lasemase72
New member
Hello! I have been in the midst of building my Cherokee with the intention of doing a lot of camping/getting lost in the woods and then I stumbled across this site.. So cool!
I recently bought a 1998 Cherokee on the cheap. The suspension was a total mess (6.5" pieced together from other cars.. poorly) so I bought a replacement. 6.5" long arm IRO kit with Bilstein 5125s. I actually just finished the bulk of the lift last night. I thought I would share some pictures.
As you can see, the suspension was downright dangerous. The PO said the blocks were ziptied in place because they walked out on him before :Wow1:
The rear shackle boxes were destroyed. The PO broke the bolt off in the frame and cut the shackle box to drop the spring out. I assume the bolt got seized in the bushing. So he tacked the bolt in place and called it a day. I cut those boxes out and replaced them with HD Offroad shackle boxes which are beeeefy and improve the shackle angle. Should make for a nice ride.
Every bolt in the front end was loose. Resulted in destroyed bushings and ovaled out holes. All which have been repaired/replace. The entire driveline south of the transfer case and suspension has been done over at this point. Nice and reliable.
I added rear disks.. Anti seized things that needed it.. loctite'd others. Should be nice and easy to work on in the future!
Future plans include beefing up the roof rack and getting a rooftop tent. I have a couple dogs I like bringing with me everywhere and I thought they could sleep in the cab and my fiance and I could sleep up top. From there, everything else is up in the air! This site should provide some ideas :ylsmoke:
I also have a Suzuki Vstrom I would like to pull around for when we take on road adventures. I live in the Boston area.. camping on the Cape and having a bike to buzz around on would be great!
Anyway I am really excited to complete this build and begin exploring. Anyone else from New England here?
I recently bought a 1998 Cherokee on the cheap. The suspension was a total mess (6.5" pieced together from other cars.. poorly) so I bought a replacement. 6.5" long arm IRO kit with Bilstein 5125s. I actually just finished the bulk of the lift last night. I thought I would share some pictures.
As you can see, the suspension was downright dangerous. The PO said the blocks were ziptied in place because they walked out on him before :Wow1:
The rear shackle boxes were destroyed. The PO broke the bolt off in the frame and cut the shackle box to drop the spring out. I assume the bolt got seized in the bushing. So he tacked the bolt in place and called it a day. I cut those boxes out and replaced them with HD Offroad shackle boxes which are beeeefy and improve the shackle angle. Should make for a nice ride.
Every bolt in the front end was loose. Resulted in destroyed bushings and ovaled out holes. All which have been repaired/replace. The entire driveline south of the transfer case and suspension has been done over at this point. Nice and reliable.
I added rear disks.. Anti seized things that needed it.. loctite'd others. Should be nice and easy to work on in the future!
Future plans include beefing up the roof rack and getting a rooftop tent. I have a couple dogs I like bringing with me everywhere and I thought they could sleep in the cab and my fiance and I could sleep up top. From there, everything else is up in the air! This site should provide some ideas :ylsmoke:
I also have a Suzuki Vstrom I would like to pull around for when we take on road adventures. I live in the Boston area.. camping on the Cape and having a bike to buzz around on would be great!
Anyway I am really excited to complete this build and begin exploring. Anyone else from New England here?
