Jeep Cherokee Forum - Just finished my FIRST lift!

Holy :censored: what a day! I just installed my first lift yesterday. 3" RC Series II with full leafs. My hands are swollen and cut. My body is sore. But it was a blast! My cousin and I started at about 10am and finished at about 7pm, with plenty of beer breaks and a loooooong lunch break.

The front read 17" and the rear read 16" from wheel center cap to bottom of wheel flare. When we finished it read 20.5" all the way around. We hit a few snags, but nothing a couple guys with half a brain couldn't figure out.

I read on CF that those rear leaf bolts are notorious for breaking so I bought new ones before we started just in case and I'm glad I did. We had to cut 3 out of 4 of those bolts out. The back 2 bolts were bolted through the shackle with the bolt head on the inside and nut on the outside. With the after market tow kit these were impossible to remove without cutting. One of the front rear leaf bolts had to be cut because the bushing sleeve was bound to the bolt and no amount of PB blaster or clamps or other methods got it unbound.

The bolts for the LCAs were all bolted from the inside of the unibody with the nut on the outside so on the drive shaft side I had to disconnect the drive shaft to pull the bolt out so it can be reused.

Lining up the axle so those LCAs and rear leafs would line up to be bolted back on was a chore but easily solved with some work and trial and error.

The coils were not as difficult as anticipated. We did not even use a coil compressor or remove the calipers. Just felexed as far as it would go without pulling on the brake lines and used a very large pry bar to move the coil to its seat.

Fun day! I hope this ecourages someone who is on the fence about a lift kit to go for it.

Today I will get the BFG 31" mounted and post before and afters.