Whats up guys J.C. here from Chicago, for years iv been driving luxury or sport sedans. This year something in me changed and i had a need to have a badass rugged 4x4 that i could use anywhere being on the street, highway or off roading. So, yesterday i bought a 2000 Jeep Cherokee Sport and now its time to dump some money and make it look my way. I dont know much about Jeeps so if you guys can recommend websites or parts, that would help out tremendously..... Here is what im looking for: 2" Lift Kit and anything else i need as far as suspension parts i need to replace. Fender Flares more just for looks because im not going big with the lift. A set of some good gripping tires that will fit a 17" wheel. A roof rack where i can attach accessories like shovel, ax and so on. A light bar so i can mount 4 HID lights. If you guys think i need anything else just chime in and fill me in on the info...... Thanks guys..
Newbie Question
- Thread starter steeda106
- Start date
simply from an offroad perspective, I would stick with 15" rims, assuming you do not want to start cutting up your new jeep, a 31" tire is about as big as you can safely go with a 2" lift, so you want to be able to keep your side wall a little on the taller side for when you air down. for an offroading jeep, I would not recomend a 17" wheel unless you went to a 33" tire, this will still have the same side wall measurement as a 31" tire on a 15" wheel. if you are doing a lot more street driving than wheeling, I would maybe hold out a little on the ax, shovel, light bar, HID lights and invest that money into a gear ratio that will keep your transmission from hunting for OD on the highway
Hate to sound like an idiot but (gear ratio) that means a diff gear that compatible to use at high rate of speed on the highway, right? Any suggestions on what brand lift kit to use? I found a Rubicon Express 2" for $259.00 but dont know if thats a cheap brand or not.
all budget lifts are pretty damn near the same which is what a 2" lift generally is. coil spring spacers in teh front and add a leaf in the rear and shocks. If your springs are original and starting to sag and appear to look worn out, might be better off stepping up to a 3-4" lift that comes with new springs all around, some new control arms and shocks.
Why invest money into the lift when the components are already worn. yes your inital purchase price will be more, but you will get a complete kit designed to work as a kit.
Gear ratio would be your axle gears (diff) for a 4.0, auto and 31-33" tires, I suggests 4.56 gears, if your going to be serious about offroading the jeep, got right to 4.88's
Why invest money into the lift when the components are already worn. yes your inital purchase price will be more, but you will get a complete kit designed to work as a kit.
Gear ratio would be your axle gears (diff) for a 4.0, auto and 31-33" tires, I suggests 4.56 gears, if your going to be serious about offroading the jeep, got right to 4.88's
superj
Well-known member
and a 2" lift on your cherokee will look like any other cherokee.
i just recently got rid of a cherokee but here is the story of how i figured out what lift looked good.
it was stock when i bought it. looked blah. put a 2" lift on, still looked blah and stock. wife ordered a 3" series 2 lift from rough country. the kit will also need an adjustable trac-bar, longer brake lines, and a control arm drop kit if you do like i did and stack the 3" on top of the 2" to get 5"s. if you only get the 3", you can get away with the brake lines being the only part you need extra. anyways, i did all the lift stuff and it looked cool with the black rims and some 31" tires. it actually looked badass because the tires looked perfect, not like they were to big. they also did not rub when off roading, which was a big plus. anyways, after a bit i decided i wanted to paint my cherokee camo. i did it and it looked sweet.
anyways, go with the actual lift kit, not a budget kit. you will be alot happier. or if you do get a budget lift, get it along with a nice 3" lift and end up with 5"s of lift.
also!!! your cherokee has the low pinion diffs, i think. you will have vibrations unless you do some shimming to adjust the pinion angle. your u-joints will be at a bad angle so you might want to stay below 3"s after all
i just recently got rid of a cherokee but here is the story of how i figured out what lift looked good.
it was stock when i bought it. looked blah. put a 2" lift on, still looked blah and stock. wife ordered a 3" series 2 lift from rough country. the kit will also need an adjustable trac-bar, longer brake lines, and a control arm drop kit if you do like i did and stack the 3" on top of the 2" to get 5"s. if you only get the 3", you can get away with the brake lines being the only part you need extra. anyways, i did all the lift stuff and it looked cool with the black rims and some 31" tires. it actually looked badass because the tires looked perfect, not like they were to big. they also did not rub when off roading, which was a big plus. anyways, after a bit i decided i wanted to paint my cherokee camo. i did it and it looked sweet.
anyways, go with the actual lift kit, not a budget kit. you will be alot happier. or if you do get a budget lift, get it along with a nice 3" lift and end up with 5"s of lift.
also!!! your cherokee has the low pinion diffs, i think. you will have vibrations unless you do some shimming to adjust the pinion angle. your u-joints will be at a bad angle so you might want to stay below 3"s after all
Stalefishsk8er
New member
If you live near a junkyard then go see if you can find some Dana 60's or if you want really strong axles then I'll would go with Dana 70's or rockwell axles but a ford 9" would also work if your into serious offroading and need a vehicle to go where you needed during the winter of last year but I've heard that it's gonna be a hell of a lot worse this year
