Budget lift

[bezjeep]

New to the forums and Jeeps in general! I love the look of 33" tires on the Comanche. The more I research, the more I'm finding it won't be a cheap option (gearing). I've noticed some of the vendors here no longer sell parts. What would be an inexpensive option to get 31" tires underneath? I'm looking at the rough country 4.5 kit and rocky road kit. Seems that both of them require additional parts to make it work? (drop pitman, longer slip yoke, control drop) The rusty kit is out of stock. This will be on the street primarily with an occasional dirt road. Articulation isn't important as I won't be crawling. Thanks for your help!

[Coyote]

TJs, XJs and MJs all use the same basic front axle, control arms and steering design. Any time you start going more than 3" of lift on them it messes up the geometry. You need to do things like adjustable control arms, drop pitman arm, offset ball joints, etc to correct the steering. I don't know of a way to lift more than that without causing steering issues. The rear end is a whole different animal. It's pretty easy to lift the rear without effecting the steering too much. New lift springs, add a leafs, extended shackles or a spring under conversion will get you the height without causing too many issues. I used a '91 XJ with 5" of lift and 31s as my daily drive for about 10 years. Trust me after the first day you'll want to use one or more of the above options to fix the steering issues.

[jdog]

if your going for 31's here's a couple write ups

[89 MJ]

And for the rear:

 

[ghetdjc320]

I really like BDS components and they are one of the few companies producing a variety of low lift kits for MJ’s. The 3” lift is a nice setup: https://bds-suspension.com/product?ma=7&mo=33&ty=39&yr=1986-1992

 

Regarding steering, look into the ZJ 93-98 grand Cherokee steering upgrade. It’s a bolt on upgrade and works very well with mild lifts. At 2” your stock track bar should still be ok but over that you’ll need an extended front track bar. You can get them in multiple varieties but many go with the JKS track bar. Above 2” you’d probably also want to go with some adjustable control arms to get your caster angles right again. I run metal cloak control arms for a TJ. Currie and metal cloak are the big brand go to’s but there are MANY other options.

 

2” lift with 31’s would be ok perhaps with some Napier or similar flares to open up your wheel well a bit.

[Dzimm]

13 hours ago, bezjeep said:

New to the forums and Jeeps in general! I love the look of 33" tires on the Comanche. The more I research, the more I'm finding it won't be a cheap option (gearing). I've noticed some of the vendors here no longer sell parts. What would be an inexpensive option to get 31" tires underneath? I'm looking at the rough country 4.5 kit and rocky road kit. Seems that both of them require additional parts to make it work? (drop pitman, longer slip yoke, control drop) The rusty kit is out of stock. This will be on the street primarily with an occasional dirt road. Articulation isn't important as I won't be crawling. Thanks for your help!

 

For 31" tires it seems that a 3" lift would be about a perfect balance of usability and looks.  4.5" with 31" tires seems to be a tad too small tire for the lift looks wise IMO but then again that tiny bit extra wheel gap may make the truck look taller, kind of personal preference.  You can also consider the metric equivalent of a 32" tire on 4.5" lift!  From the advice I got and research the metric tires weigh less and therefore are easier to run on the stock gearing.  This however requires you to get 16" wheels because hardly anything is available for the stock 15" anymore but they look great and could solve the problem you are having on tire size.

 

For lifts, I personally run the 4.5" Rusty's kit with full leaf packs.  It's one of the more budget lifts but works great for me and came with everything needed. 

 

As far as parts at 4.5" at a minimum you will need:

FRONT

- lift coils

- extended sway bar links or drop brackets

- adjustable track bar

- adjustable or longer lower control arms

- extended brake lines or move the bracket lower

- shocks

 

REAR

- Leaf pack or add a leaf

- extended brake line

- shocks

- new u-bolts

- maybe a leaf pad shim to correct angle but not always 

 

No need for a drop pitman arm or any adjustments to the slip yoke, the MJ has a longer wheelbase than the Wrangler and XJ so it gets away with more modification to the suspension before needing any help with the driveline.  At 4.5" you still don't need to do a t-case drop or a slip yoke eliminator, at most you'll need a shim to go between the leaf spring and axle to adjust it a few degrees.  I had to use the shim on my truck, I'd just recommend getting a cheap degree finder and measure it during install to see if your angle is still correct or if you need the shim, just be sure to have it on hand.

 

Also Welcome! 

[ghetdjc320]

4 minutes ago, Dzimm said:

maybe a leaf pad shim to correct angle but not always 

Just a quick note: unless you do a slip yoke eliminator you should not change your pinion angle. It should be parallel to the transfer case output. 

[Dzimm]

2 minutes ago, ghetdjc320 said:

Just a quick note: unless you do a slip yoke eliminator you should not change your pinion angle. It should be parallel to the transfer case output. 

^^^this is correct and thanks for mentioning because I didn't clarify that well.  Sometimes it goes out of parallel once lifted and the shim is used to correct that, if it's still parallel after the lift all is fine without it.  I can't remember accepted tolerance on that but it's something like 3* I think?

 

**Worth mentioning that this only applies to the slip yoke style driveshaft in the rear of the truck, if a double carson shaft is used (like the front driveshaft) the axle would need to point at the transfer case rather than be parallel.

[bezjeep]

Thank you very much everyone for the input! You've convinced me to stick with a 3" lift for ease and reliability. Looking at the rustys 3" kit and pairing with 31x10.5r15 tires. I got some aluminum original jeep 10 hole rims that I'm excited to use. 

[ghetdjc320]

5 hours ago, bezjeep said:

Thank you very much everyone for the input! You've convinced me to stick with a 3" lift for ease and reliability. Looking at the rustys 3" kit and pairing with 31x10.5r15 tires. I got some aluminum original jeep 10 hole rims that I'm excited to use. 

 

Just note that Rustys and Rough Country are sub-par. Grab a Zone, BDS, OME or piece one together as others have mentioned. 

[Coyote]

6 hours ago, bezjeep said:

Thank you very much everyone for the input! You've convinced me to stick with a 3" lift for ease and reliability. Looking at the rustys 3" kit and pairing with 31x10.5r15 tires. I got some aluminum original jeep 10 hole rims that I'm excited to use. 

Good call. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised with the look and performance. I've had 31s on my XJs and TJ with stock gearing and they still had reasonable acceleration and mpg. Once you go to 33s you really need to regear or swap axles and that gets exponentially more expensive and difficult.

[yxmj]

Look at my avatar

That is 31's with stock rear springs and an 1.5" spacer in the front

 

You could try something as easy as this...

https://teraflex.com/shop_items/xj-cherokee-2-budget-boost