Ethan94

its the measurements the kit listed. I can't get the real measurements right now it's in a shop getting some work done. And I live in Southern California. So I'm not planning on doing any extreme mountain climbing or mudding like a lot of you guys. I'll be running through Mojave desert. Or climbing hills, we don't really have real mountains here not like northern Cali or Colorado. Any suggestions? I'm new to this whole thing

ctrick98

Alright, so I have a question that, you guessed it, has to do with lifts. I am looking for a 3" or 4" ish lift for my 95 xj, and I have a few options. I am looking at the rusty's kit, and I would like to upgrade to the sway bar disconnects. Lots of people recommend buying the RE because the shipping from rustys is quite high.

I have been presented with the opportunity to skip the shipping costs from rusty's and pay the basic upfront costs. Is the rusty's 3" advanced kit something I should consider? Or should I really splurge (by my standards) and go with the rustys 4.5" advanced kit. The other option I have is to buy the zone lift kit from a local dealer and get some disconnects separately. I am 98% of the time going to be daily driving this jeep, although I will go trail riding/ desert trips once a month. Any opinions on reliability of brands or lift sizes? I am looking for a one and done situation, so I could wait a bit longer for some more income and spend more, but I am liking around the 600 to 800 dollar range. But if a little more will be night and day I can swing it. Thanks guys!

Ethan94

Is the "zone off-road" brand any good or should I go with a different one, for hill climbing and desert running?

SatiricalHen

Zone offroad is a budget brand good for the price you pay. Personally it sounds like what you plan to do is going to take a lot more engineering than throwing on a lift kit and going for it. You're going to need some sort of progressive bumpstops and some good shocks. That's what it sounds like to me at least. I know my jeep with a 3" lift and 31s I can't go very quickly offroad without either tearing up fenders (before bumpstops) or slamming bumpstop all the time after adding them.

Ethan94

besides bumpstops and shocks would I need anything else?
http://vi.raptor.ebaydesc.com/ws/eBa...=1490071002419
is the one I was looking at which says I don't need bump stomps but would they still be recommended?

NewKindOfClown

Jeep lift kits are almost universally designed for rock crawling at <5mph. Some are better than others.

If you're interested in prerunning in the desert (at speed), you'll have to pay to play. Look at some Baja 1000 trophy trucks to see how a $500k truck works, and then look at some Jeepspeed builds to see how it can be done on a budget.

You can totally do it, but it's a small niche in the Jeep community. Most of us don't have any practical experience doing that stuff, but we'll be happy to provide information along the way.

LACK

For running desert with any kind of whoops and carrying a decent speed, no.

Check out deaver, but you're going to pay to play. Add in some progressive rate front coils and shocks that can handle the increased cycle rate and you're moving in the right direction.


Running the desert at any decent rate of speed with a nice ride is spendy. As others have said, look up jeepspeed builds.

LACK

Add longer brake lines, slip yolk eliminator and rear driveshaft.

I would strongly advise against getting a rear add-a-leaf.

Basslicks

There's nothing wrong with Zone offroad. They're manufactured by BDS suspension. BUT, they're a bare minimum kit.

http://www.morris4x4center.com/zone-...-zon-j21n.html

You'd still need bump stop extensions, brake lines, extended swaybar links (or disconnects), do something with the trac bar (either get an adjustable or redrill the hole on the axle side mount), and maybe even have to have an SYE and LCAs.

If you can swing the 960 bucks, check out this Rubicon Express kit

http://www.morris4x4center.com/rubic...b-re6030m.html

With this one, you'd only need to worry about trac bar and possibly the LCAs and SYE.

Dollar for dollar though, the Zone kit would be a good quality kit back by a company with a good rep and would save you enough money for you to by and adjustable trac bar, some LCAs, and have some money left over to start saving for the SYE.

Shawn Golden

I recently come in to a 2000 jeep Cherokee 2wd every thing is the exact same as under my 96 xj I have a idea to basicly lower the 2wd but I have never seen it done and was wondering on what you guys had for ideas and or a place to get a kit any help would be appreciated.

salad

No such kits, but here's a thread you might like http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1094822

NewKindOfClown

Look up Team PettyCash and their XJ-R build. There are no kits for the XJ, but it isn't too bad.

For the rear, you can mount the leaf springs Under the Axle instead of SOA how they are now.

For the front, you can cut coils. It isn't the best way, but it's definitely the easiest with an XJ. If you cut coils, use a Sawzall and take it down a little at a time until you get it where you want it. Using a torch would heat the springs and damage them.

You'll need to find universal shocks that fit. Depending on how much you drop, you may run into clearance issues between the oil pan and the beam axle. You'll also need to modify the track bar if you drop more than 2", either by drilling a new mounting hole on the axle side, or by making a shorter track bar. You'll also need to double-check your driveshaft length and stroke, and I'd probably convert to an SYE (assuming the 2WD trans has a slip yoke). Edit: If you can find an SYE for the transmission!

I was planning to build one a few years ago, but I never got to it

Basslicks

2wd AW4 does have a slip yoke, yes. I don't know how he'd convert it to an SYE though because there aren't any kits out there for that (that I'm aware of) unless he did a H&T and then made a custom-dome to replace the tailshaft... which would be really fun trying to find seals for that.

The rest of it is pretty spot-on though.

NewKindOfClown

That's a good point. Thank you for fact checking

Basslicks