93_chairokey

Hi all! Thanks in advance for any help:

What I have:

93 Cherokee
4.0L - stock
248,500 miles

What I'm doing:

3" RC lift
Put new rims on it
Waiting for lift to put my Hankook 31"s

We are putting the lift on this weekend so I will have build pics up very soon, unless something goes wrong... anyways...

I have a few questions before getting started:
1. Do I need to drop the transmission? and if so how?
2. Anybody done this lift and found common problems they can warn me about?
3. Does this kit really come with everything needed? I ask these because this jeep is my daily driver so I really hope to finish it in one day, seems relatively straight forward.

As I said pics to come, thanks for all your help in advance! heres how she looks now, the rims were 100$ from craigslist but had prolly 20 years of grime and rust build up so I sanded them down and gave them a sortof brushed aluminum look, not bad for $100:

troy fritz

Start PB Blasting all the bolts 2 to 3 xs a day until the lift. A can of map gas will help just dont use it on the rear upper shock bolts cuz the gas tank there. The top upper rear shock bolts are gonna break off in the framerail. Search broken shock bolts if that happens. It will.I have the same kit and am very happy with it. It rides very well. If you have help it should be done in a day or 2. I would replace all the hardware with grade 8 . Good luck. And no, you dont have to drop the tranny.

Zackqb2

I ran the 3" RC Series II Full Leaf Kit on my other cherokee it wasn't that bad to put on and it was my first lift kit I have ever installed. But everything went on simple, just take your time and you will prob bust your knuckles a couple of times but ahh its all worth it. And your rear shock bolts might break if so you need to get bar pin elimenators or your can fab up your own.

poomwah

Can't advise you on the lift since I have no experience with them,yet.
But I wanted to compliment you on a damn nice looking cherokee. And you did a great job on the wheels

djlarroc

Have a 3rd person there to help you w/the front axle. 1 person on each side holding the coils, and 1 person jacking up the axle. Hope you have a big 20" jack.

x1MM on the pb blasting, and for the heck of it, i'd try to break the bolts loose now.

93_chairokey

thanks everyone for your help! It all sounds pretty straight forward I will definitely do some pb blasting.

poomwah: thanks it was alot of work to hand sand/bead blast the rims but yea they came out great, thanks. I might end up painting them black down the road, thats what i really wanted was the all blacked out look but when I got my hands on these, once I prettied them up they were too pretty to paint, we'll see how maintenance is on them.

Anyways, thanks again, getting started on it tomorrow morning so I will be posting pics sunday or monday depending on when we finish, STAY TUNED!!

93_chairokey

Yea actually I was thinking of using an engine hoist rated up to 2tons to do all the lifting, anyone done that before? And for the springs, I need to get a spring decompressor right? Or whatever they're called...

djlarroc

I've done a few axles. The last one, I rented a spring compressor and it didn't help at all. I ended up taking off the compressors, and just bolting the coils in to the perches, so they wouldn't flop around. Then had a 3rd person raise/lower, move forward/backward the jack accordingly. It went much smoother than the times it's only been two people. Not sure how well the hoist will work. W/the jack you can kinda push/pull it and tilt the axle forward/backward to get caster aligned to bolt up control arms.

jksstar

just did a 3" RC on mine with a add-a-leaf. Even after the broke shock bolts was only a 4-5 hour install.


I don't know what all the talk is about 3 people for the front end. Its a one person job, just get a spring compressor and its a easy install

93_chairokey

haha, ah yes, thats what I love about this kinda stuff, its never the same, some times its hard sometimes its not, considering its cold and raining and we're bout to start, lets hope its an easy one, thanks again guys, pics today or tomorrow!---- I just had to put that smiley face in, a saddam smiley face, thats funny

93_chairokey

Ok, finished -er up today, ran into an issue with the spring compressor, got the one that goes inside coil instead of outside, hey the guys asked if it was for shocks or struts!!..... anyways, total build time I guess was about 6-7 hours total, no broken bolts, and had alot of fun.

I am getting my tires mounted tomorrow so check back for an even more updated picture!

Drove it around today and the it feels great, rides smooth and its great to have shocks again! mine had been out for a while... thats all for now


first one is after, second before

93_chairokey

more pics, does the second picture make anyone else feel like it needs a 2" block or shackles, I mean i realize the main thing is that the fender is cut higher on the front, but still...

mcssls

I just did mine 2 weeks ago and feel that the back end is at least 1.5" short so I'm bringing it up next weekend if I have time after playing with the new ar15. I love the ride, I'm sure mostly due to the larger tires. It's not as harsh on bumps and cracks as it was before the lift. Took me 3 hours but it's a new mexico vehicle and I was using a hoist and air tools. Love those DIY shops.

93_chairokey

Cool man, sounds good. Hey when/if you do it can you tell me what you did and all? I figure its easy I just dont know what the best way to go about it would be, shackles, blocks? And if I were to raise the back up more, would I need to do anything to the driveshaft/transmission/shocks?

thanks

93_chairokey

TIRES BABY!!!! its all about the tires!!! im gonna try to build a temporary roof rack for my spare because i had to take it down because I was afraid of someone just un strapping it and taking off with it! anyways, let me know what yall think, in all I spent about 600$ for the RC lift, rims and tires, not too shabby, thats what I love about these things, lots of results!!... not alot of $$$

thanks for all the tips guys, ill keep adding to this forum as I do more