Nothing-2-Deep-4-Cherokee

And would u recommend to buy a complete kit or piece it together

Nothing-2-Deep-4-Cherokee

Because I wouldn't have all the money at once

XJ Sam

Save your money and do it right the first time.
Research your products and what your goals are.

That's the best advice from me and a few others that have posted. If you piece together a kit, you can do it over time and it doesn't look as daunting as sinking a huge chunk of change for a whole kit. Then you can buy what you want based on products you like. For instance, you might like something in a kit, but hate the rest of companies products. Just buy what you want and like, and source the other items you like as well.

If you really want a solid 4.5" and you are stuck on it, don't go buy a 3" kit now and settle. Anytime you settle, you won't be happy in the long run and you will continue to **** away money getting everything where you want it.

Sure people change plans and go higher/lower different setups. But, if you build a good solid base to start with, you won't be replacing everything, every time you want to make a change.

Rogue4x4

This will depend entirely on you...once you research and shop around...just as an example, you may look at a Rubicon Express kit and say "that's for me" after shopping around for piece parts. Or just the opposite. You may look at a bunch of kits and say "well I could part one together for less". Start by looking at full kits from different companies. See what they include. Read up on the comments and reviews. Find the strengths and weaknesses of each. When you think you have found a kit you like, try piecing one together yourself from different vendors, and compare. Remember, low cost items are low cost for a reason, but just because something is expensive doesn't mean it's the shiz either. I know, clear as mud, right?

Nothing-2-Deep-4-Cherokee

For sure . I don't wanna build a piece of **** either. I wanna take my time and build something worth my while

Rogue4x4

Especially if it's going to be your DD...you'll be happy you took your time then, and your a$$, back and teeth will thank you....LOL

Nothing-2-Deep-4-Cherokee

There's just so many ways to lift Xjs . So I don't know what really works best. I'm only 18 and done 2 xj lifts I'm my driveway both only 3 inch kits. So I just don't know what will work best with 4.5 . Just save my money and find out myself :0

Tsaani97xj

A lot of good advice in this thread for sure. Most people that end up going budget at first end up eventually spending a lot more money and time to get things right (for them).

That being said the zone kit posted earlier is a good budget start since you said you have an adj track bar already. You almost positively will have to do something about the rear leafs down the road if you use an AAL but you could pickup some xj leaf packs from the pick n pull and add the main leaf to your pack with the AAL and give your packs a chance at lasting quite a bit longer.

As you have seen there is a ton of varying opinions out there. You could get to 4.5" with your budget. The problem is if you do not have any reserve funds you could be setting yourself up for disaster if the lift exposes some unseen problem at its current height. Such as failing ujoints or worn front end compnents leading to death wobble.

If you have the patience to wait do it. Look into longarms, shackle relocation brackets/sliders, how to properly calculate and set drive line angles, steering upgrades and good shocks. Setup properly your xj will handle and ride on and off road better than factory.

Just some thoughts.

Nothing-2-Deep-4-Cherokee

Alright and I replaced most of my front end parts already. Pretty much everything but tie rod ends

98cherokee531

After all 4 pages of this thread all I can say is welcome to the lovely world of xj's

On second note here's my 2 cents, you get this when you add new 4.5" coils up front and add a leaf in the back and shackles on 150k worn springs. Took a 1" zero rate block to get me close to level. Cheap? Yes, effective? Sorta

Rogue4x4

It's too late....he got an AAL kit....

sreeb

Several people have advised you to get full leaf packs because the AAL kits sag. And they are right about the sagging.

However, if you buy a kit with full leafs, you typically get leafs that provide the full lift (maybe more), with the stock shackles and often have length issues. These won't work very well because the stock shackles are too short to flex well and the shackle angles are poor. The fix is longer shackles and shackle re-locators but they will cost another $200 and may leave you higher than you want to be.

In your place, I would buy the kit with the AAL and plan on buying new springs, shackles, and re-locators when I could afford them.