Howdy all! I just joined the sight and have found all of your advice and experience with the KJ to be really helpfull. I bought a fully loaded Silver '05 Limited about 6 months ago, trading in my '92 Wrangler Sahara for it. I want to do a full off road upgrade including a 2.5" lift, winch bumper, bigger tires and engine performance upgrades as well. So many of you have tried the products available, I was hoping a few could post some proven combos here. Also worried about my 17" wheels, looks like a few have stayed with them, am I better off switching to 16"ers? Appriciate any insight. Also looking foward to meeting some of you in Moab this month.

for 2.5" lift I'm assuming you want a suspension lift, I would go with either Frankenlift (All-J's and best out there), Rusty's (Best bang for your buck) or Skyjacker (it seems to be a popular one here)

Winch bumper would be ARB. Most people run 245/75/r16 tires after the lift. I don't really know what you will find for the 17" wheels tho, most people just get rid of them and get either 15" or 16" wheels.

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-nate
LOST#NL068123 - 2005 Renegade 3.7L 4x4, Off-Road Package, Rock Rails, Skids, Command-Trac, Trac-Loc LSD, Light Bar, K&N Drop in Filter, AMSOIL LUBES, RRO's Diff Guard for 8.25", Frankenlift, & Goodyear MT/R's
Cardomain

My advice: ditch the 17" (you might be able to sell them to the bling crowd to defrey the cost of new tires/wheels) and go scouting eBay or local boards for "Rubicon Moab" pulls. You can find these anywhere from $500 - $1000 for all five, depending on your luck. Anything more than $850 and you're paying a bit above average.

Rock rails -- you have a few choices I know about: BoulderBars, CRS rock rails, or Rock Lizard rails (for sale?)

Lifts -- there are some choices: Rusty's and Frankenlift seem to be popular. I have part Rusty part Franken, so it's really really franken

Invest some money in skid plates. The OEM ones are adequate, but there are heavy-duty alternatives. I use OEM skids and they're fine, except I don't have transmission protection. So, go real easy over big rocks.

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DIRTY KJ :: flickr photostream
"Primitive life is very common and intelligent life is fairly rare ... some would say it has yet to occur on Earth" --- Stephen Hawking

Rock Lizard is local and you can buy his sliders/rails/bars from him and a few of us other local yocals would be more than happy to help you install.

For the other stuff: As mentioned Frankelift, Rusty's, Skyjacker are the three most common. All three are good lifts in their own way.

Ditch the 17's. Get 16's (most common tire size to find) and get some good MT's. MTR's are most common (245/75/16) along with the Rubi/Moab Rims (I'll post more on where to find great deals after I get home from work).

SKIDS!!!!! Don't forget those. All J has the best Tranny skid but other companies sell them also.


Winch: Warn, Mile Marker, and a few others out there.

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New KJ Gear - Desert Armor Flak

2004 Renegade Light Khaki - 4" JBA Lift - Rock Lizard Products: Komodo Dragon Rear Bumper, Prototype Winch-mount Front Bumper, Super Skink Sliders - All J's Super Tranny Skid II - 31" Firestone Destination AT's on Moab wheels - Cobra 75W CB w/ stock Antenna mod

[b]Retired, US Military

Thanks to all of your help[, my lift is ordered and should be installed in time for Moab. Here's a quick list 'o parts; Rusty's 2.5" lift, Skyjacker rear shocks, 16" Rubicon wheels, 245/75 R 16 Wrangler MT/R's. I totally scored with my local shop, Specialized 4 x 4, the owner is swaping me my 17" chromies for his wife's Grand Cherokee. He just happened to buy the set of 5 Rubi's the other day! It must be fate. See you in Utah.

I know you already got rid of the 17's, but I find them to be fine off road. I mostly do old logging+ gas roads with some mud and they do not get scratched at all. The mud doesnt come up any further than the center of my rims but theres no rocks in it at all. That would be the only time I would worry about that is rocks with ruts and things.

I do plan on going up to a 245/65/17 when the time comes.

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LOST KJ'S
Where are you going???
Current Jeep: 2004 Jeep Liberty
-Atlantic Blue
-Air Ride Rear Suspension ; OME/Rustys Lift ; Powertrax Locker ; Moog Lower Ball-Joints ; 245/70/16 Yokohama Geolander A/T-S's on MOABS ; Flowmaster 50 SUV
Lost #007082
http://www.cardomain.com/id/jeepjeepster