Too high?

[gramreaper]

Hey fellas.
I have a Rubicon 3.5 or 4" short arm lift on my XJ (second hand, not sure). I run 31's and have front wheel rub when in sharp turns (on the control arms). I've weighed her down with a front prerunner bumper with a milemarker hydrolic winch and a rear bumper with swingout tire carrier and highlift. I imagine I added 150 to 200 lbs. to each end. I added 2 leaf springs in the rear and just recieved 2 - 2" spring spacers in the mail for the front. They are the true two, but measure 2.25, I was looking for 1.5 inch but settled on these. I think I'll need to block the back a bit now as well. I do not have a slip yoke eliminator, but do have the crossmember spacers for the t case installed. I imagine I'll need to look into longer steel brake lines as well as SYE and longer control arms. I lost my driveshaft on Taylor drive 9 years ago because of a 4" frankenlift, back then my fix was a longer shaft from a waggoneer.
What I'm asking is for some opinions and any warnings of what not to forget or anything you guys with previous experience can point out to me. I wasn't looking to go higher really, but now I may just need to make this work, I just want a quality ride and I don't want to pour 10 grand into doing it. I however don't need to strand myself out west again either.
The current arms are rubicon shorts, and I don't crank the wheel all the way as my fix for now. I'm looking into the wheel spacers, but the real issue is loosing the driveshaft again or snapping brake lines because I went too high.

See, I'm thinking that when I articulate, the tire travel will be longer due to the combination of installed equipment. At times there won't be the weight of the bumpers compressing the springs and such. As a result I'm in fear of the driveshaft pulling all the way out and dropping on the ground (again). I mean the distance between the t case and rear axle will increase when unflexed right? I just don't want this to happen out West. I've been stranded 2 times now.

[Mudderoy]

Hey fellas.
I have a Rubicon 3.5 or 4" short arm lift on my XJ (second hand, not sure). I run 31's and have front wheel rub when in sharp turns (on the control arms). I've weighed her down with a front prerunner bumper with a milemarker hydrolic winch and a rear bumper with swingout tire carrier and highlift. I imagine I added 150 to 200 lbs. to each end. I added 2 leaf springs in the rear and just recieved 2 - 2" spring spacers in the mail for the front. They are the true two, but measure 2.25, I was looking for 1.5 inch but settled on these. I think I'll need to block the back a bit now as well. I do not have a slip yoke eliminator, but do have the crossmember spacers for the t case installed. I imagine I'll need to look into longer steel brake lines as well as SYE and longer control arms. I lost my driveshaft on Taylor drive 9 years ago because of a 4" frankenlift, back then my fix was a longer shaft from a waggoneer.
What I'm asking is for some opinions and any warnings of what not to forget or anything you guys with previous experience can point out to me. I wasn't looking to go higher really, but now I may just need to make this work, I just want a quality ride and I don't want to pour 10 grand into doing it. I however don't need to strand myself out west again either.
The current arms are rubicon shorts, and I don't crank the wheel all the way as my fix for now. I'm looking into the wheel spacers, but the real issue is loosing the driveshaft again or snapping brake lines because I went too high.

See, I'm thinking that when I articulate, the tire travel will be longer due to the combination of installed equipment. At times there won't be the weight of the bumpers compressing the springs and such. As a result I'm in fear of the driveshaft pulling all the way out and dropping on the ground (again). I mean the distance between the t case and rear axle will increase when unflexed right? I just don't want this to happen out West. I've been stranded 2 times now.

My eyes are pretty tired from looking at the computer screen all day at work, but I didn't see anywhere you saying what size wheels, or the backspace is on them. I'm assuming the 31" tires are standard width so I'm thinking something is bent, or you are running some 15x7" wheels. Maybe something with a shallow backspace. I run 15x10 with 3.75" back space and I can turn side to side with no rub on my 32x11.50x15's

[4.3LXJ]

If you are running 31s on stock wheels or wheels with stock backspacing, the tires will rub on the lower control arms. It has nothing to do with height. It will happen at any height. So you have two options to fix that. Get some wheel spacers, 1.5" should do it or get some aftermarket wheels with 2" backspacing.

Lets say you started out with 3" of lift after adding bumpers. If you add another 2" that brings you to 5" or most likely 5.5" of lift. That is a lot on those short arms. You need to see if your brake lines are going to be long enough first. Second, your shocks. If not, they will need to be replaced too. Another thing is that those short arms at that angle will likely give you positive castor, which will likely give you death wobble. I would suggest adding control arm drop brackets in the front to return some of the original geometry. Second, look at the rear driveline where it goes into the tcase. Jack up the vehicle and see how much of the yoke is in the tail housing. This will answer the question on whether or not you will loose the shaft. If it is more than half out with the rear axle at full droop, then you had better think about the SYE also.

[troys96xj]

you can get lca's from a WJ,they have a bend in them so you won't rub.For the rear brake hose just get one for a 96 Dakota.They are 6in longer than the XJ.Thats what I run on my rear and it works great.It's a direct bolt up.

[reddragon72]

I don't want to open another thread to ask this question this thread is right up my alley.

With 33x12.5x15 what would be a good backspacing that wont make my rig look like a bug crawling down the road? I don't want the tires sticking out from the side of the truck to much, but I don't want to rub and tear everything up.

Also you said a 96 dakota rear brake line bolts up, do you have a bunch of slack back there that might get cought up going down the trail. I have had that happen once already and ran without rear brakes for months. Found out that the rear brakes actually don't help with stopping at all.

thanks for any help.

[CAHLHEIM]

If you are running 31s on stock wheels or wheels with stock backspacing, the tires will rub on the lower control arms. It has nothing to do with height. It will happen at any height. So you have two options to fix that. Get some wheel spacers, 1.5" should do it or get some aftermarket wheels with 2" backspacing.....

I am by no means an expert, but my experience thus far has been contrary to this statement. I have the RE 3.5" lift and run 31x10.5's on the stock Ecco's which are 15x7 with 5.25" backspacing. No rubbing at all, lock to lock.

[reddragon72]

I am by no means an expert, but my experience thus far has been contrary to this statement. I have the RE 3.5" lift and run 31x10.5's on the stock Ecco's which are 15x7 with 5.25" backspacing. No rubbing at all, lock to lock.

why is there such a big difference, he says 2" and your running 5.25 on 31's....

is the 2" he is talking about added to some measurment cause that is a big difference.

[xj4life2]

size of the tire IE 33" is not the issue its the 12.50" I run a 4.75 backspacing on mine with no issues.And its the common backspacing for most rims.

[xj4life2]

why is there such a big difference, he says 2" and your running 5.25 on 31's....

is the 2" he is talking about added to some measurment cause that is a big difference.

He is refering to a wheel spacer which would be an additional 2" to the backspaceing you already have. Most of them are alum. and not something I would recomend, they have a tendency to brake under pressure.

[reddragon72]

He is refering to a wheel spacer which would be an additional 2" to the backspaceing you already have. Most of them are alum. and not something I would recomend, they have a tendency to brake under pressure.

yea I'm not going for those plates, I have heard bad things about them, but then again people put down blocks to but there are lots of people using them. I did for over a year for my BL.

I'm looking at some basic rims now and 4.75 are listed so I think I'll get those and the Dunlop 33" mud rovers since I love my 31's so much :D

[Mudderoy]

yea I'm not going for those plates, I have heard bad things about them, but then again people put down blocks to but there are lots of people using them. I did for over a year for my BL.

I'm looking at some basic rims now and 4.75 are listed so I think I'll get those and the Dunlop 33" mud rovers since I love my 31's so much :D

The lift kit for my 83 Chevy Pickup had blocks, which I have heard were fine because the leaf springs were heavy "stiff" enough not to wrap in most circumstances. I've read this is just a bad idea on the relatively light XJ springs. I think everyone understands this, but since it was brought up I thought it would be worth going over for the newbies.

[reddragon72]

The lift kit for my 83 Chevy Pickup had blocks, which I have heard were fine because the leaf springs were heavy "stiff" enough not to wrap in most circumstances. I've read this is just a bad idea on the relatively light XJ springs. I think everyone understands this, but since it was brought up I thought it would be worth going over for the newbies.

Spring warp aside, which strangely never happened to my springs but I do know about it, the biggest issues with most blocks is cracking from the abuse. I have seen plenty of blocks taken off of OHV's that were cracked and in pieces. That is the biggest worry about most blocks.