Jonesy

Hello all, I have searched and read up alot since buying my 96 XJ a few months back. I havent found a thread that adresses my specific yet simple ?'s re: suspension replacement. I just want to replace my current (oem) suspension, i really dont want a lift kit per se. Just new shocks all around, new front springs and new rear leafs. I will likely get mild upgraded shocks and HD leafs but my questions r regarding HARDWARE and the "little things" involved in these replacements. Please tell me what hardware i will need or will be better off getting to complete this suspension replacement. Reason i ask is because all existing hardware is old and rusty n not sure how well it would be to reuse, rather get all new. I just dont know EXACTLY what ALL i need before i go and order parts, go to install and find out i dont have what i need. Any suggestions/advice is appreciated. Thanks fellas

Phatwitaph

from my experience on my 98 cherokee, almost every bolt your alot better off cutting it off with a cut off wheel and getting new hardware, hopefully you have a local Fastenal or similar store.

but before you do that get a can of pb blaster and soak the bolts everyday 1 week prior and if they come off easy and not threads are messed up id reuse them.

be prepared for stuff to break and not go as planned, but keep in mind everything can be fixed and alot of people on here will have similar problems and tell you their soution. doing mysuspension i broke off one off the bottem shock mounts, and broke of a bolt flush with the frame haha, but hey its fun working on a jeep right.

my91cherokeexj

X2 on everything. i put my lift on (i know ur not but its experience) and the shackle bolt and nut siezed and the bolt to the frame did too. i would check the shackles too. and again be careful on the rear shocks. its a very common thing to break the upper bolts on the cherokees. good luck to you.
i would recommend replacing most of the suspension bushings, usually you can get all of them in one kit. i would also do coils, leafs, and shocks, but again check your shackle to see how thats doing. its alot easier to replace when everything is off. i learned that the hard way.

Jonesy

Thanks for the replies...looking further i think maybe getting a short lift setup like this one http://www.roughcountry.com/jeep_xj_1.html (but with full rear leafs)...would be a better idea than piecing together hardware, shackles, ect. Might be easier, but i guess either way shock bolts dont come with the kits so will just hav to hope they break loose ok

I installed a complete suspension upgrade on my other car but have never worked on leaf springs so i have no clue yet how to do those, but i will follow the DIY write ups here, shouldnt be too difficult. Thanks again and any further advice or suggestions on what kits to use or anything else appreciated.

IM gonna search but what size bolts am i going to need for the shocks should the oem bolts breaking?

my91cherokeexj

idk the size of the bolt, but its just not the bolts breaking, its the bolt breaking in the threads. its a big pain in the *****. lol trust me. then you would need to tap the bolt out or ghetto rig it up, don't do that though. i would honestly try to soak those bolts and threads in PB or the penetrating oil. take it easy on the bolts. good luck to you. hopefully you can be one of the lucky ones.

xjfan0310

The size thread of the rear shock bolts should be 3/8". All 4 of mine broke off when I installed my 3" lift. Your best bet is to get an air drill two different size drill bits one small for the initial hole and the one slightly smaller than the size whole you are going to tap. If you dip the bit into cutting oil while drilling it won't take long to drill out and tap new threads.

Since you're going to have to disconnect the front sway bar links to get the new springs in you mine as well replace the front sway bar bushings including the sway bar link bushings. (they are pretty cheap bushings kits at autozone)

Hope all this helps. Good luck!