I have a 95 wrangler with 31inch tires on it and no lift---I'd like to
do a five inch lift if possible but I'm being told not to do this
because of the shortness of the driveshaft and the host of problems
that this will create. The biggest I can go with out spending thousands
of dollars im told is either a 2 or possibly 3 inch lift. Is there any
way i can put a 4 or 5 inch lift in with out screwing up my driveshaft
and spending thousands of dollars?

The problem is the very short front drive shaft. A 4" suspension lift on
that Jeep becomes complicated because of the various angles and lengths
involved with the steering geometry, drive shaft(s), and U-joints. The
problems are not insurmountable, nor necessarily expensive, but a thorough
understanding of how each parameter affects each other parameter is needed
before you decide which approach to take. I won't bore you with a long
explaination of the above mention items unless you ask politely. ;<)

You can put a 2-3 inch suspension lift and a 2" body lift on your jeep which
should allow you to run 33X12.5 tires. I have seen 3.5" suspension lifts
advertised that claim to allow 33" tires but that seems to be "pushing the
envelope" because of drive line angles and shortening of the drive shaft
slip yoke "grip."

"Rowdy Cowgirl" <redneck_cowgirl1313 (AT) hotmail (DOT) com> wrote

You have been told basically right.

Folks get around this wall by adding an inch or at the most 2" for a
body lift along with 2-3" on the springs. This body lift allows the
clearance for the larger tires to give the extra ground clearance.

I run in the Canadian Bush and very seldom have clearance issues with my
33" tires on my CJ7. I have 3" on my springs and an inch or so extra on
my body tub.

When I wanted my lift, I stayed away from specialty 4x4 shops who think
their parts are gold plated you would think from their prices and went
to a truck spring shop. The took apart my front springs, removed one
leaf and replaced it with a pre-arched 'keeper' spring, then manually
arched all my other springs to match. This gave me 2.5" and with
shackles 1" longer which add 1/2" a total of 3".

My back springs were broken so they ordered in OEM stock springs and
just did the same for them.

All this ran me under $500.00 not including the new shocks I put on
after.

A set of 1" or 2" lift spacers for the body are cheap too.

If you go any taller, you start to run into driveline issues. They do
make custom driveshafts, etc., but as you noted they get pricey....

Mike
86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00
88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's
Canadian Off Road Trips Photos: Non members can still view!
Jan/06 http://www.imagestation.com/album/pi...?id=2115147590
(More Off Road album links at bottom of the view page)

Rowdy Cowgirl wrote:

On 29 Nov 2006 17:17:21 -0800, "Rowdy Cowgirl"
<redneck_cowgirl1313 (AT) hotmail (DOT) com> wrote:

If you want a big lift there is only two ways to do it right in a
short wheel base vehicle like this. The first (and best way and most
expensive) is to reindex the drive axle to correct ujoint drive
angles. (Ujoints are not constant velocity beyond about 3 degrees
deflection) In the rear this is easy to do with caster wedges placed
between axle spring pad and springs. Up front it is a different matter
as you need to cut axle tubs loose from diff pig, reindex pig and
reweld tubes to housing. This is extreme and expesive but it will cure
drive angle problems and gain you more grond clearance under pinion
yoke and reduce it vunerabilty to impact damage off road too. The
next best way is to buy some after market CV joints for drive shaft
and take them and drive shafts to a drive shaft shop and have them
installed and shafts balanced. There will be those that say this is
not needed but this is how you do it right and any other way is a cob
job at best. When you lift it you want to pay attension to front axle
caster angle too (amount of tip from front to rear of pivot pins or
joints) and make sure you do not change it with new springs as it can
cause instabilty on road at higher speeds. Last, do regear axles if
you go up a few tires sizes or more because as you increase tire size
you increase or make taller your overall effective final drive ratio
and reduce the power/wheel torque/tractive effort you can to the
ground. Deeper gear restore this and no magic bolt on tune is going to
fix this.Plus deeper gears also reduce drive line strain on
driveshafts and, Tcases and trannies and extend their service life.
Lots of people have blown trannies, Tcases and drive shafts trying to
prove otherwise and it is cheaper to regear now that replace major
parts later. Nothing more pitifull than a lifted 4x4 with big tires
and stock gears that is gutless at time and can be wasted by a 4 cyl
saturn or the like in a stop light grand prix. AN example of this is
the other week I had a 2006 Buick loaner/rental car for a few days
with a standard V6 in a what was called a fullsized FWD car. I ran
across this guy in a lifted chevy making a scene at lights thinking he
was bad with his big tires, load dual exhaust and stock gears. I
decided to teach him a "lesson" (which is really out of character for
me and my age) and wax him at a light so a teased him to get him ready
and when we stopped at a light (on a up hill grade too) I pulled up
behind him as the other lane had cars in it, he punched it when light
turned green and I let him pull out enough to let me get around him
and in front of car in other lane and then I nailed it and cleaned his
clock big time. You should have seen the look on his face as he was
winding it up so high to try to catch me that I though the engine
would blown. The look on his face from being wasted by a family sedan
was priceless! Had he done his homework better and PROPERLY geared
and setup truck it would have likely turned out differently.
-----------------
TheSnoMan.com

I put a 4" lift on my 94YJ from BDS suspension and didn't have to make
any other adjustments to the steering, et.al. I would recommend you
buy the longer rear shackles that BDS offers to ensure their military
style leaf springs clear the rear frame properly. Mine were rubbing
something terrible, and they are only about $80. Installing a lift
does require some mechanical know-how as it involves relocating brake
lines, relocation brackets, shocks, springs, and so forth. A quality
set of impact tools makes this job about 60% faster! Also, be sure to
check the steering clearances. On mine, in a hard left turn I was
contacting the left anti sway link and broke it off road. Of course
the easiest fix is to remove the sway links off road as it gives you
more attenuation of the front axle.
Marty




Rowdy Cowgirl wrote: