete Lift?

Boze

Boze

New member
Hello smarter people than me,

I'm still trying to figure out the cheapest/safest way to get at least 31's under my bone stock 4.0/AX-15 YJ. I think I've got it, as far as cheap goes. 2" body lift from daystar and 1" lift boomerang shackles from Rough Country. All told that's less than $250 with shipping. I think that should let me run at least 31"s without rubbing. The thing is, every site I visit seems to say something different regarding what else I need. Can I just slap the BL and shackles on there and go, or am I going to run into problems with brake lines and fan shrouds and driveline angles, and ALL THAT JUNK?

Any help here would be great because I'm sitting on my couch on a Saturday morning when all I want is to get out on some trails. I just don't trust the sickly little street tires my YJ is sitting on right now.
 

I wouldn't go any higher than 1" on body lift, 2" and up leaves an unsightly gap between the body and the frame and places undue leverage on the body mounts/bolts.

Consider a 1" body lift and adding TJ fender flares, if you don't mind cutting your wheel wells a little. Adding TJ flares is easy, but you need to remove up to an inch of sheet metal from the wheel opening.
 
You could also do a spring over with your stock suspension. Sombody might correct me but i think all you would need is new shocks then. Suppose to give you about 4 inches of lift.
 
Boze said:
Hello smarter people than me,

I'm still trying to figure out the cheapest/safest way to get at least 31's under my bone stock 4.0/AX-15 YJ. I think I've got it, as far as cheap goes. 2" body lift from daystar and 1" lift boomerang shackles from Rough Country. All told that's less than $250 with shipping. I think that should let me run at least 31"s without rubbing. The thing is, every site I visit seems to say something different regarding what else I need. Can I just slap the BL and shackles on there and go, or am I going to run into problems with brake lines and fan shrouds and driveline angles, and ALL THAT JUNK?

Any help here would be great because I'm sitting on my couch on a Saturday morning when all I want is to get out on some trails. I just don't trust the sickly little street tires my YJ is sitting on right now.
Click to expand...
i would go to ebay motors in bye a 2inch body lift for 90.00 with a 12.00 shiping in it would clear 31s perfect
 

i agree with bounty.. a 2" BL is probably not going to be your best bet. it makes more more susceptible for flipping over.. and it leaves that gap between your frame and body..

An SOA is a cost efficient way as long as you know how to do some welding..
 
See? That's just it. So a body lift isn't the best way to go, but it is the cheapest. You can get a SOA for cheap and it's easy to put in, but 31's would look dumb, (i agree), so you might as well put 33's or even 35's. But now you're running WAY too tall gears with the 3.23s so you need to gear down to 4.88, but now you're in serious danger of twisting your stock diffs into pretzels. So get some D44s under there and regear those...but wait, don't forget about your clutch, oh and you're going to need a SYE and a longer driveline...

I just want to get out in the dirt. If I can do that with some used 33's on used backspaced rims, a 1" boomarang setup, and a 1" body lift, and maybe even some TJ flares then I'm good for now. I'm sure I'll want some lower gears, and a better rear, but I have other bills, a stay at home wife (who's 8 1/2 months preagnent), and a two year old boy...and I'm trying to do all this on E-4 pay. :lol: I just need to get this pig trail worthy ASAP!!! I'll stick to the 1" BL instead of the 2", but I just can't affored to open up the can of worms that comes with the lift I want. Guess it's all a work in process.
 
SOA stands for spring over axle. It's a conversion you can do to a leaf sprung vehicle where the axle is ussualy mounted on top of the leafs, you weld on new spring perches and mount the axle underneath the leafs. It will give you about 5.5 inches of lift.
 
I would honestly say, 1in. body lift, trimming, and some nice 1in. (longer) shackles would be just fine for 31s. In fact, I've seen people with 31s on stock YJs, granted, that's probably not the best route.
Whatever your outcome is, pictures are pretty cool when you're finished. :shades:
 
Boze said:
See? That's just it. So a body lift isn't the best way to go, but it is the cheapest. You can get a SOA for cheap and it's easy to put in, but 31's would look dumb, (i agree), so you might as well put 33's or even 35's. But now you're running WAY too tall gears with the 3.23s so you need to gear down to 4.88, but now you're in serious danger of twisting your stock diffs into pretzels. So get some D44s under there and regear those...but wait, don't forget about your clutch, oh and you're going to need a SYE and a longer driveline...

I just want to get out in the dirt. If I can do that with some used 33's on used backspaced rims, a 1" boomarang setup, and a 1" body lift, and maybe even some TJ flares then I'm good for now. I'm sure I'll want some lower gears, and a better rear, but I have other bills, a stay at home wife (who's 8 1/2 months preagnent), and a two year old boy...and I'm trying to do all this on E-4 pay. :lol: I just need to get this pig trail worthy ASAP!!! I'll stick to the 1" BL instead of the 2", but I just can't affored to open up the can of worms that comes with the lift I want. Guess it's all a work in process.
Click to expand...
Sounds like you have a real good understanding of the snowball effect that is modifying jeeps :lol:

Best you can fit on with 2" of lift (BL and shackle) is 31" tires. You can probably squeeze on 33" if you add the TJ fender flares.
 

you could go with an "add a leaf" system. Black Diamond sells theirs on quadratec for $310.99, and it's a 2" lift for your year. Here's the link: Black Diamond 2" Add-A-Leaf Suspension Lift Kit for 87-95 Jeep Wrangler YJ - Quadratec

An SOA sounds cheap when you first look at it, but it gets very painful. Most people that they need an SYE and a CV rear driveshaft once they get it up. Then you're going to have to fix your steering geometry with the insane about of bump steer you're going to have. At the cheapest (and least desired) you'd have to replace the pitman arm and get a drop draglink. The best thing to do for that would be to install "high steering" which I don't want to get into, it involves adding steering arms on top of the knuckles to move everything above the springs. Shocks will have to go and get replaced with longer ones. Brake line will no longer be long enough, so they'll have to get replaced too. I think you get the point...it's not just moving the perches on top of the axle.

As far as a 2" BL goes....you'll hate yourself later for it. If you can't afford it now, spend the money on the baby and wait till you do, and can do it right.
 
Boze said:
Bolt what on, the 33's?
Click to expand...


you typed :I'm still trying to figure out the cheapest/safest way to get at least 31's under my bone stock 4.0/AX-15 YJ." in the first post,

that is my answer..
For 33's, I would still do the same and just trim as much as I can with out getting into the inside of the tub too much.

Those are in my opinion truely the cheapest way to get the tires to fit.
 

Look at the link I posted and go to bottom where the YJ lift is.
 
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