PoorMansWrangler

Hey guys,
I bought this jeep before I really knew much about jeeps in general, and I want to at least identify the suspension mods done to it, and hopefully fix any wrongs. Here are some pictures, and I can grab more tomorrow! Thank you! Also, I would like to stick with the 3in or so of lift, if anything bump up to 4.5!
31 inch coopers and I am rubbing slightly at full turn

Guywitha92

One, I see stacked spacers in front. Big no no in my book

Guywitha92

Old man emu rear springs which is a plus. Probably stock front end with those spacers

PoorMansWrangler

I was thinking about the zone 4.5 inch lift, with the full leaf packs, and the jk acos bump stops? And then start working on the steering components. I would rather do it right the first time than kick myself later on down the road

PoorMansWrangler

Also, this isn't a big off-road rig, just a hunting rig and light off-roading

mikesignal

what's your budget? you can measure how much lift you have (google that or search on here--looks like you are at 3" now) also pics of the front end would help -- track bar, lower control arms . Like guywitha92 said, looks like they stacked spacers to raise the front end to match the rear. First thing I would do is get new coils (3") and get rid of spacers; and get new shocks.

you have old man emu leaf springs in the rear. Take a look at them again and see if you see any numbers on the stickers. That will tell you exactly what you have. Looks like those are the older ones that have been discontinued. Also looks like they might be sagging; rear looks lower that the front and the leafs look flat.

also take pics of the leaf spring and shackle, and shackle box.

PoorMansWrangler

Hey guys, finally grabbed some pictures today. I would like to keep it under a grand if possible, and try and keep my sane tire size now (31s) with the hope of moving to 33s when these get wore down.

Guywitha92

Hard to tell, but it looks like stock control arms. You may be able to get a zone lift for under that price. Just stay away from rough country short arm lifts.

Guywitha92

Or you could get rubicon express. That's what Im running

PoorMansWrangler

https://www.quadratec.com/p/rubicon-...j-chrysler-825

This one? I imagine this would replace the double lift blocks up front and the saggy rear leafs. I have read about the sye's, would that be necessary?

mikesignal

You can't go wrong with RE; but with that RE lift you still need shocks and a track bar. You should take a look at your transfer case and see if there are spacers (t-case drop) already. If so you should get rid of it and install a SYE. Also you should post the year your XJ is and which transfer case you have.

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f67/nk...-chart-211878/

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f59/xj...plained-75047/

and you are not going to get 33's to fit with a 3" lift unless you trim the fenders.

PoorMansWrangler

Ok thank you! It's a 2000 jeep xj, with the 231 transfer case. I do not believe it has spacers

mikesignal

you won't know if you need a sye until after you do the lift -- every XJ is different. With that being said the 2000 with the 8.25 is more likely to need it. Being you already have a lift and no t-case drop, no sye, and currently no vibes, then sounds like you might be good.

PoorMansWrangler

I have also been thinking about the rusty's lift if anyone has any opinions on it. http://www.rustysoffroad.com/jeep-su...anced-kit.html

ElMartillo

I have the Rusty's 3" Advanced kit and I'm very happy with it. I ordered adj U\L control arms with the forged flex ends, but the standard non-adjustable are fine, I'm sure. I load up my XJ on trips, and have a tire carrier rear bumper so I ended up adding IRO boomerang adjustable shackles, as the Rusty's leafs settled in rather quickly. I highly recommend you do the SYE. Easy to do yourself, and you can bolt in a junkyard front XJ driveshaft in the rear fairly inexpensively.