EEVEE

Hello, I plan on making my jeep an upcountry package replica. Can anyone recommend good parts to make one? I dont want cheap cheap parts but nothing to break the bank either. May even get limited slips in it too but thats for later. I always love how they look and i seen a replica here and it looked so good i even want the skid plates and all lol. Maybe even some good looking wheels to go along with it as well. And no i dont want a locker..... Yet

Jackem

The OEM up-country coils are still available I believe, and HD replacement leafs from General Spring will duplicate the 1-2 inch lift. Watch CL and FB XJ groups for skids or find 'em at the junk yard.

Martlor13

Crown and Dorman leaf springs give an inch or a bit more of lift

ktb615

I am working on a similar project of doing the Upcountry suspension clone and here is what I have settled on:

Moog CC782 Coil Spring Set
Crown 4886186AA HD Leaf Springs
Moog SB 371 Leaf Spring Front Bushings
Moog SB 372 Leaf Spring Rear Bushings
Monroe 37083 Front Shocks
Monroe 37027 Rear Shocks
Crown 52000507 Shackles
New U-Bolts

Much of these selections came from the #1 review of the Moog springs on Amazon. I adjusted away from his recommended poly Bushings because I wanted a softer ride. Additionally, he recommended coil spacers, but I felt as though I wouldn't need them possibly because he has a lot of extra weight on the front of his XJ. I figured I can always add them later after everything has time to settle. I'm no expert, but I figured I'd share with you the direction I am going.

Bama91XJ

From a google search this is what I found the difference between regular cherokees and the upcountry package.

+1" springs that are slightly firmer
deleted rear sway bar
skid plates
tow hooks
rear Limited Slip differential
Heavy Duty Cooling
transmission cooler
full size spare
upgraded gas shocks

Kymasabe

Rear sway bar removed? I hadn't heard of that before. I'm thinking of doing the up country look on my 99 XJ as well. Should I be removing the rear sway bar when I put in my new rear springs, shackles, and shocks ?

Martlor13

the rear sway bar is worthless to most of us. Majority of members on here remove the rear sway bar the first chance we get.

robertj

Nice, I was wondering about the coil spacers too and not comfortable with them. I've added your parts list to my to do list for next summer.

Tbone289

Here are a couple of threads from October with some good Upcountry discussion and pictures. EEVEE, I think you participated in these, but I thought I'd throw them in here for reference.:

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f67/li...ight=upcountry

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f2/sta...ight=upcountry

ktb615

I wanted to come back and amend this post. I completed this build a couple weeks ago and ran into one big problem. It seems to be repeated over and over that the stock size shocks will work with this build, but the rear shocks were incredibly difficult to get on as they are too short. And this was done by my trusted mechanic of the past 23 years. I ended up doing more research and talking to Tbone, who recommended the Bilstein 5100 series for 2" to 3" lift. I switched the rears for these shocks and have had much better results. I also added the crown 4.1" rear bumpstops to accommodate the increased travel on these shocks per recommendation. I still have the monroes up front which seem to be fine, though if I had the money at the moment, I would switch those to the bilstein as well.

An additional problem I have encountered is low speed vibration, vibration above 60mph, and grinding when letting off the gas at various speeds. I believe this is due to u joints that have 240k miles on them not liking their new angles. I have ordered new spicer u joints and will be putting those on next week with the hopes of correcting this as well. I do enjoy the ride much more than my worn out "everything", and the Jeep looks much better as well. Slight rake with no coil spring spacers on the front, but things are still settling.

Tbone289

Yes I would check/replace the u-joints. They have "worn-in" at the old angles after so many miles and replacing them will likely take care of at least some of your vibes.

I'm not sure why someone would have difficulty installing the stock rear shocks if the truck was sitting on its own weight. The stock shocks won't be at full extension in that case. If it was on a lift and the rear suspension was at full droop, yes, they might be difficult to install.

Even with the longer Bilsteins, my front suspension is shock limited on extension with the swaybar disconnected. It is important that you extend the front bumpstops if you go to the 3" Bilstein shocks on this setup, or you will bottom them out and damage them since they're 1/2" longer than stock. I'm sure I've already mentioned that 100x times, but it bears repeating because I would hate for someone to destroy a relatively expensive shock.

jordan96xj

I have an upcountry clone (1.5" lift), and have had 3 pairs of different stock length shocks in the rear with no trouble.

outersketcher

suwwweeeeeet.. I'm not totally sure.. but I think it's possible my '95 is an upcountry edition. It's got all of the listed above from the factory. Tho I didn't know about the deleted rear sway bar.

I still consider myself a novice in the lore and care of the memorable XJ. But if I DO have that model. I'll be happy to help in any way I can in your project.

I still have the factory owners manual. When I get home, I'll see if it says anything about "UpCountry". I'd always thought I had a "country edition?" of the XJ?

soapy

For the vibration you are encountering you might consider a slip yoke eliminator. You will need a different rear driveline but you can use a front drive line off a junk yard Jeep or have one custom built. It seems that each XJ is different after a lift on needing a SYE or not. A SYE should solve the vibration.

ktb615

It is interesting that people have different results with the same setup, but I guess that's the way these things go sometime. With the stock length shocks on this setup, every time I went over a small hole with the rear tires it felt like falling off a cliff. I haven't had the same experience with the Bilsteins, the whole ride smoothed out for me. 20+ year old vehicles are tricky, lol.

Edit: Tbone, I think you are correct that they would have had it on a lift at the time and that probably contributed to the difficulties, but I still had a dreadful ride on those shocks.