Looking for some direction.

[jumpoffjoe]

Hello People!

First, I better introduce myself. My name is Joe. I live out here in the middle of nowhere Western South Dakota. I manage a commercial bison ranch for a living. I'm a coyote hunter/fly fisherman who enjoys camping in the summer months. I have a few old rigs that I use to bomb around the Black Hills camping and fishing but I need something larger and more comfortable for the family, plus it would be nice if I didn't always look like a drit bag. Thus I decided to purchase a commander. It should be here this week. If this particular vehicle passes the inspection I will be blowing my savings account on making it my poor man's defender 110 (obviously in apperance).

This is what I have in mind and I was hoping you guys would let me know where I'm going wrong. I realize that I'm probably going to cross over some boundries as far as posting in the suspension category. I'm worn out on searching thousands of threads just to scratch my head even more. Here we go.

The Plan:

2" Old Man Emu WK lift kit. HD springs and Struts. Was thinking about the additional 3/8 strut spacers? Not sure what make on those, was told to go with steel over the poly and I don't even know where to purchase them.

I'm curious what this will render me in the way of lift height. I don't want to cause any major angle problems and I was really hoping to just run some 255s but I'm finding to get tires I like I will probably have to 265s.

I plan on or I should say I have money allocated for a heavy front bumper and rear bumper with a the tire swing out. The front bumper will be the reciever hitch style because I have a reciever hitch plate mounted winch that I will share with the old YJ. Plus this rig will see lots of miles from the woman going to work and hauling kids and the likes. Will this lift set up handle those monster bumpers? I don't think I can afford the 4" lift and do everything else I need for the long vacations. Also, I built an expedition trailer last summer with a tent and it weighs about 1200 lbs loaded with 4 days of supplies and gear. Me and my buddy weren't sure what kind of sag I would experience and we were pondering HD firestone air bags in the rear.

As stated earlier this lift set up confuses me on which tires and wheels to go with. I don't want to mess around with any pinch weld mods if I can get away with it. The wheel thing is really confusing now that AEV has discontinued their pintlers for the XK. I'll be buying 5 wheels and 5 tires so I probably won't splurge on the JK pintlers. Really want to avoid spacers and was hoping to find another company that offers specs close to the AEV wheels. I like narrow tires in my part of the world for the gumbo mud out here in the high plains.

custom roof rack from the moon roofs to the back. Gonna try to mount legs for the rack into the stanchions and build a ladder from the rack to the back bumper on the passenger side. I'll put some tabs on the bumper and the rack and bolt that critter on. Its hard to put mule deer and coyotes on a rack that doesn't have a ladder.

I know there is alot going on here. Please feel free to give me any directions. I'll sort through it best I can and take notes. I'll be broke, but I'll have my poor man's defender 110.

Again, I apologize that I'm putting a bunch of crap in one thread and I'm asking the same questions that a 1,000 others have already asked. I really want this right the first time and I will be moving quickly on this build. Ranching is supposed to build patience but you'll find that buffalo move a lot faster than beef cows and I guess I never learned any patience.

I'm glad to be a part of what already seems to be the best XK forum and a closer knit group than any other jeep forum! Let me know if you have any ideas and I look forward to meeting you guys (I mean that in a vague sense, not to affend any female members).

Thanks a million in advance,

Joe

[jumpoffjoe]

Wow, thats a lot words.

[Ross]

Welcome to the forum, I definitely agree that the commander is like the American defender 110. I recently visited family in England and I was drooling at every defender that drove by. Over there, many are farm trucks that are dirt cheap, the parts are also very abundant and cheap. It's such a shame that the airbag laws prevent any post 1985 defenders from coming to the U.S., making the old ones quite collectable and expensive over here.

The OME will definitely be what your looking for as far as lift height and durability. With the rocky road 3/8" on-top-of strut spacer and F-150 Monroe load levelers in the rear (which will also help prevent sag while towing), you will be sitting at just around a 3" lift. This is the setup I'm currently running, it was quite a step-up from my daystar spacer lift which barely gave me 2" of lift. The OME HD will allow you to fit up to 285's with a bit of trimming, but most are running 265's and still do the pinch weld mod because of how easy it is and to prevent any possible rubbing at full lock. As far as the pinch weld mod, it is no big deal, just a small piece of metal that pokes out in the wheel well and can be bent back quite easily, there are very detailed write ups. Right now I have 265/70/17 Goodyear wrangler duratracs (load E). They are a really nice mix of all-terrain and mud-terrain with an aggressive look and after 12,000+ miles they are showing very minimal wear.

Here are some links to the major aftermarket sites for our Jeeps:
http://4xguard.com/ (owned by Jeepin-by-al)
http://thesteelarmadillo.com/
http://tacticalarmorgroup.com/TAGSto...a/Default.aspx
http://www.rocky-road.com/commander.html

What engine and 4-wheel drive system do you have?

-Ross

[jumpoffjoe]

Lets not even talk about defenders or the toyota land cruiser GXL Troop, its almost depressing. It is an 07 with the 5.7. I'm assuming it has the Quadra DriveII. I was under the impression that if it had the HEMI it has the Quadra Drive standard similar to the WK outfitted with the diesel? I run duratracs on my YJ and I love them, awesome in that south dakota slush in the spring and fall. So the spacer in the front, and load levelers in the rear. No spacer in the rear? I want some wheel information if any one has any ideas. Psyco, we met on that other forum and you were the only guy that talked with me over there. I appreciate it man.

[Matt]

Hey joe, im typing on my phone right now so this is going to be shorter than id want....

For the lift you're on a good track. You can get the additional strut spacer from JBA.
Front = OME HD springs, OME struts + JBA spacer

For the rear id recommend getting the JBA 4" coil springs. No reason to get the OME springs and try to stack away. I'll be honest im not 100% sure how much lift you'll get from them, but id still get the monroe load leveling shocks, pn 58643, and go from there.

Whats your budget for wheels and what style are you interested in? We'll help you pick out a nice set.

For bumpers, thesteelarmadillo.com is where you want to be. Jon is building my rear bumper now (I hope lol)

I have links on here that shows how to do the pinch weld mod, installing the monroe shocks, etc. Id post them but im on my phone. The first post in my garage thread has all of the links though.

Welcome aboard man. Looking forward to helping you build an awesome Commander!!

[06JeepXKHEMI]

Welcome to TUJ! As Matt said you are headed to the right direction and Id also suggest going with the JBA rear springs 4" to avoid spacer stacking, Ill eventually be going this route.. You may also want to add an adjustable rear track bar, when lifting the axle will be roughly .5" off to drivers side, track bar is cheap $135? As far as wheels, let Matt and Adam help you with this I get confused to and it can be frustrating, but they seem to have a great grasp on this! Im running 265/70 Goodyear MTRs on stock chrome clads but running 1.5" spidertraxx spacers with pinch weld mod done, very easy to do, and Im very pleased with these tires. For MTs their road manners are great and off road, well they are beasts! What type of skid plates did your rig come with, if any? May want to consider those as well to protect the undercarrage..

[jumpoffjoe]

Thanks fellas!

So Matt, the 4" Jeep'n By Al spring and the F150 monroe struts will make this beast level? I only ask because I don't have any clue of the dimensions of the OME HD Spring or the correlating strut.

I have about $7,000 allocated for this project. I figure (roughly) $1,000 for the lift, $3,000 (2) for the bumpers, $2,000 for tires and wheels (5 tires, 5 wheels), $1,000 for the rack and ladder. Then I'm broke.

[Matt]

Depending on how much lift the JBA 4" springs actually provide you may end up with the rear higher than the front. The good news about the monroes is they're less than $100 for a pair. Another shock you might want to consider is the Rancho 9000XL. They're gentle on the budget and you can adjust their damping to stiffen up the ride while towing. If you find that you need a bit more lift in the rear I can make you a set of 1/2" spacers to get a little extra height.

Here's what im thinking your shopping list is like:
Front OME HD springs
Front OME struts
Front strut spacer from JBA
Front control arms from JBA
Rear 4" springs from JBA
Rear shocks- Rancho 9000XL
Rear track bar (if needed... my rear is only 1/4" off)

That entire lift setup, including track bar is about $1500. You can get it down to $1000 by not doing the control arms right away ($450), but id highly recommend putting those new arms on while everything's apart.

[pjmjr508]

Welcome to the group, everyone here will help you in any way you need to get what you want done. This is a great group. Just ask away someone here will offer to help

[stites-xk]

Welcome to the group!

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