Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives Jeep Cherokee's

Am green to auto engineering past what a Bentley manual teaches, so be gentle.

Anyone gone thru the development/trouble-shooting/expense of going all-out with a quality 4.5 inch lift (or so, at least > than 3 inch) on a jeep cherokee or similar? Was it worth it in the end, or did the relative durability of a steel chassis pick-up or restoring a bronco/wrangler/scout/FJ make more sense? (Don't have room for that right now, though.)

Bought a nice used '01 for knock-around and hunting. Exactly what I need overall, like it, but wanting more clearance; stock wheels 29 inch. As do some research it turns out that getting 33's in there entails going 4 inch or greater lift + fender cutting, which leads to steps c, d, e, f, g, h, i..... Doing it right (bds or comparable long-arm lift, slip yoke elim, re-gearing, bumpers/hitch, wheels, etc, etc), top shelf stuff, looks like around 8k all said and done by a 4x4 shop. Could end up more. The jeep was only 5k....

If you otherwise like the jeep, would you go for it? Why/why not? Am wrestling with where's the line between "weekend hunt/joy ride" and "fool's errand, thousands of dollars in headaches".

What's the sage advice?

I looked into getting something older and cheaper, but, in the end it comes down to my ability(s) to keep something like that in very reliable shape. You really need a mechanic's background to do that with any kind of serious hunting.
That's why I like to buy new or not much used. Off roading puts alot of wear and tear on a vehicle, much fasting than road driving.
If I had your Cherokee, I'd try lifting it only a couple of inches and good off road tires. That will improve your angles of attack, departure and breakover angles. The better/tougher tires will hold up better against rock damage.
With that, I'd see if that was enough to basically do most of what you want to do off road. Let's face it, even when spending alot of money on a on a good to start with rig, there is always something it won't handle. E

E, agree that's a logical way to go about it. Start low-lift, limited investment.

However, as I understand it/researched on the cherokee specifically:
1. any short-arm kit will degrade road ride. This is also my kayak and canoe hauler, sometimes a good distance, so no thanks.
2. my np242 transfer case invariably benefits from the same slip yoke mod at a few inches lift as it does higher (same investment)
3. the whole project at 2-3in lift would yield, what, 1" more clearance / barely justify re-gearing, so stuck with sluggish drive and similarly decr. mpg anyway / poorer ride quality (compared to long-arm or drop brackets).

Which is what pushes me to go modest lift designed to ride and perform well, solid quality parts, cut-no-corners and be done with it in 1 or 2 phases. I just add up the estimates and say, hm, is this an expensively naive idea rife with hassles, or is the end result pretty sound with some extra routine maintenance and inspection?

Of course, I quoted out some new wranglers and sports with comparable mods and the sticker made me go pale, so at least from that angle my cherokee idea is still a bargain - if it runs reliably.

There is a few guys on my FB page running Cherokee's. Some up to 37 inch tires. They may be able to help out


https://www.facebook.com/groups/459162440819404/

www.cherokeeforum.com

www.naxja.com

See my build thread below---

I really like the Cherokees, but I wouldn't do it again the same way. I would probably build a TJ or 1st gen 4 Runner. If you can't do the majority of the work yourself, it will be a never ending money pit.

Actually, 2-2.5 inches of lift can do alot for one's off road performance. What it does is make a significant difference in one's angles of attack, departure and breakover angle. For hunting, this has meant alot more to me, and many I've known, than adding much larger tires.
When they built the current Ram Power Wagons, they raised the standard Ram 2500 about 2.5 inches. That made a real difference in it's off road performance. They only increased the tire size by one size from 265's to 285's. E

After blowing a ton of money to build a zj grand Cherokee I feel the same way. My next rig will be purpose built from the get go, I'd like to do a fj60 with an ls... But the wife told me no project vehicles for a while

The cheapest thing to build is a YJ. Spring over will lift it a good amount. A couple of my buddy's has installed Waggy springs that lift it a little more.

Sandcritter, just put a puck lift on it. Cheap, you can run 31's no other work required. Maybe two different bumpers for approach angle.
XJ are great for medium rock crawling. Never going to be the best unless you want a trailer queen.
I have put the puck lift on 7 or xj's, that' the way to go Sir. 31's tires. Still real streetable and will go where you want to go, just not up and over big rocks or benches more than 18' or so.
Oh, may require longer brake lines at the tires.

how would you do a body lift on a vehicle with out a frame, or are you talking about a spacer on top of the spring?

Probably talking about spring spacers, pretty common on tjs, zjs and wjs that have coils all the way around. An xj still requires longer shackles or blocks in the back.

I run a 1994 ZJ 5.2 with a 3.5" IRO kit and 31" BFG Mud-Terrain KM2's, and I like it quite a bit. The added ground clearance is quite nice. I prefer the all around coils of a ZJ compared to the rear leafs of the XJ.

I also have a 242 case in it, and a rear Detroit....3.73 gears. It's still very drivable on the street..just the mileage sucks....grin.

Puck on top of spring

I believe you correct, been a while. Think we always went with the shackles. Son was at home in those days. He did much of the hard work. We even used to fab up front and rear bumpers.

All I can say is bought a new 14 Rubi today.

Got this one for $250, with the 3.5 lift kit. I've got all the body work done(will take pics this weekend) . 99 sport 183,000 miles. The kit has new front coils, rear leaf springs (no blocks) all shocks, control arms and a lot of hardware. I will update when I get to work on it.

A month or so ago we got together and put a Rusty's 3" lift on my beater XJ. Consisted of new front springs, rear add-a-leafs (long ones, avoid the short ones), shocks, steering stabilizer and hardware. All for around $300. Now obviously it all depends what you want to do with your rig but anything taller than that runs into so many other issues/cost that IMO it wasn't worth it. Slip yoke eliminators, track bar, control arms, sway bar links, re-gear for the bigger tires, possibly a new diff for the bigger tires (depends on which one yours came with), etc. The only adder I went with was a Rusty's T-case cross member ($120?) for it's 1" drop with no loss of ground clearance. Without it I had a slight vibration at 40-45 mph. After install nada.

Being said an XJ is still an XJ. Smallish, cramped, small windows, uni-body, etc. Capable? Yep, plenty and somewhat amazing what they can do. But they're along ways away from quality.

Another thing..... The lift is suppose to take 7-8 hours of driveway time to install. What they don't say is that's 7-8 hours with 10 sets of hands, many of them experienced jeep builders, and a lift to get it done in that time. 230,000 miles and the salt belt hasn't done mine any favors and broken bolts/drilling were the order of the day. The shocks and their mounting was the worst.

If you can swing for something topless I say go for it.

L Killkenny, think you hit it on the head. Am shelving this idea until figure out a better/wiser 3" lift strategy, for reasons you stated.

In the meantime, found an absolute bruiser of a pickup to access local rough and tumble service roads.