Lowering a MJ

Im looking to lower my 87' 2wd MJ w/4.0L. I figure that I will put a 2'' block in the rear and change the shackles to stock XJ's. I figure that will give me about 2 3/4'' of drop. I am on a really cheap budget so I was going to cut the coils up front. I was wondering if anyone has done this and how much to cut to make it about a 3'' drop. I heard that the average is 3'' for every coil. Any help would be great.

it's raining outside right now but up front there is a place on the coil bucket where the spring settles into could u open that up and just rotate the spring like a screw down untill u have the desired height then cut the spring off there. just a thought

http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=3093&page=1&pp=15&highlight=lowered

Might help a bit.

are you going to destroy any other parts of that MJ,
or just make it look ridiculous?

Well I am not a fan of lowered trucks , but then I dont like to rasie them to exterme either , LOL I live in the Country and just like them to work with mainly , Just wanted to say Good Luck with Your project though . You will probally get some good answers to your questions here , But most seem to like to raise them..

iIalso have a 88 Mj 4x4 that is soon to be sprung over w/ 33's. I hate to see an unmodified jeep sitting around so I figure lowering a 2wd makes more sense than lifting it.

jeeppowermj said:

iIalso have a 88 Mj 4x4 that is soon to be sprung over w/ 33's. I hate to see an unmodified jeep sitting around so I figure lowering a 2wd makes more sense than lifting it.

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How low do you want to go?Try scouring the spring catalog for shorter springs the same diameter fo the front and mabey shackle change,remove some leaves in the rear.Experiment!Dont forget shorter shocks and you may have to do someting w the tracbar and control arms.Or if you want it to really go low bag that sucker.

Thats a little more than I wanna spend. I'm on a $75 highschoolers budget. I just wanna get a little better handling and some better looks.(I know, a lot of you are gonna say "If you want better looks than lift it")

You could try coils from a 4-cyl model.

i've thought about doing this but never did. if you want better sway control check the junkyard for a truck/car with a similar sway bar design but has a larger diameter bar. this will help with body roll, also not sure if the mj's came with rear sway bars but that would be a thought. if i were u i'd disco the sway bar and jack up the truck by the frame then cut the springs a little at a time and keep setting her back down to find level. worst comes to worst u can always grab a set of springs at the bone yard for cheep and start over

Don't 4 cylinder TJ Coils give you some drop? And you are in high school and have 2 MJs???? What kind of enterprise do you run?????

tj coils should lower you one inch. now, i dunno how you could get any shorter than that...

anyone know how long the stock xj shackle is. center of the bolt to center of the bolt.

91 Jeep Project said:

Don't 4 cylinder TJ Coils give you some drop? And you are in high school and have 2 MJs???? What kind of enterprise do you run?????

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yes and

i had 3 MJ's total when i was in high school, of course i didnt know shite about jeeps then, i wish i had kept the first 2
actually my 2nd one is still back in the woods somewhere...

I would do about 2 inches. The MJ should easily accomodate a 29" overall tire size after lowering (pay attention to the backspacing) and I think that would look sweet with some 17 or 18s (which still allow a decent amount of rubber, which is important here in Michigan to fend off the lowrider-eating potholes). Heck, I had dreams of doing the same to my 88 once upon a time, but the rust took over and I figured the body was better suited for wheelin'. Depending on how much downtime was allowed, I would grab some junkyard coils first, just in case something gets screwed up. 4 banger 2wd coils should lower it a bit, but the coils are pretty soft. Cutting the current coils should firm up the ride a bit. You'll have to do some experimenting to get it right. MJs never had a rear sway bar, so maybe one could be rigged up. Or you could swap out all the rubber bushings for poly. If memory serves me right, XJ shackles are 1" shorter than MJ shackles.
And I made a ComancheClub logo just for trucks like yours:


Jeep on!
--Pete
ComancheClub.com

Yep, steel blocks in the rear, and take the grinder w/cutoff wheel to the front coils. Go about 1/3 of a wrap of coil at a time and keep cutting until you like the height. If your MJ is a 4.0, I would get the 4 cyl springs and use them. I did this with my 2WD MJ 4.0 but used the original springs and it rides stiffer than if I had used the 4 cyl springs. I ended up cutting off a little more than a full wrap of coil. This dropped it about 2.5"'s. Install all poly bushings on the front swaybar and it handles like its on rails!!