Cherokee XJ

[gomesoceano]

What you guys suggest for a lift kit and tyres on a stock jeep cherokee xj???

I just drive to work on week days, and want to be able to go off road on weekends, if you guys can help me with prices and places will be great...

Cheers

[reyzor]

wooders garage.....

[Hunno]

wooders garage.....

I've found no one better for any Jeep infomation.

[TRBN8R]

Wooders all the way mate. Honest and reliable info. Also you get a discount if u r a Sydney Jeep Club member.

[tonysrich]

The XJ is the biggest selling car that Jeep have ever made and there is a huge range of products available for them. The guys at Wooders are great but unless you want to just blindly accept their advice I'd do a little research before takling to them so that you can make an informed judgement. Your best resourse for this is the club members that have XJ's. Scott (sbadman) our Club magazine editor has a well sort out XJ that is quite a capable off road but still a practical car and a functional tourer. Then at the other end of the spectrum is our our Club Vice Presidents monster, Wolfe has a hard core rig with the biggest lift and tires that I've ever seen on an XJ.

But you don't need much suspension modification to make your XJ a good performer off road. My mate JB's XJ has only a 2 inch lift but it goes just about anywhere that anyone else can.

[gomesoceano]

But you don't need much suspension modification to make your XJ a good performer off road. My mate JB's XJ has only a 2 inch lift but it goes just about anywhere that anyone else can.

Thanks, im looking for something cheap, and very flex, as i drive much more on road, i would love to see JB's XJ

[sbadman]

Thanks, im looking for something cheap, and very flex, as i drive much more on road, i would love to see JB's XJ

Disconnect the front swaybar each time you go offroad, and if it's a Limited remove the rear swaybar altogether (Sports don't have a rear swaybar). Even in a bone stock XJ, with the standard 5 link front end it will be flex city compared to any other four wheel drive :D

The limiting factor on downward travel in an XJ is the lower control arms. Installing something like Rubicon Express Superflex or JKS arms with a heim joint will really allow the axle to droop. Longer shocks will allow more travel again, but be mindful of the brake lines which will now become limiting straps (not good!) There are extended replacements available for them too.

XJ Longarm kits convert it to a 3-link setup, and aren't really necessary until you're in 6" and greater territory. I believe Wolfe runs at 6.5" with a longarm setup. I personally run 2" spacer blocks front and rear because I got them dirt cheap 2nd hand, but with the rear suspension especially showing it's age (1995 model) I"ll be looking to change them out for replacement springs down the track. Blocks are really best suited to a newer vehicle still with suspension in good condition.

www.quadratec.com is a good site to window shop what you'd like, www.rubiconexpress.com for suspension kits. Wooders is a Rubicon Express reseller, and can supply everything you need to lift an XJ properly. Just make sure you have plenty of time up your sleeve if you pay him a vist in Hornsby, he loves to chat! :)

[tonysrich]

Scott has made a good point, the more you increase your cars suspension the more you have to modify other components of the car that are affected the increased lift. Increasing the length of your brake lines is very important. The standard lines will not be long enough to work with a suspension lift. Once the wheel travels past the length of your lines they will get stretched at least and possibly torn out. Either way the brakes will be severly affected. But brake lines are cheap where as other things are not.

With bigger lifts you will also need to increase the length of your drive shaft to cope with the increased movement and there is no point in significantly increasing the suspension lift and not taking advantage of the extra room created by the lift and increasing the diameter of your tires. But this will make the gearing higher and probably require you to lower the gearing in your diff's to compensate. Basically getting big flex isn’t cheap and the greater the lift you want the more you have to change (and spend).

But you don't need a lift to start coming on trips. The XJ isn't the most successfully Jeep for nothing, it’s a very capable 4WD in stock standard trim. Scott is right, just disconnecting your sway bar will make your XJ much more capable.

So I'd recommend you to get a disconnect kit from Wooders as your first modification as it will make the whole process of disconnecting and reconnecting much simpler (and they're cheap).

Where abouts do you live? Me and JB live down south in the Sutherland Shire. If you would like to meet up let me know and I'll organize a time and place for you, me and JB to catch up so you can have a look at his car.

Tony
0410 647 177
tonysrich@optus.net (tonysrich@optus.net)

[gomesoceano]

Scott has made a good point, the more you increase your cars suspension the more you have to modify other components of the car that are affected the increased lift. Increasing the length of your brake lines is very important. The standard lines will not be long enough to work with a suspension lift. Once the wheel travels past the length of your lines they will get stretched at least and possibly torn out. Either way the brakes will be severly affected. But brake lines are cheap where as other things are not.

With bigger lifts you will also need to increase the length of your drive shaft to cope with the increased movement and there is no point in significantly increasing the suspension lift and not taking advantage of the extra room created by the lift and increasing the diameter of your tires. But this will make the gearing higher and probably require you to lower the gearing in your diff's to compensate. Basically getting big flex isn’t cheap and the greater the lift you want the more you have to change (and spend).

But you don't need a lift to start coming on trips. The XJ isn't the most successfully Jeep for nothing, it’s a very capable 4WD in stock standard trim. Scott is right, just disconnecting your sway bar will make your XJ much more capable.

So I'd recommend you to get a disconnect kit from Wooders as your first modification as it will make the whole process of disconnecting and reconnecting much simpler (and they're cheap).

Where abouts do you live? Me and JB live down south in the Sutherland Shire. If you would like to meet up let me know and I'll organize a time and place for you, me and JB to catch up so you can have a look at his car.

Tony
0410 647 177
tonysrich@optus.net (tonysrich@optus.net)

Hi mates, i live in Dee Why, northern beaches, a bit fair way from you guys, but are you guys going for menai, will be a pleasure have a chat with you guys, i really want to start going off road, but do not have good knowledge about, so if you do not mind to help myselfe will be great.
I looking for what to do to have a good flex off road, but dont know where to start, like tyres, lift kit, etc. What to do first as the money is short...
Thanks for the disconnect kit advice, i did not really understand but really want to know about it, could be a good start.
I hope to see you soon...

[Hunno]

As a couple of the guys have said pop upto Wooders & have a chat. They will explain everything with pictures or even show you on your car. Then give you options that are with in you budget, or even a biulding plain & buy parts as you can afford it. They are only at Hornsby so would be easy to drop up & see them. Have a look on this site & you will find there ad. www.wooders.com.au (http://www.wooders.com.au)

[gomesoceano]

As a couple of the guys have said pop upto Wooders & have a chat. They will explain everything with pictures or even show you on your car. Then give you options that are with in you budget, or even a biulding plain & buy parts as you can afford it. They are only at Hornsby so would be easy to drop up & see them. Have a look on this site & you will find there ad. www.wooders.com.au (http://www.wooders.com.au)

I might be going to wooders soon, just would like to have a chat with members club, and XJ ownors first

[Steve F]

I'm 5 minutes from Wooders place if you want to checkout my XJ, trouble is you'll probably hear the same from me as Wooders and I'm running 5.5" of lift so what works for me is probably more than you'll need at 2".

Cheers
Steve

[Maggie]

Henrique, Wooders is a long time member of SJC and will definitely give you good advice.

Maggie

[NT-Boy]

Gomes, I've got a front 2inc lift for sale in the for sale section, have a look.

[Jaffas]

Hey mate, another long time XJ driver here, 33s on 5.5 rubicon long arm kit with diff locks etc... and love it!

My advice is to first get off road and see what you car can do as a stocker! I think you will be pleasantly surprised, they are very capable rigs! As sbadman said, just make sure you disconnect the sway bars and you will be climbing those rocks no sweat!
As mentioned, talk to people to gain ideas, but keep in mind it is your car and money. The philosophy I took is that I chose what size tyres I wanted first, then worked out what I need to achieve that: from a driveline and suspension viewpoint. So first I did the rear tailshaft (you need to get rid of the horrid slip yoke as it will be the weakest point once you start flexing), then diff lockers and ratios, and finally once I had saved up, suspension, tyres, brake line extensions, etc. The weakest link on an XJ with big tyres is the D35 rear diff... 33's is about the limit... and even then you have to be careful... I think we all have thrown a rear axle at some stage. So make sure you consider all those things as well.

How you build you rig is very dependent on how you want it to end up. so if you want it on 31's with a 2" lift, that is a very different plan to having it on 35's with a 6"+ lift. So set a goal, work out the steps and budget and go from there. You don't want to get stuck doing things twice.

XJ's rock and I really hope you enjoy yours!

[rupicon]

3-3.5'' in frount 2'' spring + longer shackles to add the extra 1-1.5, this helps drive line angles, drop trans case this also for drive line angles
31'' mudders. this can be done on the cheep, i know of this set up working well no sye
ofcourse with sye is better but then so is d60s exo cage hmount 2x lockers with big bucks etc etc
get 31''s working = all good