Howdy yall! My name's Peyton, I'm 16, and from Austin (Texas). I'm new to Jeeps, but I love my JK. The important stuff about it is that it's a 2 dr soft-top with 17" wheels and 4.10 axle ratio. It's going to be my project vehicle for the next few years, as well as my daily driver.

Here are my questions:

Lifts/Tires/Wheels:

-As stated before, I've got 17" wheels (from the dealership). The apparently did something to axle (rotated a bit maybe?) to cut down on some of the issues (a la PiginaJeep's broken drive shaft [I think that was it...]). Will 2" spring spacers cause problems?

-Do yall know what size tires the 17" wheels come with?

-Is there a way to level out the axle?


Intake/Exhuast/Headers

-Will mud be an issue for the CAIs or any other exposed air filter?

-Do yall have a reccomended brand of intake? With many products, it's "you get what you pay for," but this seems pretty straight forward, and it looks like there aren't many chances for QC failure.

-Are any of yall running straight pipes, high flow cats, cat-back exhuasts, etc? How're they working out? Any noticeable differences? How's the exhaust tone? Are they sturdy enough for rock crawling and mudding?

-Are any of yall running headers? Same questions as the above. There really doesn't seem to be much info on either of these.

Plates/Covers/Rock Crawling

-Rock crawling is secondary to mudding, and looks to be a whole lot more expensive to get started, so this will be a slowly ongoing thing. Which covers are the most important?

-Anything else needed for rock crawling?

Thanks!

 

welcome -

upper right corner 'search' button -

it will give you all you seek -

 

x2

and in the nicest possible way, There is no way in hell that I am doing all that research for you when EVERYTHING you just asked has been covered in the last month.

and how the hell did a 16yo get an 07 JK ?

 

What model did you get? I live 40 miles NE of Austin.

 

Doh! I forgot about the “search n00b.” I browsed back several pages before the initial post, but none of what I wanted was covered very well…

-So far it looks like the Gibson headers are good as far as headers go, but make the Jeep sound like a Civic with a fart can. There really isn’t much about headers that is useful….
-Flow master is apparently ricey sounding as well.
-People seem to like their Magnaflows.
-The Cooltech LLC exhaust may be what I’m looking for. I haven’t seen anything against it so far, but is there anyone who’s had problems with them? Edit: Damn, it's 4 dr. only
-There’s next to nothing on Cats.
-None of these have differentiated between the 2 dr. and 4 dr. models either.

Should I use a Long Arm lift on a 17” wheel + 2” suspension lift? It IS an extra inch of difference, but it’s still at 3”.

Fun fact: three characters is too short for a search (17”) and if you type in two words, it will show all results with either of those individual words (17 inch gives every thread featuring the word “inch”).
-There was almost nothing on 17” wheels after several pages of searching.

Intakes work from everyone… I should have known that from cars, but was wondering if it was different for Jeeps.

I can’t find anything on mud and externalized air filters. The searches are either too narrow or too open. Water doesn’t hurt the elements though (no surprise).

There’s no answer to the question I asked about skid plates or rock crawling (at least not from the search). There’s information on the lack of skid plates, but I’d appreciate something like “Your rear axle is going to get the tar beaten out of it, go for a rock crusher, and then protect your oil pan.” I’m looking at fabbing something for the oil pan anyway, because it’s just asking to get attacked by the ground.

There’s also the “anything else?” part. If anyone feels like they could share a little something on fixing up a Jeep, feel free.

EVERYTHING I asked about may be covered, but I honestly couldn’t find it after extensive searching. If yall do happen upon it, could you please tell me the key words you used for future reference?

With $15k that he’s been saving for several years, a loan from his parents, and a job to cover insurance, gas, and upgrades.

I’ve got a white X with a bunch of goodies.

Would anyone care to correct any of mistakes that I may have made?

Thanks again,

~Peyton

Edit- for the record, I wasn't expecting anyone to answer all of those. I was simply supplying a list of my questions, and people could chime in with useful posts/information as they liked. Also, I've been doing research for the last week or so, but I want real experience and knowledge here that is in direct response, not what I gleaned off of someone elses questions.

 

mud + open element air filter + mud = suck. get a "pre-filter", a snorkel, or keep the stock.
actualy mud in general sucks 10min of fun 6 hours of cleaning.
I "made" my CAI, just search my profile for threads started by me.

cats: there are pre-cats and cats, leave them alone till someone offers a reprogram delete for the pre. The don't seem to be hurting power too bad anyway.

exhaust: I have a magnaflow in a home welded system. it sounds a LOT better.

rocks and skids: start important first. quality rock rails for the rockerpannels, diff covers and relocate/skid the evap canister (the black plastic rock magnet in the center of your jeep) upgrade to full under belly and oilpan as you notice you start to get yourself into more hardcore areas.

 

oh you lucky 16 yr old **** *** ***... anyway welcome to the forums.

 

theres no way the can rotate your axle without adjustable control arms. its not a YJ. someones giving you a line of shit.


if your jeeps stock, appeartly it is, you wont have an issues with the driveshaft.

If you lift the vehicle, your not going to want to keep the axle flat,. thats the problem. It needs adjusted to fix the pinion angle.


with a 2 door and a 3" lift you'll have to replace the driveshafts eventually. Most guys are not having issue. but I bet they will after they put a couple thousand miles on it.

I think you need to start reading the modified forum.It'll answer most of your questions

 

Thanks, I'll look into this.

That's good to know, but it won't be stock for very long.

I just want to prolong replacement as long as possible.

I've been doing lots of reading (that's how I came upon your thread). The problem is that there's a high volume of new threads and posts, and it's hard to read all of it. The search function also doesn't help on specifics because of the inherent flaws in any search function that doesn't involve tons of variables.

Thanks for your answers.

Thanks for the info! I looked through your threads, and I really liked the how-tos. While I'm trying to avoid going with a snorkel at the moment, I'm looking at a few homemade modifications that might help with the mud in general.