I've had this rig for almost 9 yrs now without lifting it, new record for me! When I got it the engine I replaced the engine with a factory Mopar reman and a Hugh's intake and cam, Superchips and KN open intake. Since that time its had a pretty easy life as 3rd family vehicle and shuttling me to the airport on occasion. Since then its had nothing done to it except the occasional oil change and a starter.
Last two trips from the airport it let me down, first a CPS then a bad battery. Also the front bumper kept trying to fall off due to being the wrong year, the steering was getting pretty sloppy as were the brakes and the tires had sidewall cracks. Time for some upgrades.
I still had lots of parts from my old rig, winch, bumpers, some lift kit stuff. as well as few things I collected over the years for this build, 4" coils and Bushwacker flares. My goal is to turn it into an expedition style rig with good road manners.
Some shopping on Kiiji and FB scored me a rear adjustable RC trac bar and all new ceramic front brakes. Amazon provided bilstien shocks, front RC trac bar, RC swarbar discos, Rugged Ridge steering kit. FB again scored me some rims and Wrangler Duratracs(285/70/17). I was looking for some 265s but these were a pretty good deal and I like th look of the silver trimmed rims. If anyone recognizes them left me know as I'd like to get some center caps.
Installation was pretty straight forward, got lucky and no seized bolts. The rugged ridge steering went on easy but rubbed pretty hard on the right rim when turning hard left, no worries new tires/rims coming anyway. The rugged Ridge steering bolts right on, no mods needed, was only a bit more than what I would have spent on all new OEM stuff, and changes to a T type setup so easier to adjust, and much beefier. Being on a budget I stayed with stock arms and put new bushings in the front lowers. This will probably have to change as at 4" its pulled the wheels(F&R) into the wheel wells and the short front arms give a pretty harsh ride.
Installing the Bushwackers revealed that the rockers are completely rusted out, will need to do some 4x6 rockers down the road. Installing the tires showed that Bushwackers were a good choice as the tires would have hit the fenders without the trimming that is done when installing the flares. Due to the was the the sway bar discos are designed they sit outboard a bit from the stock ones, this caused hard rubbing of the right side tire inner sidewall on the link on full left turns as well as rubbing on the lower control arms at full turn(no surprise). I've flipped the say bar link around for now and added some washers to the steering. Oddly enough it still seems to turn as well as before. I may add a 1" wheel spaced down the road.
So for now its done. I have to decide what to do about the control arms. I still have my Clayton's LA kit off my old rig that I could use but I didn't like th way my old rig handled on the highway so I havn't decided. I also have some locked 4.10s diffs I picked up awhile ago that I had planned to use but now I'm thinking that 4.10s may not be enough for the 32" tall tires. I still have tons of power but its definitely taken a hit and I know I'll miss making fun of those Hemis with my dilapidated Grand Cherokee.
Topic: 1998 5.9 ZJ (Read 1189 times)