chevy ---> jeep

NickMaul

NickMaul

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 4, 2009
Location
Norfolk, VA
okay dont have a chevy no more. chevy's were all i worked on, researched, and planned on. lost the chevy, now i have a jeep cherokee, XJ. i want to lift it 4.5 inches with a good lift. i believe rusty's is the best from their reputation. any other suggestions? is 4.5 inches small enough so i dont have to extend drive shafts?
well i guess some driving habits would help determine the brand of lift. i will be doing a lot of highway driving. 30 miles everyday. but i will be doing URE and all that jazz. so not to stiff not to soft. a rough ride never bothered me but i dont want a terrible drive on the highway for trips to the beach and mountains.
i got money to spend but i dont want to blow it all on lift and tires. so kinda on a budget but i want to install a quality lift myself and not have to worry about it in the future.
open to your thoughts
nick:bounce2:
 
The lift I run is a Rubicon express I like it with the super flex lower control arms . As for tires you could run 32's with no fender trimming but could do 33's with some fender trimming .
A set of JKS quick disconnects for the front swaybar and trash can the rear swaybar . As for tires run a set of MTR's or a AT tire
 
Rusty's lifts are ok. I think you will be disappointed in the long run. I run Rubicon Express also and have had friends who had bought Rusty's then switch over to RE stuff after a while. I've heard good things about BDS, and Iron Rock Offroad stuff also. My money would be into RE stuff though.
 
Another for Rubicon Express lift. My XJ has/had a BDS 4.5" short arm lift. When it was installed it was a great lift, but I'd still recommend RE. I've upgraded it using Rusty's long arms (radius style). They work just fine, but I scored a good deal on them. If not for the deal I would have run something custom or bought the RE upgrades.

If you can swing the cash, a long arm lift is going to ride much more smoothly. You'll definitely need to keep the sway bar intact though. I have a lot more body roll after the long arm upgrade.

Also, with 4.5" you can "probably" get away without a slip yoke eliminator, but it'd be a good idea to go ahead and knock that out too. Especially if you're doing a lot of highway driving. It will require the SYE kit and a new driveshaft. (Check out Tom Woods shafts.) I'm at 5.5" now and I'm getting ready to step up to 8". If you ever think you'll want more height, now is the time to do it. You'll be fine with 4.5 with mild wheeling. You won't be able to do things like Kodak or Budweiser at URE. You could probably get up Daniel with some good driving skill and a good approach on the first ledge. You shouldn't have any problems with anything else at URE though.
 
oleblue said:
.
open to your thoughts
nick:bounce2:
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Pick tire size before lift height and decide if you want to trim fenders. Cutting away sheet metal makes room for tires just like a lift does but keeps your COG lower.

RE stuff is better but $

4.5" is probably pushing it a bit without doing an SYE or at least dropping the t-case a bit. Really though you're likely to hit trac-bar issues before driveline issues. Also stock CA angles are awful steep at that height.

To do a bottom $ cherokee job and fit the biggest tires possible, lift less than 3" and trim fenders aggressively. That way all you have to buy is springs, shocks and bumpstops.

If you want to go all in and get a new track bar and LCAs and a SYE then that's really a better way to do it but you're comparing $1-200 to $500-1000. Those couple inches from 2.5" to 4.5" are expensive!
 
oleblue said:
what do you guys think about this setup?
http://claytonoffroad.com/product_info.php?cPath=18_66&products_id=113
will i still have to do SYE and CV driveshaft?
worth the $?
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It depends. Looks like a nice kit and I've heard nothing but good about clayton but $2000 to lift an XJ 4.5" seems out of control.

What size tires do you want to run and are you willing to trim fenders? Also what year XJ? Depending on year you may want to budget some of those $ for changes to front axle (old XJ vacuum disconnect) or t-case (newer than 99 had some bearing change at the output shaft so more likely to get vibes IIRC). Again, tire size will tell us if you need to budget for regearing the axles.

Peek around NAXJA, there's tons of great XJ info there.

I guess to help us help you better, give us a bit more info on your rig. What tire size do you plan to run and what year is your XJ. What axles are underneath it?
 
It's definitely a good lift, but it is quite pricey for 4.5". RE sells a 5.5" long arm kit for $50 more and it comes with a belly pan system. As far as the SYE goes, it's a good idea to do it anyway. I'm not running one on mine and my lift height is 5.5". However, I don't drive it on the street often and when I do, I have some vibration. I wouldn't trust my rig at 65 mph or more. (Hell I'm not even sure it'll go that fast anymore! lol)

RE 6300: http://www.rubiconexpress.com/SuspensionSystems/Product.aspx?part=RE6300

Another option you have is to buy all the parts except the control arms and then take it to a fab shop and have them build you a set of long arms. You may save a little bit of cash that way. I've never really priced it out, but it's worth a look.
 
cltdba said:
As far as the SYE goes, it's a good idea to do it anyway. I'm not running one on mine and my lift height is 5.5". However, I don't drive it on the street often and when I do, I have some vibration. I wouldn't trust my rig at 65 mph or more. (Hell I'm not even sure it'll go that fast anymore! lol)
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Definitely right about the SYE being better overall but I was running around 1"-1.5" (can't remember exactly) of t-case drop and at 5" lift I didn't have any vibes up to 80-90 mph. We'll see what things are like when I FINALLY get my 44 swapped in.

You can do a hack n tap SYE and use a XJ front shaft to do it on the cheap but imo doing a full SYE and CV shaft from a place like tom woods isn't cheap enough to go in the "might as well" category.
 
ugh its a 93 cherokee laredo. d30 and 8.25 chrysler. i want to do 33s tires and dont mid triming the fenders a little bit.
 
Talk to Claytons and RE and find out if those kits drop the tcase any at all. If not then find a tcase drop and lift her. I forgot that mine does have a tcase drop which is probably why I don't have much vibration. The vibration I do have is only on really hard acceleration. Going that route should save you about $500. You can also forgo the long arms and save some cash too. They are easy enough to add later on and the wallet won't seem like it's being hit as bad if you spread it out over time.

I would go with a short arm lift of your choice and get the tcase drop. Once you're ready you can upgrade to a long arm system or you may decide you don't need it. Short arms ride just fine on the road and you'll get some decent flex for mild to moderate wheeling. A long arm upgrade will allow you more articulation and a smoother ride. Mine sorda feels like the old caddys when I hit a bump. :p Well almost, aside from the creaks and pops and stuff. heheh
 
FWIW, my son had a 5.5 RE lift on his 94 XJ years ago. We could just get 33"s to fit nicely.

My experience has been, the less lift the better. Unless you plan to whack it pretty good on the trails, which considering it's your DD I wouldn't expect you to do, 31"s will work just fine. BigClay runs 31"s on his rig and he goes pretty good at Uwharrie. Doesn't give you quite the beef look that 33"s do but with 2"-3" of lift 31"s look and work good. Plus with it being a DD 31"s will give you better economy.

I've built several XJs over the years and my pick is something in the 2"-3" lift with 31"s or 33"s and fender trimming. Something like this would work good IMO: http://www.jeep4x4center.com/jeep-lift-kits/daystar/cherokee-xj/3-lift-kit.htm

I have TCase drop stuff and possibly an add a leaf laying around I'm pretty sure :)
 
I run iron rock offroad 6.5 long arms and their adj. track bar and i have been nothing but happy with it im sure their 4.5 kit would be great as well. also customer service there is pretty good too i called at 430 one afternoon and spoke directly to a real person haha no automated receptionists or anything.

I also ran 31's on 4.5 for a while and it looked a bit silly either shove some 33's under it or just stick with 2" and the 31's
 
JC said:
I've built several XJs over the years and my pick is something in the 2"-3" lift with 31"s or 33"s and fender trimming.
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Agree 110%. I think I prefer the 33s but unless you want to go all out, do 6" longarms, axle/gear swap, SYE/CV and 35+ tires then going more than 3" isn't really worth the effort (unless you just gotta have fenders, but then the tires will help do the trimming :driver:) .

I'm a big fan of parts store upgrades or making stuff yourself.

Oleblue, I understand if you want it done soon and don't have the skills/shop to fab stuff.

If that's the case I'd add an adjustable trackbar/new bracket and LCAs to JCs suggested kit. That combo should come in under half what you'd spend for that clayton's kit and with trimming fit 33s with just fine. If/when you want to go a bit bigger, you can take your arms and trackbar setup to the next build.

That'll leave you some money to throw at tires/wheels/gears/lockers/disc brakes/etc. I promise you'll find something.

Oh wait a sec...got recovery points yet?
 
oleblue said:
http://www.nc4x4.com/forums/showthread.php?t=79735
talking with this guy about front and rear bumper
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Nice looking design. Can't see from that angle how far back it ties in. Be careful with XJ bumpers for recovery.

Lots of people make them that look nice but don't tie in to enough points on the uniframe. It won't be the the first couple times you pull on it that something happens but a hard side pull or a real bad stuck can cause monster damage from a bumper that only ties into 3-4 bolts per side.

On rears, I suggest something that uses the 4 stock mounting bolts plus the holes on the underside of the frame that were designed for mounting a hitch.

Front, mine has an additional 3/16" xmember that sits inside the first 2 bolts so that the bumper and xmember sandwich the sheetmetal. Further back I built a steering box brace so the frame rail is captured by brace and the bumper plates.

I tend to go for overkill, so I can't say that's necessary but you can see that it takes more thought to build on a uniframe vehicle.

Head over to NAXJA and search for bumper designs, that should make you a more informed shopper.
 
oleblue said:
talking with this guy about front and rear bumper
Click to expand...

Looks decent, but, would hurt the approach angle some and comes down the line IMO.

#1 Decide on what size tires (Hint 31x10.50 Truxus, talk to BigClay)

#2 Get or fab lift to fit tires (as stated adjustable trackbar would be good, possibly adjustable lower front arms)

#3 Run this setup for a few months and decide if you need to go bigger or if it will work for you

#4 Now get into accessories such as bumpers, tow points, winch, etc

Just my .02, you gotta do what you gotta do :)
 
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