Review on Daystar Cherokee Commander Transmissions KJ09132BK by King Reeves

The reason I chose this lift was because unlike many other options it is a pre-loaded front lift, not a spiral lift above the shock absorber, etc. This does not change the full suspension travel of the standard suspension geometry. This means that with the front wheel off the ground there is no additional downward movement which (on other lifters) would place the axles and suspension in a position they were not designed for and increase wear beyond factory specifications. Basically, the length of the front curve does not increase, only the height of the ride height increases. Please note that this kit REPLACES the factory top mounts and therefore you will NOT need new top mounts with this kit. I didn't know this and bought them from Revain and then had to send them back on my own postage because I couldn't use them. The new strut mounts are a worse design but appear to add travel to help with the extra ride height so you really can't use the new factory style strut mounts. Once installed and zipped up, this lifter is exactly what I wanted. , and looks/works very well. The loss of two stars is related to the installation, particularly in relation to the replaceable top mounts. Replaceable top mounts consist of polyurethane bushings and a galvanized head plate. The plate does NOT come with studs, so you will need either a hydraulic press or a creative vise to remove the factory studs from the stock frame posts and press them into the new plates. Be sure to lubricate the polyurethane bushings as they are notorious for their squeaky noise when in contact with metal. That alone loses half a star because it adds another point for suspension noise. However, the real problem arose when installing the studs into the new plate. The quality control of spacer plates is annoying. After I finished the passenger side and reassembled the driver side and put it back in the Jeep, I started tightening the "struts" bolts on top, but one of the bolts started spinning in the new plate because the hole in the new one was too big and the interference fit was not good enough. This locked the strut in the car because I couldn't unscrew the nut without turning and forced me to remove the zinc coating from the strut post and paint the stud onto the car and weld the stud to the plate in the car, which was very unnecessary and very tedious hour of installation. If they pressed new studs into the plates, it wouldn't be a problem. Overall B for design, C for execution, but B+ for the end result (due to polymetal to metal contact).