What lift to get?

[65cj6er]

Ok guys , I bought a Jeep! Well another Jeep anyway, this time it's a '01 WJ GC Laredo, 4.7L with the Quadratrack ll.
Right now it's bone stock which is kind of annoying me. Firstly it needs a lift and some real rubber.
what lift do you guys generally have? What do I need to run 285/70/16s.? Should I stick with something more conservative like 265/75/16s?

Most lift I've seen are 2" springs and shocks
I see lots of coil spring lift blocks, what are your thoughts on using lift blocks?

Intended usage is mainly beach and sand driving with occasionally fire trails but it is my daily driver as well. Any thoughts and ideas would be great, thanks

[fester]

What sort of budget are you thinking. The reason you see mostly 2" lift is that once you go over that it becomes quite expensive due to the changes required to make the car drive well. With 285's you would need at least 4" and a lot of trimming. It becomes a law of deminishing returns and for a daily driver I believe the cost is not worth it. If all you intend to do is sand and fire trails I would think it is overkill also, especially when 285's on a WJ is very obviously illegal to the boys in blue. You will stand out like the proverbial.

There is a lot of discussion on this subject many times in past threads. I suggest you start searching and reading after you have determined a budget. Budget lift with spacers from a few hundred to full long arm conversion of several thousand.

I'm running a 2.5" lift with 265's. Lift is a Murchison Products lift. One of the other popular lifts is Dobinsons springs with Bilstein 5100 shocks imported from the States.

[timbotrog]

Yep, I agree with Fester, as soon as you go over 2" things start to become very expensive for not much added return.

My 2003 V8 WG has Dobinsons coils and Bilstein 5100 shocks, (imported shocks from the US). I installed it myself and it ended up costing less than I was quoted for the shocks alone.

The largest tyre size you will fit into the spare tyre well is a 245/70/17, or a 31" in the old books. A 285/70/16 is a 32" and not only will it not fit in the spare area, but the amount of wheel arch cutting, lifting, wheel spacers etc required will set you back a small fortune. It will then also come with a free "Pull me over" sticker for the rear window for the NSW Police Service...

As a daily driver with the usage you have stated here 2" of lift and some quality AT tyres will do the job brilliantly.

[65cj6er]

Well it looks like some 265s will be the go then, I looked at the spare wheel well and figured that nothing bigger than the stock 245 will fit. I guess the answer will be a rear bumper carrier, any recommendations for this?

At least putting the spare out the back will free up some good storage space!

[slipmo]

I went with a rooftop carrier from "kevinsoffroad.com", well made, and much cheaper than a rear mounted carrier.

[fester]

And to add to Timbo, if NSw has gthe full new anti hooning laws as I suspect they do, being pinged for the 285's can give you an automatic entry to the hooning register and lead you down the path of confiscation.

I've seen the Kevins roof carrier and it looks good. Some of us (me being one) are carrying the spare on the factory roof crossbars but I do not recommend this and I'm only doing it temporarily as the cross bars are not very strong and would not stand up to too much offroading.

Not much off the shelf for rear tyre carriers. There is one made in the US that is generic for towbar mounting but not cheap and not sure if anyone is bringing them in here.

Piper did a few pics in a thred a while ago of his own towbar mounted one. It was central and looked simplier and easier than the US ones as they cantilever off the towbar to be a side swing out. Pipers is a drop down.

The other way is to make your own like Pipers or you can do a bolt through the rear bumper sandwiching it between a frame mounting if you are so inclined.

There are also some simple plans available online for a DIY front bar and DIY rear bar that you could add a carrier to. I can;t find the link offhand but it was discussed here also.

[bodgie]

VSB09 is the guide to follwo in NSW if you want to stay legal, here is what you can do with Tyres without notifying the RTA:

http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/registrati...vsi09_rev4.pdf

Minor changes to wheels
Wheels up to 26mm wider than the largest optional wheel recommended by the vehicle manufacturer for the vehicle can be fitted without the need to notify the RTA.
The outside diameter of the wheel and tyre combination must be no more than 15mm over the largest diameter wheel and tyre combination specified for the vehicle and not more than 15mm below the smallest diameter wheel and tyre combination specified for the vehicle.

For a 17" wheel this equates to a 245/65/17.