My 1999 Grand Cherokee was just paid off and my wife wants to lift it some. The biggest stipulation is it has to ride as good as stock or better. She does not want a rough ride at all. It is her everyday driver and will not see anything really crazy, only mild trails. I was looking at the Iron Rock 3" lift with the DT8000 shocks and adj. sway bar. That way we can run the same size tires as my tahoe. What are the thoughts on this lift or suggestions on a different one?
1999 WJ lift question
- Thread starter WickedZJ
- Start date
jeep-N-montero
Expedition Leader
I have used many of their parts and they stand behind their warranty if you need to use it. Their springs are decent and components are beefy. What is your intent behind wanting to lift it?
Logans91XJ
Dirt Road Anthem
Honestly unless you plan on crawling over good sized rocks pretty nasty trails your stock Grand Cherokee will take you pretty darn far. You might want to consider a Budget Boost and new Shocks. Or look Old Man Emu Lifts and keep the lift small and go one more size up in tires.
Honestly a stock WJ will wheel and with proper lines and some light armor should have no issue.
Honestly a stock WJ will wheel and with proper lines and some light armor should have no issue.
The Swiss
Expedition Leader
Here is my 2001 WJ lift story:
Actually, the 3" lift together with the Doetsch Tech shocks designed for a 4" lift worked extremely well: good road manners and tons of droop/articulation off road when the rear sway bar removed and the front disconnected. However, needed to add a spring retainer in the rear as the droop was such that I would loose the spring ever now and then :elkgrin:
- 2" Teraflex spacer: Used it for 65'000 miles, worked very well
- Added OME springs together with Doetsch Tech shocks for 4" lifts, adjustable track bar and OME steering stabilizer. Resulted in a 4.5" lift, ride and steering characteristics were terrible, hated it. Drove it like this for 500 miles
- Replaced the Teraflex spacers with custom 1" spacers, still using the OME springs, Doetsch Tech shocks and adjustable track bar. Netted out about 3", ride was good, steering still felt funky. Had the WJ alined 3 times. Used this set-up for about 2,000 miles and was ready to go back to 2" lift. Decided on one last tryand
- Replaced the adjustable track bar with the stock track bar. Everything worked like a charm, absolutely fantastic set up for what I needed (I know, makes no sense). Used this set-up for about 60,000 mls until I sold the WJ.
Actually, the 3" lift together with the Doetsch Tech shocks designed for a 4" lift worked extremely well: good road manners and tons of droop/articulation off road when the rear sway bar removed and the front disconnected. However, needed to add a spring retainer in the rear as the droop was such that I would loose the spring ever now and then :elkgrin:
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Hilldweller
SE Expedition Society
juicexj24
Observer
I have 3" Iron Rock Coils, 1" KOR Spacers, Old EMU Long Travel ZJ shocks, JKS track bar/discos/rear lower control arms and some KOR/IRO/Teraflex hardware...i.e: rear sway bar links, rear sway bar spacer, front and rear bumpstops, coil retainers, HD Drag link and tie rod link, KOR shock and duel stabiler hardware as examples. Rides like a champ, over 50k miles on the set up with 20k on the shocks. I ran the DT8000 shocks and wasn't really happy with them, OME Shocks have been great and well worth the money. I have run 265/75r16 and my current 235/85r16 tires, BFG AT/KO and couldn't be happier with that size.
See we thought posting here would give us suggestions based on what works not what looks cool. All the info I have seen here is about making a vehicle solid and reliable for long trips offroad. That why I asked. I was looking at a couple good kits and wanted to good information. It was either gonna be a OME lift, BDS Lift or now looking at Iron Rock,
Logans91XJ
Dirt Road Anthem
Call Dirk at DPG offroad and check out his website.
http://www.dpgoffroad.com
http://www.rubiconexpress.com
http://www.ironrockoffroad.com
http://www.dpgoffroad.com
http://www.rubiconexpress.com
http://www.ironrockoffroad.com
I just lifted my 2002 Overland.
4" Zone with Nitro Shocks (as suggested by Zone for a good ride). I looked into IRO, they also suggested the Nitro shocks for a good ride. I also got a new steering stabilizer and JKS Quick Disconnects.
So far, with about 500 miles on it, I like it. It rides nice. Getting a clunk from the front end though, track bar. Not a big fan of the Zone track bar, may change it out to a JKS... Front tires rub just every so slightly on the front inner fender liners.
I am running JK Rubicon take off rims and tires. With this setup, it lifted the front end 3.5" and the rear 2.5". With the tires and lift, the rockers are 5" higher than stock.
Craig.
4" Zone with Nitro Shocks (as suggested by Zone for a good ride). I looked into IRO, they also suggested the Nitro shocks for a good ride. I also got a new steering stabilizer and JKS Quick Disconnects.
So far, with about 500 miles on it, I like it. It rides nice. Getting a clunk from the front end though, track bar. Not a big fan of the Zone track bar, may change it out to a JKS... Front tires rub just every so slightly on the front inner fender liners.
I am running JK Rubicon take off rims and tires. With this setup, it lifted the front end 3.5" and the rear 2.5". With the tires and lift, the rockers are 5" higher than stock.
Craig.
Attachments
jeep-N-montero
Expedition Leader
Zone offroad is a joke, I have heard nothing but bad things about them.
DirectDrive
Observer
The wife has a bone stock '99 Grand.
The soft, stock springs let it strike every now and then while off road. Tire placement and very slow speed are necessary. It really needs a little height and stiffer springs for better off road capability.
It just barely fits 255/70/16
If I was to lift it, I would go with a full OME package. It's a mild lift with functionality in mind.
There's a couple of choices. I would get up to speed on the differences between my stock springs and the offerings by OME in order to make an educated purchase.
Call ARB if you have to, they are the distributor for OME.
If the budget permits, do a spring lift, not a spacer lift.
The soft, stock springs let it strike every now and then while off road. Tire placement and very slow speed are necessary. It really needs a little height and stiffer springs for better off road capability.
It just barely fits 255/70/16
If I was to lift it, I would go with a full OME package. It's a mild lift with functionality in mind.
There's a couple of choices. I would get up to speed on the differences between my stock springs and the offerings by OME in order to make an educated purchase.
Call ARB if you have to, they are the distributor for OME.
If the budget permits, do a spring lift, not a spacer lift.
Yea I was thinking about just doing a mild say 2" lift or so using new springs. I figure the stockers are probably sagging anyways. I have seen OME kits, BDS has a 2" kit with springs and shocks or again the Iron Rock 3" kit. I know OME makes some of the best stuff out there, the BDS has a lifetime warranty and I have heard goo things about IRO.
Zone and BDS are the same company. Difference in their kits is do you want adjustable lower control arms (BDS) or fixed. Do you want a track bar drop bracket and drop pitman arm (BDS) or adjustable track bar. Do you want blue / white parts (BDS) or black.
Instructions were good. Fasteners were labled in individual parts packs, including a tube of loctite. Finish on the parts are good. Customer service was good. I will follow up with them on the track bar clunk though.
Silverton34
New member
Lift kits are pretty easy but the inevitable rust under an Iowa vehicle can cause some issues. I have lifted four Wranglers with various kits over the last few years and it was always a good/interesting time. Some of the Jeep specific web forums can give you some good ideas on lifts. If you run into any issues give me a yell, I'm just up in Eldridge and have a heated garage.