Even a trackick without heavy modification (calmini 3+3, front and rear lockers, tcase gears, toyota cvs maybe) would probably get outperformed by your current XJ.

Wanna play that one in real life?!? I've got a fairly built up XJ (33" swampers, long arms, locker, winch, 1100 on a 20*) and it SUX in real life compared to a 3+3 tracking rolling 32" swampers with a rear locker. Got my azz handed to me in a game of bells and whistles 2 years ago by one. Out of the 6 that participated it was down to me and my friend in his 94 kicker, last two obsticles he cooked me.

Driving a whale is not all it's cracked up to be. Sure there fun in the back and have lots of trunk space... But off-road it's not what your carrying but how you carry it.

Here's Yankee Tims Gv on Lower Helldorado with a Calimin 2.5 lift and 225/75/16 tires.  Wheeled it all week their and drove back to NY!

Bobzooki, It will take a lot of work to make an IFS flex as much as a solid axle. This not to say that a modded IFS isn't better that a stock solid axle rig. Show me some pics to disprove this  And show me some Vit or GV pics if ya got 'em.

Well you said:

it is IFS and will never perform (offroad) as well as my XJ

I guarantee you I can take my Kick places your XJ will never follow.
Your XJ should be able to go places my Kick cannot follow.

So which one performs better?
Flex alone does not make or break a rig.  Ramp scores mean nothing on the trail.

This pic is nothing special (just going down a bump on Moab Rim trail)...



We have a little trail here - Spring Creek - Last time I ran the Rock Garden on Spring Creek with my friend Elaine, in her seriously built TJ, she had several issues with "tight places" that the Gnewt just walked through.  An XJ would have been hard-pressed to make it through!

The Gnewt:



And Elaine's TJ on the same little rock, going in to Spring Creek.



Darn Imageshack, doesn't seem to be cooperating...

I have owned xj's befor and they wheel pertty good, if you have the fuel injected streight six engine I would just keep it for a wheeler and add a sub frame to it, it will add a little bit of weight but should be alot safer if your worried about rusting through. I like haveing a daily driver and a wheeler, ya never know when your going to need a back up rig.

Well, I have never owned a jeep but before I got the Tracker, I had a 71 bronco with lockers, gears, disk brakes...all the good stuff.  The tracker just walks over stuff that the bronco had issues with.  Last time I went out wheeling, I ended up following a group of jeeps out of Miller Jeep Trail which is a challenging trail.  Where most jeeps stuggled I just walked up.  By the time I got to the top, people who didn't give my beat-up, dented to shit, 80hp tracker a second look were swarming  to see what my little rig was equipt with.  What makes these little rigs great is the weight.  Although you don't have the flex of a SAS rig you also don't have the weight to push you around, so lifting a tire isn't as big a deal as if you were in a heavier rig.  Also, when approaching a obsticle you can easily place your tires because it doesn't take a lot of power or force for a tire to scratch its way up a rock face, especially when equipt with the 4.24 gears.  Althoguh my Bronco buddies would knock me, if I had to choose a decent rig for all around off-roading, I would go with my Tracker hands down!  Good luck with the XJ delima.   

Here are links to some wheeling pics from this weekend. Went with 4 very capable Land Rovers, one trick Land Cruiser, a stock Jeep and my Zuki.

I took the hardest lines the Cruiser did on 35s with one or two exceptions (wasn't sure I had the breakover angle to get over a ledge going up a gnarly hill). The Vit was totally at home with these vehicles.

http://homepage.mac.com/jeffryscott/PhotoAlbum18.html
http://shottscruisers.smugmug.com/gallery/1108700
http://www.azlro.org/gallery/2006-01-07

Have fun,

Jeff

Great pics. Thanks guys. I am seriously considering the GV buildup. Jeff, what mods have you done so far? Do you have any skid plating?

Bobzuki those are some pretty gnarly trails. We don't have anything that wicked around here, lots of clearcut sections of forest where the power lines run. I have really benefitted from lots of ground clearance. I think this is the most challenging part of lifting the GV.

I'll let you know what I do, I'll post pics.

RustyRed

Here are some pics of the XJ that I have collected, I will post some trailrun pics tomorrow as the links are on my work PC. Lots of different truck Toys, Rovers, Xterras...

http://ca.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/rustyredxj/album?.dir=/915f

Flex alone does not make or break a rig.  Ramp scores mean nothing on the trail.

This pic is nothing special (just going down a bump on Moab Rim trail)...

Yep.  That is true!



This the Pinzgauer I used to own.  At the 2003 ZookiMelt, I was beat out for dead last on the RTI (218 points) by a bone-stock early-model Sidekick 2-door tintop.  Yet I have been in situations where all I had was two wheels and a body panel on the ground and yet was able to keep going under my own power.  Where she lacked in suspension flex (4-wheel Independent Suspension!), she made it all back with lockers, gearing  and outstanding front/rear attack angles.   I have a pic of her on the RTI ramp at the Badlands, but my dial-up connection won't cooperate tonight.  Maybe tomorrow at work...

Great pics. Thanks guys. I am seriously considering the GV buildup. Jeff, what mods have you done so far? Do you have any skid plating?

Bobzuki those are some pretty gnarly trails. We don't have anything that wicked around here, lots of clearcut sections of forest where the power lines run. I have really benefitted from lots of ground clearance. I think this is the most challenging part of lifting the GV.

I'll let you know what I do, I'll post pics.

RustyRed

Here are some pics of the XJ that I have collected, I will post some trailrun pics tomorrow as the links are on my work PC. Lots of different truck Toys, Rovers, Xterras...

http://ca.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/rustyredxj/album?.dir=/915f

I do have skid plating, from a Chevy ZR2 from Hawk Strictly Suzuki. Glad I have them too. Otherwise, so far, I have installed Old Man Emu struts and springs and Doetsch Tech shocks for vastly improved articulation and about 1.5-inches of lift, a 2-inch body lift, rock rails and a LockRite rear locker all from Rocky-Road. I added 235/70/16 tires (Firestone Destination AT, great reviews on Tire Rack and so far, great on and off-road (except mud)).

As far as tires go, I get rubbing at full lock in front, and some minor rubbing at full stuff in back. If I bought new tires again, I'd go with 225/75/16. Same basic height, just a tad slimmer so I don't think I'd have any rubbing whatsoever. I'm also looking at 215/85/16 for a set of MTs. We'll see though.

I'm in the process of trying to figure out what to do with my bumpers. Since the body lift, the stock plastic pieces don't fit so well, and there really isn't anything aftermarket to look at. I also want to add a snorkel, mostly because I trimmed the plastic inside the wheel wells and am unsure of how safe water crossings will be now.

The Vitara/GV work well ... Good luck with your build.

Jeff

Rusty Red, just looked at the pics of the XJ. Don't think you'd have any trouble with the GV in anything I saw.

Have fun,

Jeff

A few years ago, I was out wheeling near my house (Arapaho National Forest, Gilpin and Clear Creek Counties, Colorado), and asked a guy on a dirt bike "Is this the trail over to Yankee Hill?"

He said "Sure is.", and headed down it - and kept looking back, amazed.

I followed him all the way down a QUAD trail to the Forest Service road - a few miles.