Lift options..

Hey guys, I am so lost. I just bought a Jeep.. 2 weeks ago. I am planning in lifting it as soon as I can. I got the cash for a good-- lift. I just need your opinions. I want something that will allow.. 33-35" tires.

I am looking at the Rubicon Express 5.5" XJLA: Heavy Duty. As seen on their site.. http://www.rubiconexpress.com/dynamic/mainpage.asp?folderid=185

However, with only 5.5" might even have some trouble fitting 33s.. and I would really love to turn some 35s.

And when I look towards RustysOffroad, they have two kits I am interested in. They have the 6.5" Long Arm kit, and the 8" Long Arm kit. As seen on this page, of their site... https://rustysoffroad.com/Merchant2...GY&Store_Code=rustys&Category_Code=sus_xj_kit

But the thing is, which is better? I want to turn some big tires.. And I am also really concearned as to why the price is so much differant. What will I need, what doesn't come with the kits? I know I will need a slip yoke eliminator for sure. I am not sure which transfer case I have, so I don't know where to start looking for one of those. Or how much they will cost.

I have a 1998 Cherokee Sport, 4L. I am lead to believe I have the 8.25" rearend.. but I don't know for sure. Aside from looking on a website.. I can only guess. Can anyone help me out with that stuff?

And steering? What do I need to keep that all in line-- that doesn't come with these kits.. ?


And-- on a side note, if you know of any other good.. 6"+ kits, that are good.. throw me a link.,

If you want to run 33's I would go for the RE 3.5" Superflex kit. For 35's, I would do the RE6200 5.5" kit (there are better longer arm setups than the RE 6300 setup, but the 6200 short arm kit is real nice), but exchange the 4.5" ZJ coils that come in the 6200 kit with 3.5" ZJ coils and switch the 4.5" leaf packs for the 3.5" leaf packs. I ran 37" MT/R's with the RE6200 kit and still felt it was too tall. To fit 33" and bigger tires, you are going to have to trim and bumpstop no matter how tall you go, so might as well keep the COG as low as possible. Here are my tech articles to help you out with the trimming and bumpstop issue:

http://www.rocklizardfabrications.com/fender_trimming.htm
http://www.rocklizardfabrications.com/Adjusting_Bumpstops.htm

RE 6200 with 37's on my old XJ

i dont have experience with this but from what i have heard if you want to run 35's and crawl it you need to get bigger axle shafts. they make a kit for a dana 30 called a dana super 30 because the splines are 30 instead of 27 on the axleshafts and ive also heard that chomoly shafts dont hurt either and definetly new gearing but its tough for the 8.25 cause thats what i have and the lowest you can go is 4.56 but if you swap to a dana 44 you can get 4.88's same with the dana 30. hope it helped, but remember i dont have experience with this stuff just what i have heard from other people on this forum.

Meeks said:

However, with only 5.5" might even have some trouble fitting 33s.. and I would really love to turn some 35s.

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Tou will be fine runnin 33's with the RE5.5" kit, but you will have to trim yuor fender flairs a little bit

Meeks said:

And-- on a side note, if you know of any other good.. 6"+ kits, that are good.. throw me a link.,

Click to expand...

http://www.FullTraction.com
http://www.claytonoffroad.com/

Thanks GottabeJeep... did you have any trouble running those tires on the Jeep? Did you have to change your gearing? Because-- I do have the 8.25"...

I really don't suggest running 37's on stock axles like I did, but I got a dang good deal on those wheels and tires, and thought what the heck. I had the stock 3:55 gears, so get up and go was more like sit there and wait a few. I would highly suggest full widths with 37's, but just wanted to make a point that the RE 5.5" kit sits very tall for advertised height and more lift is not required to fit big tires. I would highly recommend the RE 5.5" short arm HD kit for 35's, but swap out the 4.5" ZJ coils for the 3.5" ZJ coils and the 3.5" leafs for the 4.5" leafs. Keep it low and wide, so get some wheels with little backspacing, and add some wheel spacers to the mix as well to get you down to 2-2.5" total backspacing. The newer HPD30 front axle has held up very well for myself and friends running everything up to 37's, but the rear axle is usually upgraded from the 8.25 to the 8.8 when stepping up to 37's. The locked 8.25 with 4:56 gears has been holding up very well for up to 35's for my buddies. I no longer have the black XJ, but I have a 98 white XJ with the 5.5" kit I explained with the swapped springs and 34's, but I have a full width HP44/9" sitting in the garage right now, so some 36" Irocs or some 37's of some sort are going back on under my current lift setup.

Oh, and if you have to have long arms, as much as I love RE, I am not impressed with there long arm setup for the XJ. I would suggest the RE 5.5" short arm kit, sell the control arms and drop brackets/braces, and get the www.tntcustoms.com long arm/crossmember setup. Very impressive kit.

I am not sure if I wanna trim too much from the fenders.. if I had to trim, or go with a cutout.. I would go with the bushwackers.

Do you think I could clear, 33's with the 4.5" -6.5" Rusty lift kits?
I am thinking of buying the long arm after I get the lift, and tires on-- to see if I need it for the wheeling I do.

Xj2.. has a nice Cherokee just like mine, with the 6.5" longarm, with 33".. and his looks really nice. But, it looks as if he trimmed his fenders, he could stuff some 35" tires.

i have a rough country 4.5" lift with teraflex 1.5" spacers and shackles and i can clear 33's full flex with no bump stops but then again i do have trimmed fenders. when i went to go trim them i thought to myself wow this is going to look like i shot off the sheetmetal with an M-5 assualt rifle but suprisingly it turned out really nice, you can coat the trim with hurculiner or in my case i used a rubberized undercoating looks ok. dont have aftermarket fenders cause im a little short on the mula but dont have plans of ever puting them on you can look up threads on how people trim there are tons on this forum just search it. hope this helped. as for the long arm i would give anything to go back and buy a long arm kit but thats not going to happen, also a mula prob. im still runnin stock upper arms AAAAHHHHH! it sucks

I ordered the 6.5" Rusty's lift. When it gets here, I am going to piddle around on 33" tires for a while..

Then I will save some cash for some fenders, gears, and new spacers/shakles.. then go to the 35" tires.

It will look good but you will be very tall.And will need to cut the finders no matter what they arn't 33inch's wide.Just trim and run bigger tires.with what was said you could 37/38" tire with a 5.5 lift so your 6.5 ins imo to tall.

GottaBeJeep said:

Oh, and if you have to have long arms, as much as I love RE, I am not impressed with there long arm setup for the XJ. I would suggest the RE 5.5" short arm kit, sell the control arms and drop brackets/braces, and get the www.tntcustoms.com long arm/crossmember setup. Very impressive kit.

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x2

First off, if you haven't already, get skids and tow points.

Don't forget about axle strength, like others have said.

IMHO, 33" tires look small on 5.5" - 6.5" lifts. I run 33s on my RE 4.5" and could run 35s with little effort.

Bushwackers look good, but they are limited in functionality (I have them). And trust me, you will end up trimming.....

If you run 33s or bigger, you'll want to regear. I dealt with my stock gears with 33s for a few months, but couldn't resist 4.56s after a while.

Last, I know you already ordered Rustys, but I'm an RE fan.....and would recommend their stuff.
Good Luck.

http://my-xj.tripod.com