school me on xj's

[Shane]

So, i know nothing about jeeps other then the tj i owned for a year. the lady friend is now hooked on rock crawling and now wants to wheel her own rig and keep up with the boys. So now im sitting here wondering where to start. I know she wants to keep it streetable which knowing Maryland it cant be to outrageous. I am considering 1 tons and from farting around pirate for ideas i notice that a majority of xj's have drivers side drops while a few have passenger side drops.... which is it? im assuming they have probaly swaped tcases or something.

so what i think for her is 1 tons, Dana 300 beefed up and 39's more then likly. What am i getting myself into here If you were to build something worthy of blacks and the occasional red trail, what would you do? Any suggestions? I'm a Chevy man so work with a noob

[XJtheXtremeJeep]

ford f 250 or 350 dana 60s front and rear will be high pinion... the fronts are expensive.. the 80's ford f 350s can work some say theres not enough room for teh coil buckets but it can be done... the dana 300 may be passenger if you do that youll have to run chevy dana 60s. idk how the stock trans will hold up to 39's (assuming the 5speed ax-15) gonna need sye and alotta fender trimming for 39's it can be done tho. gonna need befier steerin obviously, and if its gonna be streeted maybe some minor power options for the 4.0

[XJtheXtremeJeep]

oh yeah, the typical armor too..... sliders, cage, unibody stiffenerz

[Shane]

i was wondering if the d300 is what made them passenger drop, and if thats the case ill probaly hunt out a d60 chevy housing. She's got an automatic in it right now, its a 88 XJ. Im thinking 4.88's should be ok with the 4.0

[Shane]

oh yeah, the typical armor too..... sliders, cage, unibody stiffenerz

Yea the unibody is the first thing that needs to be addressed. 1 tons from what ive heard will destroy a xj pretty fast if you dont

[XJtheXtremeJeep]

no 4.88s will be way high.. im doing 4.88 in mine on 35's maybe even 5.13s on 35s.... and hte aw4 should be fine upgrade cooling and torque converter possibly depends on money... and the d300 would make it passenger but id just do a flip kit or and atlas... keep it driverside so you can use the highpinion fords. stronger gear sets

[XJtheXtremeJeep]

yeah im plating mine when my dana 60 and dana 44 go in

[customcreationsllc]

they sell flip kits for the 300 if your going to do that you can use your NP231 for a crawl box, you will need the gearing with 39's
Flip d300 you can stick with the ford Dana 60 which is the only high pinion and they only come driver side drop. Get a king pin axle so you can do high steer.
Rear full floater Chevy or Ford both as strong Chevy 14bolt more common than the ford axles.

[Shane]

they sell flip kits for the 300 if your going to do that you can use your NP231 for a crawl box, you will need the gearing with 39's
Flip d300 you can stick with the ford Dana 60 which is the only high pinion and they only come driver side drop. Get a king pin axle so you can do high steer.
Rear full floater Chevy or Ford both as strong Chevy 14bolt more common than the ford axles.

isnt the common thing to do is the ford hp with chevy outters?

[Even]

isnt the common thing to do is the ford hp with chevy outters?

Yea, i see a lot of people run chevy 1/2 ton discs to clear 15" wheels better. The easiest setup is to look for a 78-79 because they have the most room for brackets and mounts and what not. You can run the ford 3/4 ton discs but your gonna wanna run 17" wheels if you want a decent amount of backspace on your wheels.

TNT customs sells a truss that takes all the work out of locating mounts, just weld it on and throw it under.

[grundlepunch]

Yea, i see a lot of people run chevy 1/2 ton discs to clear 15" wheels better. The easiest setup is to look for a 78-79 because they have the most room for brackets and mounts and what not. You can run the ford 3/4 ton discs but your gonna wanna run 17" wheels if you want a decent amount of backspace on your wheels.

TNT customs sells a truss that takes all the work out of locating mounts, just weld it on and throw it under.

waaa ?????

[Even]

......

[Ktmracer419]

ford f 250 or 350 dana 60s front and rear will be high pinion... the fronts are expensive.. the 80's ford f 350s can work some say theres not enough room for teh coil buckets but it can be done... the dana 300 may be passenger if you do that youll have to run chevy dana 60s. idk how the stock trans will hold up to 39's (assuming the 5speed ax-15) gonna need sye and alotta fender trimming for 39's it can be done tho. gonna need befier steerin obviously, and if its gonna be streeted maybe some minor power options for the 4.0

there was never a high pinion rear 60 from the factory.


for one tons you need a beef unibody if you want it to last. not just angle iron to the bottom of the frame. bumper to bumper, beefed up leaf/control arm mounts.

for tires make sure you get some round ones, all that weight being thrown around makes your unibody make some nasty noises.

i run 5.38's and 36's/37's and would go lower if i could. i can cruise on the highway at 75 all day long.

i found to fit tires that large, some significant body trimming/wheelbase stretch will be needed. I can barely fit my 37's in the rear wheel arches, trimmed to the pinch welds, folded over and then the sides massaged with a sledge. in front i needed to stretch the front 2" to clear the back of the fender

[Shane]

thanks guys!

[XJtheXtremeJeep]

haha definitly was just typing that fast and meant hte fronts were highpinion