New Guy Intro/Questions

[modelbuilder]

Hey All,

Nice to be here. I have an 05 Grand Cherokee....I am thinking of doing a 2.5" Lift, 1.25" wheel spacers, and larger off road tires.

I don't want to tackle anything major, but I would like to hit the scenic trails and such.

Are there any problems I will face with these mods as far as gear ratios etc.

Thanks much!

 

[modelbuilder]

No one?

 

[Brett M]

I'm guessing with the amount of life you are talking about doing, you won't be adding a really large tire. You should be fine with your gear ratio, though you'll probably notice a little loss in performance.

I say go for it and get out there on the trails and enjoy it!

 

[stomperxj]

Give us some more specs on your rig... 6cyl? V8? what size tires are you going to run? 31"? 33" stock? What gears are in it?

What brand of lifts have you looked at?

Welcome to the board-

 

[Explorer 1]

A reply

I guess someone should give you a reply, so for now it will be me.

A have an older Cherokee XJ and if experience is any teacher (I think it is one of the best) I would say don't let the stock condition of your vehicle prevent you from starting your own exploring. More than the size of your tires and the height of your lift is the value of diving experience and knowing where to place your tires and how to approach a obstacle or climb. I have seen inexperience drivers with all kinds of modifications be unable to get through a trail where someone with lots of good experience take a stock vehicle and get through making it look easy.

As you travel off-road you will learn what modifications will truly help you for the type of travel you want to do. Don't let "style" or what someone else has done to their vehicle govern what you necessarly do.

Proably the best recommendation is having a good set of tires that are designed to travel off-road with some good sidewall protection. Also making sure they will fit into your present wheel wells without too much rubing.

As you start traveling off-road, and I do recommeded that you go with some other experience drivers, you will find what is important and what will be needed to improve your vehicles ability.

I still take out groups with some driving fully stock vehicles on what is written up as "difficult" trail in some of the books. As your confidence and skills increase you will find the importance and need for some of modifications decrease.

Another thing would be after spending some $$$ only to find that it really didn't do all that you thought and you end up changing the modification and spending more $$$. It can be an expensive learning experience.

Hope this is helpful, fixing up a off-road vehicle is fun and can be a rather pricey endeavor, there has developed a whole multi-million dollar industry dedicated to the premise that we all need to modify our vehicles just a little more to meet our off road needs, hey, why be any different.....

Enjoy,

Fred
Explorer 1

 

[tommudd]

I would make sure I had some protection, full skids, tow points front and rear just in case. Have seen a lot of people get out on a scenic trail only to hit a rock or log the wrong way and then bam...stuck or tore something up. Just have fun out there though and take it slow and easy. Once you start it never stops!

tom

 

[biere]

I have an 07 grand cherokee and your mods are commonly discussed on some jeep boards that have specific sections for the wk grand cherokees.

While you will get advice here I always like lots of reading so I am just suggesting some searches for wk discussions and doing some reading elsewhere as well as here.

For mild stuff you can do what you want and expect few issues.

I personally hate spacers, but my background as a mechanic has taught me some folks understand leverage and some do not.

I eventually plan a small lift with higher capacity springs, but I expect it to be years before I do it.

I am not sure I will change the tire size unless someone has a really good method of correcting the computer so that the odometer and all the technology works ok with the new tire size.

I am still learning what my stock jeep can do, and it is still way ahead of me.

I want to see what it can do and then as mentioned above I will have a better idea of what mods to add.

There are many versions of the grand cherokee out there, mine is diesel with qdII and that is what I pay attention to when considering slightly larger tires or something.

If I had the gas v6 and towed a small trailer I don't know if I would be happy with taller tires on it.

My intentions with my jeep are to probably add a small lift and possably larger tires but I don't want to add spacers. I don't mind trimming the bolt on the front suspension that everyone talks about but with the smaller tires or stock size tire I intend to stick to I expect to not change or trim the bolt.

Only you can decide how far you want to go.

If I was looking at tires that required spacers I might consider the 4 inch lift and get into aftermarket rims as well to eliminate the spacer.

But for now I am mostly reading on the net about mods and enjoying my stock jeep.

I can finally place the tires reasonably well, but I still need work if turning since I want to know where the tires are going on obstacles.

Good luck with your grand cherokee, they are rather surprising to me and pretty well thought out in many ways.

 

[BIGdaddy]

Hey All,

Nice to be here. I have an 05 Grand Cherokee....I am thinking of doing a 2.5" Lift, 1.25" wheel spacers, and larger off road tires.

I don't want to tackle anything major, but I would like to hit the scenic trails and such.

Are there any problems I will face with these mods as far as gear ratios etc.

Thanks much!

scenic roads don't require those mods.

what's your real reasoning? a certain look? if so, thats fine...each to his own.

otherwise, take 10 trips in the next year, and once you are done with those 10...come back and tell us what your stock truck does or doesn't do well. I'll bet you a shiny nickel a capable truck like your jeep will have done just fine.

 

[maximumrob]

Your Grand is fine for most of the mild stuff. Save yourself some money, put a set of stock-sized MTR's on it and a rear locker and go anywhere you want to. You'll be stunned how far a stock or nearly stock rig will get you.

Modified rigs only get you farther before you get stuck. Everybody gets stuck...never travel alone unless you're talking about bone dry desert roads.



.

 

[modelbuilder]

Thanks much for the reply guys.

My 05 Grand is a 4.7L V8. I am thinking about a 2.5 inch budget lift because a few fellows have said that the extra clearance is something that will come in handy for the type of trails I would like to do.

I also should have specified when I said "scenic" trails. I meant trails like the Bradshaw Trail, Eagle Mountain California.....some local trails that are in sub par condition.

The tires I would like to put on are BFG MT 255/75-17's. Thats why I was worried about the gear ratio. Others have put them on their WK and have said nothing about gearing problems but then again no one has ever answered that question directly.

As far as spacers...the WK has this bolt that sits right above the tires...and putting large tires requires that I cut the bolt up to the threads. With spacers I would not have to cut that bolt. No matter what size of lift that bolt needs to be cut.

Here is a pic with the bolt cut you so can fit the tire.....with spacers I would not need to cut that bolt up to the threads as it is in this picture.