What are people doing?

[Aspirated]

What are people doing to ZJ's? I have gotten a stock 96 Grand with a 5.2l has a quadratrac.

Looks like the 3.5" lift is the standard lift on it. What have you guys seen for bumpers outside of the ARB? Any tips or tricks for tuning or making more off-road worthy?
 All info will be greatly appreciated.

[Sean778]

PM JOhnnyC on here, he's rather infatuated with Jeeps of the ZJ variety, even if he's running a YJ at the moment.

[JackstandJohnny]

thanks Sean LOL


theres a reason people don't wheel them.........


trannies are complete junk and if you wheel mud/water/anything, you'll likely toast it if its got more than 200k on it.

lifts/etc are pricey and don't offer you much in the ways of tire clearance. unless you are willing to cut lots, and run a 6-7" long arm lift.  even then, you're still looking at 35s - 36s.  which leads to --->   stock diffs are junk.  come with D30/35......... unless you plan on modifying quite heavily (there are some guys on here that have)  don't bother.

if its a daily driver that might see a gravel road to a campsite, then they're great! a moderate 2-3" lift to clear a 31/32" tire for 'looks' is very feasible.

when i sell my Dodge i'll be looking at a 98 5.9er which i'll be runnin JK takeoffs and a 3" on......... it won't see anything but pavement.

[specialk]

when i sell my Dodge i'll be looking at a 98 5.9er which i'll be runnin JK takeoffs and a 3" on......... it won't see anything but pavement.

I call bull**** ! You will run it on a trail just cause... 

Where's Fraser on this topic? 

[CatSplat]

96+ V8 ZJ's came with the D44a rear end, it's got an aluminum housing that's known for flexing a bit and eating bearings if you beat on it, but the guts are closer to a D60 than a D44. Put on a truss/skid (MVC makes a nice unit for $150) and you've got a surprisingly stout axle. Downside is that lockers for the 44a are limited to a couple of lunchbox units.

Front axle is a LPD30, not a terrible unit and really, it's difficult to stuff big (33"+) tires under a ZJ anyway so unless you've got a heavy right foot it'll probably hold up OK. U-joint axle shafts from XJs swap directly if you want to ditch the CV joints, find the larger 297x shafts as they're the strongest stock units. For that matter, the whole HPD30 from any XJ older than 2000 will bolt right in for a little additional strength and clearance. Downside to that particular swap is that you have 3.73 gears and an HPD30 with that gear set is rare as hen's teeth. Most came with 3.55s and some with 4:10s. Also, you'd likely want to avoid the ones with the vac disconnects.

Quadratrac (249) TC is usually swapped for a Selec-Trac (242) or Command-Trac (231) if the viscous coupling unit is shot, requires the input shaft from the 249 to be swapped into the replacement transfer case. Not that difficult if you're halfway competent.

Cheapest lifts are your average 2"BB, or the 3.5" F>R Swap (front springs go to the rear for 3.5-4" of lift, buy 3.5" lift springs for the front.).

ARB, KOR, and others make a variety of bumpers. None of them are cheap!