2" lift how much is needed

i have a 98 and i know for like 3" or above you need a sye and the cv driveshaft, and a new trackbar.. do you still need all that stuff for a 2" lift or can you get away w/o some. i dont want any vibrations or an offcenter axle or anything like that

thanks

An SYE isn't really needed until about 4-4.5 inches of lift.

They make bolt on track bar relocation brackets, that center your axle, if you're looking to go cheap.

3-3.5 inch kit's are fairly cheap.

2'' lift is dirt cheap, but you're not going to run a 31'' tire without some cutting.

It's up to you.

There is no set height that a SYE is required. Some people claim they are running 6" of lift on the stock shaft and are "fine". I find that hard to believe. I suppose it depends on what your definition of "fine" is. I am running 3" of lift and 31's and I used the TC drop kit and it worked OK (still some small vibes) with the stock 3.55 gears, but when I changed to 4.56 gears the increased speed of the shaft made the vibes too much for me and I ended up installing a SYE and shaft. Some of the XJ's even had vibes at the factory height and had a TC drop installed from the factory. You should be ok with just a TC drop but there are no gurantees. Just remember a drop kit will make your crossmember hang down more and puts a little more stress on motor mounts and shift linkages. Track bar brackets are cheap and should work fine with a BB. You will definately have to do some trimming to run 31's on a 2" lift. Depending on your choice of rim and tire, it may require quite a bit of trimming if you plan to wheel it, espescially if you are running sway bar disconnects. Just my $0.02

I just recently introduced a friend on a budget (kid just graduated HS) to the world of jeeps and suspension mods. It was his second XJ, but first lift. We did it on a real budget. His is either an 00 or 01, I forget, but what matters is that it's one of the ones that has issues with vibes even with small lifts.

He did 1.75" spacers upfront. I recommended rusty's 2" coils, even though I haven't run his 2" ones, I do love his coil springs. So either of those options will work for you.

He's on a budget, I mentioned that already, so instead of replacing shocks, which could have been done for relatively cheap, he did BPEs all around, which is just about right for a little 2" lift. Thing does ride really nice now!

In the rear, people kept telling him shackle and blocks. I totally disagreed, especially since he was going to be towing a small boat sometimes. I made him get the RE 2.5" AAL. It goes all the way back to the rear spring eye, which is key. It rides like a champ!! Some people thing they ride rough...maybe some brands do, but the RE 2.5" AAL rides very nice in his and my opinions. He has a little over 2.5 inches of lift, probably closer to 3 in the rear.

Now the vibes. They happened. First we swapped an Xmember from a 5speed in, which gives about 3/8 drop. Made things worse!! Then we did Tcase drop, made things worse!! Then we simply shimmed the axle to make the driveshaft angles relative to the output and pinion equal. Ta-da! To me, no vibes. To him, very slight vibes right at about 45mph, but that's it. Very slight. I've driven jeeps for years and I ride on MTs, so to me it was nothing. the vibe was not enough to worry about, and he got used to it after a day. It's not a vibe vibe, just barely noticable to the most picky people. He is happy, jeep looks much better, wheels much better, rides much better, and he got his 2" lift in on a real tight budget. Try it.

I just did a 2 inch BB (spacer/shackle) with up country springs on a 96. I got lucky cause only very small vibe at about 45. All jeeps are different.

Good thing that you asked this b/c I'm putting a 2" BDS lift on my Jeep tomarrow...

Oh, what is a BPE? Never heard of those before

Every jeep is different, but in this case, shims worked great.

BPE= bar pin eliminators. keeps the shock bushing in compression rather than letting the sides squish out when it's under a load. Also adds about 1/2" or so of length to the shock. If you've got new shocks, no worries, although BPEs are a good thing to have, they make the shock bushings last much much longer.