Ok, so now that my XJ is gone, I still want/ need a lifted vehicle for my many outdoor activities (hiking, fishing, biking, etc). Well after crawling underneath my KJ and getting well acquainted with the underside, I realized lifting it will be a ***** and a half. The front is not a solid axel . It's independent with cv shafts. Well after doing some research, the most any off road lift company offers is a 2.5 inch lift (external strut spacer), to avoid binding of the CV shafts. Well after about 45 minutes laying on hot asphalt and probing around with a flashlight, I feel I have come to a solution. The entire front end is a subframe. If I add 1/4 plate to the nubs for the trans axel mounts, brace them, then drop the mounting holes an 1 to 1 1/2 inches (anymore and the housing of the trans axel will hit the bottom skid portion of the subframe), I should be able to lift more. I'd like to have a 3.5 to 4 inch lift, with a minimum of a 31 inch tire, but would prefer a 32. I have ZERO experience with independent suspensions, so I figured I'd check with you guys and see how solid my plan is. The motor is mounted to this subframe, so I don't think a simple spacer for the sub frame mounts would be a bright idea. The trans axel is held in by 3 or 4 main mounts. Any ideas or suggestions would be great.

 

Independent suspension, that's the beginning of the end for Jeeps...

 

SAS time.

 

yeah now they should be just called JEEP-ish next thing they wont even have the 7 slot grills ne more

 

Ok ill try to help here....stab in the dark but....I have and xterra with IFS....With ifs you can space it like that kit shows and shackle in the rear but anything above 2.5 3 inches is going to give you drive line probs. Then with u being unibody you very limited. I'm sure there's kit out the to go higher but there's tons of parts to switch out and the ifs leaves you with not much ground clearance and not much flex either. If you wanna go any bigger your looking at SAS.

BTW I just saw a kj with a 3 inch and 31's yesterday it looked decent.

 

Well, while looking for bumpers for the kj, I stumbled across a page at rock lizard fabrications. They have a a kit in development for a solid front axel swap. If they get it right and into development, my problem may be solved. I know a kit is generally more expensive, but I have no idea how to even go about changing from a full independent to solid axel. Any takers on explaining what would be needed for a swap? And yeah Skreed, I agree they look decent with that setup. However I've driven a friends Liberty with 3 inches of lift and 31's on the trails I like to frequent, but it just didn't cut it. If it were my old cherokee with that setup, it would have been fine, but for where I needed to go, the lower A-arms and subframe got hung up on rocks and other objects several times. So I would like to fit a bit more lift and larger tires. Oh well I have 2 years before I can start modifying it so I have plenty of time to plan and shop around for the right setup.

 

I agree. The last REAL jeep is the Wrangler Rubicon, but even then it's a bought not built rig so it defeats the purpose. Now, the base Wranglers don't even have true 4wd IMO. It's some kind of electronic shift on the fly thing. Jeep needs to go back to the roots of what made the Jeep great, otherwise they may as well just slap on a Chrysler badge and market the models as typical cars.

 

The real jeep is the cj7 and the cj5 with the 360.