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new cherokee want to lift it but not sure what to go with

$

$100cherokee

NAXJA Forum User
Location
rochester ny
I just got an 87 cherokee for $100 you all may laugh but its great. It needs a rear main seal and some light bulbs other than tha ti runs and drives great. I'll have pics later. I was wondering if anyone might recommend a lift kit for me. I want something that will ride nice on road and preform off-road. Looking for about 4.5" so i can get bigger tires at some point.

Are jeep lift kits easy to install? I have done one on a ford bronco argggggg!! pain in the butt. Is it easier than that?

second how do I tell what rear end I have? I am new to jeeps.

any help would be great.

thanks
 
first recommendation would be to learn to drive it and realize what you're doing with it. Even in stock form the XJ is plenty capable. Then put an RE lift on it.

Search is your friend around here; you'll find that many of your questions have been asked a few times; some of them come up weekly. Lifts are relatively easy and get proportionally worse the more rust you have underneath. I've got writeups on my site as do most of us around here. Expect to increase the value of your XJ 10 or 20 times with a 4.5" lift, gears and tires.

Welcome to NAXJA - with the 87 you should have either a Dana35 or a Dana 44 rear axle. Hope for the 44. Pics of both are at http://www.yuccaman.com/jeep/gear1.html#axle
 
Awesome score!! If you want to maintain the "got it 4 cheap" mantra, then scrounge, scrounge, scrounge.

If you dig, you can find some used RE short arms, plenty of coils, and a few different leafs, brake lines, and swaybar endlinks/disconnects. There are quite a few folks going longarm these days, many of which who have "golden" used suspension parts from their previously installed quality shortarm kits. Consequently, once sufficient extended links and lines, are now insufficient for those going higher yet, and may be had for a heck of a discount. :thumbup: Just dig!
 
I jsut got my 3" from rusty's. It cost 245 plus shipping so it netted me a total of 291. I've hear a lot of good things, so it may be worth looking into. i know, it's not a 4.5 but still...
 
SEARCH! :paperwork WHen I first got on here I was tempted to start just asking questions but found that these questions were hashed over hundreds of times with all different kinds of advice to read through. It'll do you good to read up and then ask when your answer is not found.

Welcome to NAXJA! Cant wait to see pics of your $100 deal!
I also got the rusty's 3" AAL for $245...I just read alot of good reports and the price was right for me...I have heard that it gives over 3" of lift even after 30,000 miles of driving
 
i'd go with the re 3.5 with 33's and trimming if i were to go back.. i got the 4.5 but with the trimming i needed i could have gotten 33's with less lift
 
Being you are in rochester NY I'd also invest in a case of Power blaster because you are gonna need it. The toughest part is the bolt holding the front of the leaves in. Soak that thing for as long as you can, weeks if necessary and I'm not kidding. If you plan on playing with it I'd try to find gas tank skid, transfer case skid and front skid then a set of rock sliders that go under the rockers to proctect them before getting a lift, also tow points front and rear, a requirement for most off roading events. Front hooks need special mounting plates that replace the front bumper mounting, rear tow can be either the single factory hook that takes an L bracket or a class III hitch, either of them needs the nut plates that go inside the frame rails, they are steel plates with nuts welded on them that match the holes in the frame. The frame material in XJ's is too thin to mount anything like a tow point directly to.
 
Pay attention to what RichP wrote. Spend some time reading through other posts about spring replacement. Considering that you're in the rust belt and this is an older XJ, expect to encounter all the possible problems in replacing the leaf packs.

For that reason, I question the wisdom of buying a lift kit that costs three times or more what you paid for the vehicle. Might I suggest that you lower your aim just a bit and consider a Rusty's or RE 3" kit with AAL rather than new spring packs? You can run 31" tires with minimal trimming on a 3" lift and you'll have a very capable rig, with some money left over to spend on things like skid plates and tow hooks.
 
Thanks.

It's not that i am not familiar with off road driving, I had a bronco and a chevy k1500 that i wish I still had. Just not familiar with jeeps.

A buddy and I are building a 1946 willys that has a totally hand fabricated frame and about 5 to 6 foot of articulation in the rear suspesnion. It's got a chevy 350 that's been bored and stroked with a th400 tranny. I did mainly the engine work and the body work now the suspension has to be finished, and it needs wired. its got 44" super swampers and the axles are off a toyota land crusier to put it mildly it's a mutt. made for rock crawling.

not really a suspension guy but I know how it works. More of a hot rod and drag racing guy all engine tranny and rear end.
 
100$ XJ?

cheap it out. 32's can fit under 3" with a sawzall. 3" can be had with Dakota, or S10 leaves, and a cheap set of lift springs for the front. Cheap lift, cheap 32's, or 31's and wheel the piss outta it.
 
If you pull the flares off it and roll the edge on the rear opening youo can put 31-10.50-15's with no lift. I know because my neighbor was over here just now and wanted me to see how he did it. I am proud of him: he went from "Ain't my civic da bom? to Lets go wheeling in one trip. He sold the civic last month, bought an '84 (still don't know where he find THAT), and has it running and driving in his side yard right now across the street.
 
$100cherokee said:
Thanks.

It's not that i am not familiar with off road driving, I had a bronco and a chevy k1500 that i wish I still had. Just not familiar with jeeps.

A buddy and I are building a 1946 willys that has a totally hand fabricated frame and about 5 to 6 foot of articulation in the rear suspesnion. It's got a chevy 350 that's been bored and stroked with a th400 tranny. I did mainly the engine work and the body work now the suspension has to be finished, and it needs wired. its got 44" super swampers and the axles are off a toyota land crusier to put it mildly it's a mutt. made for rock crawling.

not really a suspension guy but I know how it works. More of a hot rod and drag racing guy all engine tranny and rear end.
Click to expand...

By what justification do you call it a willys other than the body :laugh3:
 
How Much Do You Want To Spend On Your Lift?
I Just Installed A Full-traction 6in Long-arm System. My Jeep Is A Jeepspeed But I Heard That This System Works Very Well And Is Capable Of Great Rock-crawling. The System Goes For About 1500 Bucks. With Long-arms You Can Get Greater Articulation In The Front. This System Clears 35's With Cuting The Fenders A Little.
NOT HARD TO INSTALL, MY DAD AND I DID IT IN OUR GARAGE
-gatlan
 
JEEPSPEEDRCR said:
How Much Do You Want To Spend On Your Lift?
I Just Installed A Full-traction 6in Long-arm System. My Jeep Is A Jeepspeed But I Heard That This System Works Very Well And Is Capable Of Great Rock-crawling. The System Goes For About 1500 Bucks. With Long-arms You Can Get Greater Articulation In The Front. This System Clears 35's With Cuting The Fenders A Little.
NOT HARD TO INSTALL, MY DAD AND I DID IT IN OUR GARAGE
-gatlan
Click to expand...

NiCe CaPiToLiZaTiOn On EvEry WoRd!

what else did you hear about?

$100 vehicle with 1500% of the initial cost spent on suspention componenets....
 
Hey $100cherokee..
I live just East across the county line from you. I didn't know anybody was interested in wheeling Cherokees in Rochester.

Did you check the pictures on Yucca-man's site yet? You probably have a 30% chance it is a Dana 44, being it is an '87. Check it out. I also have an '87 that I am getting ready to put a Detroit and 4.56 gears in my D44. Maybe we could get together for a party?
 
dude, those Dana 44's are junk. heck, I got one in the garage waiting for gears and a locker. Tell ya what, I'll send ya $50 to ship it to me if It is a Dana 44..... just since your new and all, I wanna be nice!

I can get ya a really nice C 8.25 a with kickin 27 splines for really cheap and ship it to ya for a couple hundred bucks!!(I have a connection at a local junkyard, that's how I get em so cheap)

Have fun with your new ride, wheel that beast as soon as you get some towpoints.

Jason
 
mofo where about are ya? I actually live in avon ny it's just easier to say i live in rochester. I'm definitly interested in talking shop. Have about a million things to do before i can even think about mods on my cherokee. hoping next month to start working on it.
 
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