If you have answered yes to these questions, then please read on--this lift is for you. We recently installed a Rough Country (Division of Heckethorn Off Road Products, Inc.) lift on a 93 Cherokee. We think you'll be as pleased as we are. The kits contains new front coils, rear full length add-a-leaf and four new shocks. Let's start with the install, then I'll discuss the ride.

$295 Retail

First we'll take a before shot of the Jeep so that we can compare it later.

Step 1 - The Rear

Block off the front wheels so the Jeep can not roll forward. I also reccommend putting the Jeep in 4WD (Part Time on the Select Trac) and either leaving it in 2nd gear or park. Start by breaking loose the lug nuts of one of the rear tires. Then jack up that side of the axle using your bottle jack under the axle, place your jack stand under the frame just forward of the rear spring hanger. Now lower the jack so that the frame rests on the Jack stand, you will have to jack the axle up rather high since the spring will drop after the frame hits the jack stand. You will be using the bottle jack in it's current position to help with the add-a-leaf install.

Remove the tire. You are now ready to loosen the U-Bolts that hold the spring to the axle. I have outlined in white the three bolts (plus the one my ratchet is on) that must be removed. Also I lined in red the components of the rear swaybar. You will notice all of these (including the nut on the lower shock mount) look "wet." You will do yourself a great favor by spraying some type of break free or other lubricant to these spots a few days before the install. I reccommend two days prior to the install, spraying once each day, including the morning of the install. I used an air impact gun to remove these bolts, but it CAN be done with a ratchet as shown (your arms will just hurt the next morning). As you can see the rear sway bar mount utilizes one of the u-bolts to hold it down. This will need replaced later.

Remove the lower shock nut and pull the shock off of the stud. Next remove the upper shock bolts. Caution, I broke two of these during my install. Take the extra time to do your best in spraying these bolts from the TOP. The bolts are outlined in green in the picture. If you do break them they are NOT easy to remove, especially the driver side ones. The passenger side bolts are a bit easier to get to the captive nut on the top. However, for $20 the local gas station garage removed the broken bolts and captive nuts and replaced them with bolts from the top and a nut on the bottom. I will show this later.

Once the u-bolts are removed use your bottle jack to slowly let the axle down. It should drop free of the spring pack. Drop it down a good bit so that it will be out of the way while installing the add-a-leaf. Take a good set of vice grips and very securly clamp them on the "nub" or head of the bolt (it is round) that is poking out below the spring pack. You can see the vice grips in the picture. I have circled in white the location of the nut on top, this is what needs removed. But first make sure to place a few C-clamps on either side of the center bolt in the locations shown in the picture. Otherwise the springs will "spring" apart once that nut gets to the top of the bolt. Now remove the nut. You must now remove the clamps that keeps the springs from moving, shown circled in red in the picture. Then slowly loosen the C-clamps. Carefully keep all the springs in their proper orientation while removing them.

Now grease up the new add-a-leaf and insert it in it's proper location. The proper location can be determined by juding the length of the other leafs. They go in ascending order (shortest to longest) working from the bottom towards the top. You can see in the picture where ours went, lined in red. Once grease is applied to the leaves, install the new center pin (supplied with the kit) from the bottom. Here we used the bottle jack once again to raise the axle and help push the springs back together with the new add-a-leaf in place. Once the top of the new center bolt shows through the main leaf (longest one) put the nut on. Once again grab the head of the center bolt with the vice grips and tighten the nut until all springs are completly compressed. Be careful to keep the springs aligned with each other while doing this, they will move during this procedure. Once tight, re-align the center bolt's head in the hole on the axle bracket. Replace U-Bolt spring plate, and reinstall the anti-sway bar bracket.

Re-installing the new rear shock is rather easy. Cut the strap that comes on the new shock keeping it compressed. Install the top mounting studs, then compress the shock and slip it on the lower stud. If this is difficult, you can use a large socket and hammer to help it on. Tighten lower shock nut, be careful not to damage the new bushing. It seemed as if the rear shock bushings were rather long compared to the shank that the bushing rides on. When in doubt, DO NOT over tighten. Put some thread lock on the nut, and periodically check that they are not working loose.

Repeat the process on the other side and you should end up with something similar to below.

This time block off the rear wheels and apply the parking brake before beginning. Similar procedure to the front, loosen lug nuts, jack side of axle up, place jack stand under frame just rear of the lower control arm bracket lower jack until slightly loose. The first thing to remove is the front anti-sway bar link. Once again these are prime candidates for the penetrating oil. I broke BOTH sides of the anti swaybar links, shown in the picture. Luckily I had a few extra's lying around and used those, but it was an excellent upgrade opportunity to some quick disconnects.

Also once I removed the top bolt of the swaybar link I realized the lower swaybar bushing was completely worn away! Shown in green in the picture is the bushing that easily slid out of the link and off of the lower mounting stud. It should NOT come off this easily. I strongly adivise that you examine these bushings and if they have any amount of play in them, this is the time to replace them. I urge this because the swaybar is a safety feature of your Jeep vehicle that helps keep body roll in a turn to a minimum. You may choose this time to upgrade to the newer polyurethane bushings which are a bit stiffer, but will last longer than the stock rubber pieces.

Next remove the front shock. There are two bolts with nuts holding the rear down, and a single stud rising through the wheel well up into the engine compartment. You should have no problems with either of these, except the passenger top is just beneth the master brake cylinder and you can't get a good grip with a socket, so you will be forced to use an open ended wrench. I don't have a clear picture of the next step, but it is rather easy. I'm using a picture of installing the front shock after all of this other work has been done, but it shows circled in green the bolt that needs removed. This is the rearmost lower control arm bolt. Remove the nut and then pound out the bolt. This will now allow the axle some more lower movement.

Remove the piece of rubber circled in red in the picture. This is what keeps the axle from moving too far upward and letting the tire hit the fender. It just pulls straight down and may take some wiggling. Also remove the small clip at the base of the front coil spring. Now being careful not to stretch out the brake line, pull the axle down towards the ground as you remove the front spring. You will then realize how much more you will need to push down on it so that you can install the new spring. This is the hardest part of the install. It will take some tugging and maneuvering to get the new spring installed. Once the new spring is in place, check to be sure that the end of the bottom coil is butted up against the stop in the bottom coil spring plate. Then replace the retaining clip on the lower coil of the spring. Replace the rubber bumper. Now replace the large bolt that was removed from the lower control arm. This may also be difficult because of the increased spring length. It helps to have a helper than can pull the axle toward the front of the vehicle while you align the control arm with the holes in the frame. Don't worry, you are almost there.

Once the control arm bolt is tight use the bottle jack to raise the front axle again. Install the new front shock (shown above) reversing the procedure that took the old one off. I will however give you a trick to this. Don't remove the wire that keeps the shock compressed yet. Place the bottom end of the shock in it's mount and place the proper bushing on the top. Make sure you are ready, then cut the wire, and as the rod rises direct it through the upper hole in the fender. Install the top bushing and washer then tighten the nut. Re-install the two lower mounting bolts and nuts on the new shock. Leave the anti-swaybar link off until you have completed the other side. Repeat on other side of Jeep. Once both sides are done you can rest the vehicle back on the ground and re-attach the anti-swaybar links.

Ok, so now we have installed the lift. That was a rough 8-10 hours eh? But you have a long time to enjoy the benefits. If you happen to install this lift on an older Jeep like we did (1993) you will definitly notice an increase in the performance of the ride. The system seems to work very well on the Jeep considering the cost. Overall it gave approximatly 2.5 - 3" of lift on our Cherokee. It is very balanced and exhibits a firm but comfortable ride on the road.