i went and looked at an 87 xj pioneer today, while looking at the suspension i noticed the front coils were squished together at the top, not extended as if someone heated them to lower it. he said it was because of the tires which are 31's. i figure i need some new front coils and the rear im going to do a bastard pack. i know with the bastard pack you verry in lift but say i get the usual 3 1/2 to 4 inches from the leafs, what kind of shocks should i get? should i go with the 3" lift shocks or should i go with the 4.5" lift shocks? im not sure how different they will effect the lift. Another question is what brand shocks should i get? not sure what the differences are between them.

any info will be great, sorry if these are stupid questions but im new to jeeps and i searched the site and could not find an answer

thanks
Josh

 

lift it first, then measure for the shocks.

 

Here is a write up i did a few days ago if your doing about 3 to 5" of lift then this will work just grab some factory JK shocks (07-09 jeep wrangler) and they will work great and can be had for dirt cheap on ebay the front just need the bar pin swapped ovr from the old shock but easy to do.

I picked up my shocks off of ebay yesterday for $50 bucks for all 4.

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f2/what-rear-shocks-will-fit-3-lifted-xj-23122/