In august i finally decided i was going to buy a Jeep. I have wanted one for the longest time and i finally decided to crack down.  I bought an 04 sport. i bought it basically to take offroad since i do alot of Camping in PA up in the mountains. There are trails everywhere, nothing to crazy but deep enough mudholes to get stuck in if your not too careful.

Well i'll jump to it.  My question to all you veterans out there is what is the best way to make my Jeep more offroad worthy without the advantage of any lift? Beleive me i do want a lift and if i could afford it i sure would get one. As you can see i'm in the navy and good ol Uncle Sam just dosen't pay me enough. HAHAHA

Thanks.

RE budgetboost 2" lift($216) and 30" tires. rear locker of some kind and your good to go for mild wheeling.  

with the sport ... you should be able to fit 31's with no lift.  if you want to disconnect the sway bar, you'll need a  lift to clear the tires, or they'll modify the sheetmetal for you.  

Tires, winch, cheap locker.  

i agree with groo.31's and a winch would do u best.but if u have the dana 35 rear,i wouldent lock it,weaker axel once u put a locker in it,and its not that strong to begin with, better off leaving it alone.winch will take care of thoes deep mud holes,and 31's are big enough to get u up over and through the trails.  

if you do get thirty ones and are worried about mudholes make sure its  a really good mudding tire...the good ones are Good Year MTR and dunlops...you need something to chew up the mud

winch definately...and what helps is some type of rear lights...just as an idea i have two foglights welded to my hitch bar and a buddy of mine has the same and also a rear facing light by PIAA (extremely bright) inside his cab...kind of like a spot light

You can have just as much fun with a stock Jeep as us veterans with our monsters, all you really need is a winch. Lockers, big tires and all that fancy stuff looks cool but just leads to breaking stuff on the trail unless you go all out and dump big money to do it right.

You would be surprised how hard you can beat on a stock Jeep without breaking anything. Give me a stock Jeep and a winch and there really isn't anywhere I can't go. I would just have to use a little more finess thats all.

Peace..............JB

you don't even realy need a winch, a power puller can do ya until you get more funds.  

"you don't even realy need a winch, a power puller can do ya until you get more funds."

Thats cocky!!..........I love it!

You sound as if you have a great deal of knowledge.....so here is my question. Facts: new owner of a 2005 Jeep Wrangler x with 4.0 L. , 3.73 gears. I use it for daily transport. Would like to lift and put larger tires on it, but unsure of what to get. The end result is dependability on or off road and I want it to look sharp. Currently I use it off road weekly.

Any feedback is appreciated!

Jeepmama

what kind of lift do you think you need? A 3" will fit 31's and be still good on road as well.  

i 3 inch lift will fit 33's.if all they want to run is 31's no reason to even lift it,just get a good set of rims backspaced at 3 and half inch and wont rub at all.unless your in the rocks.no reason to overkill it,but you have to know what size tire you want to run,auto or manual tranny?if its a manual u will need atleast 4.10's or bigger,to go with 33's and still have highway power.it just all depends on what tire u want to run?  

shop around on forums, pirate or whatever local wheelin forums u have. u can find a lot of #### cheap. get yourself some good tires. the rest will come together. i wouldnt buy a budget boost new like kid below me suggested. u can buy the coil spacers used for 40 bucks. heres my friend keiths 99tj with 31's and a 2" budget boost. he hung with us just fine that day.  

The most bang for your buck is putting larger tires on the vehicle.  This is the only way to get additional ground clearance. A lift kit only allows you to put larger tires on.  Next would be to lock the rear (though not if you have a D35, to week). Body armor wil help after these and a winch.  As you can tell from all the posts, everyone has there opinon, read as much as you can an formulate your own.

Hawken