Joe, being an active duty WO1 myself, I love my 2000 XJ. It's got about a 4.5" lift with 31's that fit and flex nicely without much rubbing. I bought it lifted, big mistake on my part. But, with my schedule it was easier to buy it done already. I'm a huge of advocate of building not buying but it just wasn't practical at the time and I wanted my XJ! lol. Is your son planning on using this as a DD? That's what mine is and with the 31s and the 4.5" lift it does pretty good around town and on the highway. Others that I have talked to that have 33s and over 5" of lift say that highway performance is horrible but off road it's great. I recently drove to OK from AL and was able to hit 90mph in my XJ without any stability issues and averaged 15mpg. It all just depends on what he's going to be using his XJ for really. You are definitely smart in doing your research first though. GOOD LUCK to you during the build and your son while he is deployed.

I did have some rubbing in the rear when fully flexed and it ripped off the rear molding so I did the rear quarter panel cut and fold and modified the rear molding to make bumper end caps until I can get a new rear bumper.

 

I got to talk to him on his birthday last week and he said he wants 33's, but doesn't want it to sit too high. He wants to get cut out flares. He's used to the 33's on my TJ and I don't think he realizes the body style on a XJ requires a bigger lift than a TJ to fit the same size tires. The XJ will be double duty for him, including driving to college when he gets back, so it needs to have good street manors too. I'm thinking 32's, with cutout fenders and 4" lift might be a good compromise?

 

I'm on 35's and 5.5" of lift and it drives great on the street.

 

I think 35's might be a little much for him. He just turned 19 and only has 1 year experience behind the wheel. Plus, 35's means upgrading brakes, axles, ect..

I'm still shopping for the XJ. He wants a green 4dr. They all seem to be white or red. I've got lots of time so I'm being patient.

 

Hey Joe, I have 33's with a 4.5" lift, and cut out flares. There is a bit of rubbing when flexed out, but I don't to extreme wheeling so it isn't often that I am totally flexedout. There are more pic in my album.

 

That's a great looking XJ! what are the build specs on it?

 

Not much to tell Joe.
4.5" Rough Country Lift
15x10 procomp rims with a 3.5" backspacing (If I remember right)
33x12 procomp Xterrain tires
And a xrc 8000 winch.
Lights are Hella, both bumpers and rack are custom made.
I haven't done anything to the axles (have a dana 44 front and a ford 9" rear in the garage. And other then rebuilding the motor one more time, don't plan on doing much to it. Gonna give it to my boy on his 16th.

 

Does the Cherokee have the same 4.5" on 5 bolt pattern that a TJ has?

 

Yes.

 

I will admitt to having a biased opinion, but I believe I have a dang near perfect daily driver, highway cruiser, weekend wheeler.
2.5" lift and 33" tires.
Click my user name and check the albums for additional photos.



if you decide to go over 3" "I" would look into long arms.
if you decide to go 35's, "I" would strengthen the axles.
roof racks are neat, but for driving back and forth to college his gas bills will increase significanty.

For what it's worth, unibody reinforcement is the first thing I would add.

You son is brave, I thank him.

 

he'll want an emt rack! its just a style but you can put tons of stuff up there. 4 inches will clear 33's might have to trim your fenders. its cool that your building him a dream car. my dad doesnt want me to even lift mine

and for years to buy, 90-95 are my favorite. once you finish modding it, it wont look like it did stock. it will be tons better!

 

Mike H.
I was just looking at TNT Frame reinforcement a few days ago. It looks pretty tough. However, I don't know how to weld. How much did it cost to get it welded in; if you didn't do it yourself? I can't believe that lift is only 2.5" with 33's... how much did you cut out?

 

Lift, a couple of folks have expressed doubt lately, so I went out just now and measured to refresh my memory;
front;
Top of axle to u/s of frame measures "9.0-9.25" (hard to tell laying on your back) and stock measurement is 6.75" +/- 0.5".
rear;
Top of axle to u/s of frame measures 8.75"-9"(again, laying on my back) when empty, stock measurement is 6", +/- 0.5"

That's pretty much 2.5" lift.

I've not trimmed as much as you would think.
Front;
Cut the vertical edge off the front fenders, and removed about 1.5" of fender away from the the rearward side of wheelwells... from the beltline down. Inside the wheelwell I removed the plastic liner, and pounded flat the rather large pinch seam. I'm running stock bumpstops, and 2 hockey pucks for added bumpstop... but would like to purchase proper bumpstops and get rid of the pucks.
I'm running 11" travel shocks up front and get to use all the travel... about 3.25" up, the rest in droop.
Rear;
I performed the popular cut an fold treatment.
Then, I needed to remove approx. 1.5" of the wheelwell from the beltline down at both the front and rear edges of the wheelwell.
No bumpstops were required in the rear as the tire stuffs up into the wheelwell just fine and the overload leaf keeps the tire from rubbing.
I measure 6" of available uptravel, but, I would guess the overloads keep it handy to 4"... and, I do not get full shock extension in the rear... likely in the 10" range vs the 11" that the shock is capable of.

With the stock steel wheels I have to run extended steering stops, even with tube style control arms.

I bought the chassis siffeners/belly pan and paid install all in one shot... so I am uncertain the breakdown.
If I recall, the install of the stiffeners was roughly the same as the purchase price, so, around $120... ? "I think"

 

I love that you have 33's with a smaller lift. I'm a big fan of low center of gravity. With 1.5" of cutout it sounds like about the same as if you had a 4.5" lift. Do you think 33x12.5 tires would fit if you ran 15x8 wheels with 4" back space?

 

this photo will show how the front tire "just" fits inside the front wheelwell...
http://members.***.net/huddy31/LT%20rear%203-4.jpg

this photo will show how the rear stuffs up inside...
http://members.***.net/huddy31/LT%20side.jpg

With 12.50's and wheels further outboard, I'd have to add another 1"-1.5" of bumpstop up front, and there is no way they would tuck into the rear wheelwell, so, fair amount of bumpstop would be required... to run 33x12.5's I think I'd want more lift, or, some major wheelwell work... either way, I like the longer footprint a narrow tire (provided equal diameter) offers.

btw, with recovery gear, tools, food/beverages loaded in the back, and tires at trail psi, it flexes more than those photos indicate.