I just recently picked up my first XJ. It is a 1994 2 door 2.5l 5 speed. I picked it up as a beater last Friday, but already love the damn thing so I want to bring her back to glory a little bit.

Here she is the first day I got her


After driving a few hundred miles I've gotten a pretty good idea of what I want to do. The suspension and steering need to be addressed asap. I plan to eventually put a lift and tires on, so should I go with all OEM parts or are there kits I can buy? I want to make sure that everything is nice and tight before I lift it and add more problems.

Where is the best place to buy oem parts?

For oem look at factoryChryslerparts.com
As for lift, I bought a rustysoffroad.com lift kit. Came with springs, leaves and shocks. There are other companies such as rubicon express, claytons, rough country and a few more. All depends on your budget

After going out on the trails again this past weekend I decided to do a little research and make plans of what I want to do with my jeep. I want to redo most, if not all, the suspension and steering components, do some flares, small 2" lift or so, and 33s.

I have started making a list of what to replace for suspension, anything I am missing that I might want to consider doing while I am in there?

Front:
- Front Track Bar
- Front Sway Bar Bushings
- Sway Bar End Links
- Sway Bar Link/Stabalizer Bushing
- Upper/Lower Control Arms (can I get away with just doing the bushings?)
- Tie Rod Ends
- Tie Rods
- Power Steering Pitman Arm
- Steering Stabilizer (upgrade?)
- Tie Rod Tube (Is this needed?)

Rear
- Leaf Spring Bushings (Do these come with new leaf spring sets?)
- Rear Spring Shackle
- Sway Bar Link
- Sway Bar Bushings

Of course I will be replacing shocks/springs, but I haven't looking into any lift kits. I plan to keep it around 2", 3" lift max. I will be trail running my jeep a lot, so a setup that will soak up the terrain is what I want. Any recommendations?

duel steering stabilizer is a must! best thing I've done so far

You don't even need one steering stabilizer if your steering is set up right, two steering stabilizers are most likely just going to hide or dampen death wobble until one day the part causing it fails and you're screwed.

Also to OP you may as well ditch the rear sway bar, myself along with almost everyone on this forum doesn't have one any more it hardly does anything the leaf springs are stable enough on their own. Also instead of just replacing your steering you may want to upgrade it especially if you are going to run larger tires and go offroad, they're are a lot of options to go with b. Lee is vendor on here who sells a crossover steering kit or you can just get a beefier tie rod from a v8 zj, or iron rock offroad makes one too. The stock drag link is usually considered strong enough.

Comments in red below

Thanks guys.

So it seems like my list covers most everything, now to focus on what lift to get. Since I will be getting notch customs flares they allow 33s with a minimum 2" lift. I have checked out Rubicon, OME, and Rough Country and it seems like they are all pretty basic parts. What if I wanted to piece together a kit? Will better shocks/leafs provide a better ride, or is it a waste of money with a lift as small at 2"?

Goals for suspension/wheel setup

You'll probably be happy with the OME kit since almost everyone who has OME stuff loves it, but if you want to get technical and learn about your suspension and maximize articulation you should check out the LowCog thread it's a sticky in the modified Cherokee tech section, there's a lot of good info there if you want to peice together a kit.

I took a look at that sticky, lots of good info in there. Thanks a lot. B. Lee's steering kit looks awesome, no need for tie rods or drag links. I assume the HD is better for dirt use? Also, would replacing the ball joints for the knuckles be a good idea?

You may as well if you're up to it, kind of a pain to do however in my experience

Ehh why not, I'll order some ball joints too. I was reading that I cannot use my front sway with the standard crossover kit so I will be ordering the High Clearance Crossover steering and Track bar kit from B Lee. So my list as of now is

B. Lees High Clearance Steering and Track Bar setup
Front sway bushings
Upper/Lower CA Bushings
Sway Bar Stabilizer Bushing
Front Sway bar end links
Ball Joints

I cannot think of anything else that I need, so if I missed it, let me know because I plan to order by the end of this week. As for lift, I still cannot decide. There are so many to choose from and I can't decide between 2 or 3" of lift.

Sounds awesome! Wish I had the time get working on mine more go with the 3 inch it's a great look and a little more clearance plus you'll probably want to lift it more anyhow in a year or two. Also are just getting new sway bar links or quick disconnects?

I'm not sure when I will have the time either. I figured I would go with regular sway link to save some money. I also won't be crawling, mainly fireroads.

I would recommend you look for a set of axles out of an XJ with a Auto tranny before you upgrade to larger tires. For less than $300 you will improve your gearing quit a bit. With the 5 spd. tranny your XJ will be ******* it around town (and on the trail). Make sure the rear is a Chrysler 8.25. My 5 spd had a Danna 35