noah's 97 zj build

current setup (the big stuff)
front re 7.5 xj springs
rear 4.5 re xj springs
rough country long arms
iro front double shear track bar
jks rear track bar
lock right front
spartan rear
q78 super swampers
logans metal winch bumper
smitty xrc 9500
engine:
small cam
k&n intake
little head boring
2.5 full exhaust
bought the jeep September 2013 stock from Florida with 40k old man driven to church on Sunday.
it looked like this
i immediately ordered the stuff for a 3.5 lift and all the parts to fix any neglected maintenance. Installed the lift in my driveway in a snowstorm.

borrowed some 31s and went out and flexed it added bump stop

decided 31s were to small got some 32s mounted and threw them on flexed and checked for rubbing.


planed on staying like this for while

then i wheeled it! it was more capable than i expected. kept up with my buddies yj with a body lift and some 33s
https://vid1314.photobucket.com/albums/t577/nnovick13/Video1_zps9736dd61.mp4
https://vid1314.photobucket.com/albums/t577/nnovick13/Video_zps7fb8dcc2.mp4

with the lift the ride was kinda bad on stock arms and i had dreams of 35s and 7 inches of lift so i skipped adjustable arms and went straight to long arm

Nice GC. More pics of the build!

so as of right now i have the front long arms in waiting on some 2 inch spacers and a longer track bar to do the rear let me tell you long arms rock it rides better than stock at 4 inches of lift and flexes so much.


i added about 1.5 inches of wheel base with the front long arms and plan to do as much as i can in the rear.
tomorrow i should have the 2 inch bb in with the rear long arms and 36s and will post pictures im back to the driveway now waiting on brown Santa

Nice! Looking forward to seeing how this comes out! What brand longarm kit did you go with? I see an IRO sticker on there, did you use their iron-y setup?

Rc for noah lol

finished long arms today threw on some 36x14.5's
few pictures of the day
long arms 6 inchs of lift 32's



with the 36s and lots of bump stop




so it doesn't rub at all flexes good and is almost unstoppable im happy

Looks sick! I'm impressed you can stuff 36's without trimming

hobhayward wrote:Looks sick! I'm impressed you can stuff 36's without trimming

thanks! the key is bump stop and having your fenders rolled and forced outward there is a small amount of trimming on the rear bumper

thinking of getting some 3 inch xj coils to put in the rear to get rid of the bb back there and help with load carrying with tools and subs in the back its sitting .5 inch lower and i cant have that also going to be getting some longer shocks in the rear because i have not so much up travel and lots of down travel. might end up with rusty's stuff for this because their price is the lowest by far. Thinking remote resi's in the front and keeping the BB until im sure this is the amount of lift I'm happy with. looking at picking up some 35x12.5 because the 36x14.5 were just to wide for my liking. also looking at a hp 30 swap but not sure if its worth the effort(only gaining r&p strength) most likely just not put the locker back in the front the rear 44HD I'm confident can handle 35s locked as long as i don't do anything stupid might look into a truss for it. overall i'm happy with the stance the jeep has and its capability i think this is the last major upgrade money will be spent just buttoning it up bumpers winch rocker guards that sorta thing

Holy crap, are those really 36s? They integrate beautifully. I'm used to seeing 32s on zjs and looking crammed or like it's on stilts to clear them. Nice work!

Might as well wheel the current front axle until it gives you reason not to, then swap it out for the hp and a lunchbox or something.

CrawlingForward wrote:Holy crap, are those really 36s?  They integrate beautifully.  I'm used to seeing 32s on zjs and looking crammed or like it's on stilts to clear them.  Nice work!

Might as well wheel the current front axle until it gives you reason not to, then swap it out for the hp and a lunchbox or something.

yes they are! and thanks!
but the whole front axle thing is on 32s it was locked with a lockrite and im not worried about breaking shafts so much (they are cheap) its mostly wear on the ball joints and such i don't want alloys because they move the weak point to the ring and pinion (expensive) im going to wheel it till it kills the ball joints and then decide most likely hp with alloys, upgraded ball joints, currie steering and my lockrite

nnovickzj wrote:

CrawlingForward wrote:Holy crap, are those really 36s?  They integrate beautifully.  I'm used to seeing 32s on zjs and looking crammed or like it's on stilts to clear them.  Nice work!

Might as well wheel the current front axle until it gives you reason not to, then swap it out for the hp and a lunchbox or something.

yes they are! and thanks!
but the whole front axle thing is on 32s it was locked with a lockrite and im not worried about breaking shafts so much (they are cheap) its mostly wear on the ball joints and such i don't want alloys because they move the weak point to the ring and pinion (expensive) im going to wheel it till it kills the ball joints and then decide most likely hp with alloys, upgraded ball joints, currie steering and my lockrite

Looks good on 36's but I'm sure it will be much happier with narrower 35's especially considering the rule of thumb is every pound of unsprung weight is equal to 7 pounds of body weight. Not to mention the footpring/rolling resistance from a 14 wide tire has gotta be killer on suspension parts

Can;t wait to see this thing on the trails

Tonellin wrote: Looks good on 36's but I'm sure it will be much happier with narrower 35's especially considering the rule of thumb is every pound of unsprung weight is equal to 7 pounds of body weight.  Not to mention the footpring/rolling resistance from a 14 wide tire has gotta be killer on suspension parts

Can;t wait to see this thing on the trails

the funny thing is that those 36s are old baja belted race tires so they weight 7 pounds less per tire than my 32s but the contact patch was ridiculous and it drove like a boat on the road i'm pretty sure i could hear my tie rod ends crying for the 5 mile trip to the trail

nnovickzj wrote:

Tonellin wrote: Looks good on 36's but I'm sure it will be much happier with narrower 35's especially considering the rule of thumb is every pound of unsprung weight is equal to 7 pounds of body weight.  Not to mention the footpring/rolling resistance from a 14 wide tire has gotta be killer on suspension parts

Can;t wait to see this thing on the trails

the funny thing is that those 36s are old baja belted race tires so they weight 7 pounds less per tire than my 32s but the contact patch was ridiculous and it drove like a boat on the road i'm pretty sure i could hear my tie rod ends crying for the 5 mile trip to the trail

Damn that's crazy I would have never guessed that...those tires must go like hell in the sand

picked up and rebuilt a 231 to swap into my jeep its heavy duty orange so its got to be 3x stronger than stock
going in jeep tommorow

Haha I like the orange.. Can you get away without an SYE or are you going to be putting one in?

my rear driveshaft is long enough that I don't think ill need one ever I went to an external slip yoke case because they have a longer slip yoke and with my axle pushed back its got 2 inches of compression and 4 of extension I did add a 6 pinion planetary and a wide chain to actually strengthen it not that it will be necessary but it was out and open so why not
current plans in order
front driveshaft (need to stop breaking them)
finish n2o install/tuning
3 inch xj coils for rear
much longer shocks
35" swamper ltbs
rock sliders
bumper/winch
nv3550
build 408 stroker
buy lots of spare axles

That should be sick when you're done.

Do you run a DC shaft or is the shaft just so long that the angles are ok?

Also I'm jealous of the manual swap.. been contemplating the same since before I bought my XJ. It was just too hard to find a decent one with the manual. I just really don't like driving an auto.

Looks like it is coming along nicely. Good solid plan.

well before winter i wanted to be happy with the way it sat and the budget boost in the rear with shocks that are to small and it being lower than the front. That was what I was set on fixing last week it and getting some shocks to utilize my long arms down travel. so the parts that i ordered were re 4.5 xj coils. Now being on a budget the shocks were harder to find in a size i wanted. The only place i could find decently priced shocks in the size i wanted was rusty's and they were still 80$+ for a cheap set, so i set out looking for a cheaper and better alternative i remembered hat the stock shocks i just put on a f250 for a friend were extremely long i looked up some specs and they were 17.5 compressed and 31.5 extended and fit the stock mounts best part is you can get them for 40 a pair jeep now sits level and has gret travel

That's a 14" travel shock. Are you sure those numbers are correct. If so that's a great find.

yep measured once i got them out of the box about 14 inches of travel and the valving is pretty good too

Very good find.

i worked alot of overtime this month to buy the jeep some goodies winch and bumper are on the way and i picked up a set of q78 super swampers which are 35.5 x 10.5 and should work amazing on and off road for my setup also got extended brake lines and am picking up a set of fox front shocks haha