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Rubicon Express 5.5” Extreme-Duty Long Arm Install on a 2000 Cherokee

Wanker

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Alabama
Here is a write up I did for my lift install. Thought some of you guys might like seeing/reading it.

I bought the Jeep with a 3" Skyjacker lift with an AAL in the rear and 31" BFG A/T's. After a few months of driving with this stiff lift I decided something had to be done. I have owned several Jeeps with Rubicon Express lifts and have loved them. I'd never had a long arm lift, so I thought I'd go all out and give it a try. I bought the 5.5" long arm lift, and the rest is history.

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Since this lift is designed to replace the entire stock suspension, I was not surprised when a man in a brown van dropped this off. In total there were eight boxes and two leaf spring packs. The driver definitely earned his money for this delivery.

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I recommend unpacking and inspecting everything to ensure there are no lost, or damaged, items. Thankfully I was not missing anything, and everything appeared to be in great shape. Then it was time to disassemble the stock suspension.

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Once you have the stock suspension out of the way, brace the drivetrain and remove the stock crossmember. When everything is removed you may start assembling the lift kit with the transmission mount. When tightening the nuts on the new transmission mount, try to square it up as much as possible. Once the skid plate goes up, it’s difficult to access those nuts. The holes on the transmission mount are slotted to allow some room for error.

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Next comes the control arm mounts. This is where the fun starts to begin! Two of the bolt holes along the frame rail are already lined up ready to bolt in. With those two bolts holding the mount in place it’s time to bring out the drill. All of the holes, for the bolts in the middle of the above photo, have to be drilled through the pinch seam. This is not difficult, but it can be very time consuming with a dull bit. Once that is complete you move to the rear two hole along the frame rail and drill those out, as well as one large hole behind the mount so you can slip in the nut strip.

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Now it is time to put on the side braces. On one side, the brace bolts up to the control arm mount, and on the other, you guessed it, more drilling through pinch seams! I have been told that these side braces are optional, but I figured since they were included in the kit, I would use them.

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By this point of the install, the drill was getting pretty warm, and the bit I was using was very dull. Before I attacked the passenger side, I made a run to my local hardware store to buy another drill bit. This also allowed my drill to cool down a bit and for my back battery to charge up. The same steps apply for the passenger side as they do for the driver side.

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When both control arm mounts are in place you need to take out the bolts along the frame rail on both sides. The middle piece of the belly pan is pretty heavy so it might be time to enlist your buddy to help hold it up while you align the bolt holes. The middle skid bolts to several different pieces. In the direct middle there are four holes for your transmission mount, to each side of that there are two holes to mount to the control arm bracket, and finally there are three bolt holes along each frame rail. It seems like an odd design, but Rubicon Express made it this way so you can take the middle piece out to service your transmission and transfer case without having to take your whole front suspension out.

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On to the rear end and when I started installing the new shackle I noticed it was hitting a bolt in the shackle box. All it took was a little love from a sawzall and the both sides traveled normally.

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Leaf spring installation doesn’t require much tech. I would recommend cutting the extra length off the new u-bolts. For a little better articulation I decided to remove my rear sway bar. You may do this at your own discretion.

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The front went on fairly easily. First you should bolt in the lower control arm. Once it is in, adjust the upper control arm for your specific year Cherokee. The instructions that come with the kit go into detail on adjusting them. Before putting the new coil springs in, use the supplied self-tapping bolt to drill into the middle of the coil spring seat and install the new front bumpstops. Once installed, you may put the new coil spring in. This particular lift kit did not come with shocks, but I would recommend Bilstein 5100 series shock absorbers. I installed them with the kit, and have had nothing but great things to say about them. After having this lift installed for nearly four months now, I would highly recommend it. The on road characteristics are much better than short arm lifts. I cannot begin to mention how much superior Rubicon Express springs are compared to other brand names. It’s like riding on a cloud, as much as a Jeep could…

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That thing looks big as hell. Nice write up I love my RE 5.5" kit. I does ride really good on road and off. Much better than some of the "Rough"er kits out there. What size tires are you running, looks like 35's? You didn't mention anything about doing an SYE I assume you did one?
 
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You say you using the Bilstein 5100 series shock absorbers. do you know the model numbers on those shocks? or what length compressed and extended for that particular lift? Thanks for the wright up. looks nice and tall.
 
RE finally came out with a new long arm kit that has a crossmember you can remove without dropping the control arms or did I just miss that before? How low does the belly pan and the lowest section of the crossmember hang down off the frame rail? Is center section belly pan 3/16 or 1/4 plate?
 
That thing looks big as hell. Nice write up I love my RE 5.5" kit. I does ride really good on road and off. Much better than some of the "Rough"er kits out there. What size tires are you running, looks like 35's? You didn't mention anything about doing an SYE I assume you did one?
The tires in the last picture were 33's, but now I'm on 35's. I did not do a SYE when I did the lift. I put a SYE on a week or two after the lift. I did not notice any horrible vibrations driving without one though.

I already sold the Skyjacker lift, sorry.

The Bilstein's are actually 5125's. The rear shocks are the ones from Bilstein's catalog for a Cherokee with 5-6" of lift. The fronts were from a Ford, I believe. I'll get the number when I get home.

I'll also get those measurements when I get home from work this evening.
 
RE finally came out with a new long arm kit that has a crossmember you can remove without dropping the control arms or did I just miss that before? How low does the belly pan and the lowest section of the crossmember hang down off the frame rail? Is center section belly pan 3/16 or 1/4 plate?

You missed that, Rubicon has always had that multiple piece crossmember. TNT is the set up that when dropping the bellypan, requires the arms to go with it.
 
BDS and Rough country as well. Maybe I was thinkin RC not RE lol
 
Hey, I'm about to install those lift and would like some advice... I know it's been 7 years but hopefully you can still help me. Message me if you can. Thanks
 
What are your questions/concerns? The OP has visited here for 4yrs!
 
What are your questions/concerns? The OP has visited here for 4yrs!

Ya, but thought I try and get a hold of him.

Just wanted to ask if there were any complaints, recommendations, etc.

I really can't find a lot of info on this particular lift kit.

Only found 2 useful install threads.
 
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