1994 I6 Grand Cherokee Laredo to be exact. I'm getting one next month, and want to do some basic upgrades to it. I'm reading over at jeepforum now, but figure I'd try to get some input from you guys too.

Here is what I'm thinking:

- Its on original suspension, so I figure I'd want to swap that out if I have any plans for offroading. If I'm going to replace it, might as well do a small lift. I don't want anything dramatic, or that is going to cause any drivetrain/control arm/ axle problems. 3-4". Any specific brand to look for?

- 31/10.50R15 Mickey Thompson Radial Claw tires mounted on 15x8 Rock Crawler wheels (will look kind of like this)





- K&N air filter

- Flowmaster exhaust

- KC Halogen lights


Advice, opinions, criticism?

 

do eeet!

 

if you insist

 

For the lift, I think raising above 6 inches will require major suspension mods, so you should be ok. If you have Speed channel, start watching the show Trucks! They'll teach you the in's and out's of hicking out your redneck ride right.

 

 

Sweet! Is that for duckhunting while driving down the highway?

 

If your gonna do a lift, a 4 inch lift will be fine. After that, you can fit 33 inch tires and doesn't require much modifications. Dont get a body lift at all, suspension lift only. Pro Comp, and Rancho carry some good lift kits for jeeps and such. YOu said it was original suspension, may wanna check the bushings, struts and such... Off roading, as in just like fuckin around the desert, go to some mud holes...? Get some nice quality tires... Anything mud terrain, or something. Have fun, and if and when u do off roading, go at YOUR pace, no one elses...

 

cool, thanks for the info Doc. I'll make sure to check bushings and everything else while I'm doing the suspension.

and yeah by off roading I mean just cruising the desert mostly, I'm not planning to try anything extreme.

 

IMO for cruising the desert something with an open top would be great(I.E, Wrangler). Is their any reason you chose to go with the Cherokee? Personally I am not a huge fan of leaf springs for off roading, but in the desert you should be fine.

Definatly check out Xtreme 4X4 and Trucks(SpikeTV, and I guess SpeedChannel), it is pretty helpful.

As far as kits I have just been told to steer clear of Tuff Country.

Mike

 

my manager had a wrangler that we did a lot of work on. sounded bad ass with a flowmaster and k&n. there are a ton of mods. he was on some huge swamp boggers (35') that would drive me crazy unless i was on dirt the entire time.

 

My parents are moving out of the country, so I'm inheriting one of their cars. I'd rather have a wrangler too.

I'll get some bigger tires, but this will be my daily driver so no swamp tires. I probably don't need anything real knobby for the desert anyway.

 

first thing I live in middle no where so i know what your saying. plus I've helped build a couple mudder trucks/ jeeps. bottom line it depends on how much you wanna spend. personally I like airbags(not one like on custom cars) these can raise the truck or jeep when you need extra height. there's a couple downsides to this #1. cost(cost a lot more than a regular lift kit) #2. if you get a hole in your air lines or air bag your f--ked because you can't raise your jeep to go over big stuff.
I don't know how hard you are on your stuff but because yes i'm a hillbilly we go out mudding about 2 times a month when it's not winter and i'm not working. but over time you'll go a lot through stock UV joints(UV joints are the joint between the start of the axle and drive shaft) it will sheer them in half due to the angle of the driveshaft(if lifted) GET AFTERMARKET UV JOINTS. i had a buddy with a early 90's Ford 4x4 he has a mud truck. it's good in the mud but once a month he'd tear up a UV joint. then he got aftermarket joints and he hasn't done one for over a year.
another thing i'd get is ARB bumper. it protects your front end plus offers a good base for a winch later. also if you get a winch get a "Milemarker" they're hydralically(sp) driven Warn and the others are run off your battery and I'm they'll if you get into the thick crap they'll heat up and you'll have to wait 10-15 minutes to start spooling again. also if you do get a electric winch get a Warn because of their bearings inside of them. they run Aircraft grade aluminum plus it's sealed. with the others(like superwinch) doesn't seal theirs so when you water in there or other crap it screws the bearings and your winch is trash. a good site as far as to buy stuff is samsoffroad.com . There's a 4x4 show about 35 miles from where i live. i met the owner there. his store/shop based out of Oklahoma. nice guy. he showed me some of the things he did with his wrangler(he had a little portable DVD player) you wouldn't believe it. he probably had 100 grand in his wrangler it was CRAZY.

 

When your ready to do it I have a friend who is really into jeeps and knows the guys at Rock Crawler and has done at least a dozen of their lifts - rock crawler is a local company. Let me know and I'll get you in touch with him, he's a great guy and loves talking lifted jeeps, rock crawler suspensions seem to be as good as any other I've seen and offer a huge range of suspensions. Here's what one of his trucks looks like, his license plate ONTHEROX

 

also Beetroot: I forgot to tell you don't go with a body lift. they're fairly cheap(like 200 bucks but you won't get the suspenion flex like you'd expect. plus over time those body lifts break down and crack then once they crack you gotta take off the body AGAIN and put in a new one. I won't do body lifts.

 

Why did you quote my post That truck in the picture clearly does not have a body lift

 

i was thinking about suspenion flex when i saw that picture. and body lifts won't flex like a suspenion lift.

 

The same rules apply to any truck when lifting it.
Cost & Purpose
I have an Explorer, lifted 2"s with 31's & it's fine for my needs & didn't cost alot to setup.
For a Jeep you can get a good 3" lift with shocks for $700 & change. Then 31's with rims for another $1K, & be done with it. U joints & brakes & bushings will wear faster, but you don't have to replace that stuff all at once.

 

Rootbeer, I nearly forgot to ask, does this mean your getting rid of your S2k?

 

Jeeps suck...

It always starts small and then all of a sudden you 1994 grand cheroke looks like this:

 

SOLD !!

https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...hlight=beijing

Kurt_Bradley also has his forsale...

 

Hmm, very interesting.... I wonder why

 

do the submariner intake!!!

 

Beet, check out Rubicon Lifts as well. I think for Grand Cherokees 4" is as high as you will get without forking out some serious dough!

BTW Ive got a friend who is selling her 5.9 Limited. That was, at one time, my dream jeep!

 

Thanks for the advice/info everyone. Tireguy, I'll definitely get in touch with you when I get this thing.

For me, I felt like I didn't get to enjoy the car at all. Phoenix is an awful place for sports cars.

 

I know a lot about wranglers and cherokees. I worked at Quadratec for 1 year while in college and saw every mod possible with the pros and cons. My 97 wrangler was heavliy modded. Just PM me with any questions you might have. Good luck.

Skyjacker and pro comp make great lifts!

 

DAMNIT Beetroot - sold your S2K

I thought you loved that thing...?

 

I did love it...but I didn't feel like I really got to use it to its full potential around where I live. Phoenix is a flat grid...there are no fun roads to drive on within 40 miles of my house.

I didn't see the sense in making payments on an impractical sports car that I rarely got to enjoy...

I think I'll enjoy a 4x4 a lot more... there are a lot more local places to take a jeep than there were for the s2k, plus between payment and insurance I save $500/month by ditching the s2k

 

So I sold the s2k and got this 'free' jeep from my parents... in the last 3 days I've spent over $1600 on maintenance alone.

New radiator + hoses
Battery + battery cables
Vaccuum hoses
Fuel injection service
Transmission flush
Steam clean interior
Buff and wax exterior
Oil change

 

Hummm, didn't see this thread till now... You and I are in nearly the same boat my friend.

Good luck with it!