Haggis' LJ progress report

[Haggis]

After sitting in my garage for awhile now I finally took the time to install the lift kit on the Unnamed LJ. The Kit is the Full Traction 3" Economy kit that I originally bought for my 98 TJ, but that was sold before that install could occur. The Kit took about 8 hours for me to install by myself, and was pretty straight forward, even when the supplied instruction were a little vague. Thank god for service manuals. All that needs done now is to do a driveway align, recenter the steering wheel (it's about 5* off to the right), re-torque the hardware, and then take it for a real alignment. Actual lift was 3.25" up front and 3" in the rear, but the weight of the bumber and winch seems to settle the front just about right. We'll see how much the springs settle in time. Right now I'm still running the 31s and they don't look to bad, though when they wear out I'm plannin on 32x11.5s . Haven't road tested it yet, I want to do the align first, so no driving impressions so far. Here's a before and after.

 

[articulate]

unk03:

 

[Beowulf]

With that lift you can easily fit 255/85s.

 

[tjbliley]

You can put 33x12.50/15's pn there if you want. You may have to add a washer to the steering stop on the spindle, but it will wheel great. May have to look at an adjustable track bar or relocation bracket as well if the kit did not come with one. Steering moved alot because of the change in geometry. just keep an eye on it when driving on the street. Might get some Bumpsteer.

 

[Haggis]

You can put 33x12.50/15's pn there if you want. You may have to add a washer to the steering stop on the spindle, but it will wheel great. May have to look at an adjustable track bar or relocation bracket as well if the kit did not come with one. Steering moved alot because of the change in geometry. just keep an eye on it when driving on the street. Might get some Bumpsteer.

Yeah, I know. I steering away form the 33x12.5 I just don't think I need that much tire. This is my daily driver and I moved on from my misspent mudrunning, trailbashing days of my youth and am now more interested in two track exploring and keeping the mileage of my work truck. I might mount a set of 33x10s though, I just don't want to wide of a tire and have to buy wider flares ( which never look right to me, especially the 6 & 7" wide ones). The state boys are really starting to crack down on to wide of tires in this here area, a couple of folks I know have been pulled over and threatened with fines if they didn't move to a smaller tire or get full coverage flares.

The kit came with an adjustable track bar and disconnects, though i doubt I'll ever mess with those.

 

[Beowulf]

Here are a pic of an LJ with 255's

 

[Haggis]

Finally got a chance to get the LJ aligned Friday. On the way home I had some wobble, but a few minutes under the Jeep with the torque wrench took care of that (Adjustable track bar lower mounting bolt had loosened some). Still gonna get the tires balanced, it's been 20,000 miles since they've been done so their due. The Full Traction kit seems to ride and handle a little better than stock and I'm not getting the nose dive on braking like I did when stock, so that seem to be working out. I'm gonna run these 31's till they wear out, they're good tires and I have enough parts, stored in the garage. Leaning towards 33x10.5x15 as replacement size. Really wish I had bought 16x8 rims, but the DC-1s were bought for the '98 TJ and the plan was to go no bigger than 31" tires, plus they were bought a a really good price ($97 a piece from Summit Racing). With the 16's I'd have a little more variety in tire sizes.

 

[Haggis]

Beowulf, thats one nice LJ. Sort of the same direction that I;m heading with mine.

By the way, great name. One of my favorite heros of the Dark Ages.

 

[Haggis]

New Shoes

Man, I've really neglected this thread.

Anyways, my 31s have finally wore out after approx. 48,000 miles and it is time for new meats. What I wanted was a set of tires I could run all year, snow and ice in the winter, mud all year long and still live with them as I use the LJ for my daily driver. I'd been going back and forth as to what size tire to get but had settled on 285/75/16s and I was going to get either the Cooper STs or a set of the ******** Cepek FCIIs like I run on my Ram. I've been really impressed with my FCIIs and the first set I got over 55,000 hard miles out of them, and the STs that my brother-in-law (jim65wagon) runs have also been impressive. Meanwhile a few buds of mine have been raving about how these other tires have been preforming on their snow plowing and oil lease trucks and that they had switched over from STs and some STTs because of the same preformance at a lower price. My tire guy set me up with a set and they are now rolling under my jeep.

They're a set of Dean Mud Terrain Radial STXs in 285/75/16. Made by Cooper Tires at the Findlay, OH plant on the same carcass as the Discover STs. Mounted on my 16x8 rims (Pro Comp 7189s with 4.5" BS) the measure 32.5 " tall at 30 lbs psi, have a 9.25" tread width, and are 11.25" inches and the widest section width. Load range D. Pricing was $143 mounted & balanced, about $50 less per tire when compared to the lowest price I could find for an ST around here. Cheapest FC was $174 a tire but I would've had to mail order them and buying local was important to me.

So far only about a hundred miles on them, no dirt yet. They're surprisingly quite on the road, some road noise but not as much as Jim's Sts. They'll probably get abit louder as they wear. Handling is improved over the old 31's and they ride smoother also. They where pretty round, not needing much weight to balance.

I'll put some miles on them and report back, if I can remember I have a thread for my LJ.

 

[4Rescue]

Well done man. That's still one of my Favorite Jeep's just like the CJ8 is. I love the little extra wheelbase. Let us know how you like the tires after a few hundred miles cause those are one of the few tires Les Schwabe carries in the 33x9.50-15 size so I've been looking hard into getting a set.

Cheers

Dave

 

[Purple People Eater]

Mmmm... I like those wheels. Care to share?

 

[BIGdaddy]

Mmmm... I like those wheels. Care to share?

if you were looking for the brand/type, etc...

from his post..."16x8 rims (Pro Comp 7189s with 4.5" BS"

 

[jim65wagon]

Mark, those look real nice. Shoulddo quite well for you and at 140 bucks it seems like a very good bargain. The 285s fit the Jeep nicely.
:26_7_2:

And yes the Tundra can come out to play anytime. Of course you're probably bringing the Ram down in June, but I won't tell the Jeep you've ditched her for the trip...

 

[Haggis]

Of course you're probably bringing the Ram down in June, but I won't tell the Jeep you've ditched her for the trip...

I might be bringing the Jeep down. It would be nice to actually spend a few days with you guys and the kids without dragging myself in at the end of the day working on that Log Home. I might put of those log repairs until the middle of summer so we can go play.

 

[Haggis]

Mmmm... I like those wheels. Care to share?

Pro Comp 7189s, 16x8, 4.5" back spacing. The holes for the lugnuts are on the smallish side, so you either have to use stock lugnuts or splined ones like the Gorilla or Pro Comp brands. McGard toughnuts are to big so your socket won't fit in the holes unless you have a thin walled socket. I used the Pro Comps in the black finish. I like the flat black finish on the wheels and have similiar rims on my Dodge (PC 7089 style rims). They held up real nice to last winters salt and slush and handled the constant muck with aplomb.