4.5" Lift Measurement

I am planning on getting a 4.5" Rustys lift soon for my 98 XJ and I was wondering if someone who has a true 4.5" lift with 31's or 2's on their XJ could measure the distance from pavement to bottom outer rocker on a level surface and let me know. I currently have 31's, the flexy Rustys 3.5" coils and 2" pucks, and an add-a-leaf with a 1" shackle with uppers and lowers. I plan to get the 4.5" coils and 3.5" full leafs and use my 1" shackle for more flex. I'm just trying to see the difference the 4.5" is going to give versus what I have now. Thanks.

I don't know how "true" it is but I've got an RE 4.5" lift kit (with complete rear spring replacement) sitting on 32" BFG KM2.

Currently I'm driving around with an extra 130 lbs of weight in the back of the truck and mine still has an ugly rake to it.

I measured the bottom of the rocker right next to the vertical pinch seam.

So let's start at the front- under the front door seam it measures 22 3/4 inches from the ground.
At the midpoint - under the B-pillar it measures 23" from the ground
At the rear - under the rear door seam it measures 24"

So there you go.

What are your measurements now?

Thanks alot, thats exactly what I wanted to know. My Jeep is pretty much a level 21" to all 3 points you measured, just a hair lower in the front. Makes sense your 32's give and inch and you have an inch more lift on the springs ~2" bigger than mine, so as soon as I wear out my 31's I'll go with the new lift. Have you ever seen a 4.5" with 31/10.50's? Just wondering how that would look? Thanks again.

XJJeepNewb said:

>I've got an RE 4.5" lift kit (with complete rear spring replacement) ...mine still has an ugly rake to it.<

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I must have read something like this a hundred times with RE lifts, that's one of the main reasons I didn't use one.

A more typical way of measuring the lift hight it to measure from hub center to the bottom of the flare. I believe the manual shows locations to measure underneath at the suspension / axle. Both of these techniques will give you better numbers for the lift since they take variations in tire hight and sidewall flex out of the equation.

OP, what exactly are you looking for? Lift hight or a ground clearance measurement with a specific hight and tire size?

I was just wanting to see the difference between a real 4.5" lift and the pieced together lift I am running now.

hoodride said:

Thanks alot, thats exactly what I wanted to know. My Jeep is pretty much a level 21" to all 3 points you measured, just a hair lower in the front. Makes sense your 32's give and inch and you have an inch more lift on the springs ~2" bigger than mine, so as soon as I wear out my 31's I'll go with the new lift. Have you ever seen a 4.5" with 31/10.50's? Just wondering how that would look? Thanks again.

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No problem, glad it helped!

There's a sticky thread around here somewhere that compares all kinds of lift heights and tire sizes. That's what I looked at before choosing mine.

I think the 32" tires "look" better but there are a couple of downsides to be aware of.

1- On my 99 Classic I had to trim a VERY small amount of the front fender surround. right at the back of the front fenderwell I cut a small slice out to clearance when turning. Very minor.
2- they don't tuck as easily as 31" tires. Im in Florida so no big deal to me but it might matter to you depending on what kind of offroading you do or how much mods you're going to do.
3- Mine came with 3.55 gears and with the increased tire size and probably the extra weight of the rig it was getting pretty crappy acceleration and mileage. Like noticeably bad. I had mine regeared to get the pep back.

Yeah I think 32's look better also, I've already done all the drivetrain mods to run more lift and bigger tires so I'm good in that department. I've already done an SYE and Tom Woods rear shaft, Trac bar, sway bar discos, and 4:10's with a limited slip so no problems there. Once I get the bigger lift I would like to run 32/9.50 BFG's on my ProComp rockcrawlers. I live in North GA and I've been to Tellico a few times, and I go to some other local places as much as possible but thats not that often. Flexed out I've only had rubbing issues in the bottom rear coners of the front fenders and thats just because of my crappy lower controls arms, I'll be buying new uppers and lowers when I do the lift.