Keeping A Low Center of Gravity.

[MaxxXJ]

only problems i see is maybe getting over obsticals with the front bumper, i was out in a rock garden the other day playing around and i had issues with my front bumper coming in contact with the rocks before my tires did. and you'd lack some up travel which would cause your jeep to tilt to one side more over larger obsticals

 

[ktm racer 419]

I was previously running 35's on ~8" of lift. It was a little taller than I liked but was for more stable than most took it for, but it also built to be so...

Before the chop: (neglect the guy in the picture...I was with a group of Toyotas and the guy assumed I was going to need a hand as well )

i just find it awesome that i can now say I have been to the places i have only seen pictures of on the internet.

for the trip i was fully loaded up and sat at about 4.5" in front and around 3" in back

my front bumper almost never touches anything, and if i cant slide it over i usually have other things to worry about

rear bumper drags a lot, but thats why its made of metal, never been hung up on it.

if i need to get the belly over something i just use momentum. i have a pretty good success rate with that.

 

[Monkey55]

...... when I start chopping up my 98, I'm going to see how well I can fit 33s at stock height (though obviously with higher rate springs in the rear at least) before I start pulling the suspension off. If I like how it fits, it's getting upgraded control arms and I'm leaving the rest alone.

If you don't mind cutting a lot, you'll be ok with 33s and stock height.
Here's the how much I cut. The pics are when I still had the 4.5" lift on it.

When I lowered it to 3", it still had plenty of room to go lower.

One thing to consider is the rear shock mounts, if they are raised. That's the main reason I haven't lowered it back to stock height yet. The rear shocks sit at 16.5" right now. If I lower it, they'll sit at about 13.5" or 14.5", depending if do a 1" or not. That will only give me about .75 to 1.5" of up travel with the stock shocks.

When and if I start looking for short body shocks, I'll probably lower it.... again..

What size are your tires????

E

 

[kastein]

If you don't mind cutting a lot, you'll be ok with 33s and stock height.

Don't mind at all. I'm most likely going to be following StumpXJ's writeup on "properly" cutting the rear fenders, now that I'm fairly decent at welding and have a non rusty rig to work on while I drive another one I want to build it to last.

 

[ktm racer 419]

What size are your tires????

E

35's

used to run 37's, but having a nice ride on the street, and having confidence my front 44 won't explode when i get on it is nice

 

[srmitchell]

I like your set up, i kinda wondered about the RC LA upgrade if it would work on a 3" lift cause its listed for a 4"
are you fenders trimmed at all?

i was thinking for mine 3" LA with 33" tires

It might work, but the problem is that the arms mount under the rails, so too low = problems.

I know my rig isn't "low cog" but its really low compared to most of the guys in Sierra Chapter. And it's still shorter than a stock jk rubicon.

I do plan on going to either 33x10.5r15 or 255x85r16 in the future.

 

[ktm racer 419]

Theres some places where a taller rig makes life easier. and Ive been told my jeep would get in trouble if I wheeled it out west. someone even told me that it would be funny to see a low cog rig attempt "escalator" on hells revenge. which was actually simple enough, but I would have probably shit my pants if I was in a taller rig! lol. maybe im just used to being low now.

Its totally different terrain. around here the rocks arent as sticky and often damp. momentum is your friend at times and this is where having a lower rig shines if you slip into the wrong line you can get yourself into a sketchy situation pretty quickly. and the lower the rig the better are your chances of staying on all 4's (or 3's).


BAM

2 cents given

 

[CumminsJeep]

^ agreed sam

 

[xj_punk]

low rigs dominate escalator... ask me how i know

you should:
1. locate the person that told you that
2. ball up your fist
3. with great force propel it into their windpipe or ear (your choice)
4. shrug your shoulders
5. walk away

that's a joke btw, but if you want to do it that's cool too

someone even told me that it would be funny to see a low cog rig attempt "escalator" on hells revenge. which was actually simple enough, but I would have probably shit my pants if I was in a taller rig! lol. maybe im just used to being low now.

 

[Zebaru]

I cant say that many of these rigs really look that low to me.

I built my rig to sit at stock height on 33's and keep full uptravel, and quite frankly, I didnt care for how low it was. I was constantly dragging and hanging on things, and I even went out of my way to build in a flat belly, and keep the exhaust above the rails. My breakover denied me on more than one obstacle, and I took out my driveshaft on the first trip (being higher might not have helped, but it wouldnt have hurt...)

Photos lifted from EricsXJ on sagged stock springs...

I scrounged together a couple inches of lift, and enjoy the rig much more. I still drag here and there where others dont, but it isnt nearly as annoying. I have not encountered anything where being higher has stopped me, though I admit that I dont wheel it terribly hard. Still, parked next to just about any other XJ, it looks low, especially with the extra width of the fairly low backspace (3"?) wheels...

From himmred's sierrafest album as it currently sits...

So, having been stock height, I can say that I don't really prefer it to a couple of inches of lift, and have never been in a situation where I wish I was still lower.

Travis

 

[ktm racer 419]

I cant say that many of these rigs really look that low to me.

current setup on flat ground which isnt really low anymore (left): 4.5" or so in front, 3" rear next to a 3" and 33's

my older setup (this thread is old and it might be in here somewhere already but whatevs)

36" iroks (they run taller than the 37's) and maybe 2-3" o leeft

For the competitive crawling i absolutely love being low, never encountered something where i was limited by it and many cases where being low gave me an edge. Everywhere else a little height is nice however. The jeep is currently in exploration/fun trail riding mode, but if I ever get into the competitions again she will go back into lowrider mode.

 

[srmitchell]

Weren't you getting really reasonable mileage with low gears?

 

[ktm racer 419]

Weren't you getting really reasonable mileage with low gears?

my trip to the west coast and back, fully loaded for 3 people. i would get about 13 mpg if i was running it at 70-80 mph

and a pretty consistent 15-16 at 65 mph.

i got the milage off my gps and my friends jeep, and they matched every stop.

there was a time i babied it with 36's and got much higher. but theres no fun in going from 0-60 in 12 minutes so that stopped.

 

[jeeperjohn]

Im pretty happy with my 4 inches

Yeah, but is she?

 

[Ian Christiansen]

Keeping with the theme. 2001, 4.0, AW4, HP30, 8.25, 3.55 gears, 245/75R16 Goodyear Duratracs, 2" coil spacer in front, UpCountry springs and .75" shackles out back, Bilstein shocks, Rusty's upper and lower adjustable control arms, Rusty's track bar, Iron Rock tie rod, JCR transfer case skid, Genright hood vents...

 

[dhodgee]

I was thinking the same thing! (trailer-fenders) How did it work out? do you have more pictures?

I tried to stay as low as possible and run as big of tire as possible with my build. I am really happy with how it turned out. I used a trailer fender to make up the difference in the back between the two layers of sheet metal. I am going to tons and 40's next. I am going to try to keep the same height. Of course this picture was taken at the end of the build, before all the rock rash and dents.

 

[chattacuda]

well, just to join in the thread and offer another view. When I bought the jeep it had ~6 inches of lift and 35s on full width D44/9" ford axles. It goes fine in the woods ( I dont drive it on roads unless I have to) and doesnt feel top heavy. I am lowering it two inches though in the next few weeks. The reason in simple; I am 55 years old and climbing up in the thing is not as easy as it should be, even though I am 6'5''!! So another variable in the equation besides travel, COG, mud, rocks, etc. is ease of getting in and out of it.

 

[Kevin108]

I'm not all into cutting up a $10k rig so i'm staying high enough to clear my tire size.

$10,000? Sorry, I can't see your or any XJ being worth that.

 

[CumminsJeep]

This is what mine looks like on 4.5" and 35s.

It's definately low enough that i havent gotten into situations where i got scared at all. I like low set-ups but not too low. I have seen some rigs on 3" and 33s get hung up due to lack of clearance that me and others with the same set-up have had no problems. So ill take a little more clearance with a little higher COG. I also added a 3/4 inch spacer up front but that was mainly for a little more travel in the go-fasties.

I spotted sam in RCROCS for a season and that jeep did very very well. The only thing we had a problem with was turning radius. A full bodied XJ was not built to make some of those turns. We had a couple times where sam suprised the audience quite a bit because we were so off camber and there was only one time where he almost rolled. He lost an airbag to prove it :laugh: However, we used the low COG (and Sam's "I drove it here but i dont care if i roll it" mentality) to our advantage to take some lines that others didnt.

 

[Darky]

$10,000? Sorry, I can't see your or any XJ being worth that.

:dunno: What are you talking about? And why does anyone care what you think his XJ is worth?