Newbie

ty Mitchell

New member
Hello all i just joined the forum. Living in upstate NY I'm on my second jeep so far. My first was an 08 grand cherokee that i blew the motor in and sold. I just picked up an 01 wj in great condition. I just changed the tail lights and head lights and added a 24" lightbar. Looking to put a 3.5" lift and 33" tires on it. Anyone know if this will work? I'm thinking i may have to shave the fenders a bit
 

WJCO

Meme King
Hello all i just joined the forum. Living in upstate NY I'm on my second jeep so far. My first was an 08 grand cherokee that i blew the motor in and sold. I just picked up an 01 wj in great condition. I just changed the tail lights and head lights and added a 24" lightbar. Looking to put a 3.5" lift and 33" tires on it. Anyone know if this will work? I'm thinking i may have to shave the fenders a bit

Welcome. Glad to see another WJ here. I currently run a 4" with 32s and had to trim a decent amount. I plan on running 33s soon, but know that i will be very close to rubbing. The main spot that rubs is the rear part of the front fender. There is a lot of info on how to trim it out there. Bushwhacker makes a fender flare kit and their website has a good video on the trimming process. You can trim carefully and won't have to add their $500 dollar flares, but it will give you an idea of what to trim. The vehicle they use runs 33s but I'm pretty sure it is a 6 inch lift.
 

WJCO

Meme King
And you will probably have to gear up. I'm running stock gears with my 32s and can really feel it on the hills. I'm going up to 4.56 in the next couple months hopefully.
 

ty Mitchell

New member
Awesome thanks for the feedback i appreciate it and I'm goona look into the fender flares to see if i like the look or I'll just do it myself with a friend
 

WJCO

Meme King
Awesome thanks for the feedback i appreciate it and I'm goona look into the fender flares to see if i like the look or I'll just do it myself with a friend

I love the look of them, but they're pretty expensive for just a cosmetic mod. I just did the trimming and kept it straight and didn't add any flares. Then I taped off the body and sprayed all the trimmed areas with FlexSeal to prevent any rust from forming and it adds a little texture to match the inside of the wheel wells. We may still do the flares at a later date, but not right now. There's plenty of WJs on google images with them if you want to look.
 

ty Mitchell

New member
Ok cool i will do that. I want it to look mean and perform well. I don't want to get to crazy with it yet cuz I'm looking to get a jk by summer and i have a few things I'd like to do to that as well
 

jamesrw30

Active Member
I am running 3 inch lift and 31's and definitely couldn't go larger without trimming. I believe the 6 inch lift would clear 33's without trimming as mentioned. I love the flares and would like to have them one day but if I am going to do that may as well go the full 6 inches and run 35's haha. I can tell a little difference on 31's so I am sure with 33's you will definitely want gears. I bet it will get pretty sluggish.
 

WJCO

Meme King
Ok cool i will do that. I want it to look mean and perform well. I don't want to get to crazy with it yet cuz I'm looking to get a jk by summer and i have a few things I'd like to do to that as well

If this is your situation, Zone makes a 4 inch kit that is about 700 bucks I think. It has all the needed parts for a decent price including proper length control arms that balance out the pinion angle and the caster angle. Chances are though that you will need a new front driveshaft. If you don't have the double-cardin style and only have the repezza, you'll burn through it quickly. If you do the 4 inch kit, you can find the JK takeoffs (32s) on craigslist very often. I got all 5 of mine (BFG MTs) with wheels and 80%+ tread for less than 300 bucks.
 

ty Mitchell

New member
Damn that sounds pretty good. So i guess i should just go with 32's cuz i dont want to lift it too much. Not sure whats in the front end currently but i def planned on changing the gearing
 

WJCO

Meme King
Damn that sounds pretty good. So i guess i should just go with 32's cuz i dont want to lift it too much. Not sure whats in the front end currently but i def planned on changing the gearing

Probably 3.73s, but I'm not a 100% sure. If you're going to keep it for a long time and might mod it even more later, you'll have more options with a long-arm kit opposed to a short-arm kit. The Zone kit is a short-arm. I actually wish I had done some more research prior and purchased a long arm kit, just because now I want to do more with the Jeep. But the Zone kit is a great basic kit for a good price, and the Zone track bar bushings are spoken highly of in the WJ community. And 32s are very easy to get ahold of at a decent price nowadays. If you're not in the mountains a lot, your gears may be fine. But I am in the mountains a lot, and really noticed a difference since I put the 32s on. And I even have the V8. If you have the 4.0L 6cyl, I would definitely gear up.
 

ty Mitchell

New member
I live in upstate ny mostly woods and some rocks here and there. I have the v8 model so power isn't an issue. And i only planned on doing the short arm for the wj. I want to save any heavy mods for the jk
 

WJCO

Meme King
I live in upstate ny mostly woods and some rocks here and there. I have the v8 model so power isn't an issue. And i only planned on doing the short arm for the wj. I want to save any heavy mods for the jk

Then I would say the Zone is a good kit. I would get whatever tires you're planning on, then drive it and see what you think as far as gears. On and your lovely 19-20mph will go down to 15 or lower. It sucks but it happens. FYI.
 
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