Jeep JK Lift Kit

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jasgwoods

jasgwoods

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Hey all. I am new to overlanding and have a very basic rig right now which is a 2010 Jeep JK. I am running 33s and will probably continue to do so, but I would like to do a small lift, maybe 2-3". Since this vehicle will be used primarily for overlanding, I'm wondering if anyone has recommendations. I've seen the budget boost lifts which are basically just coil spring spacers, but I don't believe I would get any suspension benefit from that. If I'm going to lift it, I want to get some type of performance benefit from it. Thoughts?
 
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Jeeper Jake

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If you are planning on weighing it down with tons of gear, bumpers, winch etc. I would go at least a 3" coil lift.
 
Kent R

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Jeeper Jake

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Partial to Teraflex as I work there lol. But it depends on preferences. We only sell linear springs and a lot of people like a progressive spring. But as you add a bunch of weight it just compresses the tighter coils all the way and basically eliminates the benefits.
It will all come down to weight and tire size. Get an end goal and plan for the future, cuz good lifts aren't cheap lol.
 
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brien

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I have a 2.5" AEV DualSport XT lift, which is essentially purpose built for overlanding. I love it, couldn't be happier. I also have a fridge an galley in the rear and we pull a turtleback trailer, so we swapped out the AEV rear coils with OME 2620 heavy load rear coils. It's a fantastic combo, rides really nice, and gives us closer to 3" of lift when unloaded. We run 285/75/17 (~34") and they fit great with plenty of room for good articulation:

Unloaded:
20180830_115919.jpg

Fully loaded down:
20181011_135957.jpg
 
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Kent R

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brien said:
I have a 2.5" AEV DualSport XT lift, which is essentially purpose built for overlanding. I love it, couldn't be happier. I also have a fridge an galley in the rear and we pull a turtleback trailer, so we swapped out the AEV rear coils with OME 2620 heavy load rear coils. It's a fantastic combo, rides really nice, and gives us closer to 3" of lift when unloaded. We run 285/75/17 (~34") and they fit great with plenty of room for good articulation:

Unloaded:
View attachment 74509

Fully loaded down:
View attachment 74510
Click to expand...
Nice!
 
jasgwoods

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brien said:
I have a 2.5" AEV DualSport XT lift, which is essentially purpose built for overlanding. I love it, couldn't be happier. I also have a fridge an galley in the rear and we pull a turtleback trailer, so we swapped out the AEV rear coils with OME 2620 heavy load rear coils. It's a fantastic combo, rides really nice, and gives us closer to 3" of lift when unloaded. We run 285/75/17 (~34") and they fit great with plenty of room for good articulation:

Unloaded:
View attachment 74509

Fully loaded down:
View attachment 74510
Click to expand...
Nice set up Brien! Thanks for the info.
 
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brien

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I should have added some practical advice about lift height when i mentioned what I run, as it gives the context to why we chose the lift we did. Generally speaking, if your desire is go for distance/overlanding rather than crawling, you want the lowest lift that will fit the tires you want to run. You want to keep the center of gravity low, and you don't want to affect the driving characteristics too much since you'll likely be driving for long stretches of time. Anything up to about 3" should do you just fine, any higher than that and you'll really start to notice the difference in stability, especially on the highway. You'll also very likely start getting into the area of needing to correct drivetrain geometry, like installing different drive shafts and such. Since you say you are likely to continue running 33" tires, my suggestion would be to stick with a 2.5" lift, which will allow you to go as large as 35" tires should you choose to do so in the future.

I should also ask: What benefits are you looking for with the lift? We ran stock suspension and 32" tires on our JKUR for over two years and did a ton of adventuring and many advanced trails just fine with no lift. The reasons we finally put a lift on is because 1) we wanted to run larger tires to get better ground clearance at the differentials and 2) We carry a lot of weight, and were having some pretty serious sagging issues in the rear.
Are you looking for better ground clearance? Better break-over angle? More/better articulation? Heavy load support? Wanting larger tires? What is limiting you the most right now?
 
MazeVX

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So I'm on the same journey right now but gathering information for a while also experienced some different suspension setups ...
So this is what I know...
If you stay with 33" and want something you can adjust to your weight go with the 2" ome springs they have at least 3 steps for different weights front and back, their shocks do the job, it's mostly tuned for fire road/access road some say it's a bit of a harsh ride.
Rubicon express 2,5" kit with fox shocks, with reservoir shocks you be able to benefit from about 1,5" more uptravel wich will help smoothen the ride, add some progressive bumpstops like teraflex speed bump or supersprings sumo springs and you can get faster on Baja style terrain and things like that without sacrificing articulation.
I would focus on the shocks, changing springs is much less expensive than new shocks, so try get some good shocks like fox, Falcon, king or icon...
Bilsteins should be combined with linear springs only they tend to bottom out like in a combination with the aev springs.

What ever you build never forget the front trackbar! Even with 1" lift having centered axles makes a difference and take care of your front end geometry, adjustable front lower control arms or correction brackets like the jks brackets are a better way than the adjustable bolts.
Teraflex has got some really nice kits with affordable prices, metalcloak will give you probably the best articulation on the rocks if you choose the 6pak shocks and their great control arms.
Much more could be said but I think it's ok for now
 
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jasgwoods

jasgwoods

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MazeVX said:
So I'm on the same journey right now but gathering information for a while also experienced some different suspension setups ...
So this is what I know...
If you stay with 33" and want something you can adjust to your weight go with the 2" ome springs they have at least 3 steps for different weights front and back, their shocks do the job, it's mostly tuned for fire road/access road some say it's a bit of a harsh ride.
Rubicon express 2,5" kit with fox shocks, with reservoir shocks you be able to benefit from about 1,5" more uptravel wich will help smoothen the ride, add some progressive bumpstops like teraflex speed bump or supersprings sumo springs and you can get faster on Baja style terrain and things like that without sacrificing articulation.
I would focus on the shocks, changing springs is much less expensive than new shocks, so try get some good shocks like fox, Falcon, king or icon...
Bilsteins should be combined with linear springs only they tend to bottom out like in a combination with the aev springs.

What ever you build never forget the front trackbar! Even with 1" lift having centered axles makes a difference and take care of your front end geometry, adjustable front lower control arms or correction brackets like the jks brackets are a better way than the adjustable bolts.
Teraflex has got some really nice kits with affordable prices, metalcloak will give you probably the best articulation on the rocks if you choose the 6pak shocks and their great control arms.
Much more could be said but I think it's ok for now
Click to expand...
Thanks Maze! A lot of valuable information here. I appreciate the level of detail. This really helps.
 
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rhinodave

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just installed AEV 2.5" lift and 35/12.5/17 Nitto ridge grapplers on 17 Jeep Wrangler 4dr and it runs great. Dropped psi from 35 to 30 and rides even better. Probably sitting at more like 3" because I'm in early stages of build and am running light, no winch and bumper (stock) and no extra gear (roof rack). But there coming soon, lol.
 
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MazeVX

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So for info...
Next days I talk to a technical inspector if we can get the teraflex st2 sport kit road legal, it suits me needs perfect and I think it's the best and most complete kit available in its price range.
If it's impossible to be street legal with the teraflex I will build up on OME springs and shocks and ad the missing stuff...
 
chithead

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We chose the Teraflex 2.5" kit with the 9550 shocks. After researching tons of them, quickly ruled out the budget lifts (Rough Country, Superlift, etc.) and decided it needed to be something purpose built for going off road, and not just looking cool at the grocery store. AEV, JKS, and Teraflex were at the top of the list, but we got a better deal on the Teraflex and went that route.
 
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