LIFT FOR 2006 WRANGLER X

I had installed the 2" coil spacer spacer lift without a body lift or motor mount lift. I had DIY made the shock extenders / bar pin eliminators, so that the shock travel matches the travel of the suspension. The ride is almost as good as stock (the higher center of gravity gives a bit more roll while turning) and the fine tuned shock extensions give a bit more articulation than stock, when you disengage the roll bar.

Since I had not installed a motor lift, I needed to adjust the pinion angles plus a minor transfer case drop, to eliminate rear axle shaft vibrations. Maybe you won't have problems with rear drive-shaft vibrations, but you will have to readjust the angle of the front drive-shaft.

Front end alignment will need some correction after the lift. You will need to re-center the steering wheel by adjusting the drag-link. Also the front wheel toe-in will be a bit more after the lift. Fix the front pinion angle before doing an alignment, cause it alters the toe-in.

The stock tires will be very small and will leave the fender wells empty. You won't have a problem running them, but they will look ugly. If this is the 2.4L engine, be prepared to lose performance with the 32" tires. You won't have too much trouble starting on hills, because the

6-speed has a very low first gear, but forget the 6th gear, or going uphill with 4th. 10.5 will marginally fit on stock rims with no real problems.

Since you are using a body lift, you might be interested in raising the gas tank 1" for more clearance in the back. Either remove the stock skid plate, cut and reweld to make it 1" shorter, or get an aftermarket skid plate.

Bill Spiliotopoulos.

2006 TJ, 1996 XJ.

Thanks for all the input. This really helped me out alot! My Wrangler is the 4.0 L, so I am assuming that I should not be losing engine performance if I put the 32 inch tires on, correct?

Lots of us can find 'much' better use for the two grand or so new gears cost, believe me! LOL!

I run 33's and don't have much issue. I 'can' still use my 5th gear or 'overdrive' on the highway above 65 mph with the larger tires, but find I get about 5 mpg better if I just stick to 4th so the rpm stay more in the sweet spot. My 4.2 will pull fine in OD though. I know quite a few others that find the same with their 4.0's, TJ's and taller tires, stay out of OD and get better mileage.

I think your overdrive is 6th?

You can easily check the mileage differences.

Expect a 'big' bite in 'perceived' mileage when you go to the larger tires due to them rolling a bunch farther with each turn. You will get a small 'real' bit in mileage too because your undercarriage is now more open to the slipstream.

I 'think' that a GPS will show your TJ's speedometer to be about exact with 31" tires which are the largest 'stock' size that fits, so you won't need a speedo gear change for 32's. I recommend checking it with a GPS or measured mile to be sure.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 Canadian Off Road Trips Photos: Non members can still view! Jan/06 (More Off Road album links at bottom of the view page)

A bit more data to back this up.

The nice thing with the 6-speed gearbox is that it has a wider spread of gear ratios, so with larger tires it behaves like a 5-speed gearbox with stock tires. Like this was provisioned from the factory, to be able to use larger tires without need to regear the differentials. With 32" tires, it's like having gearbox ratios multiplied by 0.86 approx. So:

1st becomes: 4.46x0.86 = 3.84 2nd ... 2.61x0.86 = 2.24 3rd ... 1.72x0.86= 1.48 4th ... 1.25x0.86=1.08 (almost 1:1) 5th ... 1.00x0.86=0.86 6th ... 0.84x0.86=0.72 Rev ... 4.06x0.86=3.49

For comparison, AX15 (5-speed used on 4.0 YJ) gear ratios are:

1st: 3.83 2nd: 2.33 3rd: 1.44 4th: 1.00 5th: 0.79 Rev: 4.22

I believe both were used with 3.07:1 differential ratios, so they become almost equivalent.

Bill Spiliotopoulos,

2006 TJ, 1996 XJ.