Currently my '99 XJ 2 door sport, 4.0L, 5 speed, 231J, Dana 30 front, 8.25ö rear, 3.07 gears, is all stock and my daily driver. I have had it for about 4 year now, and love it, you all have seen different posts on here regarding different issues I am sure, but so far it has 153K miles and I am starting to think its time to give it a little better attitude, and make it look less like a station wagon and look more like the off road vehicles its roots come from. I would like to keep good on road handing, since this is my daily driver, and honestly it mainly sees the road, (IÆll admit it, I have my truck if I really want to go off road). I would like to make the xj more off road capable, but my primary focus is on road handling, and appearance. That being said, I am not going to do anything stupid just for looks, I am an engineer, so it has to be functional / practical. And please donÆt jump on here stating IÆll need more power or a bigger engine or different gearing. I know I will be changing gearing to accomplish this, right now I am just thinking about the suspension aspect of the formula.

So that being said, here are my current basic thoughts, around a 3 inch lift and a 30 or 31 by 9.50 or 10.50 inch tire on a 15 by 7 or 8 inch rim. I was thinking about a set of 31ö Swamper Truxus tires, yes I realize the tires are overkill for a mainly road vehicle, but I really like the SSRÆs I have on my truck, they are relatively quiet, they handle beautifully in all weather conditions on road and off, but tire tread could change. I would like to keep a lot of the exterior of the vehicle stock, ie not cutting fenders much, and keeping relatively stock looking fender flares, so a 31ö tire is my max, possibly adding a different front and rear bumper to add a spare tire carrier and such, but I do have airbags, so the bumpers may not change.

Ok so back to the lift/ suspension, since you have a general idea of my goal.

I had previously been thinking about going with either the Rubicon Express 6130 4.5ö Super Flex with Leafs, since it has all of the adjustability anyone could want and also getting 3.5ö spring for the front (they accomplish the lift in the rear with the 3.5ö leaf and a shackle, so just leave out the shackle), or the RE 6030 3.5ö Super Flex and add in the adjustable links and track bar. But the main thing I have been thinking about lately is this still leaves me with the short front suspension links, and any lift will change the angle they were designed to ride at and operate through; thinking back to this is a daily driver. So my current thought is starting with something like RustyÆs long arm kit and then a 3 or 3.5 inch lift kit, this includes a 1ö tx case drop built into the long arm cross member. I am thinking the long arm kit should improve both on road and off road handling, by allowing the suspension arms to run at closer to stock angles, it should resolve any driveline vibration issues created by a 3ö lift with the 1ö tx case drop, it would include some adjustability on the Caster angle for the front axle to address any death wobble, and then there is the obvious of increasing articulation potential for off road. One item I didnÆt really care for on the RustyÆs long arm kit was the rubber bushing, but that should be easy enough to change to poly.

I am really just throwing this out there for general feedback on the idea of running a long arm kit with a lower lift. The norm I seem to see is people moving to the long arm kit on higher lift kits, but it seems to me the long arm suspension should help lower lifts as well.

Thoughts?

Sean

I don't know the answer to your final question. However, if you really want to keep the stock ride and handling, a two inch budget boost with blocks in lieu of the add-a-leaf rear worked well for the GF's Cherokee. The 30" tires don't need re-gearing for the auto-tranny, and the spare fits on the rear sidewall where the donut was. A 31" prolly wouldn't fit - it's that close. It has done very well on some difficult trails. Also added were recovery hooks in front and a rear receiver for a winch I have mounted on a ball hitch (welded) with 20' twist-lock welding leads to go to the battery when needed (thanks for that idea BJ). It looks like that was the way it should have been built to start with. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Have you thought about a 2" budget boost and then a 1" body lift. That would keep most of the existing geomertry and give you the look your want.

I am not too keen on add a leaf kits, or spacers. I would prefer to use the correct springs (height and rate) for the ride.

This is on an XJ, so Body lift is out of the question.

I was extremely happy with a 3" lift on my Cherokee. Okay, I did add a 1" spacer under the front coil and went with 4" Tomkin Machine springs in the rear.

The Tomkin springs was after I did a few runs with the add-a-leaf. I did not like the harsh ride and found that the 4" leaf spring was a very good combination.

You will need to to at least a 1" drop transfer case...

Bigbird79 wrote "...but I do have airbags, so the bumpers may not change."

There are no airbag crash sensors in the XJ bumpers, the only crash sensor is inside the Airbag Control Module under the center console, so bumper changes won't effect the airbag system.

Good deal, glad to know that. I hadn't looked into where the sensors were yet, so I wasn't sure if it would be an issue.

Thanks,

My buddy has a 3.5" procomp lift for his 98 ZJ. I know the rear would be different, but that 3.5" performs GREAT offroad, and it's on road ride/handling is good. His lift came with front upper and lower control arms with adjustable cams so that he can still get it aligned. The spring/shock combo was a perfect selection for the zj. It's a hair stiff on road which helps keep sway under control but a little soft offroad in the high speed stuff but still flexes well.
I think procomp sells a 3.5 XJ kit with rear springs.
If it were my XJ, I would get a 3.5" front lift from procomp and 3.5" RE rear springs.

Another vote for all spring. I did a 3" OME lift and used the stock rims with 31" AT's for summer and steel rims with 30" studded MT's for winter.
Loved it, ride was actually much better as was my weight carrying capacity.