Hi Guys,

My name is Cody and I’m a noob to this forum. Well, at least as far as being a member I am. Anytime I have needed Cherokee advice, this is the place I went. I purchased my first Jeep back in January, and since then I have fell in love. It’s a 99’ Cherokee Sport. Up until now all I have done to my Jeep has been general maintenance. I’ve changed all my fluids, serpentine belt, transmission filter and gasket, valve cover gasket, rear hatch struts, and added a hitch receiver. It has 180,XXX miles and runs like a champ. It’s safe to say I’ll probably be a Jeep man for life.

I now feel it is time to take my Cherokee to the next level. I have decided I’m going to add a lift kit. I’m going to buy a Rough Country 6.5” short arm kit (to be upgraded to long arm in the future) and 35x12.5x15 BFG Mud Terrains. This is my everyday driver and I am starting to get into off-roading. This is where my questions begin. I am aware I will also need to purchase extended brake lines, an SYE, and larger rims. As much as I want to do all the work myself, my resources and time are limited due to the amount of hours I spend at work, so I will be having a local garage that I know and trust to do the work for me. I am not going to being doing this on a budget because I want it done right. So absolutely any advice you guys can give me will be greatly appreciated, and if there is anything I missed please let me know. Ok, here are my questions:

1. What size rims should I get, and with how much back-spacing? I’ve read arguments in favor of both 15x8 and 15x10, what do you guys think? I want even tread wear, so which would be best? As far as back-spacing goes, I have no idea how much is a good idea. I obviously don’t want any rubbing, so what would be a good size?

2. What kind of specs am I looking for when I buy brake lines, and do I need anything extended for my rear brakes?

3. Any suggestions on the SYE I should get? Not sure which transmission I have, but it is automatic.

4. Do my fenders need trimmed immediately for driving with tires this big? Or is this only necessary when I’m doing some flexing? They will get trimmed, but probably not until I buy a set of bushwackers.

5. How necessary are extended drive-shafts with this lift and the SYE? I will buy them with time regardless, but without them will I be damaging anything in the mean time?

6. I know nothing about gear ratios at this time. Will I need lower gears immediately? I was hoping to tackle this when I upgrade to a more heavy-duty Dana axle in the future.

Any help would be awesome guys. Thank you.

 

You have an aw4 trans but the sye is for the tcase which is probably a np231. You won't need to trim the fenders but if you do any wheeling you will end up doing that.
Also regearing will need to be done if you love your jeep at all or want any mpgs lol

 

Hey man welcome to the forum. Ill answer these based on my experience.

1. Im sure people with disagree with me, but I went with 16x8. By going with the 16" rim, there are a ton of the metric tire choices (for example a 315-75-16 is a 34.6x12.4 R16). It seems to me that I can find a ton more 315x75x16 than 35x12x15. My rims have 4.5" backspacing (Pro-Comp) and I dont rub at anywhere. That being said I will probably go with something a little wider now that I have a bigger axle for the front and want to move up in tire size.

2. There are several options available. I personally love the IRO steel-braided/rubber coated lines. I've had my tires chew a few of the open braided steel lines/have had them rust but have not had a problem with the rubber coated ones. As far as the rear, you can buy various lengths of the solid brake line from stores like Napa. I believe the RC kit your looking at does come with brake relocation brackets for you.

3. I ran Advanced Adapters never had a problem. It is a great kit. I did/would get a full SYE and not a hack and tap if you can spare the cash.

4. I cant really say. With my IRO 6.5 long arm, I did not need to trim for 35s for just driving around. I did need to trim/bumpstop a bit once I left Louisiana (mud) and got back to Montana (rocks+snow+branhes etc)

5. Extended drive shafts are a must. I recomend Tom Woods. They are a bit pricey but in the one case where I did brake one, He promptly replaced it. He also has a ton of options for you. Just google Tom Woods and youll find him. SYE is a must. Without it, if your axle/driveshaft drops, (especially if you dont have a long enough DS) there is nothing stopping that drive shaft from just sliding out.

6. You will not NEED to lower gears but you and your Jeep will not like it. That is alot of extra weight and you will be eating a lot of gas going no-where. Axles are a must if you are going to wheel it. I bought a D44 for the rear right when I bought the kit (ordered all from Iraq) and it has done very well for me. There is a ton of info on here about axles. I ran the D30 untill recently when it finally gave out on me (Bent the Cs repeatedly) I doubt the gears inside of it are very pretty either. I just bought a D44 for the front and am in the middle of building it. You will need to get some down the road. Gears- it depends. I run 4.10s and will probably go deeper while installing this new front axle. 4.10 was enough off road for me because I have the tera-flex 4:1 transfer case. On road however, I wished I had more. I can go 70-80 but it takes quite a bit of pedal to get there. I think with 35's and using as a DD 4.56-4.88 are a good choice.

 

Just out of curiosity though, If budget was not an issue for me, I would not go with RC. I would go with Rock Krawler, Clayton, BDS or the like. Why RC? And why no long-arms to begin with?

 

x2 save up and buy the long arms youll be glad you did in the long run...6.5 on short arms is really pushing it

the only reason im not running long arms is cause my peiced together 4'' kit was dirt cheep.ill be getting long arms soon

 

Something you didn't ask about: 6.5in lift on short arms will ride like pewp and will be exacerbated by RC's already stiff ride. You may also need shackle relocation boxes (about $150) with the RC lift and will likely have to replace the bushings in the leaves in a year, this costs about $35 for urethane bushings. If you get the "xflex" kit, the "johnny joints" in the front will likely also have to be replaced sooner than later, but you can perform regular maintenance on them to try to increase their lifespan. The RC trackbar is kind of dinky. At 6.5 and 35s you should also consider replacing your steering with something beefier.

 

I also agree with this. BDS costs the most though, looks like for 6.5in lift with long arms it's about $2500. Clayton is slightly cheaper, RK is the cheapest, but you'd need to purchase full leaves on top of the RK kit because they only come with add a leaves. I'm pretty sure no one on cherokeeforum has any of these complete kits.

 

Better yet go with RKs rear coil conversion.

 

Do it right the first time and skip the short arms, you'll save money in the long run and your ride quality will be greatly improved.

 

I knew you guys would call me out when I contradicted myself like this. I need more friends like this! To be honest, I just like the Rough Country price. This isn't on a budget, that much is true, but I still need to save up for it first, and I'm really anxious to get out on the trails this summer. As far as why no long arms to begin with, I just didn't think it was that much of a difference. Please, the first thing I did post was "I am a noob", cut me some slack haha.

I will instead go with long arms, and I will shop around for the kits all you guys have mentioned in 6.5".

Much appreciated!

 

Good choice! It is a waste of cash to buy a short arm if you are planning on getting a long arm down the road. Haha. If you want some more kit ideas, just check out the link in my signature.

 

X2 4.5" is about the limit on short arms. You can run short arms at 6.5" but it won't ride or flex very well

 

What do you mean replace my steering? Add a stabilizer?

 

No more like coss over steering or 1 ton

 

Or at least a zj tierod