3-4.5lift confused upgrade
 

Last year i bought a 3in cherokeelift from rough country for my xj. I should have listened to my friends and just went 4.5 from the start but we live and learn.

im posting because i wanted to try and piece together a kit with shackles, lines, coils, shocks...but i reallywanted to go with a dropdown bracket on the lower control arm.

this seems to be were im hitting the wall i cant decide if i should just buy another full kit? are drop downs that much better? and are those xflex joint arms that much better to spend the $ for.

also does anyone else sell dropbrackets and similar control arms? thanks for the help

my jeepbuild: https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f46/li...g-hood-118213/

At 4.5" your going to need a slip yoke eliminator or a T-case drop. So make sure you budget for that. If your on a budget You could use coil spacers in the front and add 1 or 2 of your stock leafs in the rear which should give you an extra inch or two and help out ride quality. Also need extended brake lines (If your kit didnt come with them originally). And youll need new shocks and some other misc. stuff. ( Not sure what all come with the RC 3" lift)

Use search and see what you all need for a 4.5" lift. There is a big jump in price for lifts once you go over 3". Adj lca and uca, adj tb, shocks, bake lines, tc drop or correct way of sye.
Then need to decide if you want to do short arms or long arms. I see the control arm drop backers the same ad a tc drop. Yeah you can do it. But it's not the best way.

agreed.

going over 3" is sort of opening a can of worms. need a bunch of extra stuff.

first thing is to decide on what tire size you want to run, and go from there. you can easily fit 33" tires on a 3" lift with some trimming and bumpstopping. easy.

i plan on running 32'' km2 i have the tcase drop from rusty already but will do the sye....

does anyone know if you HAVE to weld the drop down bracket? Im def making the jump to 4.5 i guess im just not sure about going with another full leaf pack or just doing a 1.5in shackle in the rear? People say the ride is better with the shackle?

and my other question is i guess to anyone who has an adj control arm if its worth the added money? did you notice any difference in driveability?

im clear on the parts i need just looking for peoples personal opinion on the parts that im questioning?

take a look at this list. this is everything required for a proper 4.5" lift http://www.seriousoffroadproducts.co...-NP231J-T-case
now figure a budget and start working backwards.

you will NEED a double sheer track bar. no buts. full leaf packs with a shackle should be high priority as well. do this the right way or you'll be in this same situation next year. basically, you have to toss out that RC lift and start over. only thing you can keep is the coils (and add spacer) and LCA's

I do not see the point in the drop brackets I would not waste my money on them. save up for long arms. I have adj upper and lower control arms. only ended up putting them like 0.5" longer than stock and adjusted my castor angle. so once again save up for long arms

so then whats a good 3in lift to get?

http://www.seriousoffroadproducts.co...UTY-LEAF-PACKS

http://www.full-traction.com/detail....CTID=510&NOTES=

33S ON A 3 IN LIFT???? WHEEEEWWW thats pushing it

33's on a 3 inch makes for a hacked up xj

Just buy another kit. For the prices you piece together parts, you can buy a another good kit.

Like others are saying, there is a lot that has to be done when going to 4.5 inches.

This isn't exactly budget-friendly, but I would recommend just getting a whole new 4.5" kit so you have all the parts you need. You can always sell the 3" kit to get some of your money back. You could, in theory, just bump up your current lift with shackles and spacers and other pieced-together parts, but that just seems sketchy to me and I wouldn't recommend it because I wouldn't ever do that to my Jeep for lift compensation. I would want it done right.

Rough Country's 4.5" kit comes with the transfer case drop kit that you're inquiring about. Link. Personally, I'd do a slip yoke eliminator kit, which will run you about $200, plus the cost of the drive shaft.

Also since you were inquiring about the control arm drop kit, I will vouch for it and say it's a great thing to have. I've had mine installed since I got my kit installed. That will run you about $190. Link.

Contrary to what some other people are saying, Piece it together. Skip the spacers, Put some 4.5" coils on it, get some 1.5"-2" lift shackles for the back, Or BETTER YET, some shackle relocation brackets for the back, since rough country's lift leafs are too short and put the shackles at a horrible angle. You'll need some extended brakelines or brakeline relocation kits. That is not going to make it undrivable. I have been running my 4.5" for 2 years now without an SYE by way of a 1" transfer case drop which can also be had cheap. Eventually I am going to do an SYE but the good thing about this is you can upgrade one thing at a time. Before you can get any more flex out of it you will need longer shocks, but again, you don't have to do it all at once. Buying a kit is not always the right way. There is absolutely nothing at all wrong with piecing together a lift as long as you use quality parts.

Here's a couple links. Add up the cost, and then compare it to a 4.5" kit with full leaf packs (Because we know better than to try to do an add a leaf, right?)

http://www.ironrockoffroad.com/Merch...egory_Code=XSP (You might get these cheaper if you call rough country, but I don't see them selling them seperately on their own site)

http://www.roughcountry.com/jeep_xtras_1117.html (these will give you about 1"-1.5" of lift, and a whole lot better shackle angle, making it ride alot better, and have alot more travel than 4.5" leaf springs, I know, I'm still sitting on 4.5" rough country leaf springs)

http://tal4x4.com/zone-offroad-produ...FY1DMgod_hMAew

http://www.roughcountry.com/jeep_xtr...rakelines.html

http://www.roughcountry.com/jeep_xtras_1079.html

That'll get ya rolling with a little left over. Then you can plan on adding control arm drop brackets, SYE, longer shocks, all that as time goes on. TRUST me, you will get a much better ride and more flex out of the rear this way.