89 Cherokee Rubicon Express 4.5" Rear Lift Install (Part 1)
1989 Jeep Cherokee Pioneer 4.0L I6 Renix AW4 NP231
Parts:
Rubicon Express 4.5" SuperFlex W/Rear Springs XJ D35 #RE6130
Rubicon Express Monotube Shock Kit 3.5-4.5 Lift XJ #SK010634RX
Rubicon Express OE Replacement Stabalizer YJ/TJ/XJ/ZJ #RXT2000B
It's finally time to lift this XJ. After careful planning and lots of research, I settled on the Rubicon Express 4.5" Super-Flex Lift with Leaf Packs, RE Monotube shocks, and RE Steering Stabilizer. The kit came with all the basic lift essentials along with the important extras such as extended brake lines, an adjustable track bar, and quick disconnect sway bar endlinks. This kit allows you to properly lift your XJ and keep a lot of the stock axle geometry.
The adjustable trackbar allows you to center your body over your axle without the use of a drop bracket or drilling new mounting holes. Since the trackbar geometry isn't changed, a drop pitman arm is not needed to correct misalignment.
I choose RE Monotube shocks over twin tubes after reading all the terrible reviews concerning ride quality and shock absorption.
The only modification for the rear installation was drilling out the spring perches a bit to accept the slightly larger leaf pack center pins. The only real snag was breaking an upper shock mount bolt. Drilling took a good effort and was tapped and replaced with the next size larger bolt.
I netted 5.5" of lift in the rear and that was with previously having an extended rear shackle.