Hey guys I have a lead on an ultra cheap wagoneer. It's an 80 with the 360 and a 4x4. The body isn't so hot so I was thinking that if it's solid otherwise I'd build a cheap mud truck. First off I was wondering how I could lift the thing cheapest way possible? And yes I realize this is the 3rd gen dak forum and not the jeep one but there is like 5 posts in that one and last time I posted a question it didn't get any repsones...

 

Import, you'll get a lot of help from http://www.ifsja.org/. A lot of the guys on there are also on another forum I'm with jeepsunlimited.com. Both have really experienced forum users.

Man you are one model year later. I have a Dana 60 rear axle I pulled from a J20 I'm thinkin about selling. The diff isn't centered like most vehicles. Pre 80's jeep had axles with an offset rear diff.

The 360 is a pretty stout engine, it's what I put in my Cj. Just so you know, you should have a Dana 44 front and Heavy Duty AMC 20 rear axle. Your tranny, if manual is a T176 4speed or if auto a Torqueflight 727. I swapped the 727 in my jeep too. It's almost unbreakable...though the vacuum vents are right behind the torque converter...so just don't go in water that's as deep as your tranny. Only way to fix that is to tear the auto apart, plug the vents, and reroute the vents to the top of the tranny.

Transfercase is either the NP208 or NP219

Sorry, I'm passionate about jeeps...now to answer your real question:

-A body lift is cheap for old vehicles such as yours
-You have leaf springs at all four corners so add-a-leafs would be cheap
-Shackle lift, but that's not advisable b/c it'll rotate the steering geometry and make it loopy.
-If you got the know how the best bang for your buck lift is a Spring Over Axle. Takes your leaf springs and relocates them from under your axle to on top. It'll give about 6" of lift.

Here's a link about lifts I pulled off the Full Size Jeep website:
http://www.cfsja.org/tech/suspension/lifts.txt

Cool, have fun, wheel safe