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AZcasper

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
Hello,
My name is Keith Orr and I live in Payson Arizona. I use to belong to NAXJA, but I sold my XJ and now I have a 1995 Grand Limited. It has the V8 and full time 4wheel drive, and is an automatic. I wanted to say hello, and as well see if any of you can direct me in the right direction for my build. I was thinking of getting Rusty's 5.5 long arm and running 33x12.50 BFG MT's. I don't know allot about the all wheel drive system though. I am going to the dealer in the morning and get a print out of my specs, so I know what axles, tranny, etc., etc. that I am running.
Can anyone give me any info on where to start with lockers. I ran a lock-rite in front and year of my 87 XJ. But I do not know allot about the ZJ family. Any help that you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

BTW, my wife and I are very active 4x4 enthusiasts. While in the NAXJA club we wheeled in Moab and Colorado yearly when work allowed. I am looking forward to talking to meeting you all. I hope to see you on the trail some day.

Thank you,
AZcasper
 
For long arms, claytons is the top tier since it puts minimal stress on the unibody, (it has it's own complete subframe) But so far I have heard good things about the rusty's LA kit, especially since there is no welding required.

With the all time 4 wheel drive system (249 transfer case in this situation) for safety reasons you should get a manual locker for the front dana 30. Your rear axle is either a D44a or D35. The 35 has tons of locker options, but the 44a only has one, the aussie automatic locker. Best way to determine which one you have is to use a magnet to see if your pumpkin is aluminum or steel. If the magnet sticks, its a 35, of not, it's a 44a.

You might want to look into a different transfer case, the 193-1995 249 transfer case does not lock the front and rear axles together in 4 lo. If you are going to long arms you wouldn't want any 249 in there anyways due to limited aftermarket support. While a 249 SYE kit is available, there are no 249 kits to shorten the length of the case itself, whereas you have a lot more options with a 231 or 242.

Tom Woods driveshafts are popular among ZJ and WJ owners, you'll need a rear driveshaft if you install a SYE, a double cardan styile joint in the back will prevent from over stressing your U joints. The CV joint in front is also considered a weak point, but the Tom Woods stuff is good. With 33" tires your jeep won't like to accelerate, and climbing the mountains in Colorado is going to be painful, so you'll need higher gears in both axles. You should have a 3.73 gear ratio right now, 4.11 or 4.56 should be in your plans with 33s. I'm in North Dakota so I'm running 32s just fine with stock gears (no hills lol), but I have yet to drive it thought he mountains.

Personally I run short arms, at 4.5" the driveline isn't much of a concern, other than setting pinion angles to prevent driveline vibs, but at 5-6 inches these things get into the picture fast. That's why I went with the Rubicon Express 4.5" kit, I can upgrade to long arms later when I get my driveline redone.
 
Discussion starter · #5 ·
Thank you Seth and "MynameisJerry",
I appreciate your help. I have learned in the past by building my XJ by trial and error, that it can get expensive. Having the help from those that have already learned from experience can be a blessing.
One question. Will I still have trouble in the up hill power situation even though I am running the 5.2 V8 engine?? I ran stock gears (3:55) in my XJ with 11.50x32 BFG AT's, so I do understand under powered. Driving in Colorado in the mountains was beautiful, but very slow going. Do you think that 4.88's are too low geared for my ZJ with the V8???
Thank you again for all your help. I look forward to possibly running trails with you all in the future....

Keith
 
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