offroadkid
Member
We used to have a stock 97, black/tan with factory lockers. I gave it an OME 2.5" heavy lift and some 285/75R16 MT/R's as that was the budget at the time and we rolled with it for many years that way and it met our needs and took us places we wanted to go exploring.
Some more cash later, I bought some of the first sliders Hanna made and was smitten with the look of the rig. But now I only had sliders and no front or rear aftermarket bumpers, so I went some time without them and always pined for them, meanwhile still able to go many places off-road without them, but I wanted "the look".
We sold our house in the Bay Area and moved up this way and I had some extra cash to play with so the ARB front bumper and Kaymar rear bumper were ordered and promptly installed after delivery. Now my rig had the setup and I was happy, it was perfect for our use.
Until I decided it would look a lot better with 315's! I never got them, and eventually sold the rig to try out a 100 series. Did the 100 series thing for a while, it remained stock and was later sold.
NOW...we are in another 97 that the PO built up. This one has 315's, 4.88's factory lockers, 4" J springs, ARB front bumper, winch, stock rear bumper with swing-out tire carrier and me and the Mrs are not super excited about the way it handles, and all the associated NVH that comes with that size lift and tires.
The thought has been going through my mind, I don't need 315's and that much lift for the places we like to go. I'd really like to downsize to a OME 2.5" Heavy with 285's like the previous rig, only thing is it still has 4.88's. A local driveline/differential shop advised against me running 285's with the 4.88's but I think it will be fine. My daily commute is about 2 miles each way, but we are weekend warriors and go on long drives to get away!
I decided to post this tonight after I ran across a pic of our first rig in it's stock form and I thought, "You know, it doesn't really look that bad with just the stock bumper!" Strange how I went from I can't wait to mod this stock rig to now I have a very modded rig and now I'm over it!
Here's some pics of our first rig, stock to "dialed-in".
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Some more cash later, I bought some of the first sliders Hanna made and was smitten with the look of the rig. But now I only had sliders and no front or rear aftermarket bumpers, so I went some time without them and always pined for them, meanwhile still able to go many places off-road without them, but I wanted "the look".
We sold our house in the Bay Area and moved up this way and I had some extra cash to play with so the ARB front bumper and Kaymar rear bumper were ordered and promptly installed after delivery. Now my rig had the setup and I was happy, it was perfect for our use.
Until I decided it would look a lot better with 315's! I never got them, and eventually sold the rig to try out a 100 series. Did the 100 series thing for a while, it remained stock and was later sold.
NOW...we are in another 97 that the PO built up. This one has 315's, 4.88's factory lockers, 4" J springs, ARB front bumper, winch, stock rear bumper with swing-out tire carrier and me and the Mrs are not super excited about the way it handles, and all the associated NVH that comes with that size lift and tires.
The thought has been going through my mind, I don't need 315's and that much lift for the places we like to go. I'd really like to downsize to a OME 2.5" Heavy with 285's like the previous rig, only thing is it still has 4.88's. A local driveline/differential shop advised against me running 285's with the 4.88's but I think it will be fine. My daily commute is about 2 miles each way, but we are weekend warriors and go on long drives to get away!
I decided to post this tonight after I ran across a pic of our first rig in it's stock form and I thought, "You know, it doesn't really look that bad with just the stock bumper!" Strange how I went from I can't wait to mod this stock rig to now I have a very modded rig and now I'm over it!
Here's some pics of our first rig, stock to "dialed-in".
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