I've decided that it's time to give my TJ Rubicon a little more ability off road. The timeline of actually doing the work will be from when the weather allows me to work on the mods outside. Ice and snow suck but I can handle working in rain probably over 50 degrees so I am hoping to start in early April but who really knows. As long as I have the parts I need/want and decent weather I think this could be pretty easily done in about 2 weeks total. Yeah, right. I do want to have it complete before Bantam Jeep Festival June 10th.
My plan is to start with a body lift, transfer case shifter cable and motor mount lift. I'd like to do that as soon as possible to get it out of the way. I'd really like the Savvy Aluminum Body Lift 1.25 but they are on backorder. Would I be crazy to order today and hope to get it early enough to start this project? If that is crazy, I don't think I've heard any reason to avoid Zone Offroad or the Rough Country 1.25 body lifts. They're both made from "glass reinforced nylon" so they shouldn't compress.
My next step will be moving the compressors to the empty shelf on the inner fender below the brake master cylinder. I'll also wire them up directly like Jerry B posted about. That is all after the body lift so the plumbing and wiring will end up exactly where it should be.
The next thing is a tummy tuck of some sort. I haven't been sliding under my TJ in the snow to see how much clearance I have above my transfer case right now so I don't know what the BL will be adding to that. I'm not afraid of adding needed space by beating on or cutting whatever bit of body gets in the way. Replacing my 2006 shovel plate with a flat plate would lift the transfer case about 4 inches and kinda lean the engine forward. That 4 inches seems like too much. A 4 inch motor mount lift to fix that probably isn't a good idea for several reasons so the question is how high is too high in relation to the motor mount lift is OK?
At that point I'm planning on off roading with the tires I have 235/85R16 (31.75 x 9.25) just to see exactly what improvements the tummy tuck gives me when off road. The step of getting taller tires on 15" wheels won't be too far behind.
Also would lifting the transfer case the whole 4 inches require a new rear drive shaft? Whether yes or no, another question is would I need a new driveshaft after adding a 2" suspension lift?
Thanks to everyone with answers or even just opinions.
My plan is to start with a body lift, transfer case shifter cable and motor mount lift. I'd like to do that as soon as possible to get it out of the way. I'd really like the Savvy Aluminum Body Lift 1.25 but they are on backorder. Would I be crazy to order today and hope to get it early enough to start this project? If that is crazy, I don't think I've heard any reason to avoid Zone Offroad or the Rough Country 1.25 body lifts. They're both made from "glass reinforced nylon" so they shouldn't compress.
My next step will be moving the compressors to the empty shelf on the inner fender below the brake master cylinder. I'll also wire them up directly like Jerry B posted about. That is all after the body lift so the plumbing and wiring will end up exactly where it should be.
The next thing is a tummy tuck of some sort. I haven't been sliding under my TJ in the snow to see how much clearance I have above my transfer case right now so I don't know what the BL will be adding to that. I'm not afraid of adding needed space by beating on or cutting whatever bit of body gets in the way. Replacing my 2006 shovel plate with a flat plate would lift the transfer case about 4 inches and kinda lean the engine forward. That 4 inches seems like too much. A 4 inch motor mount lift to fix that probably isn't a good idea for several reasons so the question is how high is too high in relation to the motor mount lift is OK?
At that point I'm planning on off roading with the tires I have 235/85R16 (31.75 x 9.25) just to see exactly what improvements the tummy tuck gives me when off road. The step of getting taller tires on 15" wheels won't be too far behind.
Also would lifting the transfer case the whole 4 inches require a new rear drive shaft? Whether yes or no, another question is would I need a new driveshaft after adding a 2" suspension lift?
Thanks to everyone with answers or even just opinions.
