Lift ideas

[bcrosson92]

I want to do a lift because I smashed the tranny lines and had to have a new to me tranny put in. its totally stock. 1990. I would like a 4.5 inch to run 33's but I heard that doesn't work off road. don't have a lot to spend so no long arms. at 4.5 do I need a sye and case drop and longer drive shaft? 3 inches seems pointless to me. my buddy has one and its not much taller then mine. I live in pa about an hour from raush creek. wanna do green maybe yellow trails.

[4.3LXJ]

You can do 4.5" on short arms with 33s. That is a good combination. Plan on some fender trimming though. You should be fine without an SYE

[bcrosson92]

I'm gonna do bushwhacker flares so do I need to trim the fenders. how bout a t case drop

[4.3LXJ]

Personally is don't like them, so I set up drivelines without them. It just depends on how much spline is in the tail housing. If not enough, then yes a drop is in order

[bcrosson92]

OK don't laugh too much but do u mean how severe the angle is? I'm pretty new to all this.

[bluedragon436]

How much are you looking to spend on the lift setup?? You can go through RC and pick up their 4.5" kit w/ AAL's for roughly 460, and it comes with the TC drop... which you can try to install the lift without the drop and see how it does... if you get vibes you have the drop to install, if you don't have the vibes then you leave the drop out... You can spend a bit more and pick up their 4.5" X-flex kit which has full leafs for the rear, and also comes with the TC drop (once again try without it first, if needed then install), and it also comes with adj. upper and lower control arms for the front axle... But since you are doing the Bushwacker flares, I'd say you'd be able to do the 4.5 and 33's fairly easily...

[bcrosson92]

I was thinking RC. but not the x flex one because I will eventually go to the 6.5 and do all the drops with that. I'm still in collage and only wanna do moderate wheeling.

[bluedragon436]

I would say then see about getting the standard 4.5" lift kit but see if you can't gt the full springs instead of the AAL.. I am running 4.5" rear leafs w/ RC adj. shackles, and am sitting a little bit over 6.5" of lift... and from what I've read online (and that could very well be wrong) running the shackles like that allow a bit more flex on the rear axle, over the 6.5" rear leafs I would be running right now... so just something ot think about... I'd keep an eye on the Rausch Creek forums classifieds as there is almost always some sort of XJ lift parts on there..

Another option you could look into since you are planning on going higher one day... is to do a budget lift with "bastard" packs in the rear, and some V8 ZJ coils up front... Just a thought...

Hope to see you out on the trails up @ Rausch one day!!

[bcrosson92]

oh yea I saw the bastard pack lift. I never knew what coils to use up front without buying new. will those give me the lift I'm looking for. and is that all I need for it. just the springs. shocks?

[4.3LXJ]

The popular bastard pack lift is with S10 springs. If you use three leaves you get 3.5" Cut the ends off the main and get another inch. But a little on the stiff side. You could use an extended shackle for the extra inch

[bcrosson92]

does it matter if the coil springs are from the front or rear of the zj. and do I need new shocks?

[4.3LXJ]

Yes, you want the fronts. They net 1.75" of lift

[bcrosson92]

can I use tj front springs with yj leafs for the bastardpak lift

[4.3LXJ]

The TJ springs will give you 2" less lift

[bcrosson92]

OK. the guy didn't know which springs I wanted. what length shocks will I need at 4.5 in lift?