William Schwan

My xj has 154k miles on her and she's earned every one of them. I think I want to just replace most of the old suspension components and some steering just to make it close to stock and make it less worrisome. It makes an odd crackling sound when I turn at low speeds and it'll pop pretty loud every once in a while when I'm turning at a slow speed too. Any thoughts on what the heck that might be would be greatly appreciated. (I'm think ball joints?) I'm thinking about buying a 1.5" lift from RC instead of trying to piece and part a bunch of other stuff together. Is this a good idea? The sway bar is missing from the previous owners and I would like to get another because i do more fast driving down gravel roads and fields than I do rock crawling here in Ohio but I can't find anyone selling a sway bar for the xj. Will I even be able to use a sway bar if I'm only doing a 1.5" lift? I'm strapped for cash because I'm a high schooler and I don't make that much so if going completely stock and finding parts that way would be cheaper/easier enlighten me on it haha. Thanks.
-Will

dans98xj

The odd sounds coming for the front end could be the axle shaft U-joints. If you are looking to stay stock or go up to 1.5" lift the standard front sway bar will be fine. Since you don't have one up front now, start looking at craigslist or some other off road forums to find one that some one removed. There are also groups on Facebook too that part out jeeps. If you are looking to overhaul your front end, an easy and relatively cheap upgrade to the steering is the tie rod from a V8 ZJ. that will run about $100.

BlueRidgeMark

NAPA basic parts are OEM equivalent. I'm doing my rotors, pads, calipers, u-joints, hubs, and ball joints today.