00xj
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- West Michigan
Hi,
(this is going to be very long)
I've had a bunch of pm's reguarding my past post about going back to stock so I thought I would tell my story here. Mod feel free to move this post if necessary.
I bought a 2000xj new from the local dealer. Did some reading, learned about JeepJamborees and headed to Pennislvania to wheel. (I'm in MI). Before I went I used this site to help me select and install Mopar factory skids, r-rails,BFG at's and tow hooks. I went to PA and had a great time.
Then it all went down hill from there. Well, I got "addicted" to this site and my Jeep. I spent way to much time reading posts on this site and pretty soon I was infected with "inchitis" I deciecied to DO IT RIGHT the first time so I purchaced
RE3.5SuperDuty Packs, New Coils, Lower arms, Adj track bar, shocks 31Bfg's and the biggeeeee....................A Tom Woods SYE with a new shaft. Man my wife was pissed. But not to fear I told her, "I read lots of stuff on and all I have to do is slap on this stuff, get an alignment and I'm good to go." (yea, simplistic, I now know)
I really thought I had a handle on it. So I had a buddy come over and we put all the stuff on, lots of trips to the auto parts store and a few new tools later I was lifted. Well that was the easy part.
Next came a few weird noises, a strange pull, a leaky t-case, blown pinion bearings, (from poor angles) some front shaft vibes. and regearing for 31's would soon be on my 2-do list. (yes, I said regear, 31's make it feel like a slow pig in mud)
So I fixed a few of the noises, but couldn't solve my vibe problem, so I ran it all summer w/o the front d-shaft. Then the snow came, so, I rebuilt the shaft, and put new bearings in my t-case. Only to learn later that my front driveshaft angles were out of wack, no one mentioned that until after I rebuilt the shaft and replaced the bearings. So solving that problem would mean new upper adjustable control arms. So I read about that and asked some more questions. I finally decided that I could not be certian that upper arms would fix my front shaft vibes. I mean heck, I could put them on only to learn later that I should have done X or bought X. I guess my real bitch is that I didn't know what to expect, I only knew how to solve my problems after they happened and I just got tired of constantly solving problems.
In the end I had a 2000XJSport +3.25, fully skidded, hooks, sye, 31's r-rails, sye, front shaft that shook like a marble in a blender in 4wd. I spent a good deal of time driving my sons 87 Ford F-150 back and forth to work since my Jeep was in the garage in various stages of repair. I'm tired of driving an 87 while making payments on a 2000. Altho, the F-150 rides as smooth as glass, even with the fenders falling off.
So the moral of the story is;
1. Don't lift your daily driver, repairs will keep you from getting to work on time
2. Don't lift anything with a low pinion D-30
3. Learn about driveline angles first
4. Learn about how pinion angles affect caster
5. When people say "every Jeep reacts to lifting differently" believe it. Mine almost died from the experience.
6. Don't buy a lift kit that comes with shocks, most likely they wont be the right lenght. Learn about how to measure shocks, then go buy some, don't buy Monroes' I went through 4, they all leaked.
7. Plan on everything costing double what you thought, you can not lift a newer XJ for $200 bucks.
8. Get a FSM (if you don't know what that is, you shouldn't lift it)
9. Get a bunch of high quality torque wrenches, you'll need them.
10. Visit my for sale post on MichiganJeepers and buy my lift parts.
MJ ForSale post
As always, I appreciate all the help I have received from the users of this site. Now I just have to figure out how to shorten my rear drive shaft and I should be back to stock!!!
Stock Rocks my friends!!!!!!
Tom
(this is going to be very long)
I've had a bunch of pm's reguarding my past post about going back to stock so I thought I would tell my story here. Mod feel free to move this post if necessary.
I bought a 2000xj new from the local dealer. Did some reading, learned about JeepJamborees and headed to Pennislvania to wheel. (I'm in MI). Before I went I used this site to help me select and install Mopar factory skids, r-rails,BFG at's and tow hooks. I went to PA and had a great time.
Then it all went down hill from there. Well, I got "addicted" to this site and my Jeep. I spent way to much time reading posts on this site and pretty soon I was infected with "inchitis" I deciecied to DO IT RIGHT the first time so I purchaced
RE3.5SuperDuty Packs, New Coils, Lower arms, Adj track bar, shocks 31Bfg's and the biggeeeee....................A Tom Woods SYE with a new shaft. Man my wife was pissed. But not to fear I told her, "I read lots of stuff on and all I have to do is slap on this stuff, get an alignment and I'm good to go." (yea, simplistic, I now know)
I really thought I had a handle on it. So I had a buddy come over and we put all the stuff on, lots of trips to the auto parts store and a few new tools later I was lifted. Well that was the easy part.
Next came a few weird noises, a strange pull, a leaky t-case, blown pinion bearings, (from poor angles) some front shaft vibes. and regearing for 31's would soon be on my 2-do list. (yes, I said regear, 31's make it feel like a slow pig in mud)
So I fixed a few of the noises, but couldn't solve my vibe problem, so I ran it all summer w/o the front d-shaft. Then the snow came, so, I rebuilt the shaft, and put new bearings in my t-case. Only to learn later that my front driveshaft angles were out of wack, no one mentioned that until after I rebuilt the shaft and replaced the bearings. So solving that problem would mean new upper adjustable control arms. So I read about that and asked some more questions. I finally decided that I could not be certian that upper arms would fix my front shaft vibes. I mean heck, I could put them on only to learn later that I should have done X or bought X. I guess my real bitch is that I didn't know what to expect, I only knew how to solve my problems after they happened and I just got tired of constantly solving problems.
In the end I had a 2000XJSport +3.25, fully skidded, hooks, sye, 31's r-rails, sye, front shaft that shook like a marble in a blender in 4wd. I spent a good deal of time driving my sons 87 Ford F-150 back and forth to work since my Jeep was in the garage in various stages of repair. I'm tired of driving an 87 while making payments on a 2000. Altho, the F-150 rides as smooth as glass, even with the fenders falling off.
So the moral of the story is;
1. Don't lift your daily driver, repairs will keep you from getting to work on time
2. Don't lift anything with a low pinion D-30
3. Learn about driveline angles first
4. Learn about how pinion angles affect caster
5. When people say "every Jeep reacts to lifting differently" believe it. Mine almost died from the experience.
6. Don't buy a lift kit that comes with shocks, most likely they wont be the right lenght. Learn about how to measure shocks, then go buy some, don't buy Monroes' I went through 4, they all leaked.
7. Plan on everything costing double what you thought, you can not lift a newer XJ for $200 bucks.
8. Get a FSM (if you don't know what that is, you shouldn't lift it)
9. Get a bunch of high quality torque wrenches, you'll need them.
10. Visit my for sale post on MichiganJeepers and buy my lift parts.
MJ ForSale post
As always, I appreciate all the help I have received from the users of this site. Now I just have to figure out how to shorten my rear drive shaft and I should be back to stock!!!
Stock Rocks my friends!!!!!!
Tom