Craigslist the rims and tires and go cheap on your lift, not many people stay around a 3-4" lift for long, same goes for the 31"s.

I see.It's good to hear from you again.

I am on my fifth cherokee in 8 years. I have had the rough country 6 1/2 inch lift on 3 of them. Are they inexpensive yes, and i am a big believer in you get what you pay for, but other than the shocks being crap i have nothing but good things to say about rough country lifts. I have had that thing in the air and beat the hell out of it. Other than my adjustable control arms going out on me, i have never had anything break. And rough country is replacing the old style control arms for my lift with the new style at no cost. Id keep buying rough country in a heart beat. Just my two cents.

thats great its worked for you. i have seen NUMEROUS rc kits come through the shop with bad bushings, track bar bent, leafs and coils sagging. not worth the headache or the $$ in my experience. they ride horribly too. just my two cents

For now until I get use to what I am going to be doing out there and how far I am going to push it I don't think I am going to be my jeep in the air! hahah...

Especially since it's going to remain my daily driver till the end of summer most likely. My guess, is that I am going to get a the Rubicon express somewhere around 600+/- a bit and wear it out over a while until I realize it can't do what I want to do as I get a bit wilder. For now I can't see myself doing anything too extreme. @98 cherokee sport, how much did you pay for those Maxxis Bighorns and where did you get them?

I only see them online in 12.5 width. How wide can I go and still rock my stock rims for a while? This forum is already proving super helpful!

Don't forget about an sye(slip yoke eliminator). If you go higher then around 3.5" of lift your driveline angles will be too steep and you will get drivetrain vibrations. I got away with 4" with just a transfer case drop but on the newer ones I've read people gettin vibrations with as little as 2" of lift.

And depending on what lift you go with, don't forget the small. Stuff. Extended brake lines, an upgraded tie rod never hurt(since the stock tie rod is a toothpick). Braking power will decrease the bigger you go tire-wise so maybe think about some upgraded pads or maybe doing a rear disc conversion. All things to think about. Good luck.

Oh and tire/wheels... You can get away with a 11.5 or even a 12.5 inch wide tire on a stock 15x7 wheel the problem is that while it'll fit(barely), in the front when turning the tires will rub on your lower control arms. And in the rear, the tires will rub on the leaf springs. But if you're just runnin a 31x10.5 I think you can get away with it. If not you can either get wheel spacers(200 bucks) or order a nice set of steel wheels(about 200 bucks). I order 5 Cragar V5 wheels 15x8, 3.75 backspacing and they were 210 shipped to me from Summit Racing.

Thanks! I took it out again this weekend and slashed a tire! I bought one in Yakima on Saturday just to get through the weekend and had to go to Wal-Mart since it was the only damn place open. I stuck with the same 30x9.5 that is already on there and they had nothing in that size. They had some 31" Uniroyal Liberator's for $135/piece but I assume I could do better.

Now dont get me wrong im not saying you are wrong on this but right now i have a 2000 xj with the rc 6 1/2 lift with no sye. I have ran this lift on two other jeeps and have never had a problem. I want to go to eight inches eventually and if i do that then i would definitely do the sye. My xj is my daily driver and it runs and drives great. No vibrations. So you might be able to get away with it. Just my experience.

since I am not thinking about going to crazy and I wont be doing the funny rocks or the busywild I am thinking about just going with 2.5" spacers on the front and 2.5" block and U-bolt in the back. When I do this, will I need to get new shocks?

Since I am new to this, later on if I decided that I want to get a little crazier and take on more challenging trails I can get a real lift and extend it with the same spacer and blocks right?

As far as shocks go , if you have enough travel on the shock, you might be able to just do with the ones you have. for the blocks in the rear contact George or Diana at 253 631 4390 ,I`m using the steel one`s that are tapered that they sell and with a self made leaf pack ,it`s worked fine for 4 years . The spacers for the front ,there is some adjustable ones on the market you could try or for your higher lift buy new springs for that . I`ve been running a 3.5 lift ,started with 31x 10.5 tires then went to 33x9.50 tires now 32x11.5 tires ,I`ve had no problem going where I wanted ,and I`m not crazy about deep mud and extreem rock crawls .. Welcome and get out there and enjoy what you have to start with.

Awesome Suggestion! Just got off the phone with them, so thanks!