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Rough Country 4.5 install > Completed

T

turpehar

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Farmer City, IL
My son and I just competed the RC 4.5 with leaf pack install on the our 98 XJ. This rides on top of Maxis Bighorn 32x11.50 on 15x10 Chrome spokes. For the most part the install was uneventful. All the upper shock bolts broke which I took care of by using an air hammer and quickly driving them through. This method was picked up here and really worked as described. What could have been hours of agonizing work was truly turned into ten minutes. The rear springs/shackles are a bit noisy. I set the tow and got the wheel lined back up. The XJ tracks correctly and has no drive line irregularities as tested up to 65MPH. One thing that we found was the wrong U bolts were shipped. What we got was U bolts for the 2.75" axle instead of the 3". Rough Country is sending replacments. The whole job took about 12 hours mostly due to having to heat up most every bolt so we could get them out.

We're happy with the way it turned out.

DSC01069.jpg

DSC01063.jpg

DSC01065.jpg
 
I'm sure it looks great, but all I'm seeing from work is red x's.

That kit is one of the few on my getting shorter everyday list of lift's I'm considering.
 
MisterFubar said:
I'm sure it looks great, but all I'm seeing from work is red x's.

That kit is one of the few on my getting shorter everyday list of lift's I'm considering.
Click to expand...

It must be your work computer, because the pictures do work. The Lift looks really good.
 
jgcbr said:
It must be your work computer, because the pictures do work. The Lift looks really good.
Click to expand...
It is, uncle likes to block all the picture hosting sites. I'm subscribing to remind myself to look when I get home.
 
Time to disconnect your swaybar and see just how much trimming your gonna need to do.
 
I hope you don't mean permanently gone, cause that thing is damn handy on the freeway. JKS Quicker Discos are your friend.
 
Honestly with out trimming the rear you can run 32" on 4.5 without much rub in the back if you leave your rear sway bar in and still get decent flex. But its on my list to pull that on my truck and trim the rear up for it. But yeah I was refering to the front swaybar.
 
We took it out and did a little flexing on it an rubbed a bit of paint off one of the rear flares. Will also need to trim the front-front-lower flares to clear for turning radius.

As for the sway bar, it was the rear that we pulled, but left the front.
 
I can finally see the pictures and it looks damn good. I've never been a fan of chrome, but I have to admit those wheels look good.
 
Well like I said I highly recommend getting disconnects for the front sway bar. The amount of flex you lose from having the front sway bar connected is dramatic.
 
Very nice looking rig. I wondered about the RC lift, but ended up with the 3.5" RE lift and am very happy with it. What noises or vibes do you have with the driveline/transfer case? Like others, I dropped my TC 1" and eliminated my vibes, but still get a little noise here and there.

I also used 31" tires and have a .08 differential on my odometer as I did not change gearing. In other words, I multiply 1.08 to my odometer when I fill up to determine an accurate reading for determining gas mileage. (I'm in the 17mpg range, down from 19+).

My lift install took 23 hours. Most trouble came from swaybar end links (had to rent a ball joint puller) and redrilling the pin holes for the larger rear springs. Tools are always good to have.
 
Last edited:
the lift actually came witha TC drop kit so we never experienced any problems with that. although whenever we take off into a turn it usually gives a funny little vibe and we cant figure that one out. at the moment that is
​
 
Looks great, I have the 4.5 RC and I just replaced the crappy shocks with bilsteins and the difference is huge! So much better. Also, the rims might be a bit wide, I have 32x11.5 MT/Rs on my stock 15x7 and had light rub. Got 1" wheel spacers to cure that. UR'S LOOKS GOOD!!
 
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