Lift advice and thoughts ?

[07Negative]

I ran a RE 3.5" lift on my 2nd XJ and liked it. That was quite a few years ago. I know nothing of their products now. I also had a Rusty's 4.5" lift and ran it for about 100K miles, with no major complaints like one mind find online about Rusty's products. However, as I've grown and learned. Spent a stupid amount of money on things. Only to discover I make not the best choices. I thinking piecing a kit together is cool. Steve can tell you 10 recipes for bastard packs. I'm lazy and lack time. So I bought my leafs. I choose Clayton leafs and fricking love them. The Rusty's leafs were cool. The bushing wore out wicked fast and went flat fast. Granted, I tow a few ton of compost on a regular basis as well.
I did drop brackets with my 3.5" lift and liked em alot. Yes they hang lower and can get in the way of clearance. But if you're the average cat and not wheeling wicked hard. They'll be fine. If you stick with short arms. Get adjustable short arms, like IronMan4x4 and the such. You can center your front axle better. I had fixed short arms and the axle was positioned slightly back. It handled a little odd and simply looked goofy.
There are alot of really good products out there these days. Even for a vehicle that is almost 13 years discontinued.
Now don't forget to budget for a few possible things. They are not always a must, but it's better to budget than to be surprised. A new panhard bar. Possibly a Slip Yoke eliminator. Some new U bolts for the rear leafs. Possibly longer brake lines. And shocks if a kit doesn't already come with it. And always do an alignment. You can find Youtube vids on how to do one in your driveway.
Lifting an XJ to achieve your goals is like the saying, "theres more than one way to skin a cat." Well....its true. Everyone here probably has a different experience with quite a few products and can give you an honest opinion on their take.
And good job on preventive work your doing. Your Jeep will go go go go as long as you give it a little lovin. BTW. I have the Bilstein 5100's now and love them. They are smooth and ride quite nice.

[Mudderoy]

I haven't had any issues with the basic Rough Country lift that I've been running for over 5 years, however recently I swapped in 6.5" coils and dropped the shackle down a notch. My over all lift gain was less than 2 inches up front and a fraction of an inch in the rear.

So I'm a little disappointed with the RC leaf springs. Now I may just be expecting more out of a leaf spring than I should be, dunno. The 4.5" coils seem to have done well, and I wonder if the new 5 year newer 6.5" coils are softer. I know the ride is slightly smoother. I've never expected a smooth ride from a lifted 4x4, so this wasn't important to me.