Dude, you need to do some searchin' on here before you spend a bunch of cash for no reason. I see you have the bug, but you need to wheel that thing to see what it's got. AND, I personally know that thing will do some serious wheeling as is. If it's looks your going for, is it just wider and taller that you want? What type of wheelin' are you planning to do?
I see you've decided on some 35x12.50 BFG AT's, ok good choice,,, Are you going to get in the mud and rocks with this rig, or street it?? Cause the BFG at's, although an excellent AT tire, will slice a side-wall open in a heart beat on the rocks. Deep mud will absolutely be a no go for ya...
What size wheel are you going to run? What backspacing? Going higher?.... what about an SYE, a new rear D-shaft? Steering? drop brakcets or LA's? Adj. CA's upper and lower? Your about to open a can of worms that don't need openning.
My advise, two pennies etc..... and I know that rig personally, and have seen it off-road...
First, go wheel the thing, it does very well the way it is. No offense, but your obviously new to this hobby. You got an outstanding rig for the price, and I don't think you realize what you have.
. Search local off-road boards for;
33x12.50 tires or 35's if you must
15x10 inch rims with 3.75 bs or 3.50 bs.
2 inch BB to replace the 1 incher.
Look for some yj leaf springs to add to your RE pack, or look for a set of 4.5"ers for sale from someone going bigger.
Then while you build up your parts stash, go wheelin'
Trim the BW's on the inside lip to open them for the 33's or 35's. You can take those BW's off and sell them or take them off and figure how much trimming you need with the additional lift from the 2" bb, and the rear pack boost you'll add. You can add bump stops too to make sure you clear the BW flares.
There is so much you can do to that rig for very little cash to get the look you want, and the off-roadability you need, although I really thnk you need to go wheel it as is right now...
Slow down, search on here in the pics section, even over on JU for what you want. Look at Pirate for cherokees, Rockcrawler has tons of cherokee pics. On here whe have reader's rigs, Search is your friend, and keep asking questions on here. There are tons of people that love this sport, and love the XJ's, and are able to help you avoid costly mistakes. Look at the pictures, and show us what your idea of a cool rig is... Read up on this site about posting pics if you don't know how.
Here is my old XJ on 35's with 7"es of lift 4"es of sheet metal gon from the fender wells with TJ flares, and about $25,000 dollars devested to get there (including the purchase price of 9 grand back in 2000) It was a mean mofo that could dd at 80MPH all day long, and wheel with the best of them...
ass end is high as I just sold the rear BP bumper at this point...
FLEXY and very reliable, drove it everyday, and wheeled it often...
Here is another XJ I've owned, a '98, I had with an HP 30, and Dana 44 just like yours, trimmed with TJ Rubbi rims 4.75" bs, and 35" tires, had about 6"es of lift... Yes it would rub at full flex... but not too badly...
Slow down, that rig has a ton of potential for very little additional money...
P.S. UNCC is right, although I thik 10"es is necessary if your going to ever flex the thing. The wheel wells uncut, yours are lightly trimmed, fit a 31" tire max. I ran a 32x11.50x15 on a 10"wheel with 3.5"es of bs and 6+ "es of lift stock untrimmed fenders, except the front straight cut to the front bumper, on my XJ when I first built it. My first ride out, I bent the hell out of the rear front fender wells. So badly bent they were, that I had to cut out 4"es of sheet metal, and add some TJ flares, no BW's on the market at that time... not sure I would have used those even if they had them though...
Here is a pic of when I mangled them...
XJ's can really FLEX... Right now, you would prob rip the front BW's off if you flexed it to the max. You need to trim, and you can read all about it on here...