Just picked up my '88 XJ Limited last night...

[nationwide]

I've been cruising the forum for a while now, as it seems to be the best site for XJ's on the web.

I just picked my first Jeep last night... a 1988 XJ Limited. It has the 4.0 I6 with the auto trans.

I horse traded a 1991 Chevy 3/4 ton Suburban for it... the Jeep owner needed a tow vehicle, and the 454 is a good strong motor. Me, I wanted a Cherokee!

Anyways... I live in the DFW area. Just thought I'd pop in and say 'Yo'.

Yo.

ETA: Pic

 

[scottmcneal]

Looks nice an clean, so when the lift going on?

 

[nationwide]

Looks nice an clean, so when the lift going on?

I still have a good deal of research to do regarding what kind of suspension mods I want to make as well as the wheel / tire combo I want.

This will be my daily driver, and I'm more looking for ability to "get out of Dodge" when I have to as opposed to running to Moab for some crawling...

At most I'll probably go with a 3.5" lift. Thing is, I don't need or want huge tires. I'm thinking 31's or 33's...

ETA: By "get out of Dodge" I mean a hasty exit from the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex due to some type of emergency situation.

I'm looking to make this great platform damned near bullet proof.

 

[scottmcneal]

go in the middle, say 32" then your good,

 

[Only In A Jeep XJ]

go in the middle, say 32" then your good,

I disagree always go bigger than you'll never second guess your self. I mean if your gona do it, Then do it. That way you don't double spend. 33's are a great place to start specialy if it's a d.d. If your thinking 31's not much need for a lift. I ran 31's for a long time with out a lift and only had a bit of rubbing on the inner wheel well at full flex. Right now I'm on 31's with 4.5in lift but that cause I aint got the money for the 33's yet.

 

[nationwide]

I disagree always go bigger than you'll never second guess your self. I mean if your gona do it, Then do it. That way you don't double spend. 33's are a great place to start specialy if it's a d.d. If your thinking 31's not much need for a lift. I ran 31's for a long time with out a lift and only had a bit of rubbing on the inner wheel well at full flex. Right now I'm on 31's with 4.5in lift but that cause I aint got the money for the 33's yet.

I can get away with 31's on a standard suspension???

 

[scottmcneal]

so your going to gears too? with 33 take a bit more to turn.. an for a dd i wouldn't go higher than 4", i went higher since i do rocks not mud...

 

[nationwide]

so your going to gears too? with 33 take a bit more to turn.. an for a dd i wouldn't go higher than 4", i went higher since i do rocks not mud...

I don't plan on changing the axle ratio's... I'm fine with 3.55's.

But then again... component upgrades may make it an easy decision later.

 

[scottmcneal]

cool, i found that in the hills i had trouble with 33s an stock gears, so i did a change to mine

 

[rokclimbertx]

you'll want to reconsider the gears if you do 33's... especially to get your MPG back to normal... i've been on 31's for many years and went with 4.56 gears and am pretty happy with that combination... 4.10's would have been the smarter choice i think and possibly better on the MPG... however i am about to go to 33's when on the trail so the deeper gears will be nice...

the short time i was on the 31's and stock gears were horrible...

 

[Kendrik]

I've been cruising the forum for a while now, as it seems to be the best site for XJ's on the web.

I just picked my first Jeep last night... a 1988 XJ Limited. It has the 4.0 I6 with the auto trans.
<SNIP>

Welcome, then! It's good to see more folks dropping into to our little place on the interweb.

BTW, to throw my .2 cents into the lift discussion, if you're not looking for a serious rock buggy, then I'd stick with 31's. I'm running 31x10.5 SSR's on a 3.5" lift, locked front and rear, and it handled everything I threw at it with aplomb, but still could be run as a DD without a problem.