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Lowering a cherokee. GASPP!!

X

XJRunner

NAXJA Forum User
Location
San Diego
I know I know, why would I wanna lower a cherokee? I have my 87 waggy thats being built for the desert. I'm gonna be buying a 90 something metalic blue cherokee thats all stock besides wheels. Its perfect condition besides a cracked exhaust manifold. It's gonna be my driver. i wanna lower it and paint the gold center of some gold spoke waggy wheels i have black and put them on. I was thinking I could just do a spring under swap in the back and cut the front coils. anything wrong with doing this? Will i need shorter shocks? Thanks!
 
something they call lowering springs
 
im sure they dont make them cause jeeps arent supposed to be lowered. but if you do some research about the springs i bet you can find some from another vehicle that are stock which will lower it a couple inches or whatever your gonna do.
 
Maybe some TJ springs up front? I know XJ springs on a TJ are a lift, but idk about vice versa, or at least spring rate wise.
 
TJ springs will drop you an inch, you could find some off a beat down 97 and maybe get 1.5 lower. The problem with lowering it would be clearance between the axle and the engine. I would check that out first. A spring under would realy drop the back but I think you would have more clearance issues. A spring under would drop it 3" to 4" I would guess. I'm sure its been done though. If it was 2wd that would be different. You could work around the clearance problems in the rear and you should be fine in the front.
 
never thought of lowering an xj, people have put in both t bird front coil springs i am not sure what years sorry, as well as f150 springs for a lift. You could look at f150 springs that are lowered, or have custom coils made locally not cheap though.

If your on a budget as you day, then keep it stock. Thats the best advise your gonna get. No one is going to want to buy a lowered cherokee, any money you put into it will be wasted, as well as time which we all know is $. You say your on a budget, again ill repeat, just dont do it.

Is this purely for looks? I dont think you can make the jeep handle better or more reliably than a stock unit. If you want performance my suggestion is you bolt on a rear sway bar and put on nice shocks like some bilsteins. That will help you more than lowering it.
 
Well assume that, when doing the SUA, the axle tube is about 3" in diameter and the spring pack is about 1" thick. Depending on how you rework the spring perch I would say It would be lowered about 4" in the rear. You should call several companies that sell lowering kits and find out the different lengths of springs for different vehicles. I would think that an S-10 or Ranger would be a good place to start. Or you could just heat the spring and have a horrible ride... :/

Edit: Geez 3 post while I was typing! You should try to find a 2wd front suspension. That may help with clearance.
 
You drop the rear...nothing happen's.
You drop the front, and your pumpkin starts playing tag with your oil pan..

I would recommend F-150 springs up front with 2 full coil revolutions cut off, and remove one of your rear leafs besides the main and overload.

Edit: that should give you a stiffer ride up front with about 1.5 or 2" lower than stock. The stiffer F-150 springs will prevent the axle from touching the oil pan.
 
PepperRed said:
You drop the rear...nothing happen's.
You drop the front, and your pumpkin starts playing tag with your oil pan..

I would recommend F-150 springs up front with 2 full coil revolutions cut off, and remove one of your rear leafs besides the main and overload.

Edit: that should give you a stiffer ride up front with about 1.5 or 2" lower than stock. The stiffer F-150 springs will prevent the axle from touching the oil pan.
Click to expand...

Ya, and it will flex like a power wheels, I dont even under stand this thread, lower? whats that?
 
You can cut the stock coils. Its not dangerous or ghetto. As you cut the coils, you lose height and gain spring rate. You need to watch clearance issues though. Pull the springs and then raise and lower the front of the XJ without springs to see what problems you'll have.

Spring under in the rear will lower it too much. I'd say do the spring under with an AAL or extended shackle. You could even use a nice lifted springpack with a spring under. If all you're planning is street use, look for a 2wd. The 2wd's are very inexpensive.

Don't listen to all the Naysayers. A lowered XJ would make a great daily driver.
 
You could use lift shackles from a chevy, they are reverse. Also get a set of 1" motor mount lift. Givin unlimited funds, i would have both solid axles removed, use a 9" center section front and rear on double wishbone front and rear. Using hubs in back so i could adjust toe as well. Go with elect limitslip front and rear. Find single speed tcase with some type of elect limitslip wheel speed sensors all the way around for traction control. And throw a heavily modified viper v10 all on a 01 xj. It's actually been a dream for few years now.
 
Yeah, you should be able to cut the springs a little and not suffer too much ill effects. People have read "Don't cut springs" but have never really tried it. I HAVE CUT springs and had no problems other than cutting new springs and not knowing how much the will sag. If you are cutting old springs you dont have to worry about that.

BTW, I like the idea of spring under with a shackle or AAL. That should help get some of the extreme drop back from the swap. My buddies MJ we did a spring over and it raised it about 5-5.5". Come to think of it......what would MJ springs with spring under do?????
 
I'd just put smaller diameter wheels/tires on.

It accomplishes the same thing as lowering without all the headaches.

Plus your acceleration will improve...always a plus on the street.
 
j99xj said:
I'd just put smaller diameter wheels/tires on.

It accomplishes the same thing as lowering without all the headaches.
Click to expand...
:puke:
That's just my personal opinion of smaller wheels on the XJ. The factory 15's are small enough as it is.
Then you have to deal with the annoyingly large wheel well gaps to try to hide.
I would cut the springs or replace them and do the spring under and shackle, you will want the ride a bit stiffer if your goods are hanging that much closer to the pavement.
 
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