ghetdjc320

More appetizers This was my second to last prototype. Will post in vendor section soon. Depending on how many orders I receive, lead time may go up a bit. The glow through portion will be matched to stock 100%. I can provide just the bezel or also the bezel and new original switches and the bulb socket for illumination of your new “factory” options @Red Mistress. Also, please let me know y’all’s interest in hvac covers as well as the headlight and cigarette lighter bezels. They can all be made original or custom depending on interest. Also just want to thank everyone for their support and patience. I’ve been meaning to get some products available for our MJs for some time now. Thanks CC!

Some tweaking left to do but wanted to send out an appetizer. The text needs to be slightly adjusted as do the pin points that locate the bezel. These are painstakingly time consuming lol. They have multiple layers but the end product is looking very good.

yeah that’s not a problem but will have about a 1 week lead time and cost more unless there are multiple people that want the same version. There are plenty of options for sure. I also will be carrying the oem switches for a completely original look. The switches are new OEM and can be used for pretty much anything

I’ve been getting this project moving recently and am nearing completion. Hope to have some product pics out soon. The hvac controls bezel and the headlight switch are also in the works. More projects in the works also.

I’ve been contemplating new front coils also. I run metalcloak control arms but Currie products have always been top notch.

This is why some of us keep saying 4” or less given the info you’ve provided.

If your budget is 4K then the cost of an sye or steering mods should be a non issue. Bob the bed and run a 4” lift. If you keep the long bed then the sye will likely never be needed though there are other good reasons to get one.

I’ve got about 5k in mine. But I don’t have a single dent or blemish. I have since bought many body work tools and will be doing most future body work myself

Depends how much you lift, what tires you run and how you use it. Here is a summary: when you run over 4” lift you tie rod angles on your stock steering get pretty steep. If you just drive around town or mild wheeling where you don’t flex out your axle then you can probably get away with stock steering linkage configuration. If you run 6+ inches of lift and/or really flex out your suspension then consider a crossover steering system that moves the steering linkage higher so the angles are flatter. If you do that though, you will also need to relocate the track bar to be parallel to your drag link. Otherwise the disimilar angles will cause what we call “bump steer” which can be nasty on the highway or around corners. Next comes strength. An upgrade to stock components is to use 93-98 grand Cherokee V8 linkage. The real advantage to this system is the tie rod (which connect the drag link to the drivers side wheel). The stock mj/xj one is a thin hollow tube. The ZJ (1st gen Grand Cherokee) one is solid and much thicker. This system is a good stock replacement and is cheap but will not do any better for extreme angles. The Currie Enterprises (CE-9701) steering kit is good up to about 5.5-6” of usable off-road lift. The linkage is super beefy and the tie rod ends are angled so that they are in a more “neutral” position at ride height. For tires 35” and larger you will likely start to need big bore steering boxes or ram assist and crossover/high steer. This is all very custom at this point. If you don’t know what a tie rod end is or a drag link or a tie rod or the knuckles or pitman arm then you will need to do some research unless someone here wants to keep on explaining. It’s true everyone needs to start somewhere but please do as much research as you can to grasp the fundamentals and the jargon you are bound to hear. Also a good idea to ask for some experienced help during the install of whatever lift you decide to go with. That way you can keep yourself and other drivers safe while learning all about how these systems work together and the endless modding that ensues. Oh and one last suggestion, stay away from drop pitman arms. They screw up steering geometry. In some cases a drop pitman or even a flat pitman arm are needed but for your application that shouldn’t be needed.

I didn’t see any of those in stock anywhere. Is that a current part number?

I have the templates listed here somewhere if you want to print and trace them out. The best fit is to grab a set of oem fronts (which are also hard to find) and trim them using the template.

Rumor has it that these can be easily adapted to the front doors: https://teamcherokee.com/rear-door-hinge-assembly-oem-cherokee-1984-1996/ best price for a pair of nos ones.

I have RE 5.5” coils up front but they only net me 3.5” with my bumper, winch etc. I have soa rear with used 2wd leafs but the truck has far more rake than stock. Soa gives a heck of a lot of lift for some reason on some MJ’s. Driveline vibes also for me on my short bed until switching to an sye and tw driveshaft. If I were to do it again (which I will), I’d weld on the acos adjusters up front with some Currie springs. Also going to grab a set of used xj springs to make a hybrid pack for the rear. If this was a fresh build I would have stayed about 3-4” lift and run some notch flares and 33-35’s (probably the metric version which are like 34x11.5).

Now I want a 242 .

Welcome aboard! The HO’s are my personal favorites and are tough to find. Regarding running the 242, I don’t have any input . Had a 5.9 ZJ with the 242 but never much cared for it compared to the 231. In my mind the 242 was more for 4wd on street but the 231 was the unit to have for crawling. Regarding general things to look for pretty much everything is covered in this thread (just keep in mind that most of the MJs here are renix):

I believe key parts has already started molding them. @Pete M posted about it a couple weeks ago

I’ve heard the latest Currie springs are not progressive anymore. Might want to double check that. Both are great brands obviously.

To the OP, I suggest you do some research on some of these subjects before you start any lift. Look up leaf springs vs coil springs. See what the control arms, track bar and sway bar do in a link suspension setup, lookup shock design, check into differentials and lockers and see how they work, look at steering geometry and read up on our tech and diy for MJ specific info. All of this info is online and there are plenty of very good videos explaining how these systems work. A basic grasp of these systems will help you make the best choices when modding.

I had a bad transfer case outpu bushing that caused driveline vibes. Sye got rid of that obviously but have also had a bad pilot bearing for the front tcase output that caused a lot of noise that was extremely my hard to pinpoint.

I like the @krustyballer16 design since it doesn’t rely on the pinch seam. Just another option is the Spadano rockers. I run the Spadano rockers and you can get a tube option for them also. The step is very high though since it’s part of the rocker

I know they are 40.5 center to center on the leaf pads. I remember a topic about swapping an mj 44 into a YJ. It’s been several years back but iirc it was a bolt in.

I think a YJ axle *may* also bolt right in.