Best lift for the XJ

Hi everyone i know this has been brought up1000 times but im looking at lifting my 96 xj and i want to know what you all have on your rigs...mine is a daily driver about a 100 miles a day and i do some off road...ive been looking at the rusty 4.5 inch and i just found a good deal on a rough country 6.5 lift.i have had several jeeps in the past and i allways wanted to go bigger once they were lifted...this is just the begening of my build and i am tired of the stock look..i know there are pros and cons to all lift kits avaliable so any input would be great thanks.

Somebody will say one company is the best while another person will say the same company is crap. This question can and has (many many times) gone on for too long without an anwer.

Search each of the different companies and read the pro's and cons.

Personally I recommend you find what exactly what you want to do with your jeep (in the long run) and figure out what like about different companies and build/peice together your own custom kit tailored to your style/jeep.

every post is going to contradict the prior. do some research and make a decicsion based on what best suits your needs. otherwise youre going to do a lot of post reading and gain no usefull info...

Best of the best would be the BDS 6.5" lift with the 4 link long arm upgrade, everything else is a compromise one way or another. All the top offroad rigs use 4 links for a reason, it's the strongest, most reliable trusted setup out there and has the best handling characteristics on road and off but as far as offroad goes it's stronger the a 3-link and safer than a y-link especially on steep climbs. It's definitely more money but it is the best design and has a no questions asked lifetime warrantee. You can't ask for more than that.

Just as a side note why would you want to put a 6.5" lift on a car you drive 100 miles a day? No matter what kit you get your gas mileage will take big hit especially if you don't plan on changing the gears to match at the same time as well. What tires and gears did you have in mind. With the amount of lift I would guess 35's and 4.88's at least? With 35's and stock gears it will just be a gas guzzling snail and you can forget about going up any hills without a strong tailwind. Just some food for thought.

Being new here myself and you being a good 'ol Kentucky Boy (I'm from Somerset) I'm going to tell you two things. FIRST- go with a 4.5" lift to maintain a lower center of gravity for better handling on-road and for off-camber situations when wheelin'. I'm soon to be running 35" tires with a 4-5" lift. SECONDLY- Use the search engine on this board. This is a board of many members so this question has been asked 100 times.
GO BIG BLUE !
AL

Check out our vendor area. IMHO, the best kit is comprised of the best parts from each company. For example, this is the 4 Link i will be running, with these Leaf Springs, and these Brackets. You can get coil springs from anywhere, in my experience Rusty's has the softest spring rate.

X3 on research and making your own kit.

"I know this has been asked 1000 times and doesn't have a definitive answer, but I'll ask anyway instead of just using the search button"


C'mon dude...

And don't go over 4.5-5" unless you plan on bigger axles and 37"+ tires.

Well first let me appologise for not using the search engine didnt mean to get every ones axles articulated ....anyway im thinking of 6.5 lift because the price was right but i was actually plaining on 4.5 to start with before i found the 6.5..im not sure what gears to run (still doing my research)but i was looking at running 32'' tires to help with clearance issues. i dont mind putting together a kit of my own i was just wanting to know what worked and what was junk so i can avoid spending money on junk ...with that being said ill use the search engine from now on and not ask questions that there are no answers to.

I3ig E said:

Well first let me appologise for not using the search engine didnt mean to get every ones axles articulated

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i lol'd at this one, and i think you meant apologize

With a 6.5" lift you will have no clearance issues running 32's, in fact thats way too much lift for 32's in my opinion. you can pull of 32's with a bastard pack lift or a 3" lift or something.

4.5" on 33's with 4.56's would be a nice setup

I lol"d to thats what i get for eating a ham sammy and trying to type left handed...im wanting the 4.5 lift and 32" i just found a 6.5 for about the same money (thought about going bigger for a minute)...but i think 4.5 is a better choice since i drive so far every day.

threads like this are like threads about what is the best religion or sports team :roflmao:

except sports team can't be debated quite as much, because one or the other usually tends to win eventually.

Personally I'm running OME springs, I have no idea what brand my control arms are, my shocks are $23 each gabriel guardians with lifetime warranties, and I would do it again... as long as the springs you get aren't terrible quality and thus sag quickly, you will be fine.

I would only go to 2" or 3.5" max with 32s, no need to go higher. Trim till it doesn't rub anymore, if you run out of space to trim, bumpstop.

I'm running the BDS 4.5 on 32's. It handles better on the road then it did stock. Best lift money can buy IMO.

You'll have to regear....

I went back and forth on this for many years. Finally I put together pieces from different company's that I thought would work best for me. It turned out great my jeep flexes like crazy and rides smooth and stable on the road.

I have been running 31's for a long time with no lift just fender trimming, and can go almost every where my friends do "TJ 4 inch RE 33's, JK Rubicon, 4 inch lift 36" and in some case places they cant. but I hit from time to time and wanted more flex. Plus I wanted to run 33's. This is what worked for me.

I have a custom front bumper with a winch, so I got rustys HD 3" front coils, for me they are perfect. I have not had other rusty's stuff but I love these higher spring rate coils. I used Iron Man lower control arms up front, and will begetting his uppers shortley. His stuff is top notch, and can really take a beating. I used HD OME rear leafs, in the back, this coupled with Iron Man 1" lift boomerang shackles gives me a great ride and wonderful flex. I have vibes at 35 mph so I ordered a wilsons fabworks SYE, hopefully it will get here soon. The vibes are not too bad, and I am at 4 1/2" in the rear, 3 1/2" up front. I have plenty of room for 33's from the cutting I did before.

This set up wont work for everyone but for me it has been great and I love it. oh yeah for shocks Im running some from a Rubicon JK, I got for free they are great.

Original_MudButt said:

I'm running the BDS 4.5 on 32's. It handles better on the road then it did stock. Best lift money can buy IMO.

You'll have to regear....

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I know I wasn't alone here. Get the BDS 4.5" kit it's one of the most complete kits out there it even has adjustable control arms which you'll need at that height and their springs and leafs are top of the line. Definitely upgrade to the long arm kit it will make the jeep ride much better, probably better than stock if it hasn't been said already. Don't forget you'll need an sye too.

Good info thanks gentlemen.

BEST 4.5" out of the box lift?

rock krawler 4.5

but you pay for it.

uses deaver leaf springs (the good ones)
4 link or 3 link (its your choice)
best trackbar out there IMO
awesome guys to deal with

The reason I don't like the Rock Krawler kits are that they use heims which can be very noisy on the street as well as illegal in some states.

robsjeepxj said:

The reason I don't like the Rock Krawler kits are that they use heims which can be very noisy on the street as well as illegal in some states.

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thier "heims" are rebuildable. much like a cartdride joint. they do transmit noise into unibody pretty well. and the fact that mine are 5 years old and never been greased and are still as tight as new says something. i have run re joints, ballistic joints, ruffstuff heims, qa1 heims, and the couple rk joints I run have outlasted all of them.

thier trackbar does use a coneventional heim though, but a rubber bushing at the other end, which does plenty in noise absorbtion.

as for illegal, i'm not scared. i have never heard of anyone getting trouble for running heims, or have a catastrophic failure due to them. im willing to guess that law came about from backyard hacks thinking cheap tractor heims would work great on thier rigs.

robsjeepxj said:

The reason I don't like the Rock Krawler kits are that they use heims which can be very noisy on the street as well as illegal in some states.

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heims are the sex. if you are worried about noises, sell the jeep. really? who builds a jeep a b*****s about the noise it makes. as long as they do their job who gives a damn
i run em on the street and trail as the jeeps have always been DD. i feel much more confident i a good heim that anything else. whats the likelihood that a LEO knows what a heim is anyway? and if they do, the chance that they dont wheel as well and arent gonna bug you about it