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Stock XJ Cherokee Tech. All XJ Non-modified/stock questions go hereXJ (84-01)
All OEM related XJ specific tech. Examples, no start, general maintenance or anything that's stock.
i did a 2" lift on the wife's Cherokee and it has the stock track bar. if i was going to go to 3" or higher i would get an adjustable but for 2 or less, i would not worry about it
edit:
i forgot to say we have our rear sway bar on. as noted previously, you are lifting the cg so if you have to make an emergency maneuver on the highway, you don't want to have any trouble. sure, no one plans to have to do an emergency lane change because you top a hill and there is a cow in the road but that stuff happens. yeah, you might survive hitting a cow at 70mph but i don't want to be the one to try it. that 800-1000 pound hamburger will total your vehicle and ruin your day and i would rather just avoid him and not roll when i have to cut the wheels quick at the last minute.
and i have had this happen a few times driving across texas. topped hills doing 70mph and someone's heard of cattle had gotten out and was just standing in the road. it wakes you up for the rest of the trip
You installed "UP" country clone parts. Rough Country is a brand.
You should measure how much lift you got after installing new parts. Measure from center of wheel hub to bottom of stock flares. 17.5 front 17 rear is stock. Subtract stock height from what you measure for lift height.
If under 3" you can redrill the track bar hole about 1/2" to compensate for the small lift. No problems with this. Many have done it , myself included at first.
Rear sway bar is just extra weight on the XJ. Some trim levels or packages from the factory removed it as an upgrade. Leaf springs offer good lateral stability by themselves. My opinion. I could tell no difference with it on or off with 5" of rear lift.
You installed "UP" country clone parts. Rough Country is a brand.
You should measure how much lift you got after installing new parts. Measure from center of wheel hub to bottom of stock flares. 17.5 front 17 rear is stock. Subtract stock height from what you measure for lift height.
If under 3" you can redrill the track bar hole about 1/2" to compensate for the small lift. No problems with this. Many have done it , myself included at first.
Rear sway bar is just extra weight on the XJ. Some trim levels or packages from the factory removed it as an upgrade. Leaf springs offer good lateral stability by themselves. My opinion. I could tell no difference with it on or off with 5" of rear lift.
Thanks. Unfortunately I did not measure pre-install. I’m not sure why I didn’t because I already knew it would be a good barometer of results. I can tell visually that the front is higher than before. I guess I was just focused on where all my damn tools were in the beginning.
And you are correct I meant Up country.
If axle location shows to be some kind of issue I’ll drill the new hole.
I’ll take rear sway bar off and see how she drives. I can always put it back in if there’s any issue.
Just a quick update....
This concerning now moving to the rear. Had a heck of a time removing the two end eye bolts from the leaf springs. Luckily no broken bolts however it was a very long process turning the bolts out. My electric impact gun couldn’t even turn the front eye bolt no matter how far I hand turned it. Used a breaker bar almost the whole time.
Detached the rear of the leaf at the shackle. I have another post on here as to why that was a very good and lucky idea.
Had no problem with U bolt nuts. The U bolt kit I ordered from Amazon is a bit beefier than the original. I had to file the plate holes as the bolts wouldn’t fit and I couldn’t find a drill bit big enough in my tool mess. Luckily it didn’t take much filing and it may be the holes just needed cleaned to bare metal.
I did have to squeeze the ends of the U bolts together a tad using a vise against the nuts on the ends of the bolt ends as to not mar up the threads. They were slightly too wide to both fit in holes at the same time.
Now on to drivers side....
Done. 3 wheels measure about 19” from center cap to bottom of fender flare. The 4th, drivers side rear measures about 18” or so. Not sure why the diff. Maybe the unswapped Bilstein shock is a little worn. I got 4 all new Monroes I didn’t install because Bilsteins weren’t trash yet.
Quick update
So I was going down the road this morning and was doing about 50 around a bend when I came upon some tractor trailer ruts in the road. Front end started shaking pretty bad and as I straightened out it continued so to stop it I had to slow down a bit.
Not sure why this happened after I replaced the coil springs, sway bar end links, ball joints. I kept my Bilsteins on. Not sure if they are long enough even though the coils are stock (a little above stock until they settle).
I have an appointment to put my new General Grabber ATXs on tomorrow and I orederd new tie rod ends to replace all. Should get them in a few days.
Once installed I’ll schedule an alignment.
Just ordered a Rough Country tie rod from Amazon $84 and change. To be delivered by next Tuesday. Will schedule an alignment when tie rod and all tie rod ends are replaced. I don’t think my new tires I am having mounted tomorrow morning will be effected too much in a week. I’ll try to keep mileage down till then. I work 5 miles from home.
05-28-2021, 08:14 AM
