HELP!!!!!!!!!! 3" lift, what else do I need to do?

[MuddinBo]

I have a 3" body lift to put on my cherokee and i dont no if i need a steering extension, a gear extension, and a 4x4 extension. anyone out there that has been down this road or nos for a fact if i need those or not????

[Mudderoy]

I have a 3" body lift to put on my cherokee and i dont no if i need a steering extension, a gear extension, and a 4x4 extension. anyone out there that has been down this road or nos for a fact if i need those or not????

I don't think you need to do anything more for a 3" suspension lift, with the exception of possibly extending your brake lines.

You shouldn't have to worry about any other changes until you get up to 4.5" of lift.

Don't use blocks under the leaf springs to lift the rear though.

[Ben824]

I have a 3" body lift to put on my cherokee and i dont no if i need a steering extension, a gear extension, and a 4x4 extension. anyone out there that has been down this road or nos for a fact if i need those or not????

A Jeep Cherokee XJ built between 1984-2001 CANNOT have a body lift. The Jeep Cherokee XJ is a unibody vehicle meaning the body and "frame" are all one piece and cannot be separated (unless you cut it of course). So a body lift which lifts the body away from frame via plastic blocks at each frame mounting point (again not present on the Jeep Cherokee XJ) cannot be installed on an XJ. The only type of lift that can be installed on a Cherokee XJ is a suspension lift consisting of taller springs to achieve an increase in the height of the suspension.

Now to answer your question, no you do not need any type of steering extension or 4x4 extension (assuming you are referring to the linkage that connects between the shifter inside the cab and the lever on the transfercase (the gear box at the back of the transmission that has two driveshafts coming out of it one for the front and one for the rear). For a 3" suspension lift here is the bare minimum of what you need to have a functional road safe kit: 3" front lift coil springs, shocks long enough to accommodate a 3" lift for the front and rear of a Jeep Cherokee XJ, a trac bar relocation bracket or re-drill the trac bar bolt hole on the axle 3/4" to the right towards the driver side of the Jeep, transfercase drop kit, and finally you will need to accoplish 3 inches of lift in the rear with either full 3" lift leaf spring packs (which is a total of two, one for each side) or if your factory springs are in ok shape and not sagging you can go the cheaper route and get add-a-leafs to install in the factory leaf spring packs. This is the absolute bare minimum to achieve a 3" road safe suspension lift on a Jeep Cherokee XJ. Note that more parts would be needed for rigorous off-road use as some of the factory parts with be beyond their design limits and will not hold up long to off-road abuse. Other highly recommended parts would be adjustable lower control arms for the front axle, adjustable front trac bar, and adjustable sway bar disconnects.

Oh and one more thing once a lift kit is installed a steering alignment is MADATORY! Your steering wheel WILL be off and the steering will need to be aligned by a professional who has experience with lifted vehicles. Be careful of technicians who are not familiar with the extra needs of a lifted vehicle as they will want to align it based on the factory specifications that are pre-programmed into their machines computer. Those specs often might not be good enough on a lifted vehicle.

All of us here are very willing to help you with learning more about your Jeep Cherokee XJ.

Welcome and happy Jeeping!

[olds-cool]

I see that someone else added an explanation that encoumpases much of what I have said, but I'll post it anyways...

Just to clarify, you do not have a body lift. XJs are unibodies, meaning that the frame and the body are 1 thing. What you really have is a suspension lift. If you bought it as a kit, you were likely supplied with most of the needed parts. A cheap kit will probably get you front springs, an add-a-leaf, and maybe extended sway bar links. A more expensive kit will give you some extras like control arms, pitman arm, maybe shackles for the rear, extended brake lines, trackbar, and I'm sure I'm missing something else without looking at a picture. Most XJs can get away with a 3" lift without having to use a SYE and can even run on stock control arms. If you never plan on going higher, the parts in a cheap kit will get you by. The more expensive kits will allow some flexability in the future though as many of them offer adjustability.
I realize I probably answered more than you were looking for and that you already have a kit installed but I'm hoping you might gleen at least a little info.
Post up what parts you had installed already and we can offer recommendations on what you may still need.

[Mudderoy]

A Jeep Cherokee XJ built between 1984-2001 CANNOT have a body lift. The Jeep Cherokee XJ is a unibody vehicle meaning the body and "frame" are all one piece and cannot be separated (unless you cut it of course). So a body lift which lifts the body away from frame via plastic blocks at each frame mounting point (again not present on the Jeep Cherokee XJ) cannot be installed on an XJ. The only type of lift that can be installed on a Cherokee XJ is a suspension lift consisting of taller springs to achieve an increase in the height of the suspension.

Now to answer your question, no you do not need any type of steering extension or 4x4 extension (assuming you are referring to the linkage that connects between the shifter inside the cab and the lever on the transfercase (the gear box at the back of the transmission that has two driveshafts coming out of it one for the front and one for the rear). For a 3" suspension lift here is the bare minimum of what you need to have a functional road safe kit: 3" front lift coil springs, shocks long enough to accommodate a 3" lift for the front and rear of a Jeep Cherokee XJ, a trac bar relocation bracket or re-drill the trac bar bolt hole on the axle 3/4" to the right towards the driver side of the Jeep, transfercase drop kit, and finally you will need to accoplish 3 inches of lift in the rear with either full 3" lift leaf spring packs (which is a total of two, one for each side) or if your factory springs are in ok shape and not sagging you can go the cheaper route and get add-a-leafs to install in the factory leaf spring packs. This is the absolute bare minimum to achieve a 3" road safe suspension lift on a Jeep Cherokee XJ. Note that more parts would be needed for rigorous off-road use as some of the factory parts with be beyond their design limits and will not hold up long to off-road abuse. Other highly recommended parts would be adjustable lower control arms for the front axle, adjustable front trac bar, and adjustable sway bar disconnects.

Oh and one more thing once a lift kit is installed a steering alignment is MADATORY! Your steering wheel WILL be off and the steering will need to be aligned by a professional who has experience with lifted vehicles. Be careful of technicians who are not familiar with the extra needs of a lifted vehicle as they will want to align it based on the factory specifications that are pre-programmed into their machines computer. Those specs often might not be good enough on a lifted vehicle.

All of us here are very willing to help you with learning more about your Jeep Cherokee XJ.

Welcome and happy Jeeping!

Thanks I completely missed the "body" part and forgot about the shocks.

[4.3LXJ]

On the off chance you really meant 3" suspension lift the answer is no. You will not need anything else but new shocks.

[EekGirl96]

I don't think you need to do anything more for a 3" suspension lift, with the exception of possibly extending your brake lines.

You shouldn't have to worry about any other changes until you get up to 4.5" of lift.

Don't use blocks under the leaf springs to lift the rear though.

When my XJ had a 3" lift it had a 1" block in the rear(bought it like that)

Also, i thought the older xj's could do body lifts...

[Mudderoy]

When my XJ had a 3" lift it had a 1" block in the rear(bought it like that)

Also, i thought the older xj's could do body lifts...

I think the "XJ" two letter designator was only the 1984-2001 Jeep Cherokees. Anything before would have a difference designator, or so I think...

1" block probably wasn't a big deal, but I've read that blocks under the leaf springs can cause the leaf to deform under high torque situations. The leaves just aren't heavy duty enough like you'd find on a full sized truck for example.

My 1983 Chevy SWB used blocked in the rear to lift.

[EekGirl96]

I think the "XJ" two letter designator was only the 1984-2001 Jeep Cherokees. Anything before would have a difference designator, or so I think...

1" block probably wasn't a big deal, but I've read that blocks under the leaf springs can cause the leaf to deform under high torque situations. The leaves just aren't heavy duty enough like you'd find on a full sized truck for example.

My 1983 Chevy SWB used blocked in the rear to lift.

Im lazy so I like to abbreviate. I've read good and bad things about blocks in the rear, id much rather do full leafs but I dont like how CHEROKEES sit lower than other trucks so now I currently have a 1" block in the rear(she's at 7.5")...but i wont go more than an inch

[Mudderoy]

Im lazy so I like to abbreviate. I've read good and bad things about blocks in the rear, id much rather do full leafs but I dont like how CHEROKEES sit lower than other trucks so now I currently have a 1" block in the rear(she's at 7.5")...but i wont go more than an inch

You can double check this, but I believe what happens is the leaf deforms and the pinion angle can get so high that the drive shaft binds and breaks out the u-joint. As long as you're not doing anything that would cause a lot of torque to be applied to the rear axle you should be okay.

I don't know what size shackles you have in the rear, but it might be worth looking into some that are 1" longer. You'd have to check your pinion angle first. I think that would be a cheap solution and a better one than a block.

But like I said before 1" probably isn't too bad.

[prcjeep]

I used 3 inch blocks on the rear of my xj and 3 inch coil spring spacers in the front. For the shocks i used 2 inch "shock extenders" only in the front....

Now i dont recommend blocks in the rear any more than a one inch. I wheeled the piss out of my XJ with the above set-up for about 5months. When i installed my RC 4.5 lift my stock rear leafs were so damaged the spring actually had an upwards arch in front of the axle and was flat behind the axle... Im just glad I didn't break anything with that set up.

Also... the shock extenders are not a good idea. They will break off or bend sideways. Only use temporarily if needed and dont wheel them

[EekGirl96]

You can double check this, but I believe what happens is the leaf deforms and the pinion angle can get so high that the drive shaft binds and breaks out the u-joint. As long as you're not doing anything that would cause a lot of torque to be applied to the rear axle you should be okay.

I don't know what size shackles you have in the rear, but it might be worth looking into some that are 1" longer. You'd have to check your pinion angle first. I think that would be a cheap solution and a better one than a block.

But like I said before 1" probably isn't too bad.

I'll probably just stick with the blocks since they havent done any damage...yet, but i do want to go bigger lol.

I also heard that with blocks your more likely to get axle wrap

[Mudderoy]

I'll probably just stick with the blocks since they havent done any damage...yet, but i do want to go bigger lol.

I also heard that with blocks your more likely to get axle wrap

Well maybe that's what I read, I thought it was the leaves though....

[EekGirl96]

Well maybe that's what I read, I thought it was the leaves though....

Its probably both

[LizardRunner]

The only Cherokee I know of that could be body lifted was the pre-84 Cherokee Chief it was a full size wagon with a full frame under it. the XJ designation is for the Unibody only.

[4.3LXJ]

All the hype about blocks started with putting blocks under stock springs. They cannot handle it and will pull the drive shaft out of the tcase eventually. But with aftermarket springs that generally have heavier leaves and higher spring rates, it is not so much of a problem. A 1" block is perfectly acceptable, I have one myself done properly and never had any problems even in the big rocks.

[EekGirl96]

yeah, Ive done some serious wheeling and havent had any troubles with my blocks, ive also been running blocks since i got my cherokee(when it was a 3" or so lift)

[nickxj94]

I have 2 inch aluminum blocks on mine with a 1 1/2 aal since my leaves are sagging LOL it has held up for 6 months so far but I will be replacing them with new leaves soon and adding shackles.

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[EekGirl96]

I have 2 inch aluminum blocks on mine with a 1 1/2 aal since my leaves are sagging LOL it has held up for 6 months so far but I will be replacing them with new leaves soon and adding shackles.

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I think over an 1" your pushing it with blocks, one of my friends is running a 4" block which I think is too much

Nice Cherokee by the way!

[nickxj94]

I think over an 1" your pushing it with blocks, one of my friends is running a 4" block which I think is too much

Nice Cherokee by the way!

That is way to much on blocks LOL! Thanks!

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[MuddinBo]

thanks this helped a lot