"How much lift should I run?"
This is one of the most common questions we see posted on forums and get asked by our customers. Perhaps this post I just wrote, will help:
The functional reason for adding lift is to fit taller tires which help in clearing larger obstacles. Lifting higher than the height you need in order to fit the tire size you want to run, will give you exponentially diminishing returns.
On a WJ or ZJ: for a 31"-33" tires, I feel 3-4" with short arms is about the max you'll want to go and more than that calls for a long arm kit. For 33"-35" tires, I feel 6-7" (with a long arm upgrade) is about the max height you'll want to go for a good balance of offload capability and roadworthiness, each weighted equally.
I had 8" of long-arm lift on my ZJ, and it was a tad too tall for comfortable/easy highway driving. I have 6" or so Clayton LA kit on my WJ, running 255/80r17 tires (33.5"x10.5"), and it's just about right.
Driveline angles, Center of Gravity, sway bars, sway bar link extensions, steering linkage, tie rod end angles, turning radius, axle shaft thickness, etc...all become an issue starting around 3" of lift, and get increasingly difficult to deal with, once you're around 6" of lift.
You can get 31" tires with very little trimming on a 3" or so lift. For 33" tires, you'll need to trim a moderate amount to run the same 3" of lift. Running 35" tires means spending 2x to 4x more than KBB says our Jeeps are worth in upgrade costs to make that happen properly. If you can afford to do it however, you're going to have one hell of a comfortable and capable vehicle."
So, yeah...that's my thoughts, coming from almost 20 years of lifting multiple XJ Cherokees and ZJ and WJ Grand Cherokees.
What do you think? Did this post raise any questions in your mind? Share this post and discuss. Comment or post below and we'll give feedback.
Happy Jeeping!
-Kevin