I recently bought a 97 Cherokee that the previous owner installed a 3.5” Rubicon Express lift kit on. I want to bring it down to 1.5” and keep the 30” tires because I think it would look better. Plus he didn’t add a SYE and I’m getting some problems because of that. Is the best route to just go to stock suspension and build up from there? If you’ve done something similar I’d like to know your process.

Edit: Just to clarify, I’d like to know what I can keep from the 3.5” lift and what I would need to buy to go down to 1.5”

 

Search the forum for threads on Upcountry Suspension ​​​​​​

 

There are probably 2 options I can see for you to go down from 3.5 to 1.5.

Option 1: Find a person to trade their stock suspension for your 3.5" suspension. And by that, I mean your springs. Front coils, rear leaves... they gotta go. Then get a 1.5" budget boost, and hate how awful the suspension rides on 20+ year old clapped out springs. bleah

Option 2: The only 1.5" kit I know of is made by Old Man Emu. It's a super high quality suspension though, and it's like $900. You'd swap out your coils, leaves, and shocks all around.
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Bonus Option: cut the springs, get some NEW stock leaf springs, and do a small shackle lift for the rear. It's also an awful option.

I honestly can't think of another way to go down to 1.5 from what you have. Any reason why you want to drop 2 inches? Is it the ride quality or mileage?

edit:
(Oh yeah, the UpCountry suspension is an option as well)

​​​​​Either way, you're taking off your coils and leaf springs. You could keep the RE shocks though (if you don't flex the suspension to the max, which I wouldn't expect you would on 1.5")

 

Keeping the shocks was mostly what I was concerned about. I figured I would have to buy new coils and leaf springs. I’d rather buy new leaf springs than get worn out ones. I think going down 2” would look more proportional and not attract as much attention. Plus the ride quality is pretty rough.

 

I have a 1.5" lift - it's a combo of Old Man Emu and Rancho springs with Old Man Emu shocks. You could achieve the same height with "Upcountry" leaf springs from Crown or Dorman and "Upcountry" coils from Moog with the addition of a coil spacers. I think all those parts are around $500 give or take.

I honestly think you'll have no issues with keeping the RE shocks that come with the RE kit (assuming that's what you have). Not sure what kind of track bar you have currently, but it may work... there are aftermarket adjustable track bars designed for Upcountry style Cherokees - I have one from Rusty"s.

Some say you could get away with reusing the U-Bolts but they may not work with whatever leaf pack you go with.

 

You might need new shocks. The RE shocks might bottom out when you go over big bumps. You're going to be compressing them to fit the 1.5". Maybe someone else will chime in with a more definitive answer. I bought used/almost new take offs from a JKU Rubicon (2015?) -$50 for all 4. They work for XJ lifts between 2-3", do some research, they should work at 1.5", but not certain.

You can buy stock leafs and get a 1.5" shackle. Pretty sure rough country makes an adjustable 1.5" - 2" shackle. For coils springs the old man emu 2930 is about 1.5-1.75". I think Rusty's offroad has a 1.5" coil also.

some things that come to mind/questions:

have you measured to see exactly how much lift you currently have?

Measure from the center of the axle to the bottom of the flair - stock is 17" rear, 17.5" front
18"= 1" of lift
19=2
20=3
21=4
22=5
etc.

the track bar - assuming the previous owner installed an RE track bar- do some research on what size lift they will adjust to

front sway bar end links -- You probably have longer ones than stock.

if you are only looking to improve your ride, just change out the leaf springs and coil springs for ARB - old man emu. I just installed them on mine, and I am amazed how good my Jeep rides.