Where to Begin

[MischiefMan]

Well, in that I've had little interest from anyone to buy my FSJ, I guess I might as well drive and wheel it....where to begin though?

I come from the XJ crowd and we always tell people to just wheel the XJ in stock form until you learn your rig and it will tell you what upgrades need to be and when. The XJ is a very capable offroader in stock form though. Does this hold true for the FSJ also?

There is very little ground clearance at the rear with the receiver on there, and I can't seem to find any easy way to add front recovery points.

Suggestions on where to begin?

[Murphy]

Well, in that I've had little interest from anyone to buy my FSJ, I guess I might as well drive and wheel it....where to begin though?

I come from the XJ crowd and we always tell people to just wheel the XJ in stock form until you learn your rig and it will tell you what upgrades need to be and when. The XJ is a very capable offroader in stock form though. Does this hold true for the FSJ also?

There is very little ground clearance at the rear with the receiver on there, and I can't seem to find any easy way to add front recovery points.

Suggestions on where to begin?

Glad you made it over.
A good place to start would be the issues you have now. Most people do a basic spring lift and bigger tires for more clearance, unless you would rather remove the receiver or put a flat-bar style hitch on it. Front recovery points usually means a custom bumper and a lot of people like to install a winch with it. You might be able to use a short strap to go under the stock bumper and around the frame when you need to recover until you can do something better and more permanent.

I'm sure others will have some suggestions too.

[MischiefMan]

Ah...but see, I'm not sure if they are really issues or not. I've taken the Gwag out once and followed my friends in their lifted XJ's through some pretty tame stuff and I had zero issues. I'm just not sure how much the stock rig can take though, yano?

[Murphy]

Gotcha. It's all relative to what you want to do with it and how much time trouble and money you are willing to spend to get there. These are pretty capable off-road rigs in stock form, but me and most people think they need to be a little taller. A lift is the first thing "I" would do. But money for that, and especially bigger tires, is not that cheap. It just depends on how rugged you want to go. If you think it's good enough like it is, then you don't need to do anything. -- But I have never heard anyone that lifted their wag or cherk say, "I wish I would have left it stock" or "I regret lifting it".

[MischiefMan]

Right Right....I played in my stock XJ for a while...now it sits on 6" of lift and 33's. I'm not in any real hurry to spend a bunch of coin goin' through the process again. I also know that it will eventually happen. If I can take it to Superlift, Barnwell, Spring Creak, Bridgeport, etc. in stock form and do more than watch my buddies play, then I'll likely leave it that way for a bit. If that's just a pipe dream, then I'll have to rethink things. LOL

[jeepskater433]

welcome man, i saw your wag for sale and it looks clean, i like the color and all, ive owned wagoneers for the past 2 years, and have never wheeled one, so hopefully when i get my 87 runnin ill take out somehwere

[MischiefMan]

I go down to H-Town from time to time (actually Spring) to play at Spring Creek with my XJ friends. Maybe you could come out sometime and we can see how the stockers fair against the built XJ's LOL!

[jeepskater433]

I go down to H-Town from time to time (actually Spring) to play at Spring Creek with my XJ friends. Maybe you could come out sometime and we can see how the stockers fair against the built XJ's LOL!

sounds good, im goin this sunday if you guys want to join, we have a photoshoot for houstonjeepforum with some texan cheerleaders goin on so im goin to do that at 9 with some friends, then goin to go wheelin, i wont have the wag since its not runnin, couple of my buddies and i will have our tjs and another buddy will have his xj, you better hurry though ive been hearing that spring creek wil be closed within the next 6-12 months because the state bought it

[MischiefMan]

Thanks, but I'm already committed to a wrenching party up here this weekend.

I've heard that about the park. Something about the local governments taking over.

[jeepskater433]

Thanks, but I'm already committed to a wrenching party up here this weekend.

I've heard that about the park. Something about the local governments taking over.

no problem, yea thats what ive heard, now i really dont have any local places to go after they close, all my spots around here got way to risky to go to

[j20brett]

Where i would start:

Lift
Tires/Wheels
Depending on what you like to do, add a skidplate!
Lockers
Sliders
Bumpers or at least a tow point F/R

The sky is the limit from there...

[MischiefMan]

hhmmm....

It sounds like, out of the box, the XJ is a more capable rig than the FSJ based on the opinions I'm getting. I was hoping that wasn't the case.

[j20brett]

It all depends on what you want to do. The XJ might sound better, but they also have issues to be dealt with. If you run a 33" tire or larger with a locker, you run the risk of breaking an axle. The fsj axles are good to at least 35's, if not 37's with lockers.

[MischiefMan]

True...true... I understand that each has pro's and con's.

I've only actually seen 1 FSJ on the trails when we were out and about. It seemed to fit everywhere the XJ's could without issue. Has anyone else had any problems because of the size of the vehicles?

[Lindel]

When I had my WT, I wasn't sure if it would be able to manuever on any trails in East Tx, or the forest trails around Dallas. I was pleasantly surprised when I was able to pretty much point it and go. It was more nimble than the few Scramblers I came across.