How much stress is too much stress for CV joints?

XPlore

XPlore

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Hi all. Thinking of adding 1-2inches of lift on my Jeep Renegade. I was curious to know how much of an angle is to much for the CV joints.

I see some subies run 2-4 inches of lift with larger tires and think "wow that must be a lot of stress on the suspension. I am pretty new to lifting independent suspension compared to solid axles.

Any help would be appreciated!

:)
 
I'm not sure what is available in Jeep land, and I'm a mechanical idiot so I don't know if these things are universal or anything, but Toyota's and I'm sure other IFS 4x4's have differential drop kits available. They run about $30 bucks, consist of longer bolts and spacers, and return the diff back to it's original position so your CVs stay happy. I'm guessing that if something like that isn't available for the Renegade yet, it soon will be.
 
Depending on how much lift you are doing, I know Independant4x makes and sells ball joint spacers that raise the lower ball joint to decrease the angle the cv axle hits the hub. I'm not sure if that is specific to vehicles with torsion bar suspension or not. But It makes the angle a little less steep and relieves a little stress on the joint.
 
Thanks guys! It seems some of the kits I am looking at do drop the diff a bit to decrease the stress on the joints.
 
The axle drop is not expensive, either. They drop it 1" to help with the angles and that is helpful until you are over 4" in lift. On the Toyota's it is just $40 to drop it down. Basically, 2 each 1" spacers made out of Alum and 2 each long bolts to replace the stock shorter ones.
 
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