Well,, IT'S DONE !!
10-23-2012, 08:21 AM
#1
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Deep in the woods in SouthCentral Pennsylvania
Posts: 246
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Year: 1996
Model: Cherokee
Engine: 2.5
Well,, IT'S DONE !!
After a 14 hour stint this past Saturday I can say that my XJ is pretty much finished. With the exception of a few small items.
I started with a 1996 XJ, 2 door, 5 speed and the 2.5 engine.
For the front I used 6.5/" lifted coils that I got from a member here and a set of control arm drop brackets that I got from another member.
I used 2 track rod brackets to make the length I needed to keep the draglink and trackbar parallel.
For the rear I used a full leaf spring pack (minus the thick overload leaf) from a 99 S10 Chevy pickup. The added leaves along with the ?"lifted?" XJ main leaf gave me exactly the height I was reaching for. While working on the rear I also torched off and re fabbed the axle-side shock mounts. Re-welding them on the top of the axle tube.
Prior to doing the work,,, I religiously sprayed PB and WD on every nut and bolt that I knew would be coming off. The result of 2 weeks of this was only ONE broken rear shock bolt ,, that we punched thru and used a piece of wire to fish the new bolt into the hole.
All in all it went really good. And the Jeep Gods were watching out for us too as it went so smoothly.
Here are a coupla pics of the results.
Oh yea I forgot to add this. I got NO deathwobble, NO bumpsteer and NO driveline vibration. And I ran it on the highway up to 65 MPH. NO issues of any kind. It DID feel a little squirrely until I fabbed the sway bar links and centered the steering wheel via the draglink adjustment tho. But after that it drives and feels great. It is sitting on 33 x 10.50 x 15 Super Swamper radials. I should also add that I did NOT need to lower the transfer case NOR did I have to hack n tap the transfer case output shaft for the rear driveshaft.
I started with a 1996 XJ, 2 door, 5 speed and the 2.5 engine.
For the front I used 6.5/" lifted coils that I got from a member here and a set of control arm drop brackets that I got from another member.
I used 2 track rod brackets to make the length I needed to keep the draglink and trackbar parallel.
For the rear I used a full leaf spring pack (minus the thick overload leaf) from a 99 S10 Chevy pickup. The added leaves along with the ?"lifted?" XJ main leaf gave me exactly the height I was reaching for. While working on the rear I also torched off and re fabbed the axle-side shock mounts. Re-welding them on the top of the axle tube.
Prior to doing the work,,, I religiously sprayed PB and WD on every nut and bolt that I knew would be coming off. The result of 2 weeks of this was only ONE broken rear shock bolt ,, that we punched thru and used a piece of wire to fish the new bolt into the hole.
All in all it went really good. And the Jeep Gods were watching out for us too as it went so smoothly.
Here are a coupla pics of the results.
Oh yea I forgot to add this. I got NO deathwobble, NO bumpsteer and NO driveline vibration. And I ran it on the highway up to 65 MPH. NO issues of any kind. It DID feel a little squirrely until I fabbed the sway bar links and centered the steering wheel via the draglink adjustment tho. But after that it drives and feels great. It is sitting on 33 x 10.50 x 15 Super Swamper radials. I should also add that I did NOT need to lower the transfer case NOR did I have to hack n tap the transfer case output shaft for the rear driveshaft.
Last edited by 96XJ2Door; 10-23-2012 at 10:17 AM.
10-23-2012, 10:14 AM
#3
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Deep in the woods in SouthCentral Pennsylvania
Posts: 246
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Year: 1996
Model: Cherokee
Engine: 2.5
Remember to spray EVERYTHING,,, and do it 2 times a day if ya can. ALL of my bolts came loose. Some I had to heat up a little but they ALL came out except one. If ya have ANY questions on what I did to mine,, just ask. I spent a LOT of time planning it. And the result of planning is that it all went as expected.
Any questions or comments,,, just ask and I will reply.
