Got my xj almost a year ago. Love this little tank. I want to get a mild ..3".. lift to fit 31s. I have no real skills mechanically so I checked with my local shop. He quoted lift, tires, labor, out the door for about $3100. Is this about right... Good, bad...
Any input would be helpful... Thanks.

What lift and tires?

Which lift? What tires? Shocks included? Pretty vague description. If it's just a mild lift, and mounting tires only, run away. For that price you could buy a budget boost, tools to do it, tires, learn how to do something, and come out ahead. $3100?!? A decent 3" suspension lift around $500, 31" tires set of 4 mounted/balanced GY duratracs around $700-800, so roughly $1300 in parts, that's a pretty costly labor bill if you ask me. Shop around some more before you pull the trigger.

Don't pay somebody to do it. YouTube has DIY videos.

**** the bed. Post a picture of that quote.

holy hell, I just installed my Zone 3" lift with hand tools over a weekend about a month ago. I'm in under $1000 for new 31" Kelly Safari TRS tires and the lift.

I 3" lift is nothing to install. You could YouTube it and be good to go. Every lift ive ever looked at also comes with detailed instructions so if you got stuck just refer to those. $3100 for that just sounds like a ripoff. I'd love to know what kind of lift he would be pulling on...

Totally ripped off if u pay the me and my buddy installed a 5.5 lift on his zj with 35 duratrax for right about 2000
Lift came with EVERYTHING needed

If you post the quote, we'll be able to tell you whether your local shop is ripping you off or not. You will definitely pay a premium for the install; however,we have to consider that some people don't even have access to a decent socket set, and installing themselves might not be a possibility.

Didnt get any real data. It was just a drive by questioning..kind of a jumping off point. But sounds like I have a bit more research to do..thats why I asked the experts.

Hell no. You could buy a lifted one for that.

What he said, I sold this 99' with only 136,000 miles and nearly rust free for $3500, with brand spankin new 33's and new wheels. It had a 4.5 in rubicon lift on it.

I made a mistake and paid a shop to do my first 3" lift. Cost close to $900 with parts and some used 31s that were $100 of that bill. The 31s are still going good 15 months later. I ended up having to re-torque everything myself and eventually changed a number of things. After seeing what is involved in lifting our XJs anything labor wise over a couple hundred is a ripoff imo.

You should re-torque everything after a couple of hundred miles anyways. The shop should have told you this and done it as part of the cost, IMHO

Well they were supposed to. On the day of the appt their only tech called in and had the key to to tools they said. The point was more that once I saw what was involved I knew I had wasted money. Was in a hurry earlier.