Hey everyone.
This weekend the roomie and myself are going to lift his 96 cherokee. The kit is from rustys, just a simple 3 inch, replace springs and shocks front and rear. I was wondering if anyone has done this for themselves or friends and if its terribly involved. looking at the truck i cant imagine it will be, just thought id ask.
women are like cars you have to test drive the new one before you trade in the old one
i heard that the rear shock bolts snap pretty easy, other than that i havent heard much.
Also im jelous of your friend having an XJ when i dont..lol
check out....
www.jeepforum.com
lots of good info there.
newt wrote:i heard that the rear shock bolts snap pretty easy, other than that i havent heard much.
Also im jelous of your friend having an XJ when i dont..lol
check out....
www.jeepforum.com
lots of good info there.
Yep they are your best bet.
UBcavz24 wrote:Hey everyone.
This weekend the roomie and myself are going to lift his 96 cherokee. The kit is from rustys, just a simple 3 inch, replace springs and shocks front and rear. I was wondering if anyone has done this for themselves or friends and if its terribly involved. looking at the truck i cant imagine it will be, just thought id ask.
The kit isn't hard to install. Cherokees are notorious for snapping off rear shock bolts but if that happens you can just as easiy drill and tap them out. All four of them snapped off on my girlfriends XJ when we installed the lift kit.
Other than that, the rest should only take you at most half the day to install.
As a photo reference. This is what my girlfriends Jeep looks like with 3" of lift and 31's. You are going to need to do some fender trimming if you don't want the tires to rub.
Have a good one,
Justin
Yes, the lift install is failry straightforward, and Rustys makes pretty good parts.
I prefer Rubicon Express lift kits, but I've purchased and installed plenty of parts from Rusty, too...no complaints.
As mentioned, expect the rear shock mount studs (bolts) to break. Try spraying them liberally with PB Blaster, every day, for several days before the install. I got lucky and none broke when I originally lifted my '94 XJ, but I've done several XJ lift installs and just about every one has had at least one of the studs break. If you search Jeep forums, you'll find numerous "fixes" for the stud breakage issue.
What tranny/ transfer case do you have? With a '96, you have about a 50/50 shot of lifting it 3" and not needing a SYE or TC drop kit.
If you have the NP242 TC, chances are more like 75% that you won't need it.
Just be on the lookout for driveline vibes afterwards. SYE is the expensive route, but the only real permanent solution if it's going off road. A TC drop kit will eliminate vibes, but it defeats the purpose of the lift...more ground clearance.
You'll also want to have it aligned afterwards. Be aware that at 3", you're right at the breakover point where you start needing other things, like longer LCA's, and an adjustable front track bar, or a relocation bracket for the stock track bar. At just 3", you should be fine, at least temporarily, with stock stuff, but any taller and you need some additional parts.
Also, on a '96, 3" and 31's should not require any fender trimming. The pic Justin posted is of a newer model ('00?, '01?) and they tend to like 3.5" to fit 31's with no trimming. So you should be fine, unless it's a short 3", but Rusty's kits are pretty good and you typically get the advertised lift.
-Ferrite
holy PAIN IN THE A$$!!!!!!! i've gotta go to work now i'll catch up with you guys tomorrow hopefully when the truck has all 4 wheels back on!
women are like cars you have to test drive the new one before you trade in the old one
i have an 88 xj with 3in lift and 2in spacer. i'm running 33's with quite a bit of trimming/rubbing in the front. never had any probs with the rear shock bolts, never even heard of any probs. install was cake
its for sale has a few extras. if you want more info e-mail me at lucky_dogg77@hotmail.com
so here it goes. the rear shock bolts came out no problem. we were working on the rear first incase the shock bolts gave us hell. the front leaf spring bolts had seized to the inside of the bushing and were going no where. after a few hours of screwing around trying different things i called a friend of mine who is a great mechanic. make a long story short on the drivers side he hadda cut the old leaf off with a torch, cut the bushings in half, melt down the bushings to get to the sleeves and then heat the sleeve up until it was red hot, then it came free. the passenger side, same deal, except the bolt broke free inside the frame and was spinning free. keep in mind its dark out and were working by a 1000 watt workling. he ended up having to cut into the frame only to discover the bolt was in a little pocket outside the frame, so he cut into that, and got the bolt worked off. meantime, the front went with little problems other than the axle moving a little bit making it hard to get things lined back up. long story short, truck rides great. he needs to get new swaybar end links for the front since those broke off, and have the frame put back together which is happening tomorrow. had my friend not come over, we would have been dead in the water IMO. so as it sits now, lifted, no rubbing, looks mean.
women are like cars you have to test drive the new one before you trade in the old one
