Tenzen's Build

OK about my ride.. Bought about a month or so ago from the Dealership.

We bought it in April 2015, Brand New.. It was the only 2014 they had left at the Dealership and this was their prize Showroom model with lots of showy add ons, which I mostly had them remove.

I believe the best way to buy a new car is to buy the Remaining brand new vehicle around spring of the following year, to get the best deal..

We were open to a 2015, but with all the negotiating, we decided that the new 2014 was the way to go. All of the 2015s were sitting outside on the lot and were test driven alot.. Our 2014 sat on the showroom floor shiny and pampered..

We ended up negotiating a killer deal.

We were told the 2015 was not being updated and was just the 2014 being run out of existence for another year..

Being a new vehicle bought the next year, we'll always be behind on mileage, and really gives us another 13,000 miles to play with on the KBB as opposed to buying that years model early in that Year where its a struggle to even meet the KBB mileage.

So anyway, we're very happy with this decision.. It's a DD as well as our primary outdoor hobby, recreation, and Touring vehicle.

That said, any mods we decide on have to be good for cross-country/ inter-state travel, DD, as well as off-road.

So there has to be a realistic balance of all

For off-roading, we don't really go off-road for the sake of off-road, but as a means to reach Fishing, Bowhunting, Hiking, Camping, Photography, Site-seeing, and Exploring Locations.

I don't plan on this being a hardcore mudding or rock rig, but where we travel we may need to cross rivers 2-3 feet deep, get up and around some rough areas with big rocks, etc.

So if anyone sees me going in the wrong direction, please let me know. I don't want to get caught up in the off-road mods and forget about the cross-country usage etc.

Ideas I have for mods thus far, let me know if they're going to hurt mpg for DD or make Cross-country touring a PITA..

2-3" Body Lift
Suspension Lift
Larger tires
(i don't know what all is included or what PML is or if that's needed too or shackles or whatever else)

Front bumper, Shrockworks i think.. It would seem to make the front of the X more aerodynamic as well which may even improve mpg? Mostly for rugged protection.

Rear bumper with tire mount and jack, in case I'm getting bigger tires and because of the lift.

That's about it for now.. Don't want to do anything that will throw codes or cause electric conflicts with ___bus

Tenzen said:

Ideas I have for mods thus far, let me know if they're going to hurt mpg for DD or make Cross-country touring a PITA..

2-3" Body Lift
Suspension Lift
Larger tires
(i don't know what all is included or what PML is or if that's needed too or shackles or whatever else)

Front bumper, Shrockworks i think.. It would seem to make the front of the X more aerodynamic as well which may even improve mpg? Mostly for rugged protection.

Rear bumper with tire mount and jack, in case I'm getting bigger tires and because of the lift.

That's about it for now.. Don't want to do anything that will throw codes or cause electric conflicts with ___bus

Click to expand...

You'd need to decide on what sized "Larger Tire" you want to run ultimately.

If sticking with 33's (an inch larger than the larger stock size) you don't need a BL to fit them.

If the BL is to get the body higher, and/or to allow say 35" tires down the road...then you might as well do a 3" as its the same work as the 2", but, is an extra inch. (On the 1st gen X's, the 3" BL is more work than the 2" BL).

An X on 35's is VERY capable, as they tend to just roll right over most of what's in the way...and they pick the diffs, axles, etc, up about an inch and a half over the best stock clearances, all by themselves.

Skid plates and sliders are really a great idea for a DD, as they tend to be your insurance that you'll be able to drive it to work on Monday morning after a weekend of fun.

For a DD, added height can be a disadvantage depending on if you need to fit into parking garages, etc....so, its sometimes something to think about.

An On-Board Air system is a mod to consider for Overlanding, etc...as you need to air down off road, but, also need to air back up again when done...and, having either a CO2 tank set-up (PowerTank, etc) or a compressor and reservoir set up, etc, is an amazing convenience....esp as they can also run air tools, reset blown beads, inflate mattresses or rafts, etc, as needed.

>

Ok.. My stock tires are 265/75R16 Pro AT M and 26.5 x 0.75 = 18.55 / 2.54 =7.3 sidewall x 2 = 14.6 + 16 = 30.6" tires, right?

So changing to a 33" tire would be 2.4" bigger and add 1.2" overall lift?

35" tires would be 4.4" bigger and add 2.2" of lift over what I have now? And thats full diff lift..

And i would need a 3" body lift anyway to fit 35s, and so my floorboards would be lifted 5.2" higher than they are now?

Thats pretty high. It would help for rivers for sure.. Not sure if my wife would be happy climbing up or not, i'll have to ask her.. Might have to get her a little chrome step or something.

If I'm in water up to bottom of the body, do i have to worry about anything getting wet? People need breather tubes for their diffs too? And is it only the distributor that I have to worry about getting wet in the engine? And whats the height of that?

I have this 5-in-1 I got at Harbor Freight thats got an Air Compressor with PSI Gauge, a Jumper Battery, AC Power Inverter, USB & DC power, and Work Lights.. Is that enough?

I've never heard of a built in air system.. Does it take up much space? What all is involved? It sounds super cool..

PML may be something to look into.. Does it work on 2nd Gens?

I'll post it here.. Any useful info I come across that I may need later I'll post in my build thread.


PML - Indexing the Front:

If you run out of adjustment, and still have bumpstop gap to eat up, you:

PML - Re-indexing:

For the Rear: Putting on the Shackles

For the Alignment After:

Expect 1.5" MAX Lift

Ok forget the PML.. Not for gen2s

I think I'm looking for a puck lift, TJTJ.. Ever heard of that?

I think 33s are plenty big for me, and I don't really want a body lift cus I don't want the gap from raising it off the frame ..

So a friend of mine just lifted his brand new Chevy for like 130 dollar kit from Rough Country.. He called it a puck lift..

Can you tell me how much lift I can manage to get with a puck lift alone and not have to adjust any other things like steering or shocks or anything else..

Is 2" going to be ok?

Thanks

Tenzen said:

Ok.. My stock tires are 265/75R16 Pro AT M and 26.5 x 0.75 = 18.55 / 2.54 =7.3 sidewall x 2 = 14.6 + 16 = 30.6" tires, right?

So changing to a 33" tire would be 2.4" bigger and add 1.2" overall lift?

35" tires would be 4.4" bigger and add 2.2" of lift over what I have now? And thats full diff lift..

And i would need a 3" body lift anyway to fit 35s, and so my floorboards would be lifted 5.2" higher than they are now?

Thats pretty high. It would help for rivers for sure.. Not sure if my wife would be happy climbing up or not, i'll have to ask her.. Might have to get her a little chrome step or something.

If I'm in water up to bottom of the body, do i have to worry about anything getting wet? People need breather tubes for their diffs too? And is it only the distributor that I have to worry about getting wet in the engine? And whats the height of that?

I have this 5-in-1 I got at Harbor Freight thats got an Air Compressor with PSI Gauge, a Jumper Battery, AC Power Inverter, USB & DC power, and Work Lights.. Is that enough?

I've never heard of a built in air system.. Does it take up much space? What all is involved? It sounds super cool..

Click to expand...

265/75/16 =

265 mm x 0.75 = 198.75 mm so the sidewalls are ~ 199 mm or ~ 7.82"

So, 15.6" of sidewall + 16" of rim = 31.6" of total tire diameter, or, nominally, 32".


So, a 33" tire (Which might BE 33", or, 32.6", etc...) would be about one inch taller in DIAMETER....and add ~ 1/2" in CLEARANCE.

A 35" tire would be ~ 3" taller in diameter, and add ~ 1.5" in clearance.

>


So....with 35's...you'd be ~ 1.5" higher.

With the 3" BL you'd add to fit them, your BODY would be a total of ~ 4.5" higher.

Your diffs and a few other parts under there have breather tubes....not to breath per se, but because they get hot in use, and, the air in them expands...and the tube lets the hot air out instead of making them pressurize/blow seals, etc.

If you go into (cold) water, the hot air is chilled, and, shrinks, so the diffs, etc, now need to suck in make up air, or be under vacuum/suck in water, etc...and, then, the same tubes let in make up air.

...so you have tubes, but, you make sure they're on and not torn, etc...and sometimes extend them up higher just in case....as in water, that's when you ARE sucking in air as the diffs are chilled...and you want AIR to be what DOES get sucked in.


Your distributor is on top of the engine....so your hood's awash if that's wet...and some Si spray etc, and even that being wet is fine.

Your air intake (IN-Take...) is where you don't want the water to be as high as.

That's about at headlight height at your wheel well...so if your tires are no longer visible, its time to pay attention.

This is why people get a snorkel...even if NOT for forging deep water, sometimes there's an under water rut, etc...and the ~ hub deep tame water suddenly drops one side down to the headlight....and its NOW deep water, etc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Z7rxIqnplU

If you have hot diffs (The hotter the worse) and, drive into cold water (The colder the worse) the air in the diffs shrinks, and, the diff sucks in at the tube to make up for the missing volume.

If that tube end is under water, it sucks in water.

The water MIGHT just make it into the tube itself, w/o reaching the diff internally, or, it might make it all the way into the diff.

If it makes it into the diff, and you have dino juice lube in there...an emulsion is formed (oil/water mixed into a milky brown mess), which is not good at lubricating the parts in there, and, you can get premature wear and rust, etc.

If you have good synthetic diff juice instead of dead dino juice, the oil sticks to the metal and doesn't from an emulsion, but, you will have water settle to the bottom of the diff, and, you can still get rust down there...and, if deep enough, cause premature gear wear at those immersed areas, etc.

In EITHER case, if you sucked in water, you'd change the diff juice.

So if you got that lift you might also want to add longer shocks, shackles, and UCA?

Is it only going to bang when it goes over a big bump?

Maybe I should call the manufacturer and see if it's going to cause bucket bang.. Its possible that it'll fit though, right? Maybe they have just a 2" one..

And at 149 bucks that's a great deal. It seems it'd still be good to use in conjunction with other SL and BL as an additional way to gain height anyway..

And if I am going to change UAC and add Shackles and longer shocks, isn't there another kind of sus lift I might as well do too?


Do you know what other kinds of SL are available to us 2nd geners?

Thanks