Taking my XJ to the next level. Possible mods. Questions...

[Dirk Pitt]

You have a 2000. Ditch the low pinion front end first. HP 30s are a dime a dozen.

Gear to 4.56, lock both, TJ flares if you want to go to 33s.

Stay where you are at lift/suspension wise (ditch the long arms), and spend that money on good shocks (Bilstein, Fox, etc.).

Do you have skids? HD steering?

 

[Geepfreak]

Yeah, what about steering??? Probably something else I should factor in.

Go full hydraulics.

 

[djblade311]

definitely upgrade your 8.25 axle shafts if you want to run 35's. Alloy indeed.

 

[Dirk Pitt]

definitely upgrade your 8.25 axle shafts if you want to run 35's. Alloy indeed.

I would worry about the front way before the rear.

IIRC, Okie is running original shafts in his 29 spline and has broken everything else on the rig but them.

 

[xjlander]

The flares depend on your taste man. Quite a few of us around here run Bushwackers with sucess.

The 4.56's aren't horrible w/35's but if you had an option to go deeper....

I think you should do the regear and lock to front with a selectable.(I wish I had one) Stick with the 32's for a while. I loved 32's and 4.56's. You'd be surprised what you can do on 32's.

Save the rest of the money to see what you want later. When you do 35's They'll work.

FWIW......nothing

I love my combination of 285/75/16's with 4.56's it has plenty of power for highway driving and fairly low crawl ratio. 35's will strain engine and axles for any type of driving.

 

[12 Volt Man]

k, so now I am thinking about 33's. 35's just look so right to me.
4.56, with 33's???? I don't really want to change out the axels right now. I guess I could call a few junk yards and see what's around. I also don't want to go out and break stuff every time.

What I do want is if someone says "Let's go do such and such trail" I want to be able to run just about anything.

 

[88rockxj]

k, so now I am thinking about 33's. 35's just look so right to me.
4.56, with 33's???? I don't really want to change out the axels right now. I guess I could call a few junk yards and see what's around. I also don't want to go out and break stuff every time.

What I do want is if someone says "Let's go do such and such trail" I want to be able to run just about anything.

if you want to run "any trail" then say goodbye to your stock axles, they will benothing but a money pit that you will never be able to get out of without loosing money when you realize you need bigger axles. shafts can be removed as the weak link but for alot of $$$ and now your r&p is the weak link and who wants that as the weak link? have fun fixing that on the trail, go get some older fullsize jeep axles or a d60 front out of a 78-79 f350 or f250 camper speacial and throw a 14 bolt or d70 in the back.

its like buying a vehicle to get you to work , some 1000$ beater car is cheaper and easier to get then a new car with a down payment and a monthly loan payment but in a couple months that beater is going to start falling apart and the repairs each month are going to add up to the price of that monthly loan payment and cause you to miss work. whats always good/cheaper/easier in the short run usualy ends up bending you over with no lube or a reach around in the long run.