HiLift mount for a DII?

[Christophe Noel]

Yeah, after talking with some other guys, I'm starting to think it's not the first thing I should be getting as Bill Burke suggests. As mentioned, there's nowhere to jack from on the stock vehicle.

I mainly wanted it for winching, but given the difficulty of mounting, maybe I should just keep saving for a winch for now.

Being highly geeky, I did a lot of research to outline the plan for my mods. Seems the majority of DII owners suggest the same progression for what I would consider "moderate mods."

1) OME or mild Rovertyme lift
2) New treads. ( New tires and a small lift make a DII a new beast)
3) Front bumper to house winch. (for those of us stuck with traction control, this seems like smart money)
4) Sliders (yes, I own a rocker panel ding) PLUS - This is where the Hi-Lift enters the picture.

Beyond that, the sky is the limit, but most DII owners agree those are good starting points.

 

[R_Lefebvre]

Well, I decided not to lift it, or if I do it will be minimal. I'm trying to keep the CG low. I figure I'll need new springs when I put the winch bumper on, so when that happens, I'll be shopping for some heavy duty springs with a higher rate, and as little lift as possible. Maybe 1". I don't plan on anything extreme with it as long as it's my daily driver.

I already got the new tires. Traded the 18's for some 16's and put 245/75/16 Cooper ST-C's on them.

Front bumper, rear bumper and sliders are in the planning next. Maybe a snorkel too. Probably going to be custom made as I have a pretty good shop setup at home.

Beyond that... Lighting, Bilstein shocks, Tru Tracs, not sure what else at this point. I figure it'll need a new front driveshaft at some point.

I should probably do a build thread...

 

[Christophe Noel]

Like many DII owners, I went for the OME lift with HD springs and OME shocks. I'd say it gave me a modest 2" of lift. Just right. Matched with larger tires, it offers plenty of clearance for what I do. To me, it seemed silly to clad my DII in sliders, bumpers and misc armour if I was rolling into trails with the same clearance as a Dodge Caravan.

 

[superpowerdave]

Well, I decided not to lift it, or if I do it will be minimal. I'm trying to keep the CG low. I figure I'll need new springs when I put the winch bumper on, so when that happens, I'll be shopping for some heavy duty springs with a higher rate, and as little lift as possible. Maybe 1". I don't plan on anything extreme with it as long as it's my daily driver.

I already got the new tires. Traded the 18's for some 16's and put 245/75/16 Cooper ST-C's on them.

Front bumper, rear bumper and sliders are in the planning next. Maybe a snorkel too. Probably going to be custom made as I have a pretty good shop setup at home.

Beyond that... Lighting, Bilstein shocks, Tru Tracs, not sure what else at this point. I figure it'll need a new front driveshaft at some point.

I should probably do a build thread...

If you're going to do all that to a DII you may as well lift it at least 2 inches ... the weight of the HD bumpers alone is going to knock a one inch lift back to stock height anyway. If you're locking it chances are pretty good you'll need the ground clearance if you're going somewhere they'll be needed.

A two inch OME these days on these trucks is small and almost made specifically for the 50/50 driver. I was at MAR last year and saw that 3-inch was the new standard, so with a two inch you're not going extreme but you'll definitely notice hitting a lot less things on the trail. I've found an OME lift on some beefier tires with CDL gets me to where I want to go and then some and my truck still looks as it was intended.

Just my opinion though, and there are lots of them out there.

 

[BigAl]

Here is a cheap option for on the hood. This was easy for b/c the yj has exposed hinges that I attached it to.

[

 

[Christophe Noel]

If you're going to do all that to a DII you may as well lift it at least 2 inches ... the weight of the HD bumpers alone is going to knock a one inch lift back to stock height anyway. If you're locking it chances are pretty good you'll need the ground clearance if you're going somewhere they'll be needed.

A two inch OME these days on these trucks is small and almost made specifically for the 50/50 driver. I was at MAR last year and saw that 3-inch was the new standard, so with a two inch you're not going extreme but you'll definitely notice hitting a lot less things on the trail. I've found an OME lift on some beefier tires with CDL gets me to where I want to go and then some and my truck still looks as it was intended.

Just my opinion though, and there are lots of them out there.

That was the logic that guided my decision to go with the OME 2" lift. I could have dumped $5000 in fancy mods like bumpers, winches, racks, lockers and so on, but with the factory ride height I was struggling with even mild trails.

 

[gahill2]

If you're going to do all that to a DII you may as well lift it at least 2 inches ... the weight of the HD bumpers alone is going to knock a one inch lift back to stock height anyway. If you're locking it chances are pretty good you'll need the ground clearance if you're going somewhere they'll be needed.

A two inch OME these days on these trucks is small and almost made specifically for the 50/50 driver. I was at MAR last year and saw that 3-inch was the new standard, so with a two inch you're not going extreme but you'll definitely notice hitting a lot less things on the trail. I've found an OME lift on some beefier tires with CDL gets me to where I want to go and then some and my truck still looks as it was intended.

Just my opinion though, and there are lots of them out there.

I agree with you.

I am running a 2" RTE lift with 265/75/16's and couldn't be happier.

 

[craig]

I've tried several mounting locations for the hi-lift. I didn't like having the hi-lift up on the roofrack at all. Extra weight, difficult to get to in many situations, snags on trees, etc.

On a moderate build-up where you are trying to keep the exterior of the vehicle very stock you can put the shorter hi-lift in the rear cargo area. I'll see if I can find a photo.

Mounting it to the bullbar works very well. Easy to access, puts weight forward on the D2 which has a light nose already, keeps the weight down, and gives your truck a "trail ready" look... The last one might be a con for some. If you want to mount one to your bullbar, I wrote up how to do it with the Coleman racing brackets (very simple).

 

[RonL]

I am storing my inside, after see what the weather can, and how fast it starts to rust. I have a 48"(cut down to 44") to fit on the rear floor behind the rear seat. It is a great place to store it.

Also, hilift jacks do work as winchs, but you only do it once and then buy a real winch. It is a lot of work and dangerous to control. Think about buying a winch for winching and use the hilift jack for jacking.

Buy it and after a couple of trips you will find the spot that works for you.

 

[sven]

I am storing my inside, after see what the weather can, and how fast it starts to rust. I have a 48"(cut down to 44") to fit on the rear floor behind the rear seat. It is a great place to store it.

I did this on my old RRC. Made 2 brackets that bolted to the existing seat hardware. Very easy to do and very secure.

 

[craig]

I live in Washington near the coast and have had mine on the bullbar for 3 years w/o a rust problem. I hit the ratcheting mechanism with WD40 each time I change the oil.

C

 

[RonL]

I was living in IL, where they salt the roads so heavily in the winter you can't tell if it salt or snow on the road. Now that I am in KS, there would be no real issues with it outside.

 

[R_Lefebvre]

For sure I wouldn't leave it mounted exterior during the winter. The salt would just kill it. Though, where I live now, they don't actually salt that much. It's a rural area and I guess they figure more rural people have the sense to buy snow tires for the winter.

I don't like the idea of it being mounted inside too much, because of the space that it takes and I really don't like the possibility of it flying around too much. It would have to be VERY stout mounting.

I was in a heavy frontal collision in a Focus once, and I was surprised how much the luggage in the trunk pushed through the rear seatback. It tweaked the seat quite a bit.

As it is, I'm planning on making some kind of rear cargo cage so I can stack things in the back without worry of them coming through the front. More than just a dog guard.

 

[UK4X4]

Bumper mount......doubles as a snow margarita bar.....

just grease it....

3" RTE suspension and 33's