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no lift

1K views 14 replies 12 participants last post by  flyinion 
#1 ·
newbie here. was wondering what kind of problems or what can I expect
if I want to go offroad and do a little 4 wheelin without any lift? I am
not planning to lift my jeep as I will usually just use it to tow behind my
motorhome.

I am not planning on going into real rough territory just off road to explore
some different roads and sights. nothing major or extreme. is there
anything I have to do to my jeep to prepare for just a little light off road
excursion? thanks for any suggestions and help. luv my jeep.

:iamhappy::iamhappy:
 
#6 ·
Nicely stated. On top of that, there are even some slightly larger tires that you can install without a lift... The 255/80-17 is quite popular on non lifted Jeeps.
 
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#4 ·
I've wheeled my stock Sahara several times. You will become a much better off road driver as you need to pick your lines more carefully when you are stock. The jeep is usually more capable than the driver. The best free modification you can make when going off road is airing down. Otherwise be smart, stay out of water unless someone goes first or you know for sure how deep it is and what the bottom is like and don't wheel alone. Have recovery gear and a first aid kit on board and an air compressor so you can air back up.
 
#5 ·
Many days I wish I'd either not lifted mine, or at least went with a simpler lift especially now that I'm not planning on crawling big rocks after all. I still would have probably needed to do something eventually because armor would have still weighed me down, but I also had some of the stiffest springs from the factory stock due to the 4 doors and the tow package (I assume at least or just got "lucky"). They're definitely plenty capable stock. Like AZrat said the only reason to actually lift is larger tires. I did that 4 years ago and only just last month finally got new larger tires (lack of $$ and other mods first). Along the way I started considering some of the new tires/sizes that might not even need a lift either. Sounds like for your purposes there's probably no need for a lift. If you change your mind down the road and need to build the Jeep up a bit you could always swap to trailering it behind your RV instead of towing it.
 
#7 ·
I have a stock height jku. For your average forest road type stuff you shouldn't have too many if any problems. I recently started wheeling with a group and attempting some of the more difficult trail systems in my area, and being stock my skids definitely get more of a workout than the lifted rigs. A lot of times I've noticed that if an obstacle looks difficult, I can take my time and pick a line where I don't scrape or can minimize it, but things like easy looking humps in the trail that are just a quick up and over for a lifted 4 door or even a stock 2 door I end up scraping or even getting hung up on because of my poor breakover angle. While tapping the skids on these humps doesn't hurt the jeep much, scraping all day on what should be the easy stuff does make a day of wheeling tiresome and less enjoyable. Originally I had no plans to lift my Jeep, and for the type of wheeling it sounds like you're planning I probably still wouldn't see a need, but I decided to order a lift to improve my breakover angle. Still, even with the scraping issues a jeep on the stock suspension is pretty capable:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fx-8bn4Xyvs
 
#8 ·
Your approach to a Jeep is the same a mine, I ordered the Willys Edition with 3.73 gears and Posi-Loc rear, plus the Willys comes with the same tires and wheels as the Rubicon does. I couldn't see buying the Rubicon just to ride dirt roads, not interested in riding over anything bigger then "Baby Heads", that's a dirt bikers term for rocks about the size of a baby head, you get the idea. My jeep will be pretty much stock from the factory, that's the way I want it.

trainman
 
#9 ·
Need is a key word here...If you only plan to do minor offroading with little challenges, then I agree the stock JK is very capable. If you plan on doing more with more advanced challenges, then a lift may be beneficial.

Keep in mind, many just get a lift with bigger tires for the look and rarely off road..It does make the jeep look cool.

Good luck with your adventures.
 
#12 ·
A few weeks ago, I drove to Crown King via Lake Pleasant. Arizona folks know the road. My Jeep is stock, a '16 Willys with manual transmission. That was doable only by getting winched off a particularly nasty ledge near the finish at Crown King. Should have stacked more rocks. My skid plates took a beating, but they're still there, if a bit bashed in.

The friend who winched me has a '16 Rubicon with a Mopar lift and other nice goodies.

People here in Arizona think that's a moderate trail.

There's so much of Arizona that's...moderate.

I was never going to lift it...uh...

I'm going to lift it, and eventually get an ARB rear locker and a gear swap to 4.56.

Then I'll probably break the front axle and differential. So by then, I'll have enough $ for a D44 front and a locker up there, too;)

For a stock Jeep, that was about as much trail as I'd want to do. One could do even more, probably, but tolerance for damage would have to be pretty high.

I didn't air down for fear of losing clearance, and I don't have sway bar disconnects. That'll be part of the lift.

Never felt that I needed lockers, though undoubtedly they help in some places; getting hung up was all about break-over angle. Had nothing to do with locking differentials, although they would have come in handy.

And now that I'm kind of liking getting out and about with my Jeep, which still has less than 10K miles after almost 2 years, I wonder if getting a new Rubicon and lifting THAT wouldn't be just the ticket...

This is like motorcycles...where does the silly buying end?
 
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