MrSimon

Street driving or off-road? 2 or 4 wheel drive? Sagging suspension? Willing to trim fenders? As a general rule, without trimming, a two inch budget boost will clear 31s for street driving, 3.5" for off-road. If you want more info on how to do those types of lift, search the site - tons and tons of info.

Put a meter on the alternator and see what its putting out. My money is on it being a bad alternator.

As a general rule, whatever lift a shackle gives to a cherokee .... it will be about half that on a Comanche. A 2 inch shackle on an XJ will give about 1 inch of lift to an MJ.

What are you doing from June 11-14th?? The NAC crew within NAXJA has a big event at Rausch Creek, it should be a great time!! Andy, How was the event? Sorry, far too much going on for me to get to wheel... maybe by the fall. CW The event was great! Lots of wheeling, lots of good food, and lots of just hanging out and meeting new people. There are tons and tons of pictures up on NAXJA ... http://www.naxja.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=227 Here is a short video of me going through a nice little bowl

Are you SURE you are still in 4x4? Maybe the dash light is on, but you are really in 2WD?

A cinch?!?!?!? I wouldn't say its super hard, but it sure isn't a cinch. Especially if you have to pull the carrier and remove the ring gear ... and some carriers don't exactly like to leave the housing without a fight! My skinned up knuckles sure don't want to be inside that diff anytime soon!!!

A crush sleave inside the frame would be best. It might be a pain to get in there though. If you can get a sleave in there, might as well just do a bolt through one side of the frame and be done with it.

I just installed an Aussie locker in my Dana 30 last night. I have the disco axle, but I shimmed the CAD motor over so it acts exactly like your axle. I drove around in 2WD and didn't notice a thing. On really tight corners I can hear it ratchet, but thats it. Like everyone says, you won't even know its there. When I put it in 4WD I could really feel a difference from before I had the locker. When messing around in a field, I was happy .... but the locker made 4WD on the road a little sketchy. Sometimes it would pull the front end over to the right and sometimes it would make a racket while turning ..... but some of the time it felt fine. This impression was only from driving around for 30 minutes with a brand new locker ..... but personally I don't think I'd want in a DD that will see snow and ice.

I'd think you can drill a hole in the frame rail without causing any trouble. There are holes like that drilled by the factory in a handful of places on these trucks. Might be a good idea to weld a piece of metal over the hole after you are done. Have you tried getting at the nuts through the open end of the frame rail just below the tailgate? I was able to fit some 1" gas pipe in there and wail on the end of it to brake a bolt out. Also, the 90 degree drill is a great idea. There should be enough room in there to drill it all out - Home Depot rents then for about $20 a day. Just get some 1" grade 8 bolts, lock washers, and nuts .... use some good ol fashion fanagl'n to get the washers and nuts through the frame from the back onto the bolt. You can buy a 24" bendy grabby tool from Autozone for about $7 ... they work. I wouldn't recommend putting a bolt all the way through both frame rails - when you tighten it down, it will sqeeze the rail and cause a weak spot in the frame.

To really figure some stuff out, take about an hour and read through all the lift related threads you can find. There is a TON of info on this site. Also, what kind of driving are you planning on doing? Tire size? Sounds like you are on the right track, but I don't know what a Skyjacker component box is. Have you thought about longer or adjustable control arms? How about extended brake lines, sway bar disconnects or extentions, longer/adjustable track bar? You won't need the TC drop. XJs need them, but MJ rarely do at 3". Oh, and post some PICS of your MJ!! We love pics around here.

It all depends on the shocks and how much lift they are designed for. I'm using shocks rated for 0-3" lift - the mounts are located about 3" higher than normal. Thats about perfect for an SOA. I also like the added clearance ... things hanging down below my axle annoy me!

If you are a NAXJA member, you get a discount on the Rough Country brackets. There is a huge thread over there all about these brackets - read through it and you'll get all the info you need. I think the discounted price is something like $180 plus shipping. You can't beat that with a stick!

Since I'm addicted to posting pics of my truck, here is the latest. SOA in the rear using 7" long spring perches from M.O.R.E. (mountain offroad), new shock mount tabs from MORE, stock 4WD leaf packs, and a Chrysler 8.25". In the front, I'm running used springs that I think give me about 4.5". I've got a slight rake which I love. I have 3:55s with 31" M/Ts. Its ok, but higher gears would be better. I really like the way it looks with the 31s, but 32s and maybe 33s would easily fit. The guys already gave you some great advice. I'll emphasis that longer than stock spring perches are a good idea to help avoid axle wrap. I also agree that adjustable uppers and lowers are needed - and since it will be a DD, get Rough Country or Rubicon Express drop brakcets - it will GREATLY improve your ride. Purchasing a full (and good quality) kit is probobly the best way to go. You can achieve the same thing by being patient and watching the classified ads for used parts - it will be a lot cheaper - but you can also run into problems with used parts. All depends on your budget. Good luck and post lots of pics!!!!

I hear you about being anxious to get on the road. We've all been there! Many times. When you weld on the spring perches, you might want to relocate the shock mounts so they don't hang down so much - this will also help if you are still using the stock shocks - if they are stock, they are extended too much with the new lift - moving the mounts up will fix that. Here is what mine looks like.

First of all - GREAT looking truck ... keep up the good work and post lots of pics!! Ditch the blocks. And from the pics it looks like you might not have proper (welded on) spring perches under the blocks. If that is the case, the truck is very unsafe to drive. So ditch the blocks, weld on proper spring perches, and your rear height should come down a little bit. If you do have perches in there - just lose the blocks.

To match a typical SOA, you'll need at least 4.5" in the front (and that will most likely leave a decent rake). Your two inch spacers and ZJ coils will give you 3.5" at best. You're gonna have at least a 2" difference between the front and the rear - maybe even 3". Thats a lot of rake! I'd suggest finding a used set of 4.5 - 5.5 coils instead of the ZJ ones and spacers. The cost won't be all that much different and you will be MUCH happier. At that height, you will need adjustable uppers and lowers to properly set your caster and pinion angles - and to center the wheels in the wheel wells. Fixed length arms can be problematic - especially when you don't know exactly how high you'll be with used springs. Get adjustable. You can get by without control arm drop brackets - you'll have a rough ride, but its not the end of the world. You'll need an adjustable track bar to center your axle left to right. They come in different lengths to accomodate different lift heights - pay attention and get the right size. You'll need either sway bar extended connectors, or discos. And for the rear, think about how the shocks will mount. You might have to weld on some new shock mount tabs - they are cheap. Oh, and take LOTS OF PICS. We all love to watch progress on lifts!! Here is a little chart I put together when doing a very similar lift. I got CA lenght info from two different sources: Control Arm Lengths (eye to eye) LCAs UCAs Rough Country 4" 16.33 15.00 4.5" 16.50 15.00 5" 16.60 15.25 6" 17.00 15.50 Motion Offroad 4" 16.38 15.00 4.5" 16.50 15.13 5" 16.63 15.25

Make some calls and see if you can apply for a list title. If you can't get the title, I'd still buy it. At the least, you could resell it for a profit :cheers:

Look around for some used after-market lift shackles. They give about 1.5" of lift and you should be able to find a set for 40-50 bucks .... maybe less.

I've been busy working on the MJ. Here is a list of what I've completed over the past month or so. Strip the 8.25 and prep for SOA Recondition the junkyard leaf springs Swap in the 8.25 and do the SOA Upgrade to a V8 ZJ tie rod and ends Relocate horn and vacuum ball Install front and rear bumpers and rock sliders Adjust tie rod and drag link to get steering and allignment back on track Shim over CAD motor Shim up the hood for better cooling Here are some pics. Some were a little dark so I brightened them up so you can see the detail - but that made them a bit grainy. The sliders and bumpers are actually a very nice satin black - they look much better than the pics show.

I literally spent five minutes tonight to take your guys advice and shim over my CAD. I un-bolted the motor, slid the collar over both sets of splines, pulled the c-clip, moved the collar over, re-placed c-clip, installed motor ..... yes, its that easy. You don't need any extra parts at all. I drove it around and don't feel any difference. 4WD works perfectly. One problem though - apparently capping the vacuum lines is a good idea .... I didn't and now my heat will only blow through the deforster and not anywhere else. Gonna have to fix that.

JCR offroad sells some really nice tie-in brackets. Maybe you could just buy those and then build your own bumper. Just make sure you price it all out ahead of time. JCR's stage 2 bumper has a center reciever and two shackle tabs ... and its only $265 (maybe cheaper if you catch it on sale). If you have to buy the steel, buy the shackle tabs, buy the hardware, and have the welds done, you might be looking at close to the same price. Don't forget to shop the classifieds on all the Jeep forums, ebay, and craigslist ... good chance you can find a nice used bumper for about 100 bucks.

Just my $.02 regarding SOA lifts. I just finished mine a few weeks ago. I also swapped in an 8.25 at the same time. I'd definately recommend buying some longer than stock spring perches (check out Mountain Offroad) and having them welded on. I also bought some new shock tabs and had them welded on so that they don't hang down below the axle like stock ones. Now everything is up and out of the way - I love it. To set the pinion angle, we set the axle on a floor jack, rolled it under the truck (sitting on jack stands), jacked the axle up under the truck with all the hardware set in place, rotated the axle with a bottle jack under the yoke until the pinion looked right, tacked it in place, and pulled it out to weld it all up. It was very easy. I had a friend do the welding and it was very straight forward for him. 30 minutes of welding and he did both perches and both shock mount tabs. I paid him $40. I'm running 31s with the lift and I think it looks great. 33s would fit nicely (maybe need to trim a bit), but the 31s are new so I don't plan to upgrade for a while. I'm a huge SOA believer. Its a cheap, easy, and effective way to get enough lift for 33s AND eliminate all the stuff hanging down below the axle tubes.

Maybe I wasn't looking in the right place, but it appears they don't have anything bigger than 31s.

There are so many vairables that there is no set formula ... type of tire, bumpstops, trimming, type of driving, back-spacing, actual lift height, etc etc etc. Best option - find someone with the size tires you want to get and try them on. Second option - stand back, look at truck, scratch chin, ponder, and take your best guess!

I've had good luck using a bottle jack wedged between the frame rail and the coil spring plates. Extending the jack will push the axle forward so you can get the arm in. If the axle is too far out, the jack won't help.