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Yes leafs, coils, shocks, bushings etc if needed will do a lot to restore ride height and handling as well.
Also remember the often neglected art of airing down for driving off road! You can spend ridiculous amounts of money on lift and big tires, but there’s much traction to be gained by setting tire pressure for what you are doing.
You can just sit there with your gauge and use the little nub on the back side and hiss hiss check check. Or you can buy a set of screw on air down valves from Amazon for like $10. They go on like valve caps and let air out slowly. They screw together for easy storing, bout the size of a dog whistle.
Have your tire pressure gauge handy, screw them all on quickly and then go right back around checking with your gauge and unscrew them when you get to the pressure you want (15-20 psi should be good for sand).
Make sure to bring your noisy little air compressor so you can air back up! I also bring a bike pump for backup.
4 low, decent set of all terrain tires aired down will get you most places you want to go.
You two seem to know a lot more than I in this endeavor of mine, The Toyo 235's tire I was going to go which stand at liked 29.9 compared to the 28.3 that three stock 225's but I'm also sure they'll be louder than others, do either of you have any recommendation? I need to do payment as a DD as well as snow, then of course sand but am I going with a good set of tires with my choice? am I over killing it with the Toyo open country A/T III's will they be super loud and or because they are a taller tire will they rub anywhere??
By the way I'm less than 16-1/2 on both backs from center too top of fender well, fronts seem ok at 171/2.
https://tiresize.com/tires/Toyo/Open-Country-AT-III.htm
If you look at the above link you'll see that Toyo offers two 235 size tires. The LT(light truck) is 29.1" in diameter whereas the P(passenger) is 28.9". So both are under an 1" taller than the 225 but are wider. Neither would give you clearance issues BUT the P will give you a more comfortable ride and is all you'd need. Good bit cheaper to. I'm not familiar with the characteristics of those tires or with driving in sand so can't offer any advice there.
As far as the rear suspension goes you could install a set of adjustable shackles to bring the rear up to spec. 1" sag isn't too bad. About what mine was when I was running 235's.
Thanks again for the info. And checking out those tire sizes I had to mis-read something somewhere I've been reading a lot lately, there's parts all over for this rig now to look up adjustable shackles, quite the adventure. Again my thanks.
OME 2930 vs 2934 front springs? I'm making final decisions on my Old Man Emu lift and have decided on a 2 1/2 inch lift. I'll remove one leaf from the rear, but not sure about the front. From my research the 2934 will give me the 2 1/2 inches. I don't want more than 2 1/2 so if it's safer to go with the 2930's and add a 3/4 inch spacer I'll do that. I have a slightly heavier front bumper, roof rack, and sliders that add weight so I'm leaning toward the 2934's. Only running 225/75-16 (29.3) right now, but may go skinnier 215/85-16 (30.4). Don't want to go taller and need to regear right now so staying at or below 31's. I'd love to regear and bump the lift to 3 1/2 and run 235/85-16 (31.7), but that will need to wait. Not a fan of cutting, and I have loved tall and skinny since my Land Rover days so I'm sticking with what works for me.
OME 2930 vs 2934 front springs? I'm making final decisions on my Old Man Emu lift and have decided on a 2 1/2 inch lift. I'll remove one leaf from the rear, but not sure about the front. From my research the 2934 will give me the 2 1/2 inches. I don't want more than 2 1/2 so if it's safer to go with the 2930's and add a 3/4 inch spacer I'll do that. I have a slightly heavier front bumper, roof rack, and sliders that add weight so I'm leaning toward the 2934's. Only running 225/75-16 (29.3) right now, but may go skinnier 215/85-16 (30.4). Don't want to go taller and need to regear right now so staying at or below 31's. I'd love to regear and bump the lift to 3 1/2 and run 235/85-16 (31.7), but that will need to wait. Not a fan of cutting, and I have loved tall and skinny since my Land Rover days so I'm sticking with what works for me.
Thanks again for the info. And checking out those tire sizes I had to mis-read something somewhere I've been reading a lot lately, there's parts all over for this rig now to look up adjustable shackles, quite the adventure. Again my thanks.
Listen to him on the tire advice! He helped me when I picked my current tires. If you look through this thread there are some good references for understanding how tire sizes and wheel offsets work, very helpful to me. I’m actually looking at those Toyo tires in a smaller size for our Subaru, so if you get them post how you like em!
I never posted pics of where I ended up on wheels and tires, and since this thread is worthless without pics…
I kept the same desert rat tracker ii wheels and went with Falken Wildpeak AT3W tires 31x10.5; I also added a set of oem mud guards I picked up on ebay. The fronts went right on, but since I don’t have the bumper end caps the rears took a bit of fabricobbling. I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. Reduced the amount of crap thrown up on the doors and rock sliders so you don’t get as dirty getting in and out of the vehicle with just everyday driving on dirt and gravel roads.
We had a decent amount of snow this past winter, and the tires did really great in the snow on our mountain roads. Ezearl said he had trouble getting them balanced, but this set wasn’t any trouble and they run pretty smooth and quiet on road for how capable they are off-road. I’m one tire rotation in and so far so good. Other people also complained that they had a tendency to pick up and carry rocks. I’m not sure if this is just a new chunky tread thing, but they do pick up rocks and then turn them loose at higher speeds more than my bfg ko2s did.
NICE rigs guys. Sure wish I could keep mine as clean as you guys do. But it's mud or dust for me year around.
So as far as the AT3W's go there wasn't any problem balancing them it just took more than I figured it would (235x75's). If General Tire wouldn't have had a $100 rebate on the A/T X's (30x9.50's) I'd have gladly gotten another set of the Falkens. I still have them and will put them on my CJ5 plow vehicle.
Speaking of headlights unless you go with LED's a headlight harness upgrade should be done. Supposedly your ok with the oem harness with LED's?
So here's my "utilitarian" XJ. Mods done as needed. lol
09-21-2015, 02:17 PM
