Stumptaco's has gone over to the darkside..XJ style.

[boknows]

Stumptaco,

Where do you over there. I used to live in Spesbach(near landstuhl) and would drive into kleber kaserne. I miss some of it, beer and schnitzel. Looking forward to your build, do you guys do much camping over there, it was hard for me to find anyplace in Germany where we could drive offroad

[IXNAYXJ]

With T&T though, you could buy the stiffeners, LA kit, belly skid, and bumpers and they will give you a wonderful deal in the long run.

I bent my TnT stuff too many times. I was glad to sell it and move to the Claytons kit.

-----Matt-----

[OverlandZJ]

Haha, beat me to it. What I would do is buy the springs from RE and the Clayton LA kit seperately. It does require some welding but it's not too bad.



-----Matt-----

Yep, if i had it to do over again i think i would opt for Claytons arms as well.

[XXXpedition]

It does require some welding but it's not too bad.

if it's welding at the frame...
he's in germany. welding at the frame renders your road worthyness worthless.
damn TUV in europe...

[StumpXJ]

I've run that same set up for over a year now including the STT's Which I liked but get louder as they ware(most do). I did have a little problem though with highway speeds. When my speedo said 70 my gps would say 60 (stock speedo gear)and I was running closer to 2500 rpm's and when trying to get speed for a big hill I would turn 3k. So I just moved up to 34's a true 34 and it's a lot better on the highway. I'm still going about 5mph slower then speedo but it seems to be working the motor less. Oh and as for the LA If your going to wheel hard I would agree with Overland look at Clayton's I've seen them in action and Clayton is a great guy.

I like the STT, I have them on my Taco, and they do get loud as they wear, but most do. I was contemplating going with the 35 X 12.50 15's, (actual dia is about 34.?), but I think I will be happier with the 33 inch tire. Both for gearing, and mileage. Thanks!

Also, check out the Interco Trxus M/T for a tire; they're very well behaved on the road, last a long time, magical in snow and rule in the sloppy conditions you describe.

-----Matt-----

Matt, what kind of mileage do you get out of the Truxs? I am very limited on which brand tire I get if I get them on the base (MUCH CHEAPER), Mickey Thompson, and Cooper is about the extent of my selection. Thanks for the link, I will look in the Clayton arms.

Clayton has THE best customer support of any XJ affiliated long arm kit. Like T&T their product(s) are overbuilt and can take the abuse. I ran their LA kit on my ZJ. But, with Clayton, you break it, they will replace it no questions asked. With T&T though, you could buy the stiffeners, LA kit, belly skid, and bumpers and they will give you a wonderful deal in the long run.

Thanks for the info, I always build my own armor and skids, so that is taken care of. I just prefer to have the suspension components made by professionals, and it sounds like Clayton's is the way to go.

Stumptaco,

Where do you over there. I used to live in Spesbach(near landstuhl) and would drive into kleber kaserne. I miss some of it, beer and schnitzel. Looking forward to your build, do you guys do much camping over there, it was hard for me to find anyplace in Germany where we could drive offroad

We are over here with my wifes job. We are both civilians, but she (GS-13) works for the Army Corps of Engineers as a project manager on Ramstein air base. I am finishing up my college degree, and working at the local Se3rvice Credit Union as a teller on the base. I also run my own internet business as a side job/hobby.

We do quite a bit of camping over here, but not much in Germany. I do a lot of traveling with my side business to different countries to attend races, and that is usually when we camp. There are quite a few off road parks in Germany, but no real trails per se. We normally go to France for offroading trips. I recently took a 2,200 mile trip to Sweden and back, and camped for 5 nights. My wife and I are driving to Finland and back over the July 4th weekend. It will be a 4,800 kilometer round trip. We are going through the old eastern block countries (Czech, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Poland etc) on the way up, and back down through sweden and Denmark on the return trip. Unfortunately, the Jeep is no where near ready, so we are mounting the RTT on the top of my wifes little suzuki wagon. It gets 36 Mpg, so that will be better in the long run.

Beer and Schnitzel. Yes. I love the beer and Schnitzel. I am having a Scoeffehofer Heffe Weisen right now

Yep, if i had it to do over again i think i would opt for Claytons arms as well.

I bent my TnT stuff too many times. I was glad to sell it and move to the Claytons kit.

-----Matt-----

Sound like the general consensus is for the Clayton arms! I will be looking into them.

if it's welding at the frame...
he's in germany. welding at the frame renders your road worthyness worthless.
damn TUV in europe...

Not true for us. One of the benefits of being over here with the US military is not having to have our vehicles TUV compliant. We have our own vehicle registration/inspection department, and TUV rules do not apply. I have tons of stuff welded to my Taco frame, and have no issues. The German guys I wheel with are very jealous of our situation, they hate the fact that I can drive around with everything on my truck, and not have to deal with TUV.

You US guys should know just how good you have it, even in Cali. The TUV SUCKS!!

~James

[Bongo Boy]

I'm pretty much a jeep guy, and I'm really scratching my head. I've kinda sorta gotta know, WTF were you thinking at the time this went down?

[IllianaXJ]

Looks like a great platform for a build. I have the TNT LA setup with Rubicon Express 5.5" coils/4.5" leafs, if I had it to do again I would have gone with the Clayton's. The front driveshaft becomes the low point with the way the TNT arms tuck.

For tires, I run tall & skinny 33x10.50 BFG MTs, and couldn't ask for better. Great on road and off. Only issue is they can be hard to find in stock, I ordered mine from Tire Rack.

FWIW, here's my setup, sounds similar to what you are shooting for. I have trimmed the snot out of the fenders though.

[StumpXJ]

I'm pretty much a jeep guy, and I'm really scratching my head. I've kinda sorta gotta know, WTF were you thinking at the time this went down?

what do you mean WTF was I thinking? Did you even read my posts?

Toyota had to buy back my old truck due to a major frame rust issue (ie swiss cheese on my frame). I made a HUGE profit, and it has allowed me to build pretty much whatever I want. Where is the confusion in that?

~James

[gabe]

Yep no complaints about the STT's plus I get a family discount when I get them from my cousins shop. I come from a rock crawling background so the only thing that worried me was the sidewall is only 3 ply I never got a flat but it still worried me, I just moved to the truxes M/T's (34x12.50) in part of that fear even if it's imaginary, the Truxes are 6 ply. Haven’t got enough miles on it yet but it’s sipped more then the STT which in theory is suppose to help wear, we’ll see.

[IXNAYXJ]

Sorry, I've been out wheeling and just saw the question about the TrXus. I rotate mine through for a new set about every 15k miles; they're at about 60% tread at that point and still very usable. I know guys getting 30k miles out of a set, but I drive hard and expect optimium performance.

-----Matt-----