clearance help

[tickwomp]

my goal is to turn my stock height TJ into a low slung crawler. by low slung i mean i want to cut to fit 35's or bigger and have minimum lift. lifts seem to do nothing for clearance other than allow you to fit bigger tires- which in my experience is where all clearance comes from. i have looked at 3.5 suspention lifts, and 1.5 body lifts, which should give the clearance needed to clear tires, but if i can do this without any lift that would be best. the problem i've run into with both lifting and cutting is that most of what i want it out of my budget. i have no set cost i'm willing to spend, but i want to have the best possible clearance i can get for the least amount of money. i'm looking for suggestions on where to look for kits or shops that specialize in cutting. 4wheel parts seems overpriced. when i talked to them they wanted 2000 bucks for a 3.5 sus lift... no tires, nothing else. how hard is cutting or kit install to do by myself? i know if i cut this much i will have to look into a new hood etc.
any clearance knowlege will help

[RescueJP]

cutting is not hard just make sure u tape it out and go slow. You would not need a new hood are you thinking of going to a highline style fender if so then. You can just trim your current hood. Im running 2.5in lift alot of cutting and 35's granted I have a body lift which is actually coming off. But I will still have plenty of flex and my COG will be low to the ground.

[tickwomp]

not hard... i have some mechanical aptitude but how much knowlege and gear would i need

[Jeffb_79]

You can high line your rig yourself and fit 35's.
It's free and really not too difficult, just time consuming. There are plenty of write ups out there on doing this. I'd suggest finding as many as you can and researching before you start cutting your hood and fenders. Take your time and do it right and it'll look great. Get sloppy and it can look like junk.
All you would need is some tape and a cutting wheel and basic hand tools to remove your front fenders and move them up a few inches. Depending on how much you cut off your hood, you may need a set of hood pins also.

[jsargent]

A small lift (OME + 1 in BL), the correct bumpstops, and proper backspacing have allowed me to run 34's without trimming. Call Dirk at DPG Offroad. He will give you all the in's and out's to help you out. With a little trimming you could probably fit 35's and 37's by highlining it.

[crazy4ink]

My TJ is the equivalent (sp?) of a 2" lift and a 1" bodylift, Bellyup skid plate and I am running 42" Iroks. About a year ago, JP magazine did a write-up about fittings 35s on a TJ with no lift. They highlined the front, trimmed the rear, changed some control arms around and everything worked great.

If you do a 1" motor mount lift and a 1" bodylift, you can get your tranny and t-case damn near level with your frame rails. Moving that stuff up and increasing your break-over angle will be equal to a 3" lift.

[Marinedawg]

http://www.genright.com/ProductInfo....ductid=TFF2XXX

I believe with those you can fit 35's on your TJ without any lift. Then do the 1" MML and 1" BL like crazy4ink said and you would have one bad rig. My goal was to keep a low center of gravity with my rig too. Instead of a 7" lift I kept it at 4" and fit 35's. Next I am gonna stretch mine and use GenRights rear stretch corner guards. The front and rear fenders on mine are from them. Great products a little on the spendy side, but they do military discounts.

[Ross]

I am running a 3" susp, 1"bl and a 1" spacer up front. I run 35 with minimal rubbing. The problem I have is not the amount of lift but my wheel base. I have adjustable lower arms and have corrected my drive line angle so I have no vibes from the drive line. I also have a belly up (another 2" clearance in the center) so as far as drive line angle goes I have about a 6" lift.

The problem is: having fixed arms up top and adjustable on the bottom I pulled my tires (rear) forward in the wheel well, and back in the wheel well(front) to adjust drive line angle. The problem I have with rubbing is not in the top of the fender where trimming easily helps but in the front of the fender (rear) and back of fender (front). Unless you have adj top and bottoms control arms your tires won't be center in the wheel well. Cutting where I need isn't that easy.

If you wheels are centered in the wheel well your set up and longer bumpstops than stock stock should require minimal cutting.

[Cjack350]

4wheel parts seems overpriced. when i talked to them they wanted 2000 bucks for a 3.5 sus lift... no tires, nothing else. how hard is cutting or kit install to do by myself? i know if i cut this much i will have to look into a new hood etc.
any clearance knowlege will help

2000 bucks for 3.5" lift is waaay overpriced for a TJ.

http://www.quadratec.com/products/16300_401.htm

http://www.quadratec.com/products/16300_400.htm

Those are just the first two that I saw on one site.

Another way that you can get added height really cheap is to find some front springs from a V8 ZJ (grand cherokee). You put the ZJ springs up front on your TJ, and move the front TJ springs to the back and there you go. Cheap lift without putting pucks in.

Shop around for a used lift. Find a local Jeep club/swap meet/craigslist/ebay and buy the parts to lift it there.

Or just start cutting your ride up. Like it's been said already, take your time. Cutting should be 90% preparation 10% sawing. When I chopped the fenders on my ZJ I used a Jigsaw for the visible parts and a sawzall for the crap underneath. I'll try to dig up some pics.

Hope that helps

[Navy-Jeepster]

I am running 35's with a 3.5 inch RE super flex lift kit, 1 inch motor mount lift and 1 inch body lift.
I have installed the genright tube fenders at all corners and have no problems.

Todd