killamike said:
I know nothing about cars and need advice on modifying my YJ '95. My jeep has 81k miles. The only thing i replaced on it was new cheap 15'' tiger paw tires. Everything else it stock. I want to do as much as i can to my jeep to make it nicer, i want to improve the feel and looks. I have noticed ever since i first bought it that it was extremely bumpy. Every time i go over bump my car makes loud thumps. i assume this has something to do with shocks. What can i do, replace the shocks? What kind should i buy and where? Can i do it myself or do i have to have a mechanic do it. In addition, when i look under the body i see these black rubber things that connect to the body and frame. What are they because mine look very warn and cracked. Do i need to replace them for better suspension or whatever they do? Also i i would like to lift that sheisse up and get bigger tires. I see a lot of wranglers with wheels that come out far from the body . How do they do that? Do i have to get a longer axel or something? Am i a fool or do they just have wider tires that make it look like they stick out so far. It looks so bad *** and i would like my jeep to look like that.
I would really appreciate your help,
Thanx A lot
ok, here we go. first let me say welcome to the addiction. You can look forward to the days of maxed out credit cards and overdrawn bank accounts starting now.
now to your questions:
1. Its a Jeep, you better get used to the bumpy ride now. while it can be softened with a good suspension and good shocks, it will still not ride like a sports car.
2. you can easily replace the shocks yourself with basic hand tools, but if you plan to lift your Jeep, i would hold off on the shocks as most quality lift kits will come with new shocks when you purchase them. these shocks will be the proper length for your new ride height.
3. I am assuming that the black rubber things you are reffering to are your body mounts. they connect the body of your jeep to the frame. as far as replacement goes, you have two options here. one is just straight up replacing the bushings with new polyuerethane ones. you can get the full kits from quadratec, or 4 wheel drive hardware. your second option, is to add a body lift while you are replacing the worn mount bushings. i recommend not going with more than a 2" body lift as you could run into stability problems with anything more than that. you should be able to get a 2" bl for around 100 bucks.
4. the wide tire thing. part of that is out of necessity. when you lift a vehicle, it raises the vehicles center of gravity. now if you go taller and do not go wider, the vehicle will be much more unstable, increasing the likelyhood of a rollover greatly. So, when we lift our rigs, we go wider as well to counteract the higher center of gravity. this is accomplished by A) going to a wider tire, such as a 12.50. B) going to a wheel with a different backspacing. i think the stock rims run something like 8 or 9 inches of backspacing, i run rims with 4.5"s of backspacing. now the bad news, most states have tire coverage laws which state that the tire can not stick out past the body, this can be remedied with larger fender flares.
now, do you plan to go offroading? do you plan to go wheeling often? or just every once and a while? have you gone wheeling before?
answering these questions will help determine the best route you can take. If you have never gone wheeling before, i recommend wheeling stock for a while, get some tow hooks mounted, find some buddies and go hit the trail stock and learn your vehicle and what it can and can't do. then when you lift it, you will be better prepared to handle the different responses you will get from your rig. and trust me, a lifted jeep handles MUCH differently than anything else out there.