So I got a lift put on a year ago, 4.5" BDS. Shocks, coils and AAL only. Did an SYE to kill vibes. Now I'm working on the rest of it. I know I still need a track bar but right now I'm worrying about my control arms. I was looking at drop brackets as a cheap and easy fix to improve ride quality. Anybody have suggestions on brands? Also, as I understand it the uppers will be fine I just need to put brackets on the lowers, correct? Or am I completely wrong here?

 

Do the track bar first, it's more important than your ride quality.

The drop brackets move both the upper and lower arms. They can be used with stock arms but adjustable ones would be better to dial in your castor.

 

4 1/2" and no Adj. Track Bar damn that should have been replaced when the lift was done, do it first.


Then as far as ride throw the rear AAL's away and buy the proper set of leaf packs for the lift that is another ride issue.


Next you should have had Adj. U/LCA's when the lift was done and yes the upper's need to be done also as they set the pinion angle for the front differential. When you added the SYE did you check the driveshaft angle to see what shims were needed for the rear end?


With any basic lift like an AAL you get really a cheap shock with the kit. A good shock like a Bilstein 5100 would do a lot for the ride both on/off road they did with mine when I went to 4 1/2" of lift from 3". They are about on the bottom end price wise for a good shock you can pay $300 a shock or more for some of them, these are only $80 something I think see serious off road about them (vendor here).

 

if youre buying drop brackets and adj arms, you might as well spend an extra 200 bucks on a set of long arms. more than worth it and at 4.5" they should be a requirement

 

I'm kind of on a budget. Wasn't looking in to long arms much because of the price. I have the right shims in the back. Had all that done when I did the SYE. Was definitely going to junk the AAL and get new leaf packs. What about sway bar links? The shocks are actually really nice, I think. It's just the leaf springs are under so much tension it's like driving a mobile earthquake. The shackles are 20 years old almost and probably should go. I'm just pretty poor and not trying to pay an arm and a leg for everything.

 

So you have stock arms now? With 4 1/2 coils?

 

Ive been running Rocky Road CAD brackets and OEM CAs for two years and 50k miles. They definitely make handling and ride night and day.

As others have said pickup a track bar. IRO is good and not too costly.

 

Stock arms with 4.5" yes.

 

Well, you've gotten some good advice. Buy the adjustable trac bar and when you can, do leaf packs then upper and lower arms. The difference on your XJ will be dramatic. Basically in that order should be the priority. Trac bars start at about 140, 4.5 leaf packs are 240 ish a pair and if you do the arms there are a lot of options(too many to price easily). Shackles can add lift so you could also do 3.5 leafs and add a lift shackle to get the other inch.

 

just saying if youre gonna drop the dough on brand new adjustable arms and drop brackets its worth saving for an extra 2 months or however long and spend the extra 2-300 on some long arms, something to consider

 

I agree, it is the best option. They could, however, use OEM arms and brackets as I did for significantly less as long as they dont wheel on tough stuff rocks, ledges etc. For the record though I would definitely go LA if I had a do over.

 

Can I do stock arms but drop brackets and save up for a long arm?

 

to be safe change the oil. You can use an oversize filter on your XJ. For example the NAPA regular filter is the NAPA gold 1085. The oversize filtet is the NAPA 1515, Same threads but a larger filter that you can either add more oil or get more filter capacity. Change the front and rear diif fluids, transfer case(only use dex merc) and trans if necessary. Upgrade battery compartment cables(stock are 8 gage) there are 5 of them. you can make your own. Refresh your grounds. Read up on the cherokee XJ NSS(neutal safety switch). Browse the jeep forums in general to pick up info. Good luck.

 

I agree with this. Panhard first, then look into your arms. Save for some longarms (SO many people make them these days, they're not too expensive), and swap out. You should be able to recover some cost with selling your current arms. Drop brackets do make it ride a bit better, but if you wheel much, are rock magnets like not other. Once you get the LA's in, you'll wish you had done it much sooner.

Uhhhh...what?

 

Uhhh what is right! The original thread is 3 years old guys.