How many kl's out there?

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slowand4low

Rank I
Launch Member

Member I

233
Stockton, Ca
First Name
Nick
Last Name
Miller
Member #

20366

Nice not sure what the 19th is? How do you like the lift do you notice any big changes in just daily driving or on the trail?
There definitely is a change with daily driving. The vehicle feels a lot stiffer, and actually feels like it handles better than stock imo. On the trail it definitely helps getting over stuff, but I haven’t gotten into anything too nasty yet. My skid plates have definitely gotten some use tho even after the lift. Jeff definitely hit the nail on the head with everything as far as mods go. There isn’t really much available for this platform. But it’s definitely a capable vehicle. Went out with a buddy with a wrangler and he was really surprised with how well I did. Loved seeing me up on two wheels a few times lol. Honestly I wish I would have gone with tires before the lift. So that’s the next big thing on my list, and then probably the frog fab sliders.

So far I have the mfc lift, roof cross bars, Thule roof rack with extensions, Mohawk off road light bar mount for the grille, and 2 4” and 2 7” pods that are mounted but not wired yet.

I used this summer to get all my camping gear nailed down, so now I’m back to focusing on the rig so I’m all set as soon as spring hits
 

Gilligan

Rank IV
Launch Member

Off-Road Ranger I

1,146
Norton, Massachusetts, USA
First Name
Daxton
Last Name
Tarantino
Member #

21789

Ham/GMRS Callsign
Gilligan
I think I'm going to get the lift and try and push 32s under it for wheels. looking into the spot weld deal now. I have been looking at these wheels for a dedicated off raod wheel so I can switch back and forth and not burn through the off-road tires on the street.

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max.grun

Rank V
Launch Member

Enthusiast III

1,807
Turlock, California
Member #

8118

Ham/GMRS Callsign
KM6YSE
I've got the 2" Hazard Sky Lift on mine. And since this discussion is always so much fun in the KL groups, here's what you need to know:

Regardless of what you choose, the KL lifts (minus Dobinsons, I'll get to that in a moment) are all exactly the same, they just add more, or less, frills. The rear lift is always accomplished using spacers, a single one for the MFC lift, two for the Hazard Sky lift. The front lift is always accomplished using a knuckle drop, which doesn't add any pieces to the vehicle, it's just re-positioning the knuckle by moving it further down the strut. Both are made in the US, both from locally owned small businesses. Both use Aluminum (Hazard Sky also offers a UMHW option to save a little money, and no, UMHW doesn't degrade, deteriorate, crack, fall apart or whatever). The only real difference between them is the rear space, in that the MFC, as I said before, uses a single spacer on the bottom, where Hazard Sky uses two spacers, one on the bottom and one on the top of the spring.

Functionally, the ONLY difference between Hazard Sky and MFC lifts for the KL is "Do you want to spend $180ish for the Hazard Sky lift, or $500ish for the MFC lift, that does exactly the same thing, using the same materials".

On the KL a lift does not allow you to run larger tires. The largest tire size you can run on a KL is the same whether you're lifted or not. This is due to how the KL is designed. And on the KL you won't be running much larger than 32" tires. You can squeeze 33s in there, but it's tight. The tire sizes that work are: 30.5" max without doing the pinch weld modification. 32ish with the pinch weld modification. Again, the lift on the KL has no bearing at all on tire size.

The other option for the KL is a spring lift. Dobinsons is the only real game if you have a Trailhawk. If you have an AD1 setup (4WD models that do not have Low Range), you can use Dobinsons or also Eibach. The Eibach kit only lifts an AD1 to AD2 height (the AD2 sits a bit higher than AD1 models). The Eibach kit will not lift an AD2 or ADL (Trailhawk) model. The Dobinson's is the only spring lift that will give you any more height on AD2 or Trailhawk models.

You can combine the spacer lift and the Dobinsons springs (I'd avoid the Dobinsons struts, personally, I've seen at least three sets of them explode in the last year on friends rides) to get a max of about 3" of lift on the Trailhawk over stock Trailhawk height. Personally, I won't go more than 2". 3" accelerates joint/boot wear on all four axle shafts, and anything more than 3" will void warranties as well as destroy the joints, the suspension wasn't designed to handle that steep an angle on the shafts.

Now, you'll also see lifts from Rough Country, Tuff Country, American Trail Products, and maybe some others. I don't recommend any of them. None of them provide decent customer service, all three of those have bad reputations in the KL community. One of them had really bad corrosion issues and was showing a lot of rust (used steel for the spacers) after only a few months. None of them actively participate in the KL community, beyond selling things for money. The owners of both Hazard Sky and MFC are active participants in the KL community and have been since the early days, and that carries a lot of weight with me, personally. Ryan Young (Hazard Sky) and Jesse Drew Lambros (MFC) are great guys, very knowledgeable, and very responsive to their customers and always go above and beyond with customer service.

As for other mods, what are you looking for? My 2015ilhawk has:

2" Hazard Sky lift
30.5" Yokohama Geolandar G015 tires
Gobi roof rack
Gobi Ladder
Foxwing Awning
Rocky Road Outfitter super sliders
Amazon Chinese Special pillar lights
Amazon Chinese Special 21" grill light bar
Amazon Special bumper mount for said cheapo light bar
Anzo 4 channel Wireless light controller

Yeah, I cheaped out on the lights, but they make dark places brighter and I'm only out about $10 bucks each if one goes bad. I'll eventually invest in decent lighting from Rigid, but I have other things I want to spend that money on first.

The aftermarket for the KL is pretty limited, because Jeep markets it mostly to Soccer Moms (despite the Trailhawk). For sliders, your limited to Rocky Road Outfitters in the US and FrogFab in Canada (and there may be one other US one I'm forgetting), but I know some people who've had custom sliders made in a fab shop. Ryan at Hazard Sky is toying with making sliders, but the costs are pretty high to produce, and shipping them is a nightmare. For bumpers, the ONLY option, outside custom fabricating, is the weird looking tube bumper that MFC makes (I think it looks weird, an honestly I question just how well it would stand up to a collision, but his full on pre-runner does at least improve the KL approach angle, and his other one is a nice take on a brush bar. For racks, those are pretty universal, but Gobi makes a really nice full rack for the KL.
Thank you for the great info. I was thinking of going with larger tires sizes on my '19 Latitude, but hadn't decided on the size i wanted. Most likely going to with a 30". When you increased your tire size, did you also re-calibrate your speedometer? If so, how did you do it?

Since i don't plan on doing high difficulty trails, anytime soon but possibly in the future, the KL has been good for me so far. However, i would like to possibly add skid plates at some point for peace of mind. Have you heard of, or do you know any that will fit on the '19 Latitude? All i found was that the skid plates for the '19 Trailhawk do not fit. And i was unable to locate other options. It's not a high priority but is something id like to add down the line after I add some other items to my KL.
 

Gilligan

Rank IV
Launch Member

Off-Road Ranger I

1,146
Norton, Massachusetts, USA
First Name
Daxton
Last Name
Tarantino
Member #

21789

Ham/GMRS Callsign
Gilligan
Thank you for the great info. I was thinking of going with larger tires sizes on my '19 Latitude, but hadn't decided on the size i wanted. Most likely going to with a 30". When you increased your tire size, did you also re-calibrate your speedometer? If so, how did you do it?

Since i don't plan on doing high difficulty trails, anytime soon but possibly in the future, the KL has been good for me so far. However, i would like to possibly add skid plates at some point for peace of mind. Have you heard of, or do you know any that will fit on the '19 Latitude? All i found was that the skid plates for the '19 Trailhawk do not fit. And i was unable to locate other options. It's not a high priority but is something id like to add down the line after I add some other items to my KL.
you are running the Yoko's for tires! I truly miss the Geolander MT + tire they are so hard to find now. I think one of the best looking tires I have seen to date.
 

slowand4low

Rank I
Launch Member

Member I

233
Stockton, Ca
First Name
Nick
Last Name
Miller
Member #

20366

Thank you for the great info. I was thinking of going with larger tires sizes on my '19 Latitude, but hadn't decided on the size i wanted. Most likely going to with a 30". When you increased your tire size, did you also re-calibrate your speedometer? If so, how did you do it?

Since i don't plan on doing high difficulty trails, anytime soon but possibly in the future, the KL has been good for me so far. However, i would like to possibly add skid plates at some point for peace of mind. Have you heard of, or do you know any that will fit on the '19 Latitude? All i found was that the skid plates for the '19 Trailhawk do not fit. And i was unable to locate other options. It's not a high priority but is something id like to add down the line after I add some other items to my KL.
The speedo can’t be calibrated for larger tires on the 2019. I’m not sure about the other years tho
 

9Mike2

Rank V
Launch Member

Member III

2,741
Garden Grove, California
Member #

2706

2017 Trailhawk, no mods, because the wife saw how much I spent on our Wrangler. MFC. Jesse , makes some great stuff I know a few out there dislike him, and talk bad about his stuff. I don't do that, as people have their differences, and I like that he makes all his stuff here in the US . But another friend Jair Park uses almost all of MFC's stuff and he kept up with me and the Wrangler all through Moab
 

Paycek

Rank I
Launch Member

Member I

233
Burleson, TX, USA
First Name
Jason
Last Name
Pavlicek
Member #

20785

Thank you for creating my new shopping list!! Now I just gotta wait for the wife to go out of town on business to buy and install it all lol.
 

azdave34

Rank I

Contributor III

201
Arizona, USA
First Name
Dave
Last Name
Bentley
I know this thread (and comment) is several years old, but i just found this forum today while doing some research to compare Hazard Sky vs Rough Country, and this was really helpful.


I've got the 2" Hazard Sky Lift on mine. And since this discussion is always so much fun in the KL groups, here's what you need to know:

Regardless of what you choose, the KL lifts (minus Dobinsons, I'll get to that in a moment) are all exactly the same, they just add more, or less, frills. The rear lift is always accomplished using spacers, a single one for the MFC lift, two for the Hazard Sky lift. The front lift is always accomplished using a knuckle drop, which doesn't add any pieces to the vehicle, it's just re-positioning the knuckle by moving it further down the strut. Both are made in the US, both from locally owned small businesses. Both use Aluminum (Hazard Sky also offers a UMHW option to save a little money, and no, UMHW doesn't degrade, deteriorate, crack, fall apart or whatever). The only real difference between them is the rear space, in that the MFC, as I said before, uses a single spacer on the bottom, where Hazard Sky uses two spacers, one on the bottom and one on the top of the spring.

Functionally, the ONLY difference between Hazard Sky and MFC lifts for the KL is "Do you want to spend $180ish for the Hazard Sky lift, or $500ish for the MFC lift, that does exactly the same thing, using the same materials".

On the KL a lift does not allow you to run larger tires. The largest tire size you can run on a KL is the same whether you're lifted or not. This is due to how the KL is designed. And on the KL you won't be running much larger than 32" tires. You can squeeze 33s in there, but it's tight. The tire sizes that work are: 30.5" max without doing the pinch weld modification. 32ish with the pinch weld modification. Again, the lift on the KL has no bearing at all on tire size.

The other option for the KL is a spring lift. Dobinsons is the only real game if you have a Trailhawk. If you have an AD1 setup (4WD models that do not have Low Range), you can use Dobinsons or also Eibach. The Eibach kit only lifts an AD1 to AD2 height (the AD2 sits a bit higher than AD1 models). The Eibach kit will not lift an AD2 or ADL (Trailhawk) model. The Dobinson's is the only spring lift that will give you any more height on AD2 or Trailhawk models.

You can combine the spacer lift and the Dobinsons springs (I'd avoid the Dobinsons struts, personally, I've seen at least three sets of them explode in the last year on friends rides) to get a max of about 3" of lift on the Trailhawk over stock Trailhawk height. Personally, I won't go more than 2". 3" accelerates joint/boot wear on all four axle shafts, and anything more than 3" will void warranties as well as destroy the joints, the suspension wasn't designed to handle that steep an angle on the shafts.

Now, you'll also see lifts from Rough Country, Tuff Country, American Trail Products, and maybe some others. I don't recommend any of them. None of them provide decent customer service, all three of those have bad reputations in the KL community. One of them had really bad corrosion issues and was showing a lot of rust (used steel for the spacers) after only a few months. None of them actively participate in the KL community, beyond selling things for money. The owners of both Hazard Sky and MFC are active participants in the KL community and have been since the early days, and that carries a lot of weight with me, personally. Ryan Young (Hazard Sky) and Jesse Drew Lambros (MFC) are great guys, very knowledgeable, and very responsive to their customers and always go above and beyond with customer service.

As for other mods, what are you looking for? My 2015ilhawk has:

2" Hazard Sky lift
30.5" Yokohama Geolandar G015 tires
Gobi roof rack
Gobi Ladder
Foxwing Awning
Rocky Road Outfitter super sliders
Amazon Chinese Special pillar lights
Amazon Chinese Special 21" grill light bar
Amazon Special bumper mount for said cheapo light bar
Anzo 4 channel Wireless light controller

Yeah, I cheaped out on the lights, but they make dark places brighter and I'm only out about $10 bucks each if one goes bad. I'll eventually invest in decent lighting from Rigid, but I have other things I want to spend that money on first.

The aftermarket for the KL is pretty limited, because Jeep markets it mostly to Soccer Moms (despite the Trailhawk). For sliders, your limited to Rocky Road Outfitters in the US and FrogFab in Canada (and there may be one other US one I'm forgetting), but I know some people who've had custom sliders made in a fab shop. Ryan at Hazard Sky is toying with making sliders, but the costs are pretty high to produce, and shipping them is a nightmare. For bumpers, the ONLY option, outside custom fabricating, is the weird looking tube bumper that MFC makes (I think it looks weird, an honestly I question just how well it would stand up to a collision, but his full on pre-runner does at least improve the KL approach angle, and his other one is a nice take on a brush bar. For racks, those are pretty universal, but Gobi makes a really nice full rack for the KL.
 
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