EZEARL

Make sure to extend your bump stops enough to keep the adjustable t/b from contacting the diff cover at full compression.

mredjeep

Thanks!

1nutinthewater

Question for anyone that may know and not just a guess- I have a bone stock 96 Grand Limited with 225 70 16 tires and am wanting to level it by adding 2" spacers up front. Will adding these but the front end in the air when towing my boat?
I am also wanting to add the largest BF Goodrich K02's that will fit- Anyone that can tell me if 245 75's would fift and NOT rub?

Battle

Yes. Why not do a 2" lift front and back? It looks level as it is and should be if its stock. You could get coils with a heavier spring rate for the rear to compensate for the boat towing.

You'll be able to fit a 245/75r16 (31s) with a 2" lift. If you're running stock wheels, they'll likely rub on the control arms at full lock so look into getting aftermarket wheels or wheel spacers.

PlanktonXJ

Hey everyone,

I recently installed a 3" coil spacer to my front and 3.5" leaf spring lift to the rear of my '98. I am having issues with a grinding noise on the highway around 45+ MPH, as well as an extremely bouncy/reactive ride. I believe this is probably an issue with my transfer case needing to be dropped and purchasing some shocks meant for a lift, but I am unsure because this is my first Jeep. Does anyone have any recommendations for what I should purchase/fix? This is my daily on 30's, so I don't want to go out and buy brands like Fox to fix it.

Thanks in advance

Sirsyc0

My suggestions would be:
Ditch those spacers and get some proper coil springs
Shocks
Trac bar ( factory trac bar is too short at 3” )
Tcase drop. I don’t like them but they work. There are other routes. Lots of threads on this topic
Take into account your brake line lengths. I like longer brake lines but relocating brackets work at 3”.
bumpstops for your lift height
Alignment
IMO this is the bare minimum
Hope this helps

Estaff

Hey Guys. I just picked up a 2000 XJ and some 2020 JL Sahara wheels. They're 18's with Bridgestone Dueler 255/70R18's. Can I get away with a 3 in. lift to make these fit, or do I need to go taller? If I go taller, what else am I going to need to upgrade? Can anyone recommend a good kit? Thanks!

aroundincircles

unless you want to do some fender cutting... at least a 3.5" lift, but a 4" will be better.

The other issue is that is the wrong bolt pattern, I believe the JL is a 5x5 and your XJ is a 5x4.5, so wheel spacers will make things fit differently as well.

Sirsyc0

I’m thinking 4.5”s. Your tires calculate to 32.1 x 10. If you want to keep your factory flares that is. 4.5”s is costly if done right. Also depends on what your going to be using your XJ for. We need more info. Nice looking Xj though.

Estaff

Appreciate the feedback. I don’t really plan on taking it off-road much. It would be on a beach more than a trail. I’m thinking maybe I just need a smaller set I can run with a 3 in lift. I don’t want to spend more than $500 or so on the lift.

aroundincircles

Don't... Don't go cheap on the lift kit. You'll regret it down the road.

toddreg

Trade those new tires and wheels and get some that you like better to keep the XJ stock. As stated above, do not take short cuts lifting it. You will not be happy down the road and will end up spending more money in the long run than if you just save up some extra $ and do it down the road. 4" causes all kinds of geometry changes and other issues that can be dealt with but which all cost. It is fully capable of going off road in its stock setup. Just don't get to frisky.

oldmanyoung

Hey guys. I’m in a bit of a dilemma here. I ordered a DPG offroad ultimate 3.5” kit. Some of you may know that Dirk is a really knowledgeable guy, so he had no problem telling me every part choice and its consequences. Basically, we talked about whether I’d do a t-case drop or an SYE after the lift and what part choices that required. He said that driveline vibes at 3.5” of lift was commonly solved with a t-case drop (another hot topic we don’t need to go into), so I went with the long-travel OME shocks. Now, I’m second-guessing whether to go with a t-case drop in favor of the SYE. According to Dirk, going with the SYE necessitates a short-travel shock, or else you risk bottoming out the shock before bump stops do their job. My head is already spinning, so I can’t remember why an SYE changes the travel length required, but I don’t want to keep blowing up his phone with questions despite his willingness to help. I’m wondering if I should really send these back and get the short-travel ones. Any clarification is greatly appreciated.

aroundincircles

t-case drop is a bandaid, it adjusts the angle, so the slip yoke still works as intended, but you lose ground clearance, kinda the whole point of the lift kit. a SYE is the correct method, but you do need a a place for the drive shaft to grow/shrink as your suspension goes up and down, so most go with a front drive shaft, or get a custom drive shaft with a built in slip area.

This is a standard rear drive shaft:

It's length is static, doesn't change. The slip yoke, by its name, adjusts for changes in distance between transfer case and rear axle.

A front drive shaft looks like this:


you can see that the drive shaft has a section that can slide back and forth.

I am not sure what he's talking about the suspension bottoming out? that doesn't make sense to me. if he was talking about the drive shaft, if you didn't plan on changing when you do an SYE? that makes a bit more sense, since you would be limiting the amount of travel your drive shaft would have to deal with.

I am installing a 3.5" lift kit on my XJ and done a 1" t-case drop. I plan on eventually doing a SYE down the road, but that is a lot more money (for the SYE and the rear drive shaft), and I just want to drive my jeep when I finally can install my kit.

oldmanyoung

Thanks. I know what the SYE/shaft situation is, just real confused about the suspension. He was very specifically talking about the implication of an SYE on the rear suspension travel, maybe due to the shimming of the axle? I don’t know. Everything adds another piece of the puzzle.