Posted: 12/19/2008 12:41:55 AM EDT
So, after three broken down cars in the last two months I have had enough. I went and bought a Jeep today. A 1990 Chreokee Laredo. Now, I want to lift it, but I keep seeing XJ and CJ and OJ and PJ and on and on. What is mine considered? I was thinking XJ but I don't want to order the wrong kit. Can anyone help me?
Thanks |
You have an XJ..a CJ is a "real" jeep,at least traditionally speaking which later became the wrangler or YJ from 87-95,the TJ from 97-06,to the current wrangler which is a JK.Oh,and an OJ is that orange crap they grow in Florida and a PJ are what you wear to bed..hope this helps.
|
|
Quoted:
You have an XJ..a CJ is a "real" jeep,at least traditionally speaking which later became the wrangler or YJ from 87-95,the TJ from 97-06,to the current wrangler which is a JK.Oh,and an OJ is that orange crap they grow in Florida and a PJ are what you wear to bed..hope this helps. Thanks, there will be a 3" kit comin my way. |
|
Quoted:
You've had enough of broken down cars in the last two months so you buy 19yr old Jeep? Hmmm. It is a XJ. It's still a jeep. Has the 4.0 straight 6. runs like a champ. And the dealership will fix anytihng that goes wrong with it. All the other POS cars I had to fix and I have had enough of it. And I'm dirt poor.
|
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
You've had enough of broken down cars in the last two months so you buy 19yr old Jeep? Hmmm. It is a XJ. It's still a jeep. Has the 4.0 straight 6. runs like a champ. And the dealership will fix anytihng that goes wrong with it. All the other POS cars I had to fix and I have had enough of it. And I'm dirt poor. The 4.0 is bullet proof.....make sure you dont have the pegot 5 speed...(had a 88 jeep comancvhe.....4 throw out bearings went bad......in its stock form they are very reliable.....cant tell you what a lift will do to it tho |
|
Rustys Offroad, check em out. If you want a premium suspension, check out Old Man Emu.
Answer the question though, 'what are you trying to accomplish with the lift?'. Might you be better served by installing a locker in the rear end and calling it good? Two time xj owner here. They're virtually unstoppable. |
|
Short wheel base, open top jeeps:
CJ- original style jeep, sold from '45 - '86 as the CJ2,3,5,6,7, and 8 YJ- 87-95 Wrangler TJ/LJ- 97-06 Wrangler/Wrangler Unlimited JK- 07+ Wrangler SUVs: SJ- Early full size Grand Wagoneer and Cherokee Chief XJ- 84-00(?) Cherokee ZJ- 93-00(?) Grand Cherokee or Grand Wagoneer WJ- 00-05 Grand Cherokee WK- 05+ Grand Cherokee JK- Liberty Trucks: MJ- Comanche pickup, looks like an XJ Cherokee There are others (J-series full size truck, FC forward cabs, etc) but these are the most common. Most of chrysler vehicles use a two-letter code to identify the vehicle. BR was the 93-02 Ram, SR I believe was the 1st Gen Viper, etc. |
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
You've had enough of broken down cars in the last two months so you buy 19yr old Jeep? Hmmm. It is a XJ. It's still a jeep. Has the 4.0 straight 6. runs like a champ. And the dealership will fix anytihng that goes wrong with it. All the other POS cars I had to fix and I have had enough of it. And I'm dirt poor. If repairs are a financial burden then: you have no business lifting your truck, modifications generally add to maintenance cost. you have no business on trails that need the truck to be lifted, you can't afford to fix it so you can't afford to break it, and playing on trails breaks things. Until you can afford to fix your BOV without freaking out and saying things like "I've had with this POS" you have no business driving up your maintenance costs. |
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
You've had enough of broken down cars in the last two months so you buy 19yr old Jeep? Hmmm. It is a XJ. It's still a jeep. Has the 4.0 straight 6. runs like a champ. And the dealership will fix anytihng that goes wrong with it. All the other POS cars I had to fix and I have had enough of it. And I'm dirt poor. If repairs are a financial burden then: you have no business lifting your truck, modifications generally add to maintenance cost. you have no business on trails that need the truck to be lifted, you can't afford to fix it so you can't afford to break it, and playing on trails breaks things. Until you can afford to fix your BOV without freaking out and saying things like "I've had with this POS" you have no business driving up your maintenance costs. heh..this is a fact. Vehicles do crazy stuff when you off road them, not even hardcore. Ive seen just about anything and everything break on diff. trucks over the years. Ive had my own issues. This was couple years ago on a 4x4 campout. I lost my brakes and it ended up being a 2 dollar part (the check valve that goes to the brake booster). We did some ghetto repair to get me back on the road. 
|
|
Quoted:
http://naxja.org/forum/ daaaayum 5 posts in 7 years, you must feel strongly about jeep forums. @the OP, before you go spending money on a lift kit, etc., better make sure it won't void your warranty w/ the dealership (i'm assuming there is one since you said the dealership will fix anything that goes wrong). and i'm still trying to wrap my head around how the OP is broke, but can afford a lift kit - which isn't cheap. |
|
Quoted:
Short wheel base, open top jeeps: CJ- original style jeep, sold from '45 - '86 as the CJ2,3,5,6,7, and 8 YJ- 87-95 Wrangler TJ/LJ- 97-06 Wrangler/Wrangler Unlimited JK- 07+ Wrangler SUVs: SJ- Early full size Grand Wagoneer and Cherokee Chief XJ- 84-00(?) Cherokee ZJ- 93-00(?) Grand Cherokee or Grand Wagoneer WJ- 00-05 Grand Cherokee WK- 05+ Grand Cherokee JK- Liberty Trucks: MJ- Comanche pickup, looks like an XJ Cherokee There are others (J-series full size truck, FC forward cabs, etc) but these are the most common. Most of chrysler vehicles use a two-letter code to identify the vehicle. BR was the 93-02 Ram, SR I believe was the 1st Gen Viper, etc. I USED to have another M: M715 
|
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
http://naxja.org/forum/ daaaayum 5 posts in 7 years, you must feel strongly about jeep forums. @the OP, before you go spending money on a lift kit, etc., better make sure it won't void your warranty w/ the dealership (i'm assuming there is one since you said the dealership will fix anything that goes wrong). and i'm still trying to wrap my head around how the OP is broke, but can afford a lift kit - which isn't cheap. I asked the dealer about it. they said it won't affect them repairing the truck. The lift kit that I found is like $300, when tax returns come around, I get one thing and the wife gets one thing then the rest is for a down payment on a house. I say i'm poor not meaning I am literally poor, I just could not afford ANOTHER engine for my toyota. I just want the clearance that I had on my toy that had no lift. Nothing extreme, no huge ruts or deep mud or anything like that, just a little more. I have a 4 wheeler for any nasty shit I come around. |
|
Clearance comes from TIRES & design of the drive train, a lift just gives you the room for bigger tires. I know some ppl get high pinion axles to get the drive shafts up higher.
What kind of lift are you getting for $300bux? Blocks? I hope not,. Body lift? I hope not as well. If your going to get a good lift, make sure its a spring/shock lift package. How high are you going to go? ANything abovie 4" will require lowering the transfer case and possibly longer brake lines and drive shaft. For clearance the ulitimate is PORTAL Axles. 
|
|
I hate to say it but I would get it in writing from the dealer that X lift will not affect the warranty on your jeep.
Personally I would not put a lift on a vehicle unless you are making it a full fledged project. As already pointed out you are getting into other stuff when messing with a lift. Since this is also a used vehicle all the parts are worn in at X angle. Depending on the lift some of those angles will change and you might find yourself replacing some parts that don't like the new angles. I would do a lot of reading on the sites that get into modding that specific jeep. I would watch their parts sections and see what comes up for sale. These days I don't say I want a lift kit or anything else. I want a suspension system that is designed to do things properly. This is usally springs and shocks at a minimum and often gets into relocating brake lines and depending on vehicle you can wind up having to mess with the transfer case as well since angles are important when dealing with something you drive every day vs. just trailer to the off road park and use off road. I have a grand cherokee and since it is also a uni-body there are a lot of folks who use spacers under the springs to get a small lift, I have coil springs in my grand cherokee. I don't consider spacers or blocks under leaf springs to be a good idea. You can run searches galore on 4x4 sites and learn about their good and bad points. But it is your vehicle so do as you please. |
|
Wait, i remreber seeing/reading about people lifting XJs w/ old dodge leaf springs packs flipped upside down and Ford coil springs on the front....Just a trip to the junkyard and parts store was all the was needed to get 3-4"s of suspension lift.
Lemme see if I can find a link. Speed ETA: XJ Budget Boost 
|
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
http://naxja.org/forum/ daaaayum 5 posts in 7 years, you must feel strongly about jeep forums. @the OP, before you go spending money on a lift kit, etc., better make sure it won't void your warranty w/ the dealership (i'm assuming there is one since you said the dealership will fix anything that goes wrong). and i'm still trying to wrap my head around how the OP is broke, but can afford a lift kit - which isn't cheap. I asked the dealer about it. they said it won't affect them repairing the truck. The lift kit that I found is like $300, when tax returns come around, I get one thing and the wife gets one thing then the rest is for a down payment on a house. I say i'm poor not meaning I am literally poor, I just could not afford ANOTHER engine for my toyota. I just want the clearance that I had on my toy that had no lift. Nothing extreme, no huge ruts or deep mud or anything like that, just a little more. I have a 4 wheeler for any nasty shit I come around. ah, makes sense now. make sure you get a good lift kit. i've seen some super cheap ones that fell apart when people tried to off-road them. i had a toyota 4x4 as well, one of the best stock off roading trucks i've ever had. engine crapped out at 165k. i was expecting at least 300k, kinda disappointed. |
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
make sure you dont have the pegot 5 speed... +1 - It a peice of crap. If you have to rebuild spend the extra funds and upgrade to at least to a NV3550. The 3550 is the shit. I have one. 
That said, the AX15 is probably easier to find in a Junkyard and almost as good. Plus, if it is in fact a '90, that's what it should have anyway.
|
|
Quoted:
Clearance comes from TIRES & design of the drive train, a lift just gives you the room for bigger tires. I know some ppl get high pinion axles to get the drive shafts up higher. What kind of lift are you getting for $300bux? Blocks? I hope not,. Body lift? I hope not as well. If your going to get a good lift, make sure its a spring/shock lift package. How high are you going to go? ANything abovie 4" will require lowering the transfer case and possibly longer brake lines and drive shaft. For clearance the ulitimate is PORTAL Axles. The bare minimum I'd go on an XJ lift is a Rusty's, like this one: http://rustysoffroad.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=rustys&Product_Code=RK-300SP-XJ&Category_Code=sus_xj_kit That's still more than $300. I wouldn't go get an 'add-a-leaf' type of suspension, mainly because with a 18 year old Jeep I wouldn't want to keep the existing saggy springs and boost them. You don't get into the nice stuff until about a Grand. A Newer Cherokee you could use Coil Spring Spacers up front and a add-a-leaf in back for about 2" of lift, but again, with a '90, I'd want something that replaces those old springs. |
|
Dug this up from a post I made in an old Cherokee thread:
(reminds me, never trust that anything is stock in an 18 year old vehicle. You never know.  )
First point: These guys are way smarter than me: www.jeepforum.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=11 Cherokee's were made from 84-01. During that time they used 3 different rear axles, not counting some variations of them which you don't need to worry about. Those were: Dana 35: Used on some Cherokees every year it was made. This is a 27 spline axle, with 7.58" ring gear & 2.62" axle tube. It's a solid axle at stock height, and probably isn't an issue unless you want to install a locker or get bigger than ~32" tires. (The exact size is debatable) There are 'super35' kits that upgrade this to 30 spline, and those are probably good to locked 35's. (again, debatable, but I'd be comfortable there) Chrysler 8.25: This was used on SOME Cherokee's from 91-2001, but NONE with ABS. This has a 8.25" ring gear (hence the name) and 3" tubes. Until ~1997, it had 27 spline shafts, after that they were 29 from the factory. IIRC, The housing is the same, so the guts can be swapped. This is a very solid axle compared to the Dana 35, and most Cherokee builds will probably be fine with it stock, or only mildly upgraded. Dana 44: This is the golden axle, THE axle you want in a Jeep. Unfortunately, it was only in SOME 87-89 Cherokee's with the towing package. If you find one in another Cherokee, it was swapped in. 8.5" Ring gear, big, beefy 30 spline shafts, and the same tubes the Dana 35 has. The problem, of course, is finding one - they're so rare that it's really not worth it to look. Anything else is a swap - Dana 44's & Ford 8.8's are popular axles to swap in, so you might find them. To tell the difference, you get down underneath the Jeep and look at this: 
As for Tranny's, there were a whole bunch used, but if you stick to 4.0-powered Jeeps (And I'd tell you to do that), there are only 3. The Automatic on all the 4.0's is the AW4. It's a very good, strong Transmission, and a popular swap into Wranglers. There were 2 5-speeds. The AX-15 is in most Cherokees. It's a good, strong Medium duty Tranny. There's really no reason to complain about it, it's a good transmission. In 2000 and 2001, they used the New Venture NV3550. That's probably the best manual transmission ever put in a factory Jeep. It's better than the AX-15. That said, they're both very solid transmissions and I wouldn't make my decision based on one or the other. All three are very good transmissions. It's more of a personal preference as to which, and that debate could go on for a very long time. I personally have a manual (NV3550) in my TJ. |