Need Some Advice

[ystrdyisgone]

Hello all,

 

I am hitting the road in two months and am going wherever it takes me(1000s of miles/months of travel). I have an 87 GL Wagon which will be my chariot. I plan on replacing the water pump and hoses before the trip, and bringing a spare radiator along. I will also be mostly resealing the engine before the adventure.

 

The area I need the most advice in is the tire/lift/axle situation. It currently is not lifted, and has 185s on it. I do however have a 2" BOSS lift, some 6 lug nissan wheels, and some 26 inch tires. Now originally this was going to be my head to the mountains rig, which would work wonderfully with the above mentioned changes. But now, it has become a road trip/car camping rig. My question is, should I still do the modifications for the times when we do take it off road? Or do the negatives outweigh the positives in this situation?

 

It will be about 80% highway driving, 20% town and possibly offroad for camping.

 

Another thought was that the increased sidewall height would make the highway driving a bit smoother??

 

I guess I'm looking most for input from guys who DD their lifted rigs, but I am open to all opinions.

 

Thanks

[kerandt]

Hey ystrdyisgone. I've found my stock tires do better at highway speeds (185/70/r13). My 205/75/r14 on Nissan wheels rob quite a bit of power (at highway speeds) when not in a lower gear. But that's on an old ea-82 with 235k miles on it. (If I only had the means for that EJ swap! Right?) Also my 14's aren't balanced as well as the stock wheel tire combo. As I did just redrill the wheels not the hubs. Axle life seems fine with the 2" lift, but then again I do go between several rigs. I have a stock Loyale for longer highway travels and the GL with dual range (2" BOSS lift and 14" tires) is for fun (gravel backroads, mud,etc / some light town driving). 

[indigowarpz]

I'm also pretty curious about the lifted dd thing.. I use my car for work, and an not necessarily an off roading enthusiast, but enjoy the idea of being able to cover "most" terrain if I do decide to go camping or find a new shooting spot or whatever. opinions are opinions, but would adding a 2" lift be overly detrimental to the performance I get while urban and highway driving? I cover a lot of miles in an avg work week and font want to have to replace my CVs all the time ha..