New to Jeeps: Looking for lift suggestions

Lol I’m not too keen what y’all are talking about quite yet either the arms. ....

In your case, you will eventually want to start thinking about adding adjustable control arms to your Zone kit that fit your existing factory mounts. These are commonly referred to as short arms. With these, you will be able to fine tune the drive shaft angles and improve certain aspects of the axle position.

Everything that you will ever need from your Jeep can be accomplished very well with short arms and attention to detail.
 
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Lol I’m not too keen what y’all are talking about quite yet either the arms. I’ll do the lift and if I have any questions I can always pm one of you guys.
If you look under your TJ there are 4 arms at each end that hold the axles in place. You replace those arms as you progress in lift to be able to keep your axles centered in the wheelwell. The arms you would replace the stock arms with would be adjustable also.
Don't worry about know what longarms are yet. Just learn about your current suspension.
Your trackbars are what locates the axle under the TJ side to side. So as you lift it because the trackbar is connected to the drivers side at the frame it will pull the axle to the drives side. This is why you need an adjustable trackbar when you get to a 4" spring lift.
 
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This is showing the difference between JKS control arms and stock arms.
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Crawl under you Jeep and look at everything and remember where your front differential and rear differentials are. See where your control arm attach to your axles. Look at all the low points on your Jeep. When you start to go off-road this will help you know how to get around an obstacle by knowing where things are.
 
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Lol I’m not too keen what y’all are talking about quite yet either the arms. I’ll do the lift and if I have any questions I can always pm one of you guys.
Check out @Wildman’s pics. Those are stock control arms (short) vs adjustable control arms (short). Just search the forum and browse threads and pics of long arm lifts and short arm/adjustable arm lifts.
 
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This is showing the difference between JKS control arms and stock arms.
View attachment 82349




Crawl under you Jeep and look at everything and remember where your front differential and rear differentials are. See where your control arm attach to your axles. Look at all the low points on your Jeep. When you start to go off-road this will help you know how to get around an obstacle by knowing where things are.
Super helpful thanks!
 
We are here to help where we can. Of course you will find different opinions on some things. But helping new Jeep owners is part of the fun of this hobby. If you have a question about what something is take a picture and post it up. It is better to learn what things are and their correct names. And don't worry about not knowing as we all had to start somewhere.
 
We are here to help where we can. Of course you will find different opinions on some things. But helping new Jeep owners is part of the fun of this hobby. If you have a question about what something is take a picture and post it up. It is better to learn what things are and their correct names. And don't worry about not knowing as we all had to start somewhere.
Honestly this forum is the best thing I’ve ever found for starting out. Nothing like other forums where people trash you for not knowing. It’s a TJ thing I think haha. On a side note... I got a JK wave to me today, that’s a rare find.
 
Every forum has it's good and bad. Most Jeep people are willing to help out. Don't worry about not knowing. Buy yourself or download the Factory Repair Manual so you have it to help as you do things to your Jeep.
https://wranglertjforum.com/threads...ice-manuals-fsm-technical-documentation.4618/You can buy the FSM on Ebay on a CD for under $10 most times also. I print off the pages I need to work on what I am doing.

Also it helps to learn what is different about your year TJ over other years.

Example: 1997 TJ is the only year with the slide HVAC controls. All years after use the knob controls.
And your cowl vent is larger on a 97 over other years.
97 was the first year of the TJ style. The YJ (Square Headlights) was made from 1987-1995 and there wasn't a 1996 model year Jeep.
 
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I recall it be related to the the industry change to the ODBII standard and the switch occuring in between the YJ and TJ.
Makes sense. I could pressure wash the inside of my YJ and CJ’s and not have to worry abt a thing except a wet arse.
 
I always wondered why that was.
The TJ was released as a mid year new model in 1996. As JJVW said it was the change from the YJ platform to the TJ platform. And the 1997 still used some parts from the YJ like the slide HVAC controls.
 
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I have known a few people who bought one and the first time they went to use it the thing didn't work. Not a good time to find out your winch isn't going to work. I say save a little longer and get a Smittybuilt or Warn. Watch Craigslist for a used winch. I see them all the time. I know there are more and more winch companies out there now but I have always used Warn.
 
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