Vehicle: 1987 Jeep Cherokee (XJ) 4x4

Product : Rubicon Express 2" economy lift

Price : $250

Contents : Front polyurethane coil spring spacers, rear full length add-a-leaf, 4 shocks w/ hardware, rear ubolts and nuts, spring clips and braided stainless steel rear brake line.

Overview : Very clompete kit, reasonably simple but time consuming install (6 hours, 2 men), vague instructions, did yield advertised lift. I will hit on difficulty points rather that spelling out obvious points like remove tires and secure vehicle on jack stands.

Details : Instructions say remove "Bump stop extensions". These are NOT the cylindrical steel pieces to which the bump stops mount! Those are part of the frame (unibody). The bump stop is a rubber snubber that threads to the bottom of these cylinders. Maybe some Jeeps have an additional spacer in between the two. After attempting to unscrew the cylinders, we simply unscrewed the actual rubber bump stop.

Removal of front trac bar and sway bar links along with articulating one side of the suspension are supposed to allow removal of coil springs without a compressor. This was accomplished one one side, but installation proved very difficult with the added height of the coil spring spacer. Thus, not having a coil spring compressor, we improvised and used a ratchet tie-down strap to bind up each coil while under compression from jacking the vehicle with the springs still in place. Highly recommend using a coil spring compressor rather than the articulate or ratchet strap method, though we got by. Also, there is a clip that holds the bottom of the coil spring to the axle. This must be removed to fully droop and remove coil spring.

Rear add-a leaf kit was straight forward to install. A cutting torch makes short work of the old rusty u-bolts. Other methods of removal : cut with sawzall, hacksaw, grinder or air cut off tool. They usually will not unbolt eaily and it was difficult to get an air impact wrench on them.

I highly recommend "PB BLASTER" as the penetrating oil of choice. Liberally soak all fastener joints to be removed. Allow plenty of time to act. (Soak days in advance).

The Cherokee rear upper shock mounts are only in the unibody sheetmetal, exercise care removing them. Apply liberal amounts of penetraing oil. Apply heat with a torch if the bolts feel like they may break. This would be a difficult area to drill and tap.

The rear brake line posed some difficulty removing the small brakeline nuts. Again use penetrating oil and heat to loosen these joints. It would be a good idea to have some spare steel line or a double flaring kit nearby as a backup.

Overall this was an economical way to get 2" of lift in one evening of work!

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