hello everyone

[devilinside13]

hi the southeast chapter, i am finally back to the naxja boards after a 3 year hiatus. just picked up a new xj today so now i feel right about posting in here again. my name is joe, i am married to my wonderful wife of almost 10 years and we have 4 great kids together. i am located by raleigh nc. we moved here from colorado springs and before that was bakersfield ca. i am from nj originally so yeah i have moved around quite a bit. i guess it will be time to renew my membership since i now have another xj to play with. when i get home after doing some maint items on the jeep i will post some pics of the new toy. oh i am a mechanic for a living, i used to work for a few different jeep dealerships for about 10 years, so i might be able to answer a few questions now and then.

 

[PacificEd]

Welcome back.

 

[devilinside13]

thank you. now comes the fun part of building a new toy from scratch, oh the joys. does anybody have any input on the rough country long arm kit? it looks similar to the old RE kit. would have gone with them but alas they are out of business and im pretty sure the quality of their parts is going to go down hill now that 4 wheel parts owns them.

 

[Popeye'sJeep]

Welcome back!

See you on the trail...

 

[High2by]

Welcome back. It's in the blood I reckon...

Let's see the Jeep!!!

 

[devilinside13]

ok its been awhile how do i post the picks from off my hard drive to the forums?

 

[Jamescad04]

Hey and welcome back! You gotta use photo bucket or some sort of image hosting site like that to post your pics.

 

[Ghost]

Welcome back! You might want to check into some of Ironman 4x4's stuff. He is from NC and is a sponsor here. Looking foward to seeing some pictures of the heep! Cnickgo is in your area too.

 

[UNCC_99XJ]

Welcome back!

Upcomming trip we have planed if you're interested in going:

http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1053195

And there's also a small meet and greet down here in the Charlotte area in just a couple of weeks if you're interested in that as well!

http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1064621

 

[Team Willys]

Welcome back again!

As far as the rough country lifts go... they are budget minded, so there are better kits out there. The rough country is great if you want tit to look good going down the road, but again, their focus is on keeping costs down so they have to cut a few corners here and there.

I would highly recommend a full 3 link front set-up like the one available from rock krawler or synergy suspension. They are both very high quality and their performance is great.

If you need to order anything let me know, I am a dealer for most anybody you can think of, and I am a Southeast Chapter Sponsor. I can get you pretty much anything you will need.

 

[devilinside13]

well im trying to build this jeep on a budget, ie not a 3k lift kit. im looking at going between 4-6 inches and running 33inch tires at the most. i dont really do any hardcore crawling like i used too, yet. i was thinking about just keeping the short arms but the long arm look and flex is quite appealing. one of the kits i had in mind was the dpg 5 inch hybrid kit. i know rustys has good prices but some of the parts are not the best of quality, personal experience with them. gonna try to keep this one as close to original stuff as possible, gonna keep the 8 1/4 rear and put alloy shafts in it for now, till i break and alloy shaft then it will be a dynatrac 44. just too much to do and not enough money, but thats a jeep for ya. just installed a new cat back exhaust at work today, price free, that was a good deal i could not turn down.

 

[XJfreakHO]

Welcome.

Rough Country's kit is pretty solid, for light-moderate wheeling, thier bushings aren't too great, but they will send you new ones when they wear out so its a wash.

I ran the RC 6.5 years ago, back when it was a new design, and it was pretty damn great for the wheeling I did, now I am looking into stretching front and rear, 4 link rear, 3 link front, just gettin crazy haha, its an addiction.

+1 on checking out http://ironman4x4fab.com

Both Andys with Ironman are great folks, have met them both at ECORS races, and they have some great products, and great pricing.

They also do cage work for 13.50 per foot.

They have a long arm kit now, you would need to buy your coils etc... from someplace else, but if you have a kit you plan to upgrade they have the best Longarm kit around IMO.