I'm getting a 97 Grand Cherokee this week, and am looking for a lift kit, tires, and wheels. I'm thinking 3 or 4 inches of lift, 31-33" tires, and need some help with wheels. Do you guys have any recomendations(sp?) for wheels and some good websites where I can get this stuff?

I really like the wheels on this jeep:
http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/158157
but don't know what kind they are.

This is a little off topic, but what are the numbers for the infinity sound system(watts, frequency response and all)?

Inorder to run 33x10.50 you'll need 4.5" of lift and 4" BS, I recommend black steel wheel, thos wheel you can get almost anywhere and only run about 40-45 bucks each. There is more that I'm gonna need to talk to you about in completeing this prodject...email me at: sgolisch@email.arizona.edu or hit me up on AIM: ZJ9859L
also I'm on the Jeepin.com bored ALOT.
Here's is my bro's and my ZJ (more his than mine cause I mainly drive the TJ):
http://www.azwildcatoffroad.org/Embedded/IMG_2515.jpg
http://www.azwildcatoffroad.org/Embedded/IMG_2525.jpg
http://www.azwildcatoffroad.org/Embedded/IMG_2526.jpg

alright here's what you need to know!!

Rancho makes a 3'' lift for the ZJ, it usually runs about 500 bucks, but you will need to buy shocks along with it. I have Rancho RS5000's and they work great for this application. I have this lift on my '96 coupled with 1 & 3/4'' coil spacers in the rear to prevent rubbing. I can fit 32x11.50 BFG Mud Terrains. You will have to do a little trimming with a razor knife to make it so they won't rub. If you go with this lift, get the coil spacers first time around because you will definatly regret having to drop your axles again to put them on, and they are worth the extra 50 bucks. This is quite a big project, not to scare or doubt your abilities, but it took me and my dad who works around this stuff everyday, about two days to finish the work on my jeep. Just make sure you have someone who can help you, or a shop who is willing to do it for you for a reasonable price.

As far as rims go, American Racing and eagle alloy both make a black rim of good quality, but if you have the money go with polished aluminum. In my opinion they look much better and give the jeep a better look. But this is your baby so do as you please. As far as tires go, i'm partial to BFGoodrich Mud Terrains. They are a good tire with decent tread life, great grip in most every terrain, and arent too terribly loud that you cant drown out the road hum with a decent stereo.

Pick up a Peterson's Four Wheel & Offroad next time you are in a gas station. They usually have quite a few ads for low priced tires and rims. Also shop around at your local wheel and tire shops. A lot of the time they have sales on wheel and tire combos and will ballance and aline your jeep with the purchase of tires.

Good luck my friend and keep us posted on how it goes!!!!

ok don't listen to the newb, Rancho??? who the hell uses that crapt, only thing they make worth anything is their shocks. Its all about Rubicon Express, unless you go to long arms then I'd say Clayton. But the best would be to build you own lift that way you get exactly what you want. Thats what we are planning on doing to our ZJ and the TJ. Anyways, The problem with the coil spacer that Waldo recommended is that they cause spring sway which intern encourages spring sagging. And there is more that you need to know than just "Rancho makes a 3" lift", that's horse shit man. What about WJ trackbar convertions, SYEs and CV driveshafts, axle strength vs. tire size and lockers, adjustable trackbars and control arms, pinion angles, Backspacing, swaybar disconnects, oh and gearing huh.....there is more to a lift than just the kit if you really want it to be function and get the most out of it. I would never go with polished aluminum iwheels you plan on really wheeling it, no point to tareing up $80-$100 wheels, that would be a really dumb. But hey if you are going for looks and not really to wheel this thing like most of the tootsies on this board then just slap on a 2" BB like eveyother Road Poser here. Sorry but the Rancho sudjestion really got me going.

go to theses sites:
www.kevinsjeepparts.com
www.jeepin.com (look at jeepinoutfitters too there is a link at the top left of the the homepage)
www.nagca.com
www.rubiconexpress.com (springs and control arms)
www.teraflx.com (SYE)
www.jksmfg.com (swaybar disconnects)

most of this stuff you can get through Jason at Jeepin outfitters for a really good price, but seriously email me so I help you set up for exactly what you want to do.

OK "Roughian" I think your parents may have been a little too rough on your skull when you were a baby. By the way, yes i am a newbie but check out your status!!!! What do ya know!! So are you!!
G35 asked for suggestions on 3-4 in lifts not gears, sway bar disconnects, axle swaps, WJ trackbar convertions, SYEs and CV driveshafts, adjustable trackbars and control arms. He also asked for advice on rims I like polished alum because where i come from there isn't any rocks to bang up on them. They look better and do the exact same thing. I do find it funny that you bring up the higher price as a point but then go on to telling him that he "needs" to make all these other mods that in most common applications are unnecessary. Rancho is a good lift, i've had no problems with it and they've been around since my dad was a wheeler 20 years ago. I won't knock rubicon express because i don't have much experience with them in the real world but as far as prices go i see the rancho as a better value. Building your own lift is risky business, sure you get what you want but if you cross that threshold of 4.5in you better consider investing in a roll bar. Top heavyness will come into play. A little lower jeep is better than a totaled out rolled one on any day. As far as coil spacers go, as much of a know it all as you are, you should realize that there are aluminum adjustable spacers on the market. Sure they will run you a little more but they are practical for offsetting spring sag and giving a little more clearance. Check these out at www.kevinsoffroad.com. Also at this site, check out the ZJ radiator supports. I don't have one of these yet, but if your jeep didn't have the upcountry package from the factory, they will move your radiator supports up and have places for you to mount shackles. You do however have a good point when you bring up lockers and gearing. I recommend changing the stock gears to suit your needs I went lower because my 4.0 wouldn't pull the tires very well at highway speeds. A rear locker is also a good idea if you have the cash in hand, but is not really needed unless you plan on doing some serious offroading and don't want to suffer the ego burst when your friends have to pull you out on occassion. Ever heard of starting off slow and doing a thing called upgrading. Ever think that maybe he's not a "hard core" wheeler like you, but has to drive this thing every day and wants to make it look cool and be functional off road as well. Sounds like you need a reality check.

Thanks for all the help guys. It's a 5.2 so I don't think it shouldn't have too much trouble with bigger tires. As far as offroading, I'll definatly be doing some but not anything like those pics that roughian put up. So if I get 31" x 10.5" tires, 3" lift, shocks, wheels, and spacers. Will I need anything other than some trimming?

Roughian-Is all the stuff you mentioned just for serious offroading, or is it necessary for a lift? I'll email you when I decide what I want to do

What's a bb? I don't have a lot of money now, so I might just have to do something cheap for looks until I save a bit more.

First off our ZJ is driven everyday, infact we are currently in the middle of a 2000+ mile road trip with it, so sorry that attack was wasted. Oh and I am no newb, maybe new to this board but I've been building and working on ZJ's for 4 years. Oh look at that attack, its gone too. Lets see KevinsJeepparts.com is kevinsoffroad.com, Oh wait and I'm friends with Kevin, going to his b-day party next week, really falling behind here newb. Is Rancho bad quality, no, but there is far better out there, so in comparison to me it is crapt. And I bring all that other stuff up because there are things that you have to address. And Building your own lift isn't risky if you take your time and excersise patience, got a friend Chad Jans who we helped do it. There is a reason for everything I brought up, becuase I have been down that road, I've busted trackbar reloction brackets, fought bump steer and torque steer, battled with piece of crapt disconnects. Everything I threw out there is for a reason....FUNCTION. And as far as Rancho being a better value, just because it is cheaper doesn't make it a better value. From what it looks like the Rancho kit only replaces springs and control arms. The RE kits replaces the whole suspension, extends brake lines, t-case drop (although I prefer SYE's), both brackbars, uses adjustable control arms (upper and lower, this allows you to adjust the pinion angles for your lift hight), extended brake lines, and comes with swaybar disconnects (although I run JKS's). Oh and free shock if you go through Jason. He asked about lifts, to me that means everything that can and will be effects by raising the Jeep, including you roll over propsition, that is why I brought up backspacing (and if you are really worried about it you can get stiffer swaybars), and there is no "threshold" at 4.5", the RE kit is actually arond 5 to 5.5, never rolled, and oh right Kevin More has 8", long arms and 35's and never rolled. What you need to understand is a lifted Jeep is not a Porche, it drive like a lifted Jeep which mean no driving like a 16 year old hot shot, you have to use some common sense.

Now G35 alot of the stuff I threw out helps both on and off road, especially the WJ trackbar converstion from Kevinsjeepparts.com. Disconnects will only really help off road, but even in mild stuff they will greatly improve traction and axle articulation (infact our ZJ and the TJ both do not even have rear swaybars, they're really too small to actually don anything). And I really am not a fan of spring spacers, you'll, because you don't get any added flex with them. SYEs in combination with longer CV drive shafts will elminate a need for a transfer case drop and reduce any drive line vibrations, not to mention keep you from busting u-joints. BB stand for budjet boost, basically its just throwing on spring spacers and shocks (like $100). With 31's you won't even need to trim on a 3" lift, but may have to move your trackbars though or go with adjustables (I'd sudjest adjustables incase you ever want to go any higher). You may or may not need a t-case drop because drive line vibs are picky, sometimes the show up at 3" sometimes higher. A good kit will come with the t-case drop though. Now if you want the absolute cheapest stuff go with Rustysoffroad.com but keep in mind you get what you pay for.

haha this is really getting stupid.... Roughredneck, i wil commend you on a few things but for the most part what you said was total overkill!!! Your grandpa must have left you one hell of a trust fund, and i also find it funny that you patrionize (look that one up on dictionary.com if you arent sure what it means) with bullshit like who you know. Oh and by the way, by the rating of your id, you are a newbie, maybe not to jeeps but to this forum.
G35 what he said was right if you want to have the most expensive biggest baddest ZJ around, but if you want decent offroad ability and can't afford to drop a couple of grand on suspension, you'll be fine with a basic three inch lift. I've had mine for almost two years now and hit medium level trails two or three times a month without any problems with stock or aftermarket breakage. I would SUGGEST not "sudjest" (wow you must be a inbred redneck) going with 32x11.50's on 15x8 rims they look a ton better and with rear spacers and any good quality 3in springs and lower control arms, they won't give you much trouble with rub. Simply bolt back the black plastic in your front wheel wells and trim off a couple of inches at a slight angle. You can't even tell that i trimmed mine up. The wider and taller tires look meaner and are much more aggressive. Upgrade stuff as your interest grows, abilities to understand how things work get better, and your cash flow is stronger. I started off with a low BUDGET not "budjet" (it isn't named after a beer sponsored airplane) and i'm satisfied with all of the components. The greatest and worst thing about these projects is that you can always upgrade if you aren't happy. Take my advice though if you don't have the cash and the know how, just start off slow and work your way up. G35, you sound like you are in the same boat as me a couple of years back. The advice i've given you may not be the best stuff out there, but it works great for me and i'm sure it'll suit you just fine. If you have any questions and don't want to listen to more nonsense bullshit, give me an email or private message and i'll be happy to help you in any way i can. R_WALDO_86@yahoo.com

In my case, i had all intentions of building the biggest money pit of a ZJ out there. However i was sidetracked from doing this. Instead of dropping wads of cash on performance parts and suspension set ups, I dropped them into one of the biggest loudest and most well rounded stereo systems in the area. Pick your poison i guess. Now if you want me to give you about the same extent of overkill on something as Roughrider has given you on suspension, as me about a nice stereo system. I'll be quite happy to contribute to the demise of your hearing. But regardless of how you spend your dough, have fun with it. Good luck..

All I have to say to you is: you resorted to pointing out my spelling mistakes to win an argument concerning Jeeps. Hell you could go through every post on this board and find some spelling or grammatical error. So, in that case, I fail to see the point in your flawed attempt to insult my intelligence.

I just lifted my 1997 Orvis with a Rubicon Express 3.5 inch Super-ride lift kit and it is AWESOME!! I added 31x10.5" Goodyear Wrangler's and Rancho 9000's with 9 position stiffness settings. The ride is way better IMO than stock. Needless to say I'm not driving a "Porche" any more, but it still drive/rides like a rockstar! . I did not need to do any trimming whatsoever and the tires do not rub at all. I was told that if I went to 32", that I would need to trim. I did alot of research on lift kits/manufactures and this seemed like the best possible company to go with. I will add photos soon to show the results. I've added a safari rack with Hellas and am set to conquer!

Hey Waldo and Roughian...why don't you just post a reply and be DONE! Please try to act a little more adult and stop arguing. I don't think that it helps with the answers G35Man is looking for. Thanks.

Allright to fit what your looking for which I belive was 33's? you'll need a 4 inch lift and some slight trimming might be needed. Just as a WARNING running 33's on a stock dana 35 axle you may risk breakage it depends on what you wheel on, it's more of an issue on surfaces like steep slick rock climbs. If you go with more like a 32x11.50 there will be little or no chance of breakage and you'll need olny a 2-3" lift and little or no trimming.

Supply's
lift- superlift has a 3"
tires- Depends on what you wheel on.For a good A/T Tire check out the "Bridgestone Dueler Revo" it's got good road manners, good self-cleaning, and a 50,000 mile warantee I beleve.

Rims- personal prefrence

E-mail your question to Kolak@aol.com <Kolak@aol.com> and he will answer any questions you may have. Nick is very knowledgable and can set you up with anything you need. I have also had very good luck with Kevin at http://kevinsjeepparts.com/ as well. Tell them what you are looking for and they will tell you what works and what doesn't. Good Luck.
ByronP