Jeep cherokee lift

[shaunandtamara]

HI, Does anyone know where I can buy blocks for the fount and rear of my Cherokee and u bolts to suit. Also does anyone know if there is a mixium height I can go using blocks before I need after market springs.

[yeti]

theres a dude on tm...but i think he sells out of aussie.....or try justjeeps on the same site.....tj or xj on this site will see ya right.......

[Shilo]

How high do you want to go?

I have just completed a 2" lift using coil spacers and extended shackles (longer shocks as well), but even with this low lift I noticed the factory leaf springs had flattened out by quite a bit. It would have been fine for normal on and off road use but it worried me that when the XJ carried a load the springs could end up stuffed. To fix this I installed some Polyair bags this weekend. The total cost ended up the same as buying and fitting a proper 3" lift kit but these were too high for what I want.

From what I have picked up lift blocks (and to some extent extended shackles) will greatly reduce the life of your leaf springs. Because of this doing it on the cheap will work out to be false economy.

If going higher then 3" beware that depending on the individual vehicle you will probably need to drop the transfer case, fit an SYE, extend the brake lines, get longer shocks, longer trac-bar, longer sway bar, extend the bump stops etc......

For kits (recommended) and other parts contact Greg from Off-Road Specialties - greghopkins01@hotmail.com. He has been excellent to deal with and has very competitive rates. My life savings are slowing being transferred to his account - just can't stop myself!!

[yeti]

try these boys www.4wdacc.com jeep nutters....ph033651909 they did mine ....

[xj]

To be the voice of reason..... I prefer to use Greg @ Just Jeep for various reasons, but primarily due to the fact that he was the first non-jeep parts importer I used. However, BOTH Greg and Nick & Rick from 4wdacc provide a great service and are great blokes to deal with, i dont think either outfit will let you down on service or advise.

In answer to the original question, i had front and rear springs made up to suit for my first cherokees 2 inch lift, rather than using spacers or drop shackles. The rear springs, from chaimberlains in CHCH provided a 4 inch lift which was a total balls up, and the front coils, from another supplier whose name eludes me for the moment, lasted one trip before collapsing. the lesson i learnt from that is to go to the experts, pay the extra, and get them from the dudes that do them all the time, ie: Import them. (when i did them there were no NZ options to import... the previosly mentioned suppliers now provide that misssing service)
My second XJ had started to sag in the rear (with a 2.5 inch lift already in place), so i purchased "lowering blocks" (boy racer styles!!!) off trademe, and they also supplied the u-bolts i requested (cheaper then what i could get them locally). These blocks went in the back, and 30mm worth of Prothane spacer went into the front to pop it up a touch, courtesy of JustJeep. Another option was to use springs from a ZJ Grand Cherokee, they lift the front 2.5 inches without blinking. (I actually had replaced the front ones in this manner earlier in the piece.)

Both vehicles went to 2-2.5 inches with only a transfer case drop spacer. Neither required any other steering mods, but for the purposes of moderate and above offroading, on 2.5 inches and above, i would recommend changing control arms, track bar etc etc just to ensure no embarrassing moments in the bush. If primarily on the sand etc, i wouldnt bother.

Everyone has preferences and opinions on how they want to do things or how they think they ought to be done. There are my views from experience.

Another thing to consider is your tyre and rim combination and what you want to achieve. 31/10.5/15s on -24offset 8 inch rims rubbed on the bottom rear front guards while turning. A sabre saw sorted that out. Same tyres on the stock steel rims fitted and turned sweet.


Good luck and enjoy.

PS: the aussie supplier on TM neglects to mention the GST hit from customs, caveat emptor.

[shaunandtamara]

Thanks, Is a diesel cherokee. any idea if anything ealse needs doing to that with a 2 - 3 inch lift. thanks

[xj]

Thanks, Is a diesel cherokee. any idea if anything ealse needs doing to that with a 2 - 3 inch lift. thanks

Get rid of the oil burner and put a 4l petrol in..... lol..... no, only joking. Ive never had any experience with the diesel version so cant comment.

There are various different options with regards to lifts etc, and again, its about what you want to do with it. If i had my time over with the Cherokees again, I'd go the whole enchilada and put a 6 inch lift (with SYE and driveshaft replacement etc) in and get some 33's on it... however thats a pricey exercise, and at the time that i had mine, my budget was very limited.