Ok Ive made my mind up

No more tire questions from me (for now lol)
As soon as the first of the month rolls around I'm gonna order a 1.5" lift kit from quadratec. It comes with shackles for the rear and spacers for the front and the hardware for $129.95

My final question is, will 1.5 of lift be too much for stock f&r brake lines? My XJ is %65 daily driver, %10 tow rig (boat or utility trailor), and %25 hunting rig and that pretty much sums up what my jeep is used for. It has 235 all terrains so it doesnt get into many places that you would actually need 4x4 in.

You should be just fine. I've got a ' 99 with a 2" BB and Iam O.K. (dont know if Iam "actually" 2" or not but its the DAYSTAR 2" with spacers and greaseable shackles)

your brakelines will be fine. you may want to relocate the front mounts just for fun. just bend the hardline straight down and reattach it.

after you install that kit, let me know if you get a clunking noise from your steering, specifically, your tracbar. ive installed a number of BB's on XJ and all seem to get this sound, some everyturn some 3x a week
thanks

Same set up on mine... No noise.