vtfd330

so i got my 01 cherokee last may, and have been thinking about a small lift from day one. well, i finally got around to it, and i'm pretty suprised how cheap and easy it was.

for the front, i used some BDS 1 3/4" coil spacers purchased for $35 at the local offroad store.

and for the rear, i used some of the full-size pickup 2" adjustable lowering shackles that i bought at autozone for $30.

as there are a bunch of detailed writeups on how to do a budget boost on here and other places on the interweb, i figured i would just give a rundown on the things that made the lifting process easier for me.

i soaked all the bolts repeatedly with pb blaster before hand, however a friend recomended i try KROIL....best penetrating oil i have ever used, works way better than the blaster.

doing the rear shackles, i ran into the dreaded upper bolt/sleeve frozen together crap. i found that if i backed the bolt/sleeve combo out as far as i could, and lined up the seam in the sleeve so i could see it, i could get a flat blade screwdriver in there and open the seam, squirt in some kroil, and then use the screwdriver to hold the sleeve in place while backing just the bolt out all the way.
pretty straitforward aside from having to hack off the last bit of my tailpipe so that the new shackle would fit.

there were so many ways listed to tackle the front on the interweb, that i really wasn't sure what i would have to do...some used spring compressors, some unbolted the lower control arms, some just the shocks , blah blah blah....
what i did was to purchase some new sway bar links before hand, knowing that the top threaded part would definately break. headache avoided!
next, jacked it all up, jackstands etc.
unbolted shocks at the bottom, spring retaining clips, and sway bar links jack under opposite side of axle and presto, spring pops out.
(fully removing end links gives more room to maneuver the spring out and back in too!!!!!).
slide on spacer, reinstall spring, put on new end link, done.
the $15 apiece for the swaybar endlinks was well worth it, as mine needed to be replaced anyways, and the old ones broke right off.

liberal amounts of anti-seize on all bolts will hopefully save headaches next time as well.

starting height before lift (measured from center of hub to bottom of fender flare lip)

front- 17.75
rear- 17

after lift,

front-19.5
rear- 19

test drive went well, there seems to be no abnormal vibrations, and the ride is quite nice. (although i feel i will need to replace my rear springpacks sooner than later.) looking forward to getting some new tires monday!!! 30x9.5 here i come! and just in time for winter....

thats it, just my $.02, hope it might help someone

phoenix901223

it would be cool if you could show me exactly which shackles you got, i thought leafs on different trucks are different sizes and so would the shackles be?? IDK but i like the idea you got going here

Holliday79navy

Should just be a matter of checking to make sure the width matches the leaves.

vtfd330

heres a picture i found online of the shackles....for some reason i couldn't find them on the autozone site...they are with the lowering blocks and other suspension goods around here.

Danny74

can you show me a photo of the shackles installed? Im having a hard time understanding how you installed lowering shackles to give you a lift.

Macky

Remove the old shackle in the rear and install this one the same way the old one came out( i had to do a little grinding on the bushing, it was to wide) this shackle "says" lowering shackle just means its shorter than the stock ones for full sized trucks, because it is UNIVERSAL results MAY VARY from vehicle to vehicle, so in the case of an XJ its a 2 inch lift

Reefmike

Did you install longer shocks as well?

xjdirtbath

Good job, I like this. I have a couple friends who want a lift but are on limited budjets. Ill have to tell them about this thread.

JeepCoMJ

when I want mine to get taller, I pop a viagra in it's gas tank.

vtfd330

with the 2 inch lift, i didn't need to install new shocks, nor did i need to lengthen the brake lines. i did a TON of looking around online to try to figure out what all would be involved, as well as what i could potentially run into problem wise. pretty straightforward install.

the lowering shackles i bought are almost identical dimention wise to the lift shackles that are sold online.
they lower a pickup because it raises the point to where the leaf spring attaches, and inversely raise a jeep, because it lowers the attachment point of the leaf.

again, this was not meant to be the UBER 2" LIFT thread, just a writeup on what made my install cheap and easy.

VTJeep

YES!!!!!!!!!!!! ROFFL

VTJeep

but seriously.. i have a 2"bb and cant wait to get a real 3" or so lift

vtfd330

after spending a fair amount of time in the cold putting on 2", i think i am going to go with the imaginary 3" lift!!!! hahaha

gpXJ

It's because these lowering shackles are meant for trucks with spring under axle. This way, by moving the spring attachment down and away from the frame, the truck gets lower. On SOA it is just the opposite. That is why it works to lift your Jeep.

nielsenml

Great idea! I have ZJ coil springs ready for the front and have been waiting to decide on the back. I think I will give this a try.