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