I've heard a lot about and have been told to do the upgrade to a long arm on my XJ. For the money it looks like RE has the best deal but I'm not sure I'm ready to drop that kinda cash just yet. A buddy of mine told me and drop brackets I could buy instead and I could use the existing short arm on my 4.5" now. My question is what's the harm if any in upgrading to a 5.5" lift using the short arm kit I have at the moment and what is the benefit on and off road with and without the long arm kit. Thanks

with out a CA drop bracket your handling will get worse. It all depends on how much money you have. you can get the drop brackets from Rough Country for pretty cheap. if you do go long arms I would say to check out the Rough Country 6.5 Long arm kit. I'm running the 4.5 X Series with drop brackets until I get some more experience and funds to do the 6.5 long arm.

IRO also has amazing long arm suspensions fort the XJs and ZJs

What would you recommend as far as how big a lift to put on using the drop brackets k already have a 4.5" lift without the kit and I would love to upgrade to a 5.5 maybe a 6" with the brackets if it's not going to harm anything or give me a he k of a ride experience on the road

you should have no problem going up an inch or two.

oh and the only reason I don't like the IRO long arm kit is cause it a welded upper and lower on the driver side and no upper on the passenger side