New Member, New XJ, Lift Input Requested...

Hello to everyone that reads this and thanks in advance for your input. My name is Chris and I have owned 2 Jeep Grand Cherokee's (2010 and 2011 both 2wd) prior to my recent purchase of an 1999 XJ. Specs of vehicle listed below...-1999 Black Jeep Cherokee w/ 121,000 miles-AW4 / NP242-Dana front and pretty sure it has the Chrysler 8.25 rear end based on the more round shape of it but I know it has 3.55 gears as I saw it stamped on the rear end the other day when changing diff fluid.-Bone stock original suspension-Recently did a harness and H4 headlight upgrade as I almost got in several wrecks driving it home the night I picked it up and man, what a difference! Let me start off by saying that I have been reading and browsing these and other XJ forums for the past month and have already picked up a ton of information thanks to people like you for sharing. I cant imagine how much more difficult and costly this would be for me without being able to come on here and learn so thank you. My delima is trying to achieve the look / performance Im after in 1 try. That sounds fairly easy but as always, cost is an issue so... narrowing my choices down to the Rough Country 3" Series 2 with full leaf pack, or the Rough Country X Series 4.5" lift (leaning more towards the 3"). To give you an idea of what Im after, I really like the look of an XJ with about 3" of lift, Bushwacker flats, and 33's similar to the ones that Bushwacker shows on there pictures advertising for their flat flares plus for my geographical area (North Florida and South Georgia), that is realistically all I will ever need. I know based on reading on there that all I can really get away with for tires on stock 3.55's is a 31" tire. I have also read that some 4cyl / manuals came with 4.10's I think. Im not sure how easy these are to find... Could I get 33's and just have a shop install some new gears to the rear axle only for the time being? If I were to go off road once, would it damage the t-case to operate with a different gear ratio between the front and rear? Maybe I should just go ahead and get the 4.5", but then I definetly obligate myself to a SYE, and I was hoping for now, to just be able to do the 3" and t-case drop for a while. I have a bout 1300.00 to spend so really, all I can purchase is the lift and tires. Any suggestions you guys have will be greatly appreciated. I think I have just been thinking to hard about my purchase and Im hoping that someone will have some input that will "lock in" my final decision on how to proceed..

My suggestion? Read the last few pages of threads in Mod Tech and see what people are saying about the same thing. There was almost the same question last week. Do a Google image search for the lift / tire combo you are interested in, there are always plenty of pictures out there. Keep in mind that for the most part, you will get what you pay for in a kit. And most of the time if you actually use it you will end up with components from all sort of brands.

Thanks for the reply.. Yea I have probably seen every picture there is on here, google, bing, ect. I have really been trying to do my homework on this but I havent been able to find the exact set up on what Im thinking of doing which would be the RC3", 31" tires, 3.75 bs, and Bushwacker Flats.. Im really just thinking I will go with the 3" for now and end up putting some better shocks in when I have the money. Atleast if its to low, I could always do a spacer and shackle on top of the lift to get the height down the road once my buget permits. I was just hoping some veteran would know of an easy solution to the gearing issue when going above 31" like maybe a common axle swap that was bolt in. I was at a couple of salvage yards over the weekend and found several 4wd XJ's but none of them were 4cyl w/ manual transmission... Do you know if it is absoultley necessary to keep the gear ratios the same between the front and rear?

To answer your question concerning different axle ratios, no you should never do that.

Well I must have been searching with the wrong words because I just did a google search and found pretty close to what Im looking for...

Re: Re: New Member, New XJ, Lift Input Requested...

Georgia Mike said:

To answer your question concerning different axle ratios, no you should never do that.

Click to expand...

Care to explain? His thought path as I read it was to swap the axles out of a 4cyl with 4.10s into his xj, which is a cheap way to change gear ratios without having to actually modify gearing...

Either way, my wife has the RC 4.5" lift on her xj, and you really get what you pay for. The ride is much rougher than stock.

I personally have an OME lift, which rides like stock, if not better. You will almost certainly need a SYE, so be prepared for that.

His question as I read it was if he could run a different gear ratio in the front vs the back. No, you should never do that. As for swapping in a pair of axles with a matching ratio, of course that's perfectly acceptable.

Per his post:
Could I get 33's and just have a shop install some new gears to the rear axle only for the time being? If I were to go off road once, would it damage the t-case to operate with a different gear ratio between the front and rear?

Re: Re: New Member, New XJ, Lift Input Requested...

Georgia Mike said:

Per his post:
If I were to go off road once, would it damage the t-case to operate with a different gear ratio between the front and rear?

Click to expand...

Aahhh... Missed that...