Brandon28XJ

About a month ago i bought a 1996 jeep cherokee country edition
so far i have driver and passenger trail doors a 4 inch lift kit and new front and rear pro-comp shocks everything else is bone stock.

I was wondering what upgrades i should focus on first to get this thing ready for wheeling season i would like to be able to do spring creak and holy cross this year.


So my question is what upgrades should i do first

unidentifiedbomb

Are you looking to upgrade on a budget? Can you take more pictures of the suspension and underneath. First thing I would look at putting in would be a gas and a transfer case skid plate, as well as front & rear recovery points.

andrewmp6

Yeah armor is a big thing,A t case skid plate and gas tank skid plate would be top of the list.Next would be recovery points you can get front tow hooks and a rear trailer hitch,Or if you got the budget full off road bumpers would be better.Next to me would be rock sliders and a winch on the front maybe upgrade the steering you can go budget or high dollar thats up to you.If you want more power full exhaust header and back and maybe a cowl intake.

XJwonders

If it's a country, I think it already have gas tank skid, transfer case skid and tow hooks from the factory

andrewmp6

The stock skid plates are thin i wouldn't trust them.

XJwonders

I have a country gas tank skid on my xj and I regularly land on the gas tank skid often and it's still strong enough.

Just because it came from the factory doesn't mean it's fIlmsy.

Aftermarket skids are only 1/16 thicker.

Fred/N0AZZ

You did install extended brake lines didn't you?

You will need recovery points front and rear for D-Rings. As mentioned one for the rear HD receiver hitch will work well I use one along with my aftermarket bumper that has one on each side so I have 3 in the rear. For the front there are cheap aftermarket bumpers that have them installed for around $200 od you can buy kits for the D-Rings that attach to the sub frame.

At 4" of lift your right on the edge of needing an SYE and shims and a adj. track bar for sure, along with a few steering upgrades like a V-8 GC tie rod setup at the least.

More information about your lift would be most helpful to the group for more ideas if some items didn't come with your lift.

Brandon28XJ

My father is a welder i plan on building a rear bumper with recovery points as well as a roof rack

Brandon28XJ

I would like to keep the price low but i am aware it's not going to be cheap and i want to make sure everything is done right so i don't need to worry about it later

Brandon28XJ

when i bought the jeep it came with a 3in in the front and a 2in block lift in the back. The person i bought it from didn't torque the u bolts so the leafs were snapped, lucky i didn't drop the axel out of the car on my way home. So i went to the junk yard and got lucky and got 4inch skyjacker rear leaf springs then i bought a .75 rubicon express coil spring spacer. Still unaware of the lifting coils in the front.

PurpleToxin505

Why has no one recommended bigger tires and possibly lockers?

sycoglitch

Simple, bigger tires won't always get you unstuck. As recovery points do

PurpleToxin505

But they do allow for more clearance thus possibly just skipping the whole getting stuck thing. Yes recovery points are great but I personally wouldn't trust factory tow hooks. I mentioned the tires because it looks like he's still on stock tires, and lockers because those will help get unstuck.

sycoglitch

Forget factory tow hooks. They have the aftermarket ones that tie into the steering box bolts. Heck, there's a user on the forum that makes a nice recovery point that bolts into the frame at 6 bolts per side

PurpleToxin505

Eh for 60 bucks I made this.