kafootball61

I am considering putting a 3" suspension lift on my 1998 jeep cherokee sport.. I'm on a budget and i been on roughcountry.com and they offer a 3" lift with and with out the control arms and there is about $100 difference it the kits. Do I need the control arms or will my stock ones work? And do you know of any cheaper sites or one with better deals? Thank you

helmut

On my previous Cherokee I had the RC 3in lift with add a leaf and no control arms. It was fine. You dont really need the longer control arms at 3 inches. I dont really know why they offer them in that kit. Maybe so it would be easier to upgrade to 4.5 with addition of a spacer. The add a leaf will not give you 3 inches though and the 3 in leaf springs are about 300$. So you are better off getting the kit and if needed get some 1.5in shackles that you could find on ebay for $50. Its a good cheap kit.

birdmann

Without drop brackets or longer lca's the ride quality is greatly reduced. I'm at 3" on stock arms no drop brackets, and I hate the ride quality. gonna be swapping in rocky road outfitters drop brackets and iron man 4x4 adjustable arms. hopefully that will fix my ride quality issue. fyi mine is a 98 4.0 no armor or heavy bumpers on OME medium duty springs and shocks. also in the process of building tire carrier/recovery bumpers. the added weight will help as well.

helmut

Depends on what you need the Jeep for. But wouldnt you rather get longarms. If you get the drop brackets and upper and lower adjustable arms you will spend more money that on a decent longarm upgrade. I do understand about the ride quality, yes, of course they have more of a vertical angle, I just keep forgetting about the ride quality.

kafootball61

Ok thank ya'll very much. I believe I'm going to go with the series 2 kit with comes with sway bar drop brackets, and lower control arms etc.. Is there any tips or anything I should know before I start to put it on.. Special tools? easier ways?

helmut

Spray all bolts with Pb blaster before you get to it. Also You might want to rent a set of coil compressors from Autozone or something like that. You might not need them if your axle droops enough to put the springs/or spacers in. But if it doesnt these will make your life a lot easier.

auburn_XJ

I just did mine to a 98. I got a RE 2in and got MJ shackles and 3in coils from Rusty's, I'm getting a custom ride now and its sweet. PB blast the crap outa your bolts, don't uses compression wrenches on anything other than wheels and take your time and don't cut corners. Breaking bolts is almost inevitable if you rush and force things. I didn't break a single bolt doing all my work cuz I took my time and used PB blaster.

auburn_XJ

The coil compressor is a must on the 98, the axle doesn't drop enough. Plus its safer. Autozone is a $56 deposit and you get your money back upon return. Everywhere else is like $10 ontop of the deposit

helmut

There you go. Same experience here. Altough I was able to kick the driver side coil out. I definately needed the compressors for the passenger side where the trackbar mount got in the way of the coil.

Xj88

I had a he'll of a time with my 3 inch coils, I suggest getting a heavy friend to help stand on the axle to help lower it, I compressed the **** out if my coils and still had issues squeezing them in. The rear was a breeze. No joke start spraying pb at least a week early, douse the upper rear shock bolts. I didn't break a single bolt on my installation.

auburn_XJ

Yeah same, my fat *** stood on the axle even with the compressor it still was a pain. You might want a buddy to help. And beer

Xj88

I was so anxious to finish mine I did it in the rain

birdmann

A couple ratchet straps can replace your heavy friend if your doing it alone.

birdmann

See thats the things though, to get TRUE long arms it would cost over a grand. for around five hundred bucks you can get short arms that work extremely well. I'm no rock crawler, so I'm not after extreme "flecks". Yes long arms would ride a little better. But Y link radius arms are NOT true long arms. Ideally a bds or rock krawler 4 link would be best. But again for my application short arms work well enough.

helmut

I understand. If you have adjustable arms or at least one set already I guess its a no brainer to get the drop brackets. There is a chart here somewhere. I beleive that at around 5in of lift with the drop brackets you could use your stock control arms. But to buy drop brackets and lower and upper adjustable arms it would be more like $600. The RC long arm upgrade is 645$ and it comes with a transfer case skid plate wich separatly would be about $200.00. Rock Krawler 3 link long arms are $749.00. I am in the same boat as you. Time for an upgrade. I am just saying, prices are not that different. I did say in my previous post it would be less to get longarms, that was my mistake. Its not less, its just not that much more. And I am not trying say that your choice is wrong or anything like that. Its just my opinion.