Lifting Rods for RRS

[btkummerer]

I am looking for advice from people who have experience with using either Johnson Rods or the Proud Rhino lift rods. Are they the same thing from different manufacturers? Is one better than the other? As I will be (temporarily) keeping the air suspension, will one of these work better than the other? Also, if I go 2.5", and likely going to an 18" steel wheel, what tires would anyone suggest?

Also thanks to everyone for their consideration...

 

[XJLI]

the general consensus here is not to do rods, and control your lift electronically via LLAMS or GAP IID. For steelies, TuffAnt or Lucky8.

 

[btkummerer]

Ive seen these systems and was curious to their performance but if general consensus is that this is better than the rods then Ill buy that. Honestly, the rods never really settled well with me anyway.

Between those two, is one better? Or is it an iPhone/Samsung debate?

This thing has been stock long enough. Time to get her lifted and refit.

Thanks again!

bk

 

[morrisdl]

Most of us started with short rods years ago because it was only option....now only option again for Defender2. BUT you dont have too...Invest in Gap IIDTOOl and get lifted and SO much more. I am not sure what sort of offroading you are into, but I found that my traction and ability to keep all 4 wheels on the ground really improved when I went from +2" back down to +1" suspension lift.

 

[XJLI]

I don’t have either, yet. I’m going with GAP since it is a code reader first and suspension tricker second. I don’t “need” the LLAMS... yet. Which is a nice on demand fast height adjustment.

 

[btkummerer]

Ok so I'll add another part to this question-

If you had to replace two airbags and an air compressor, would you go along with that process or switch them over to a shock/spring conversion? Im trying to figure out a clear(er) route to where I want to get with this.

Thanks!

 

[Carson G]

Ok so I'll add another part to this question-

If you had to replace two airbags and an air compressor, would you go along with that process or switch them over to a shock/spring conversion? Im trying to figure out a clear(er) route to where I want to get with this.

Thanks!

Are you sure your bags are bad?

 

[phil.]

I was the test fit RRS for the first rods to hit the market - Sasquatch Adjustable Rods - as well as an early Beta tester for GAP. IMHO the different rods offered are pretty much the same so go with whichever one seems better in your opinion. I started with the rods first and swapped out lifted rods for off roading. Once I got the GAP tool laziness kicked in kept the stock rods and used the tool for the extra lift. I intended to experiment with a combination of rods + GAP to see how much max lift I could get, but again lazy lol. I figured whatever small incremental lift from the combo wouldn't give me a whole lot more than GAP alone.

If you had to replace two airbags and an air compressor, would you go along with that process or switch them over to a shock/spring conversion? Im trying to figure out a clear(er) route to where I want to get with this.

I recently had a similar decision to make. For me it was compressor #3 going bad, a blocked valve, and two struts that needed to be replaced. I made the economic decision. Indy shop quoted me $5k to keep air. $2500 to switch to coils. At the time, $5k was a lil more than half the blue book value so I went for coils. However I regret that decision.

My RRS runs heavy carrying Rover Specialties rock sliders and OEM front skid plate. Despite having the lifted AB kit, I feel like I'm only marginally higher than normal height. Definitely not at stock off road height. When wheeling, I feel like I hit the sliders a lot more or scrape on obstacles I feel like I should be clearing or have typically cleared in the past. No qualms with the coils on pavement.

 

[btkummerer]

I was the test fit RRS for the first rods to hit the market - Sasquatch Adjustable Rods - as well as an early Beta tester for GAP. IMHO the different rods offered are pretty much the same so go with whichever one seems better in your opinion. I started with the rods first and swapped out lifted rods for off roading. Once I got the GAP tool laziness kicked in kept the stock rods and used the tool for the extra lift. I intended to experiment with a combination of rods + GAP to see how much max lift I could get, but again lazy lol. I figured whatever small incremental lift from the combo wouldn't give me a whole lot more than GAP alone.



I recently had a similar decision to make. For me it was compressor #3 going bad, a blocked valve, and two struts that needed to be replaced. I made the economic decision. Indy shop quoted me $5k to keep air. $2500 to switch to coils. At the time, $5k was a lil more than half the blue book value so I went for coils. However I regret that decision.

My RRS runs heavy carrying Rover Specialties rock sliders and OEM front skid plate. Despite having the lifted AB kit, I feel like I'm only marginally higher than normal height. Definitely not at stock off road height. When wheeling, I feel like I hit the sliders a lot more or scrape on obstacles I feel like I should be clearing or have typically cleared in the past. No qualms with the coils on pavement.

This is exactly the type of information I was looking at. Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions! I think Ill stick with air for sure as I didnt consider the weight of added components. I think I am going to do similar to what you said, start with rods (Theyre cheap) and then go to a GAP tool with stock length rods to tune once I start adding heavy components.

Thanks again for helping a novice!

bk

 

[soflorovers]

I am looking for advice from people who have experience with using either Johnson Rods or the Proud Rhino lift rods. Are they the same thing from different manufacturers? Is one better than the other? As I will be (temporarily) keeping the air suspension, will one of these work better than the other? Also, if I go 2.5", and likely going to an 18" steel wheel, what tires would anyone suggest?

Also thanks to everyone for their consideration...

Oh man, here we go... the rods v. GAP discussion.

My 2 cents are as follows: Just get the GAP tool if you plan on owning this thing long term - the tool will more than pay for itself.

However, the real solution to doing hardcore off roading in an LR3/4 and RRS is a mix of both lift rods, GAP and a 3rd element: the SYA kit. See, lift rods will just fool your height sensors and overinflate your bags (The extra stress from over inflating is negligible IMO but there's no denying it is extra). Sometimes you need to run lift rods if you intend to increase tire size and for aesthetic reasons as well. Unfortunately, you lose significant compliance because now your bags are inflated permanently to off road height. Even worse is that the truck will still self-raise itself if you hit an obstacle and it thinks you're too low (incorrectly). So it will raise to "off road height" which with rods is actually "super extended mode" for a truck without rods. That last mode is basically zero suspension travel at all; the truck will start to bounce over small little rocks and you'll actually have far worse traction than a stock truck.

So...the solution is to run an SYA kit so you can have the spacers/bump stop extension which will give you a 2 inch lift while also maintaining stock pressures on your airbags. With an SYA kit it's actually recommended that you run the lift rods to keep the sensors in the proper operating range (people get failures for having sensors that read out of the normal range - happens when you run a lot of lift exclusively with a GAP tool), and the GAP tool will allow you to lock the suspension (i.e. prevent the truck from self raising) while actually running a custom height tune. It's a PITA, but for $1000 all in these things become unstoppable and far more reliable/compliant than just lift rods or a GAP tool.

Please let me know if that makes sense - I'll be more than happy to edit/clarify further if the above isn't sufficiently clear.

PROUD RHINO SYA OFF ROAD EXTENSION KIT PLUS FOR LR3 & LR4

This kit is for the person who plans on off-roading with their LR3 or LR4. The stand out features in this kit over the street kit is that we have included limiting straps and Proud Rhino 2.5” Lift Rods. With the bump-stop spacers, you gain additional down travel and may run the risk of over...

lucky8llc.com

 

[Carson G]

Oh man, here we go... the rods v. GAP discussion.

My 2 cents are as follows: Just get the GAP tool if you plan on owning this thing long term - the tool will more than pay for itself.

However, the real solution to doing hardcore off roading in an LR3/4 and RRS is a mix of both lift rods, GAP and a 3rd element: the SYA kit. See, lift rods will just fool your height sensors and overinflate your bags (The extra stress from over inflating is negligible IMO but there's no denying it is extra). Sometimes you need to run lift rods if you intend to increase tire size and for aesthetic reasons as well. Unfortunately, you lose significant compliance because now your bags are inflated permanently to off road height. Even worse is that the truck will still self-raise itself if you hit an obstacle and it thinks you're too low (incorrectly). So it will raise to "off road height" which with rods is actually "super extended mode" for a truck without rods. That last mode is basically zero suspension travel at all; the truck will start to bounce over small little rocks and you'll actually have far worse traction than a stock truck.

So...the solution is to run an SYA kit so you can have the spacers/bump stop extension which will give you a 2 inch lift while also maintaining stock pressures on your airbags. With an SYA kit it's actually recommended that you run the lift rods to keep the sensors in the proper operating range (people get failures for having sensors that read out of the normal range - happens when you run a lot of lift exclusively with a GAP tool), and the GAP tool will allow you to lock the suspension (i.e. prevent the truck from self raising) while actually running a custom height tune. It's a PITA, but for $1000 all in these things become unstoppable and far more reliable/compliant than just lift rods or a GAP tool.

Please let me know if that makes sense - I'll be more than happy to edit/clarify further if the above isn't sufficiently clear.

PROUD RHINO SYA OFF ROAD EXTENSION KIT PLUS FOR LR3 & LR4

This kit is for the person who plans on off-roading with their LR3 or LR4. The stand out features in this kit over the street kit is that we have included limiting straps and Proud Rhino 2.5” Lift Rods. With the bump-stop spacers, you gain additional down travel and may run the risk of over...

lucky8llc.com

I agree unless you’re running a 31.5” or smaller tire this is the way to go.

 

[garrycol]

I have LLAMs and it works very well - always available - no plugging in or changing rods etc - all heights available with just a turn of a couple of switches.

 

[soflorovers]

I have LLAMs and it works very well - always available - no plugging in or changing rods etc - all heights available with just a turn of a couple of switches.

Sure, not debating that. However, as I stated above... LLAMS, Lift Rods or a GAP tool can only do so much. You're sacrificing downward travel and compliance for height. If you really intend on pushing this platform, I've realized through firsthand experience that an SYA kit (or something to maintain standard air pressures in the bags - some people do subframe spacers) is essential for maintaining the stock capability. As time goes on, I'm starting to realize that an aggressive tire in OEM size (or +1 size) without any lift at all is the ideal solution unless you're willing to go SYA with rods and a GAP tool, and that's coming from someone who had an LR3 on 35". Just my 2 cents.

 

[garrycol]

My comments were not addressed to you but to the original post by the Op - as an option to Rods and a Gap tool.

 

[RoverJim]

Just added the SYA kit and rods to my 2006 RRS now looking for tires. Have the Terrafirma 8x18 wheels. Like to put BFG’s AT KO2 33x12.5x18 will I need wheel spacers? Live in the northwest could be muddy will these tires be suitable?