going from 3.5 to 5.5

i have a 1996 xj with 3.5 re superflex lift, 1 inch transfer case drop, and 31 1050 15 cooper discoverys. i want to know if i can go 5.5 and 33 1350 15 toyo mts. i was thinking that i could just do the re 6inch shackle in the rear and possibly, 2in coil spacer or the 5.5 re coils.
now i know i would have to change the swar back quick discos, track bar, and brake lines. but what i want to know is, do i have to change to the long arm kit? do i have to get the sye and get the drivelines lengthened? and what to the best bang for your buck?

please can i get some little more experienced help?

You can definitely find alot on this by searching, but about the drivelines, etc...

At 5.5", you'd be lucky not to need a SYE; I'd plan on doing it. What exactly is your lift now? If you've got 3.5" leaves and stock shackles, then you can certainly just get a shackle for the rear, and spacers up front. You might need to do something about control arms, I don't know if your's will be long enough. However, you don't need to do long arms. Sure they're nice and great to have, but not necessary for that lift height

the lift is a 3.5 re superflex. it has aftermarket control arms in the front, i know cuz they are tube and silver. and the rear is a full new leaf pack. i didn't put the lift in i bought it like it is. i just wanna know how deep am i getting myself.

Yeah. I guess you *could* be ok with the same control arms, but I can't say for sure. There's definitely someone on the board who started with your kit and did the same, hopefully they can chime in for ya. Keep in mind though, that 33s are possible at 3.5" without a doubt, just do some trimming/bumpstopping and it would be fine.

yeah i definatly thought about it, although i dont want to just have big tires, i want to have good flex as well. so i figure i love the flex i have now, so if i wanna go bigger tires, i need to go the same in lift. and the re superflex has great flex, i have yet to lift a tire so i don't know if changing the springs would be worth it. where is a good place to go look for a sye?

Good flex is not a bad thing, no doubt about it... But stability is key as well. Do you have gears/lockers yet? If you have a locker/lockers, sacrificing a bit of flex isn't a bad thing, either.

Personally, I'd reccomend a full SYE, not a hack n tap. Some people do use the H&T and are fine, and others say they wish they didn't go the cheap route. Try taking a look at some of the vendor's sites here on you can find some good prices pretty easily... Also, I know PORC's pricing is pretty low, but I have also heard of people having bad experiences with service through them, so keep that in mind.

no i don't have lockers, and havent changed the gearing. that is all in the future.

That's another thing you'll want to consider then, is the power loss you'll experience on stock gears and 33s... It's quite noticeable, indeed.

Brandon,

A couple years ago when I bought my second XJ, it came with that exact kit. Now I already had the SYE with a tom woods shaft installed. I had problems with my control arm angles even with the 3.5" lift. So when I upgraded the control arms I got the RE drop brackets and braces, as well as adjustable uppers/ lowers. I put in the 2" spacer up front and got a sweet deal on 4.5" re leafs. My coils are starting to sag, and it doesn't help to have a heavier bumper. So soon I'm going to upgrade to 6 - 6.5ish" coils to try and offset that. With some fender trimming I'm running 32's too easy, so here in a week or so, I'm going to put on 35's. Like 5sp said long aren't necessary, you'll also here some say the the drop brackets are rock catcher's, but I haven't ran into that problem yet. Good luck.

XJsurf said:

Brandon,

A couple years ago when I bought my second XJ, it came with that exact kit. Now I already had the SYE with a tom woods shaft installed. I had problems with my control arm angles even with the 3.5" lift. So when I upgraded the control arms I got the RE drop brackets and braces, as well as adjustable uppers/ lowers. I put in the 2" spacer up front and got a sweet deal on 4.5" re leafs. My coils are starting to sag, and it doesn't help to have a heavier bumper. So soon I'm going to upgrade to 6 - 6.5ish" coils to try and offset that. With some fender trimming I'm running 32's too easy, so here in a week or so, I'm going to put on 35's. Like 5sp said long aren't necessary, you'll also here some say the the drop brackets are rock catcher's, but I haven't ran into that problem yet. Good luck.

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oh wow.
haha.
okay well thank you alot.
do you have any pictures?

Not with me, away from the house. I'll try and get some out tomorrow.

I have the RE 3.5" superflex lift and I'm running 33x12.5 TSL's. I cut about 3" off the front fenders and 1.5" off the rear. I can flex fully to the bumpstops and the tires will just barely kiss the inside of the fenderwells. I would recommend just trimming to fit the 33's. Otherwise, you'll be spending a lot of money on the sye, new driveshafts, control arms, shackles, spacers, disconnects, etc.

XJsurf said:

Not with me, away from the house. I'll try and get some out tomorrow.

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ok that would be great.

jeepster_259 said:

I have the RE 3.5" superflex lift and I'm running 33x12.5 TSL's. I cut about 3" off the front fenders and 1.5" off the rear. I can flex fully to the bumpstops and the tires will just barely kiss the inside of the fenderwells. I would recommend just trimming to fit the 33's. Otherwise, you'll be spending a lot of money on the sye, new driveshafts, control arms, shackles, spacers, disconnects, etc.

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very true. do you have pictures you could post of the trimming?

I went from 3inch to the RE 5.5 with 1in spacers and theres more then enough room for 35s.

i would go with lockers and gears before I would do an extra 2" of lift. and you can fit 32's on ur 3.5" lift with some trimming. You'll go a lot farther if youre fully locked now, then with a 5.5" lift and 33's open. and it will definitely be easier on the jeep as you wont have to gain as much speed to get up certain obstacles.

I ran the 3.5" kit on 32's for a while, just trimmed and all was well. and it keeps the low center of gravity etc. its a really good kit. if you go 5.5" youre going to need brake lines, track bar and bracket, driveshaft and sye or hack n tap, bigger tires=stronger tie rod, 33's=lower gears, because stock gearing and 33's really suck.

If youre looking for a more capable rig with less money, i would try lockers first, you'd be surprised what you make it up with those in there.

Here's pics of mine with the RE 3.5" SF lift and 33's:

If you want to run the 33s, just trim and run them with the 3.5" kit. I got the BDS 3" kit (it really settles out to 3.5") and I am running 33x12.50s. It handles better than stock with the wider (and backspaced) tires. I get plenty of flex, can stuff them all the way and not have any issues. I do plan on going to 4.5" or 5" of lift using 1.5" shackles and an ACOS system but thats so I can run 35s. I personally would much rather spend the extra money that you would on lift parts, on a regeared/locked 8.8 (or bigger if you plan to keep building), and regeared front end of your choice, maybe lock that too.

I have stock gears in mine (3.07) and I definately agree that it becomes a dog with 33s on stock gears. Is it bearable? yes, I drove mine like that for a couple years. Just kept it in 4th on the highway (still did 80, just let it wind up to about 3k rpms). If you have a 5 speed you can even manage to pull of decent fuel economy if you shift right to give it the power it needs.

Some more pics of 33s on 3.5":
3.5" trimmed, lawn edging fenders (cheap, legal, and doesnt tear off lke a bushwacker), 33x12.50 Mickey Thompson Baja radials



I had a few of it flexed, but I cant seem to find them right now. I will look around, I think they are on my old cell, but that's 450 miles away right now. Hopefully it didnt get cleared, somehow they didnt upload to the picture mail site when my other stuff was uploaded. :banghead:

edit: ignore the rag. The reflection of the flash off the front plate made it so you couldnt see anything

just trim and bumpstop, spend your money one skids first, then lockers, im running a 2"bb and 33's