jk advice needed
- Thread starter inked33
- Start date
Ty-Dean Customs
Observer
Yep RC stands for Rough Country Suspensions.
Terra flex system or Teraflex the company???
Teraflex is another company with a lot of positive feedback.
people say good things about teraflex only thing is that their 2.5" lift comes with spacers instead of replacement springs.
i had a rough country 4.5" lift on one of my xj's and wasnt all that impressed with the product compared to other lifts out there at the time although they did have great customer service. from what ive heard though their product has greatly improved from what it used to be. im still debating on getting the new 3.5" lift they have out which from what i understand has redesigned springs and shocks. on their website they have a guarantee that if you dont like the lift return it within 60 days and you will get a full refund.
i had a rough country 4.5" lift on one of my xj's and wasnt all that impressed with the product compared to other lifts out there at the time although they did have great customer service. from what ive heard though their product has greatly improved from what it used to be. im still debating on getting the new 3.5" lift they have out which from what i understand has redesigned springs and shocks. on their website they have a guarantee that if you dont like the lift return it within 60 days and you will get a full refund.
What ever lift you get, make sure to get front lower control arms and an adjustable track bar. If you skip these you'll be buying them a few weeks or months later. I've got a RC 4" with various other components. If I were to do it again I'd get a an OME 2.5" lift, long travel shocks. Northridge4x4 runs a good deal on an OME w/ adjustable track bars and then just add bump stops and control arms. Dave at Northridge is great.
What size tires are you going to run with the RK lift Ty-Dean and where are the pics?!?!?
Teraflex is good Bryan. They do offer a 2.5" coil lift, not just spacers as Inked suggested. With their kit you can either get new shocks, or they have shock extensions to allow you to keep the stock Rubi shocks. I was looking at them at first, but think I've got my short list down to either the Rock Krawler, OME or AEV kits.
Teraflex is good Bryan. They do offer a 2.5" coil lift, not just spacers as Inked suggested. With their kit you can either get new shocks, or they have shock extensions to allow you to keep the stock Rubi shocks. I was looking at them at first, but think I've got my short list down to either the Rock Krawler, OME or AEV kits.
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Petro thanks for correcting me I didn't know teraflex offered a 2.5" spring lift.
I've been weighing my options and have it narrowed down to poly performance, rock krawler, and AEV. All three of those companies get great reviews but I'm really starting to lean toward the AEV system as they seem to be the best fit for my needs.
I've been weighing my options and have it narrowed down to poly performance, rock krawler, and AEV. All three of those companies get great reviews but I'm really starting to lean toward the AEV system as they seem to be the best fit for my needs.
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yeah, it's a tough one, deciding between 33's and 35's is probably where I should really start. If I go 33's I'd definately go with RK's 2.5" max travel, which seems more of a true 2.5" lift and might not look bad with 33's (still trying to find some pics of this setup). The Teraflex and OME 2.5" and 2" lifts are more of a 3.5" in reality from what I hear and the Poly is a 3.5". For 35's they are great, for 33's I'm torn, some pics 3.5" and 33's looks good, other pics it looks like the Jeep is on rollerskates.
Congrats to Inked33 and to Gasman.
I'll second the AEV recomendation. AEV = American Expedition Vehicles. I.e., not American Rock Crawling Vehicles. While their lifts and other products work perfectly well for rock crawling, their focus is on Jeep JK's that drive and handle great on road as well as off road.
I have an AEV lift and ride, handling, sure footedness, steering feel, road manners, body lean - all better than stock. [For frame of reference, my wife also has a four door JK Rubicon that began stock, as all do, and now has the TeraFlex 2.5" budget lift - the spacers - with shock extensions and still rides on the stock wheels and tires with SpiderTrax 1.5" hub centric wheel spacers .]
I'll admit that I have enough red neck in me that, at my 10yr old son's urging, I went with the 4.5" lift and 37's. On the other hand, the Jeep is fantastic on the road with the AEV lift and 37's. Those who have the 3.5" lift, which accomodates 35's, pretty uniformally report that they are as pleased as I am. I have only read of one AEV customer that was less than very pleased. (And that one customer eventually reported that he too was pleased, which I believe indicates that intial issues were not AEV issues but installer issues.)
One benefit of the AEV lift is the engineering that went into it. One of the JK's leading suspension development engineers now works for AEV, and it shows. The lift addresses all suspension, steering and handling issues that need to be addressed with any lift for top flight results as well as a few issues that Jeep didn't address as well as they could have in oem configuration - like caster, front control arm angles and length, panhard/trackbar relocation with regard to both axle displacement the result of taller springs and height to improve roll center geometry to reduce body lean, drag link relocation to improve Ackerman angles and steering feel and performance. An impressive attribute of the AEV lifts in my opinion, a negative is some others' oppinions, is that AEV addresses the panhard/trackbar issue and the front upper/lower control arm issues without resorting to adjustable bars or arms; they are relocated to their respective correct new positions for the AEV lift, with different locations for the 3.5" vs. the 4.5" lifts. (The vigor with which some argue that fixed but correct length/location arms and bars is a drawback never ceases to amaze me; I find it an attribute since AEV has done the engineering and experimentation for the customer rather than leaving the customer to fend for themselves regarding the ONE correct setting for each of the arms or bars. It has occurred to me that one reason for the all but uniformily excellent customer reports on AEV lifts results from the lack of user screw-up-able adjustable anything on the AEV lifts, and that the constant request for help with other lifts for this lift issue or that lift issue posted on JKOwners.com, JeepForums.com or other forums and are attributable to customer adjustable major elements, like control arms {and so pinion angle} or panhard/track bars.)
AEV does on site conversions including their Expedition Packagee and Hemi conversions, but they also sell all parts or kits individually. AEV's sister company is a tier three supplier to Chrysler and other auto makers and they make most of the parts they offer in-house. Also, AEV does a lot of work on Jeep's concept and "show" vehicles. I suggest that you all take a look at AEV's web site: http://www.aev-conversions.com
I have driven a four door JK equipped with a Rubicon Express 3.5" lift and 35's and it drove well. But I would and did go AEV! The TeraFlex 2.5" budget lift - the spacers, which provides about 3.5" in front and about 2.5" in the rear, is an inexpensive and pretty good way to improve the JK and to fit 35's with some minor trimming required on some but not all Jeep/tire combos. As I wrote, my wife's JK four door has this budget boost. The Jeep rides like the day we picked it up, handling is unnaffected though steering is slightly flightier - but not enough that my wife noticed it - because caster reduction the result of the spacers is not addressed. Axle offset due to the lift is noticable only when you look for it.
BTW, you will need either new wheels with about 4.75" of backspacing or less or 1.25" or larger wheel spacers to accomodate 35" tires on stock Rubicon wheels. If you use spacers, a quality hub centric spacer like the SpiderTrax is the only safe route, lug centric spacers are trouble waiting to happen, imo.
Personally, I think the JK four door needs about 3.5" and 35's both for looks and to overcome some length/high center issues.
Gasman, with 35" tires you may find your Rubicon 4.10 ring and pinion (axle) ratio fine, but a lot of owners don't. With 35" tires, your 1:1 fifth gear in an standard transmission is about equal to the overdrive sixth with original tires, with an auto, your 1:1 third is about the same as the too sttep O/D fourth was.
Inked33, with the Sport, you probably have ~3.21 R&P ratio, 3.73's if you selected that option or got lucky. Some owners find 3.73's and a standard transmission acceptable, fewer find the 3.73 and auto acceptable, very few the ~3.21's with larger tires and either transmission.
Re-gearing should run +/-$1,400 or so. With 35's and the 3.8L engine, I would suggest 5.13's, some prefer 4.88's and a few 4.56's. The 3.5" Rubicon Express and 35's equipped four door JK I drove had 5.13's and I thought the 5.13's were just about perfect.
My four door JK has the AEV Hemi in it and 4.88 gears. Even with the Hemi power, I think I would have preferred the 5.13's.
Here is a phot of my JK just before it left AEV (I had AEV do a turn key Jeep for me.):
BTW, I may be a big fan of AEV, but I don't work for them or have any financial interest at all, I'm just a very pleased customer.
JPK
I'll second the AEV recomendation. AEV = American Expedition Vehicles. I.e., not American Rock Crawling Vehicles. While their lifts and other products work perfectly well for rock crawling, their focus is on Jeep JK's that drive and handle great on road as well as off road.
I have an AEV lift and ride, handling, sure footedness, steering feel, road manners, body lean - all better than stock. [For frame of reference, my wife also has a four door JK Rubicon that began stock, as all do, and now has the TeraFlex 2.5" budget lift - the spacers - with shock extensions and still rides on the stock wheels and tires with SpiderTrax 1.5" hub centric wheel spacers .]
I'll admit that I have enough red neck in me that, at my 10yr old son's urging, I went with the 4.5" lift and 37's. On the other hand, the Jeep is fantastic on the road with the AEV lift and 37's. Those who have the 3.5" lift, which accomodates 35's, pretty uniformally report that they are as pleased as I am. I have only read of one AEV customer that was less than very pleased. (And that one customer eventually reported that he too was pleased, which I believe indicates that intial issues were not AEV issues but installer issues.)
One benefit of the AEV lift is the engineering that went into it. One of the JK's leading suspension development engineers now works for AEV, and it shows. The lift addresses all suspension, steering and handling issues that need to be addressed with any lift for top flight results as well as a few issues that Jeep didn't address as well as they could have in oem configuration - like caster, front control arm angles and length, panhard/trackbar relocation with regard to both axle displacement the result of taller springs and height to improve roll center geometry to reduce body lean, drag link relocation to improve Ackerman angles and steering feel and performance. An impressive attribute of the AEV lifts in my opinion, a negative is some others' oppinions, is that AEV addresses the panhard/trackbar issue and the front upper/lower control arm issues without resorting to adjustable bars or arms; they are relocated to their respective correct new positions for the AEV lift, with different locations for the 3.5" vs. the 4.5" lifts. (The vigor with which some argue that fixed but correct length/location arms and bars is a drawback never ceases to amaze me; I find it an attribute since AEV has done the engineering and experimentation for the customer rather than leaving the customer to fend for themselves regarding the ONE correct setting for each of the arms or bars. It has occurred to me that one reason for the all but uniformily excellent customer reports on AEV lifts results from the lack of user screw-up-able adjustable anything on the AEV lifts, and that the constant request for help with other lifts for this lift issue or that lift issue posted on JKOwners.com, JeepForums.com or other forums and are attributable to customer adjustable major elements, like control arms {and so pinion angle} or panhard/track bars.)
AEV does on site conversions including their Expedition Packagee and Hemi conversions, but they also sell all parts or kits individually. AEV's sister company is a tier three supplier to Chrysler and other auto makers and they make most of the parts they offer in-house. Also, AEV does a lot of work on Jeep's concept and "show" vehicles. I suggest that you all take a look at AEV's web site: http://www.aev-conversions.com
I have driven a four door JK equipped with a Rubicon Express 3.5" lift and 35's and it drove well. But I would and did go AEV! The TeraFlex 2.5" budget lift - the spacers, which provides about 3.5" in front and about 2.5" in the rear, is an inexpensive and pretty good way to improve the JK and to fit 35's with some minor trimming required on some but not all Jeep/tire combos. As I wrote, my wife's JK four door has this budget boost. The Jeep rides like the day we picked it up, handling is unnaffected though steering is slightly flightier - but not enough that my wife noticed it - because caster reduction the result of the spacers is not addressed. Axle offset due to the lift is noticable only when you look for it.
BTW, you will need either new wheels with about 4.75" of backspacing or less or 1.25" or larger wheel spacers to accomodate 35" tires on stock Rubicon wheels. If you use spacers, a quality hub centric spacer like the SpiderTrax is the only safe route, lug centric spacers are trouble waiting to happen, imo.
Personally, I think the JK four door needs about 3.5" and 35's both for looks and to overcome some length/high center issues.
Gasman, with 35" tires you may find your Rubicon 4.10 ring and pinion (axle) ratio fine, but a lot of owners don't. With 35" tires, your 1:1 fifth gear in an standard transmission is about equal to the overdrive sixth with original tires, with an auto, your 1:1 third is about the same as the too sttep O/D fourth was.
Inked33, with the Sport, you probably have ~3.21 R&P ratio, 3.73's if you selected that option or got lucky. Some owners find 3.73's and a standard transmission acceptable, fewer find the 3.73 and auto acceptable, very few the ~3.21's with larger tires and either transmission.
Re-gearing should run +/-$1,400 or so. With 35's and the 3.8L engine, I would suggest 5.13's, some prefer 4.88's and a few 4.56's. The 3.5" Rubicon Express and 35's equipped four door JK I drove had 5.13's and I thought the 5.13's were just about perfect.
My four door JK has the AEV Hemi in it and 4.88 gears. Even with the Hemi power, I think I would have preferred the 5.13's.
Here is a phot of my JK just before it left AEV (I had AEV do a turn key Jeep for me.):
BTW, I may be a big fan of AEV, but I don't work for them or have any financial interest at all, I'm just a very pleased customer.
JPK
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WOW....JPK i cant thank you enough for the indepth review about your experience with AEV's suspension. it really helped confirm what i already knew, but just didnt want to admit to myself because of the price tag on their suspension system...lol. im honestly passed the extreme stuff and now just want to go out and have fun still challenging myself but not to the point where im constantly breaking things or destroying the body work. my sport model is a 6speed manual and made sure it had the towing package just for the 3.73's. hopefully with the manual trans and 3.73 it wont be to bad driving with the 35's at least until i can get around to doing a gear change.
looks like im going to be calling AEV and ordering a 3.5" premium lift in the next few days. afterall id rather do it right the first time instead of spending a bunch of extra time and money to get the suspension to handle how i want it to.
oh btw your jeep looks great sitting on the 37's. if i had the rubicon model id definately be going for the 4.5" and 37's like you did
looks like im going to be calling AEV and ordering a 3.5" premium lift in the next few days. afterall id rather do it right the first time instead of spending a bunch of extra time and money to get the suspension to handle how i want it to.
oh btw your jeep looks great sitting on the 37's. if i had the rubicon model id definately be going for the 4.5" and 37's like you did
jboss
Observer
You are going to very pleased with the AEV kit. I did not do it right the first time and it cost me a lot of money. I first ran the OME LT kit from Northridge. Its a nice kit with a good ride but dose not drive well. First the OME shocks were to soft for a 4door with hard top. I also had a lot of bump steer and rear shifting when going over bumps. It got so irritating that it tired you out to drive it.
I then decided to go AEV. It was a night and day difference. AEV is awesome to drive. I now have to fight the wife on who gets the jeep each day, she loves driving it. If you don't have bumpers or winch the jeep will ride a little ruff but once added, the jeep smooths out very nice. This is my 6th jeep and it drives better then stock. My other jeeps XJ,TJs,YJs all drove OK but not good enough to let some one else drive. The JK drives so good I would be OK with anyone driving it.
gasman
Adventurer
i will second that WOW! JPK thanx for the info it is greatly appreciated . i really havnt looked at anything seriously yet (,for lack of funds) but one thing i know you get what you pay for,, the thing with me is when i buy somthing , i wanna see it first, i wanna be able to inspect and in this case test drive , know what i mean ? i have bought stuff before on others recomendations, and have been thoroughly disapointed, ( sorry im not doubting you at all )you my friend have first hand experiance and that is good,
i dont care if i pay more for a product if the quality is there, i paid 3 grand for a tent, but it will be the last tent i ever have to buy,
AEV was in burlington ontario can, last week with their jk and i could not make there in time, i really wish i had,
my biggest wish list is to run 35's and to able to pull my trailer without worry , some trips will be tons of highway to get where im going, i dont want to be driving in the slow lane getting passed by little old ladies, been there done that,
JPK i have not looked on the AEV site much , does the 4.5 kit require new drive shafts? it my understanding that basically any kit over 3.5 will need them . just curious cuz i am needing to figure out a budget,
i sold my xj last night, so i got a couple of bucks , but i think the absolute first mod is a gobi stealth rack, so i can at least get my canoe and kayak up there , there is still plenty of fishing left before the winter hits,
i dont care if i pay more for a product if the quality is there, i paid 3 grand for a tent, but it will be the last tent i ever have to buy,
AEV was in burlington ontario can, last week with their jk and i could not make there in time, i really wish i had,
my biggest wish list is to run 35's and to able to pull my trailer without worry , some trips will be tons of highway to get where im going, i dont want to be driving in the slow lane getting passed by little old ladies, been there done that,
JPK i have not looked on the AEV site much , does the 4.5 kit require new drive shafts? it my understanding that basically any kit over 3.5 will need them . just curious cuz i am needing to figure out a budget,
i sold my xj last night, so i got a couple of bucks , but i think the absolute first mod is a gobi stealth rack, so i can at least get my canoe and kayak up there , there is still plenty of fishing left before the winter hits,
gasman
Adventurer
the other thing that bothers me is my inability to make a decision on how high i wanna go, when i first did the xj i thought 3.5'' and 31's would be all i ever would need,
yep, 2 lifts later im on 6.5'' and 35's, hey its only money, i will just pick some more off the tree out back
yep, 2 lifts later im on 6.5'' and 35's, hey its only money, i will just pick some more off the tree out back
Bryan, found a local guy who has the OME lift and 35" Duratrac's (have heard great things about these tires). He's got a manual Saharra but had the axles swapped out for some stock rubi ones so has the 4.10's like us. Next time he comes out for the coffee meet he's going to let me know and take it for a test drive, so should be able to give you a pretty good, first hand account of how much powerloss we could expect.
im with you gasman better to pay extra for the quality product right off the bat and not have to worry about it. getting the AEV suspension will mean putting some other projects i had planned on hold for awhile.
sorry you ended up selling your xj. i read in your thread you were planning on keeping it awhile. although i dont think youll miss her all that much with your new jeep to keep you occupied.
thanks for the first hand experience with both the AEV and the OME. after reading your post im glad i decided not to go with OME. i was very close to placing an order for an OME lift a few days ago.