Cherokee Lift

4D Cherokee '89 4WD

Okay guys, now I am looking at adding a lift to my suspension to cope with 31x10.5/11.5 on 15's.

My Jeep seems to already ride slightly higher than most jeeps - this may be due to the extra leafs for carrying loads. I am not aware if a lift kit has been added.

Anyhow, my question is this:
Do I go for a 2" or 3"??

I have the Sensatrac on the fronts and Rancho5000 on rear. I will have to change the front shocks with a lift, but am safe upto 3" with the Rancho's at the rear.

Naturally, money is a major factor as is driveability.

If I add a lift will I have any problems with gearing ratios, brake lines, speedo readouts etc etc

Both lift kits are skyjacker.
2" $300 including front shocks
3" $500 including front shocks (I think)
Labor for 2" $180.00
Labor for 3" $dont know

Any ideas or clues.
I am hoping to do all this before next friday (07 Jan)

rough country makes a 3" for 225$, that is the best i could find, if you want really cheap you could go with blocks, coil spacers, shacles. go to http://www.rustysoffroad.com/ for more stuff, not sure on prices.

I have had the following 2", 3", 4.5",5.5" and now 6.5" lifts. The best for your position I think would be a 2" lift with 1.75" shackles in the rear and 1.75" coil spacers. that way u can upgrade to bigger if you want. plus this will only run you about $70 for the shackles and $30 for the spacers. check out dpgoffroad.com or jeepin.com . Also a three inch would be good also but will run a little more money. I am assuming your not gonna be doing much rockcrawling or anything like that. Where do you live? Dont pay for labor its not that hard to do. Heck if you was around here I would do it for a case. gearing will be ok, brakelines should be ok. and speedo should be alright. keep in mind that tiresize will change the speedo.

Unfortunately for me, I know nothing about this suspension stuff as I have never had to deal with a 4x4 before this.

My XJ is great and has really looked after me.
I am located in Toronto... I guess doing the job myself would be an idea, but one has to know what to do right!?!?!

Tell me one thing... after getting the lift done, if I have a puncture, will my standard jack lift the vehicle enough???

I have had the following 2", 3", 4.5",5.5" and now 6.5" lifts. The best for your position I think would be a 2" lift with 1.75" shackles in the rear and 1.75" coil spacers. that way u can upgrade to bigger if you want. plus this will only run you about $70 for the shackles and $30 for the spacers. check out dpgoffroad.com or jeepin.com . Also a three inch would be good also but will run a little more money. I am assuming your not gonna be doing much rockcrawling or anything like that. Where do you live? Dont pay for labor its not that hard to do. Heck if you was around here I would do it for a case. gearing will be ok, brakelines should be ok. and speedo should be alright. keep in mind that tiresize will change the speedo.

with this lift, do you need to replace the shocks too? and how tall a tire would work with it? thanks, I think I am going to do this one!

The two inch lift you sometimes can get away with stock shocks. unless you do a lot of rock crawling or flexing.

To confirm, that a 2" lift would ba enough to use 31 x 10.5 on stock 15" Jeep Wheels? Also how would I know what shocks to get if indead I wanted to replace them?

I have replaced my rear shocks with Rancho 5000 and they are supposed to be good upto a 3" lift - Thats what the product says, I have no experience on this.

What are the biggest tires I could put on a stock jeep? I do have an extra leak added for loads which seems to make my XJ ride higher than most.
Any ideas??

Hi guys,
My XJ now has a 2" Rocky Road Outfitters ( www.rocky-road.com ) lift on it. It came with a 2" coil spacer for the front, and lift shackles and spring spacers for the rear. The coil spacers went on in less than an hour (super simple) and the shackles about two hours (only because of seized bolts). The whole thing is a pretty simple process. I am now looking at adding some air shocks in the rear to touch up the posture and give me a little more load carrying.

As for tires, shocks etc., I'm running 30X9.50's now and I'm pretty sure 31X10.50's would fit. Rocky Road includes in their kit extensions for your shock mounts, it's a simple set up and it eliminates those noisy bar pins in the shocks. That way you can use the stock shocks if you like. I have some reservations about how much travel my stock shocks have and I'm starting to investigate what lengths are needed...

Thanks Idaho, I will check out the website and am looking forward to lifting mine! Do you have any pictures after your lift?

I can get you a couple photos via e-mail, I haven't figured how to post to the forum yet. Send me an e-mail to [email protected] and I'll ship some before and after pics.

By the way, I've discovered that Gabriel makes an air shock for the XJ. It's number 49226, runs about $75 a pair. I'm ordering mine around the end of the week. I know they aren't the choice of rock crawlers, but that's not what I do. Most of my time is in the mountains of Northern Idaho hauling backpacks to trailheads. Clearance is good but max articulation isn't necessary...

I have had the following 2", 3", 4.5",5.5" and now 6.5" lifts. The best for your position I think would be a 2" lift with 1.75" shackles in the rear and 1.75" coil spacers. that way u can upgrade to bigger if you want. plus this will only run you about $70 for the shackles and $30 for the spacers. check out dpgoffroad.com or jeepin.com . Also a three inch would be good also but will run a little more money. I am assuming your not gonna be doing much rockcrawling or anything like that. Where do you live? Dont pay for labor its not that hard to do. Heck if you was around here I would do it for a case. gearing will be ok, brakelines should be ok. and speedo should be alright. keep in mind that tiresize will change the speedo.
Where do you live? im in Kansas City im not sure if i want to tackle putting on a lift on my jeep im sure i will be asking lots of qustions