Budget lift

USAFXJ

NAXJA Forum User
Location
BFE
go with what you can afford, but personally i would save my money for some zj coils - if you had to do spacers i would do zj+1" or so ebay spacer, and i would recommend AAL over blocks, ba$tard leaf packs over AAL and new lift springs over Bass-Terds.

even with a small block I have heard of big problems =\ I personally have never tried them but the stories i heard made me shy away... Although it may not be so bad if your ride is just your daily a-b and not doing alot of trails.

Rocky road does have some fine products though, if the are selling it it is probably tested and proved by this point, i would not discount ebay or craigslist finds though.

oh and something i hadent thought of until just now, instead of block you may want to look at shackles, i heard ford f-150 shackles will give 1-2 inches of lift but have not ever seen it done
 
what ever you do dont put e van coils in you jeep. yes they do fit and give you like 3-4" of lift... but its almost like a solid block. i would go with the rocky road 2" lift and look around for a set of JK shocks, if your lucky you can get some for free from a JK owner that just lifted his JK. but dont run the blocks, just find another XJ leaf pack and do a bastard pack.

-Ian
 
I was gonna do the 2" budget lift w/o shocks
 
im sitting on 1.75" coil spacers, and soon to be 1.5" shackles with stock shocks, and its not too bad. i cant wait to get my JK shocks in and hopefully it will flex better and ride also
 
It depends on your budget, but if you are going to do a 2 inch budget boost, you should just get some 2 inch spacers up front, and definately do an add-a-leaf instead of a block in the rear. XJ leaf springs are kind of flexy, and the springs wrap caused by blocks can break drive shaft ujoints pretty easily.
 
i think if you buy from Rocky road before doing your research you deserve the slap in the face they will give you.

just do a google search "Rocky road offroad review"
 
Alot of places have a 2" BB with coil spacers and lift shackles. I would go that route if I were you, but I am not so... NEVER BLOCKS
 
I agree the spacers in the front are fine, but either go shackles or add-a-leaf in the rear. A lot of people hate add-a-leafs in the rear, but if you get the long one you will be fine with that.
 
I have 2 inch spacers up front and 1.75" lift shackles in the rear. I should have gone with a long addaleaf for the rear. Shackles work well, but they will kill your leaf springs like mine did. I probably only got 1" total of lift in the rear since my rear springs are sagging so badly.
 
I have 2 inch spacers up front and 1.75" lift shackles in the rear. I should have gone with a long addaleaf for the rear. Shackles work well, but they will kill your leaf springs like mine did. I probably only got 1" total of lift in the rear since my rear springs are sagging so badly.

Exactly why I recommend the long add-a-leaf over the shackles.
 
Tell you what USAFXJ... If you can hold out for a couple of months, I will sell you my lift cheap. You just have to get some shocks mine are bad and I am ordering some next week.
 
i have 2" spacers and a 2" aal ill sell you for cheap. might even have some shocks as well.
 
I have 4" blocks, lol. You want 'em?
 
what?! hahaha
 
My thoughts on the budget boost are not to waste the money if you plan to go higher at some point.

I was too lazy to click the link, but for $500 (and I paid way too much for some stuff cuz I was too lazy to look for cheaper), my lift was made from:

front
ZJ coils (later replaced with 3.5 Rubicon Express coils)
1.75" Daystar spacers
stock spring insulators
spring insulators from a Camaro

rear
Dakota leafs (used the main leaf from the XJ and ALL the Dakota leafs, including the helper)
Ford Ranger shackles
new u-bolts and and spring clamps from O'Reillys

This netted me 6" of lift and I actually like the ride. I have no idea how it flexes because no one ever seems to get pics of my Heep. :(

For the front brake lines I just unbolted and straightened the steel line (yes Kurt, I know they still need to be remounted)

For the rear lines the same thing (only because I have yet to get a bolt loosened to replace the line with the longer Dakota one).

You can also use GM front lines to increase the length.

Everything bolts right in and is an easy lift to do.

I am lucky in that I have an older XJ so I was able to do that much lift without much drive line issues (well, except for causing my front shaft to snap, but that has more to do with the fact that it was a CV shaft than anything). You will probably need to drop your transfer case an inch or get a slip yoke eliminator.
 
if you do, say, spacers and a shackle you can use them in the future as you go higher. thats what im doing. i think if you do plan to go higher in the future pick parts that you can use if you do want to go higher. basically what MM did/said. i have a 2" shackle and a spacer with zj coils adn this weekend im putting on 3 inch springs(taking zj coils out of course). i also have adj lca's because i knew i was going higher.

what im trying to say is its hard to wait and save money, but if you spend money wisely now it will still pay off later.
 
Back
Top