HELP --- 4.5" JGC Lift

J

JohnnyCrash

Guest
I am about to start my lift on my 96 grand. The 31's are rubbing the inner fender well badly.
I have 4.5" coilsprings and matching shocks. no control arms or anything.

I am having doubts about the ease of this whole process, somehow i think it will be more complicated than just jacking it up, poping the old springs out and the new ones in.

If anyone has any advice, suggestions, comments, concerns Please Share them!! :banghead:

I am doing this in a parking lot, with moderate tooling, and...
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O

O.D.

Well-known member
Club Member
Not knowing the JGC suspension set up BUT am in possession of a 4.5" lift for my TJ that will be installed at some point, i have a few other pieces than just coils and shocks.

Longer SS brake lines
Extended bracket for the front trackbar
Extended front sway bar links
Extended rear sway bar links
Adjustable new front track bar
Adjustable Upper and Lower front and rear control arms.
SYE kit for the transfer case and a new rear driveshaft

Food For thought.
 
J

JohnnyCrash

Guest
Thanks

Thanks For the input, im am doing this on an uber low budget, i do have a small set of torches, for heating bolts :D

Im thinking i will just remove my front sway bar all together, its been broken for 6 months now and i do just fine without it. The track bars are another thing, does anyone have any pics of DIY drop brackets? or a simple solution, i heard you can re drill offset, but if i do that i want to re-enforce the factory brackets.

i thnk i can get away with just moving the brake line bracket on the fender:rolleyes: i hope anyway!!! Also can i drop the T-case far enough to account for the 4.5" lift?
 
K

kbrousseau

Guest
I used to run a ZJ (Jen has it now) and had the 2" spacer lift in it. Even with the 2" lift and the stock control arms the axles were noticably pulled toward the center of the Jeep. It was acceptable with 2" of lift but 4.5, I don't know.

Again I have no experience with 4.5" springs but thats an awful lot of spring for stock control arms. I would think that longer lower control arms would be a must with that much lift. The stock brake hoses were plenty long to accomdate the 2" but 4.5" would be really stretching it (pun intended)

If you do decide to go ahead with the swap you will definately need a coil spring compressor, and longer shocks and most likely longer flex hoses for the front and rear.

My .02
 
mucovich

mucovich

Till Valhalla!
I agree, i really think you would need longer control arms, i know on an XJ for 4.5" lift you need both longer lowers and uppers, not quite the same i know but close i think.
 
J

JohnnyCrash

Guest
Hmm

Well, i guess what ill do is jack it up and see where it all sits with the stock stuff at full extension, then disconnect the shocks and see where im at. if its too close ill hold off for now. I just put 31's on and it just so happens i have lots of clearance for the tires except for this pinch seam that runs right in the center of my wheel well on the firewall. when i cut the wheels they hit the pinch. Guess i could just grind the seam down for now?

and jsut a thought about longer control arms, would that not require a longer drive shaft? since you are moving the axle further away from the T-case both front and rear?

Thanks for the Advice
 
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J

JeepJen

Guest
Here's a quick seearch on that other forum I suggested. Other than myself and Keith there's not mych Grand experience here. I would really recommened having a look through here. There's LOTS of info
http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/search.php?searchid=4194852
Spacifically someone said
4.5" usually requires more headache like new control arms, brake lines, etc. Stick with 3.5" and you should actually get close to 4".
Click to expand...
Also
theres going to be no difference between a 4 and 4.5" really, once your above 3.5" your going to be looking at a more complicated lift, brake line extensions, new control arms and such
Click to expand...
this is coming from peope who have done the lifts on the ZJs and know what they are talking about. It's always my opinoin to get the most information you can and from the best sources. And as great as the guys on OVO are, there's little to no experience with ZJs.
Just my .02
 
R

Root Moose

Guest
JohnnyCrash said:
Guess i could just grind the seam down for now?

and jsut a thought about longer control arms, would that not require a longer drive shaft? since you are moving the axle further away from the T-case both front and rear?
Click to expand...

I would fold the seam over - that way you are not reducing the strength in the seam very much.

In the front when you cycle the suspension down with longer springs and stock control arms the axle moves down and backwards under the Jeep. Adding longer control arms undoes the backward motion.

You should be able to get away without a new drive shaft, at least for the front and at 4.5" of lift. The rear you may have problems at max droop because it is a slip yoke and the factory set ups do not have a lot of spline engagement. This is yet another good reason to get a SYE and new shaft. It'll be fine for on the street and moderate wheeling.

I'm not up on ZJ lifts. Does anyone make a drop bracket setup like used on XJs? This way the forward motion (for the front) is dialed into the drop bracket and the the axle ends up in the same forward position as stock except lower due to the longer springs (of course). The drop brackets also correct the arm angles so that the forces from the road are not hammered directly into the floor. Leads to a better ride. Would be a cheap way to add to your lift and get the geometry right.

The rear will be a variation of this stuff.
 
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J

JohnnyCrash

Guest
Fronts Done

So, some gentle persuasion, 5 hours and a spring compressor later i managed to get the front lift in :D Only thing is i dont have a track bar yet so cant really do much other than look at it. Tomorrow i will attemp the rear.

so far the Ca angles dont seem too bad, still have to drop the t-case to see how the drive line will sit. all in all seems good so far, but the 4.5" kit looks to be more like 8" or so. Lot more than i was expecting, but either way, its all good. :glasses:
 
R

Root Moose

Guest
Not sure if you mentioned it above... is the lift a Rubicon Express lift? They rate their lift heights at full wheeling weight (extra weight due to bumpers, winch, rails, cargo, etc.) and their springs will need some time to settle closer to the correct height.

If you haven't done anything else with the Jeep you'll be likely be sitting at around 4.75-5.25" after 6 months of use.
 
Farm Boy

Farm Boy

Bought the Farm
Somehow I don't see this turning out well.......

X3 on the pics

Be sure that the first place you go is an alignment shop
 
J

JohnnyCrash

Guest
chunkytrunks

chunkytrunks

That's MR.EX Pres to you!
Club Member
Looks a little lop sided! :D:D

Maybe you can try and get some good shots of the supension, drivline angle, control arms, just worried that you don't have enough control arm for that lift to be safe.

That is a nice height though.

:beer:
 
J

JohnnyCrash

Guest
I will take some tomorrow.
Control arms are sitting at about 25* from horizontal.
i have to drop the t-case a little to get the drive shaft angle down.
its lop sided due to the uneven ground under the back wheels and the drives side rear has no upper shock mount, im hoping it levels out after i put the rears in.
 
mucovich

mucovich

Till Valhalla!
x2 on pics of the components, at the angle i imagine your CA's are at you will notice a really rough ride due to the transfer of all the bumps in the road travelling up the arms and being transfered to the frame like i had on my XJ until i got drop brackets. Adjustable control arms aren't that expensive at all and you can dial them in to achieve a "compromise" between pinion angle and castor. Just check out ebay for some deals on CA's. Plus if you do any serious offroading you run the risk of folding those weak stock control arms, i've heard of dudes welding or boxing them for strengh but after market arms can be had for fairly cheap nowadays and are way stronger = safer.:beer:



oh yeah, is that a V8 or a 6? that model is my favorite grand cherokee
 
J

JohnnyCrash

Guest
this is only temporary, i plan to order arms next week with my trackbars. and its a 4.0L Limited with sun roof :)
 
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