06-26-2017, 02:44 PM
JPolen01 Wrote:+1.RJ Wrote:gawjaI had to say this out loud twice to figure out what you meant.
2" lift is very practical and a good place to start. You can always upgrade if you're unhappy or feel you'll achieve even better performance with a higher lift. Lifts destroy the suspension geometry the manufactures have designed so you can end up with a harsh ride, bump steer, poor handling (not just from higher COG), axle wrap/drive shaft binding issues plus more. It depends on what suspension you have and how much you modify it. The lift kits of just 8 or so years ago pretty much gave you some if not all these problems but more modern ones I've noticed have started to attempt to address and reduce these issues. Safety is paramount especially if you're bringing your family along so you need to balance the extent you're willing to modify it with the reduced handling characteristics you'll receive from modifying the suspension. The shocks are a good brand but if you're getting stock height shocks and then later lift it, you will have to replace the shocks again. Tires too, larger tires means weaker brakes. XJ brakes area already abysmal and when I put larger tires on my Jeep it not only lengthened the gear ratios but also reduced the braking performance.
When towing make sure your RPM's are higher than the torque converters stall when cruising. Overdrive gear locks the torque converter up too. If it's constantly slipping you'll overheat your transmission real fast (plus heat = energy = wasted fuel). Forcing it into a lower gear (higher rpm) even when it wants to downshift is the way to prevent it. Yours is probably in the 1500-2000 rpm range. It shouldn't happen when you're towing but some auto manuf. have done a poor job with that in an attempt to tune the transmission very conservatively for increased fuel economy causing it to perform very poorly when being used out of those parameters. Also again remember that if you're towing your braking will suffer even more. Depending on the weight maybe consider setting up or purchasing a trailer with electric brakes. Since you have the tow package I assume that you won't have to worry about transmission issues I mentioned above.
If you're hesitant to upgrade to a full on oil cooler but want cooler trans temps, they sell fin style transmission oil pans that have increased surface area to promote greater heat exchange for trucks. They might offer something similar for your transmission. Mud and oil sludge that builds up over time acts as an insulator also. Keeping your under-carriage clean keeps things cooler. Since you had to replace the rear main seal and oil pan seal, I know it's likely your under-carriage has gotten filthy.