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3in or 4.5in

L

lil white goat

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Tennessee
I am about one week away from making a purchase here: 96 XJ 4.0ho, 30in tires on black krawlers wheels now, and hardly rubs only with a fat chick over the right rear. I need to know if it will be better to get a qualit 3in lift or get a RC 4.5in lift, will the extra problems I incur with the 4.5in lift be worth the extra money? This vehicle is a daily driver pivking up about 75mi a day and will only be taken off road to get to the woods (no crawling). Thanks guys,
Ryan
 
get a quality 3'' and add terraflex spacers and shackles. I got a skyjacker 3" and the terraflex bb and ive got a quality 4.5'' so you may want to think about that. -Austin
 
Beachmonkey6 said:
I got a skyjacker 3" and the terraflex bb and ive got a quality 4.5'' -Austin
Click to expand...

No you don't, not if its the SJ basic kit with the BB thrown on top of it.

Anyways, it depends on what tires you want to run 31s-32s go 3" if wanting 33s-35s go 4.5". Get a REAL kit that has UCAs, LCAs, tracbar, etc if you go over 3". I and many many others like the RE 4.5" kit, just upgrade to the hd trackbar with mount.

But...

If your keeping 30" tires or maybe 31s just get a 2" BB and throw it on. Thats all it sounds like you need.
 
I installed a 2" BB .. that lasted about 4 months ..now I have RE 4.5

Just get as big as you can afford .. or you will later anyway
 
I second going with a quality 3" that you can build on by adding a BB to. RE would be my first choice as a mostly inclusive kit. More bang for the buck. If you want to go 4.5" right off the bat than I would go with a RE unless you can afford more. Long arms would be a good choice as well as Rock Krawler. Be prepared for a SYE though. Again, it's all about how much you can spend.
 
over 3 inches on a xj i think you need an sye. thats over $200 more right there. with three inches you can run 31s. and even if you wanted to start trimming you could run 33s. but then theres gearing. you want 4.56 at least for 33s. 3.55 is fine for 31s. or if you have a 5 spd u have 3.07 (if you have the 4.0 motor). to me it seems like my biggest issue is axles and gears. so work around that. 3.55 is fine for 31s and so is a 3 inch lift. if you can afford gears and bigger tires, by all means get the 4.5
 
stupidfast said:
over 3 inches on a xj i think you need an sye.
Click to expand...


While that is probably true on his 96, the statement itself is not true. I ran a slip yoke as high as 6" on my 87 with zero vibes for more than a year. When I went up to 7", I got a WK slip yoke (has a harmonic balancer dealy on it), and still no real vibes. Mike rollins runs one now at 7" with an amg hummer 242 transfecase.

<edit> I missed the "i think" part of that. It does change how it reads.. ;)
 
Yeah. I had to get up extra early this morning to hit a tire store before work and have my last tire mounted. I needed that hour of sleep I think.

but i'm rollin on 35's now so its all good.
 
I have the RE 4.5 with 32's & the t-case drop no shims and I have very minor vibes @ wide open and thats it. It all depends everyone is different but there is always something that is a PITA
 
Without knowing your long term goals for the Jeep, this is a tough one to answer. All I can say is buy a lift to match the tires you want to run and run the tires that match the trails you want to run.
 
I have a 3 inch lift. I wish I could go to 4.5 but monsy wont allow. I would vote for 3 incher. Much easier and cheaper to deal with.
 
The specific reason I suggest the RE 6130 4.5, is that it is -complete-. coils, leafs, UCA's, LCA's, adjustable track bar, shackles.. front brake lines.. rear brake lines.. transfer case drop if you need it. Add a ZJ pitman arm and you are set to go. Add the drop brackets for a better ride, the HD track bar (i could write a book on why its better).. and you can easily upgrade that lift to 7+" without having to really make any further changes, or leave it at 4.5" forever. Most 3" lifts only address about half of that.

-C
 
I would say a lot depends on your budget. What did you have in mind to spend?

With that in mind, I started with a 2" BB and am now at 4" and still have quite a few things to buy. I didn't think I wanted to crawl when I started with mine either, but it's very addicitive. Inchitis will probabaly catch up with you if you only go 3".

A lot of people here swear by RE, but I have had good luck with Rusty's. Much better prices and so far everything is holding up well.
 
It all depends on your budget. However, you will spend more in the long run if you dont do it right the first time. When I first started looking at lifts, I thought $1200 for a RE kit was rediculous. Now I am currently on my 3rd lift sitting at 6" and have spent close to double that. Build it big to start, I doubt you will be dissapointed.
 
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