Expert: Carl Brandt - 7/4/2004

Question
Hi, i own a 94, jeep cherokee 2 door SE, 4x4. it has the awesome inline 6 (i thank the lord every day) i have looked at many 3 inch lift kits for cherokees, because i am in the market for one, they all say, their lifts will provide clearence for 31x10.5 tires, i am looking to go bigger, i want to be able to fit 32x11.5 tires on it, without having to do any fender cutting. The lift i am most likely to buy is the Rancho 3 inch lift, with RSX shocks, because it is equipped with rear leaf packs. is there anything else i can do to lift it high enough to fit these tires? also, are 15x8" wheels satisfactory for that size of a tire? and finally, i would like lower gearing, it is a manual transmission, and the gearing seems quite high. and i dont even know the current stock gearing, what would be a good ratio for slightly lower then stock after i put the tires on, the tires on now are P235/75 15. thanks for any help you can give me, i appreciate it.

Answer
David,

You've run into the main problem with the Cherokee, as far as large tires go.  They don't have large enough fender wells.  If you plan on going with the 32" tires eventually, you should consider cutting the fender wells, and putting on a new set of flares.  Then I would suggest that you consider installing a lift that would work with 33's instead of the 32's.  There are a couple of reasons for this.  One is that the 33's are more common, and you need to remember that for every inch of diameter on the tire, you only gain 1/2" of lift, as that is the radius gain of the new size.  Most of the drivers that I know that have went with a smaller lift, eventually upgrade to on that will accomodate the 33's anyway, and it's much cheaper in the long run to lift the Jeep once instead of twice.  

Yes, the 15x8" rims are fine.  In fact, I run 15x8" on my Jeep with 35x12.50 tires.  The reason I run 8" instead of 10", is that you can run lower air pressure with less chance of the tire breaking the bead, and the tire protects the rim more when rock crawling.

You should have the NP231 transfer case, and you can get the Terra Low 4:1 kit for it.  This works great, and will give you a crawl ratio close to 65:1.  You should, also, consider installing a slip yoke eliminator kit in the transfer case.  This will give you a better driveline angle when you install the lift.  Another modification that would help, is to put in 4.56:1, or 4.88:1 gears in the transfer case.  With the larger tires, this will help on the road, as well as on the trail.  You may, even be able to find someone who has changed out the stock gearing in a 2.5 ltr Jeep, and pick up their old gears at a reasonable price.  The stock gearing in the 94 Wrangler with the 4 cyl is 4.10:1, and this is a good upgrade from your stock 3.07:1, as this is the most common ratio in the Jeeps with the 4.0 ltr six.

Carl