The newest
version of Tomken's lift is likely the best yet. I installed the kit on my 85 XJ
as a test platform with an attitude that the new system needed to live up to my
standard of always adding stronger parts than were removed. The Tomken kit lives
up to that standard. Before: My previous
suspension consisted of Rancho front coils with 2-inch spacers and RS9000
shocks. I custom rebuilt my lower control arms to increase droop and make
clearance for the arms at the axle mount end. The rear setup was a mixture of
full size Jeep leaves and XJ leaves with a pair of 2-inch lift blocks mounted
between the packs and the Dana 35 axle. I also moved the lower shock mounts up
onto the axle to improve ground clearance as well as shock location with the
lift. After: The newest Tomken
lift utilizes many of their tried and true parts of the past with a few new
twists (pun intended) with the addition of articulating lower control arms. The
parts list is quite complete as the kit comes with:  Rear:
New lift leaf
packs (Full 5-leaf pack) 1-inch steel
lift blocks Rear axle
shims Extended rear
brake line Polyurethane
bushings for the spring eyes Heavy-duty
U-bolts and nuts Extended bump
stops -
Front: 4 inch lift
coils (All coils are custom designed by Tomken) 2-inch steel
coil spacers Steel upper
control arms Articulating
angled lower control arms Track bar
drop bracket Extended bump
stops Urethane
bushings for the control arms All needed
misc. hardware -
How do the new
control arms work? The Tomken arms
are a beautiful design. Made of round mandrel bent tubing, giving clearance on
the axle bracket side at full droop, the arms use a series of machined steel
pieces welded into a place to form the articulating joint in the arm. These are
sealed and then drilled for grease fittings. They should last a very long time
with no problems.  The
joint itself is a very nice fit with just enough room to allow free movement,
but not allow any excessive play that could cause a noise problem. The ends of
the arms use polyurethane bushings, with grease fittings for lubrication, to
eliminate the slop of the factory rubber bushings. Tire clearance is
enhanced dramatically up front since Tomken builds their control arms longer
than stock, both upper and lower. This means the wheelbase returns roughly back
to stock even with all the additional lift. It also places the front caster back
very near stock helping the Jeep to track reasonably well. All this adds up to a
nice looking Jeep since the tires are well centered in the fenderwells. Many questions
have been asked about the Tomken track bar drop bracket. Will the frame take the
extra stress? Won't bump steer be a major problem? 
Well, my feeling
about this is that the bracket should not cause any major problems under most
circumstances. The bracket itself is super beefy, using rectangular tubing
that's reinforced with plate and welded down both sides. This bracket is
stronger than what it's bolted to, no doubt about that, and there lies the
potential problem. Add a longer bracket and the leverage is increased on the
"frame." Tomken addresses this issue by using a backing plate to
reinforce the area where the bracket bolts up. I witnessed no flex on mine with
the new bracket in place so it appears that their solution works. Bump steer is
another potential problem that isn't really an issue. I noticed some increase in
bump steer in my rig, but I think it's more the result of the increased steering
angles rather than the drop bracket. Unfortunately, unless the steering linkage
is completely redesigned bump steer is almost certainly going to be an issue
with any XJ lifted over 4.5 inches. Overall the front
suspension works well and should serve well for many years with no problems. In
fact, I would expect the suspension to get better and better with age as the
springs soften up and break in. 
 
Here are some
pictures of the front end components: Shown from left to right are the new lower
control arms. Then the new Tomken upper control arms next to the old upper
control arms(Tomkens pictured on bottom). And finally the new Tomken Custom
Spring next to the Rancho 3" spring.
The Rear
suspension Tomken recently
redesigned the rear leaf packs on their lift kits to eliminate a sagging problem
they had in the past. The new springs utilize a multi leaf pack with an overload
leaf to accommodate lots of gear for those rough rides to camp. I doubt these
leafs will sag anytime soon as they started out darned stiff. (Note from Editor:
Tomken Machine states that these leaf packs are rated at 150#'s "Highway
ride" meaning before compression of the overload leaf starts. Which is
quite low considering most other 4"+ full leaf packs, are rated higher.)
After some time they soften up and break in to where they offer a nice
compromise between ride and load capacity. Does it work? Yes, I liked the
kit. It's very complete and the instructions are straightforward and include
diagrams to help locate all the spacers and bump-stops where they belong. The
ride is initially pretty stiff, but softens up as time goes on (at this writing
the springs have less than 1000 miles on them and only one wheeling trip). I
expect this to continue to improve after a few more trips to the trails for some
nice flex training. The Jeep drives well and tracks well at highway speeds. Bump
steer is very manageable and only is an issue at big dips or bumps like railroad
tracks. The Jeep looks
awesome! The longer control arms do wonders for the way a lifted Cherokee looks.
I only ended up with one inch additional up front, but my actual clearance
around my tires was improved dramatically. It really looks tough. 
The only things I
would like to see changed or made optional on this kit would be rubber bushings
in at least one end of the lower control arms. I found the bushings transmitted
a surprising amount of road noise into the interior of the Jeep, but this may be
worse with my rig since it has no carpet or insulation in the interior. Still,
rubber bushings would be a nice option. 
The Tomken kit is
typical Tomken, bulletproof. I expect this kit will last longer than the Jeep
and never cause a problem. The control arms eliminate the possibility of
cracking an arm or damaging the lower control arm body mount that sometimes
occurs in lifted Cherokee's and the abundant use of steel where other companies
are using softer metals gives me confidence in this being a lasting product. If
you are looking for "tough" setup for your Cherokee for hardcore
extreme trail use than Tomken Machine builds a lift kit that you most certainly
will want to consider.
Tomken Machine
35680 U.S. Hwy. 24 N.
Buena Vista, Co 81211
Phone: (719)- 395-2526
Fax: (719)-395-4037
http://www.tomken.com
sales@tomken.com
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