Princess the 97 XJ...

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Jeepmedic46

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Thanks! I believe they measure out to somewhere around a 30 inch. I have plans for going to 32’s or 33’s just didn’t feel like dropping the cash right after the lift.
Tires can get expensive. My Cherokee is currently running 32” tires with 17” wheels. Thinking of going to 15” wheels.
 

Greg Galbo

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Next up in the build process was to reinstall the interior after the rockers and lift were installed. Before I put it all back together I wanted to add a few more things to the interior to improve it for highway driving. The first thing I did was pull the headliner and install sound deadening. I chose Fatmat "Rattle Trap" and put it on the entire roof, floor and the doors and quarter panels. 50 square feet was just enough for all of that. After that, I steam cleaned the carpets and seats while they were out and reinstalled the interior with a few new rare factory XJ pieces such as "mist grey" limited door panels with the pockets as well as the infinity tweeter speakers.

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Jeepmedic46

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William
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Next up in the build process was to reinstall the interior after the rockers and lift were installed. Before I put it all back together I wanted to add a few more things to the interior to improve it for highway driving. The first thing I did was pull the headliner and install sound deadening. I chose Fatmat "Rattle Trap" and put it on the entire roof, floor and the doors and quarter panels. 50 square feet was just enough for all of that. After that, I steam cleaned the carpets and seats while they were out and reinstalled the interior with a few new rare factory XJ pieces such as "mist grey" limited door panels with the pockets as well as the infinity tweeter speakers.

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interior looks great. Is it quieter. The doors look great with the storage.
 

Greg Galbo

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interior looks great. Is it quieter. The doors look great with the storage.
Thanks man! I would say it is a little quieter. But the biggest improvement is the interior temps. The trans tunnel used to get quite hot on long drives and make my legs sweat. That hasn’t happened since! And with it being a black jeep the roof used to get very hot too and that is a lot better. The interior stays the temp you want it to now! Worth the investment I’d say.
 

JDGreens

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Tires can get expensive. My Cherokee is currently running 32” tires with 17” wheels. Thinking of going to 15” wheels.
You would be better off with 15" rim's in so many ways. When you air down your ride will be so much better on 15"s than it would with 17" rim's. I'm very happy with my BFG Ko-2s bought them through 4 wheel parts when they were offering all kinds of discounts. I got my set of 4 33's for $750 and that was mounted and balanced. At that price it's worth it. Everyone I know who went to 35's or larger regretted it.
 
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Jeepmedic46

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You would be better off with 15" rim's in so many ways. When you air down your ride will be so much better on 15"s than it would with 17" rim's. I'm very happy with my BFG Ko-2s bought them through 4 wheel parts when they were offering all kinds of discounts. I got my set of 4 33's for $750 and that was mounted and balanced. At that price it's worth it. Everyone I know who went to 35's or larger regretted it.
What size lift do you have on your XJ? If I go to 15” wheels what size tire would you recommend? I have a 4.5” Rough Country lift.
 

JDGreens

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I have 33's on 15" rims. Ibecause they are aluminium I usually don't air down under 15 psi , 18 if I'm in the Ouray area so that I can roll down the roads between trail heads without messing with airing up and down.
 

JDGreens

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I'm sorry re-read your post. My Xj has 4.5 inch BDS springs up front and in back I was running what ever the previous owner had done which amounted to about a 5" lift in back. In the meantime I have been re-building my suspension front and back which should amount to approximately the same numbers. Tweaking this rig to improve its abilities and ride comfort is an ongoing process. I'm sure you know what I mean.
 
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Jeepmedic46

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I'm sorry re-read your post. My Xj has 4.5 inch BDS springs up front and in back I was running what ever the previous owner had done which amounted to about a 5" lift in back. In the meantime I have been re-building my suspension front and back which should amount to approximately the same numbers. Tweaking this rig to improve its abilities and ride comfort is an ongoing process. I'm sure you know what I mean.
My Jeep came with a short arm lift going to change it to a long arm. Not sure if I have to change the whole lift to do that.
 

mmp

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My Jeep came with a short arm lift going to change it to a long arm. Not sure if I have to change the whole lift to do that.
There are several long arm upgrade kits available. I bought my 96 with a short arm RC lift and bought the IRO off-road upgrade kit. I haven't installed it yet as I want to add frame stiffeners first. Everything is sitting in my garage waiting for when I get chance to tear it down and install it all.
 
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Greg Galbo

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There are several long arm upgrade kits available. I bought my 96 with a short arm RC lift and bought the IRO off-road upgrade kit. I haven't installed it yet as I want to add frame stiffeners first. Everything is sitting in my garage waiting for when I get chance to tear it down and install it all.
Mine is sitting on the IRO 3-Link long arm kit and I agree 100% with the frame stiffeners. That would a lot as this kit has rediculous flex. (See above metal cloak trailer pics lol) I fully plan on welding in frame stiffeners in the hopefully near future.
 

JDGreens

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My Jeep came with a short arm lift going to change it to a long arm. Not sure if I have to change the whole lift to do that.
Mine came with a short arm and spacers to get the height it has. Very poor ride quality, I'm very low budget with my rig so when I came across some one who had new drop brackets on CL for half the cost, I went for it. Also came across 3.5. Inch heavy duty OME leaf spring for the rear at half the cost of new. Built some relocation brackets for the rear. I need to fine tune the front steering (alignment). And I should be golden. I had made a sleeping platform for the inside for now. Works very well for now. I have a trailer I have been working on for the future. So my wife can be more comfortable out there.
 
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Jeepmedic46

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Mine came with a short arm and spacers to get the height it has. Very poor ride quality, I'm very low budget with my rig so when I came across some one who had new drop brackets on CL for half the cost, I went for it. Also came across 3.5. Inch heavy duty OME leaf spring for the rear at half the cost of new. Built some relocation brackets for the rear. I need to fine tune the front steering (alignment). And I should be golden. I had made a sleeping platform for the inside for now. Works very well for now. I have a trailer I have been working on for the future. So my wife can be more comfortable out there.
My Jeep came with the 4.5” lift from Rough Country. Depending on who you ask or you tube it’s either a good lift or the worst lift ever. I know the lift is in my budget. Other ones are so expensive. My wife does hate the ride but she doesn’t like being jostled. Do you have any pictures of your setup?
 

Jeepmedic46

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There are several long arm upgrade kits available. I bought my 96 with a short arm RC lift and bought the IRO off-road upgrade kit. I haven't installed it yet as I want to add frame stiffeners first. Everything is sitting in my garage waiting for when I get chance to tear it down and install it all.
Frame stiffeners are on the list of things.
 

tjZ06

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Great work on the Long Arm and SYE! How much of a difference have you noticed with the sound deadening material? Also, the head liner is awesome!

-TJ
 
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