Best(cheapest) way to put in 4" lift?

I recently picked up a 93' XJ and I am looking to put in a 3-4" lift with keeping my costs to a minimum. I will be installing it myself and I am looking for a softer ride so will new coils help alot?

A softer ride is rarely consistant with a lifted vehicle. For stability purposes, a lifted rig normally has a stiffer suspension.

new coils will be stiff for a while untill they break in and soften up. You will quickly find that there is no way to lift a cherokee 4 inches unless u half ass quite a few things.

lift a cherokee 4 inches for cheap i mean...oops

Lower the rear leaf spring shackle mounts 4" and keep stock springs on it. Then in the front get some ZJ v8 springs and blocks. Hows that for cheap and a soft ride ?

Check out gojeep's webpage for how to lower your rear shackle mounts.

http://go.jeep-xj.info/

Dan

Doing a 3" cheap is realitively possible. But after that lift and cheap don't mix. If you do a cheap (price) lift you will end up with a cheap (quality) lift. You will only end up spending more in the long run. My suggestion would be get a quality lift (RE 3.5 will get you 4"). Spending money now only prevents problems later. I would suggest waiting to do all of it together, or at least as much as possible. You look at the average lifted Jeeper on here and the are running about 4.5" on average. Average money dumped into that rig is hitting $1300 in parts if they wheel it. At 4" you can bet you will most likely need a SYE. Save pennies and do it right the first time..don't skimp.

just like everyone has said, cheap and best don't go together. for cheap, i'd go with a rusty's 3". it's the best for the price.

Yet another time, just to pound it in... "CHEAP" and "BEST" are practically antonyms.
Keep that in mind. If the consensus is this large, there's likely some validity behind it. We've all been there, and done that.

To use an example, a track bar "relocation bracket" for the axle end sounds like a great, cheap idea. ITS NOT. Its half-assed and can easily fail. A failure of that margin can kill people on the highway. Bear in mind.

dan89XJ said:

Lower the rear leaf spring shackle mounts 4" and keep stock springs on it.... Hows that for cheap and a soft ride ?


Dan

Click to expand...

Yeah thats a great idea. And EASY to boot! :wierd:

Then replace u joints at every oil change and enjoy the "good vibrations" you get from your pinion angle being pointed at your t-case and x degrees out of whack. :doh:

Not to mention the fact that lowering the the shackle mounts 4" WILL NOT provide for 4" of lift. It will yeild 2". There are two, read (2), mounting points for a leaf spring: the shackle end, and frame end. This is the same concept as a 2" longer shackle giving you 1" of lift. You dig?

yeah you don't want 4" shackles...to save some $ on the rear you can build your own leaf pack using your original main cherokee leaf and adding leaves from an s-10 pack...kinda like an add-a-leaf but you are really building a whole new pack. look up "bastard pack" or "bastard leaves" you should come up with some hits and pics. i've done this and it got me about 4.5" lift, and clears my 31s by far. i have a 94 and all i did was a simple 3/4" t case drop and no vibes at all. i have the ax-15 trans so this may mean i have a different drive shaft and you could still have vibes with an auto trans and t case drop on this lift. anyway, then for the front just get some ca's, coils, track bar, bump stops and brake lines and front and rear shocks you should be set...prolly run you around 800-1000

buy all brand new OME (old man emu) components, or deal with a not so nice ride...

this will take $$$ and time...