Dropped the forks 5mm
 

There must be a thread somwhere(but I can't find it) about doing the above,I don't really want a jack up kit it's tall enough(for me) but I've worked on some bikes in my time but what a pigs ear just undo 4 bolts!!!! dear me.

Anyway it must have been done before,and if so by how much I've gone 5mm and we'll see how it feels.

Dropping the forks can be done all you need to do is loosen the bolts off and slide the forks up, its not really that big of a job, but 5mm depending on how you felt the bike was before isnt really that much, but best to go little at a time.

You can get rear raiser links which will do a similar job and also raise the rear up but just keep an eye on the chain roller at the bottom as too much hieght will have the roller wrecked soon

Well you have a different XT to me,the bolts took seconds(like they do)getting the plastic shrouds off to get at the bolts what a ball ache!!!.

As for the amount,hmmm having done similar with other bikes 5mm is a lot,drop forks too much and the front will start to tuck and push the front end when you ride it hard and on a wet day you can be in a world of pain,I've just been out out on it and it's not bad,it doesn't do anymore than it did before,well not strictly true,it does steer a tad quicker,but now takes a lot less effort and a pleasant improvement,what's really needed is a set of light weight wheels but god knows where I'm going to get those.