3.5" lift with stock driveshaft?

53398 Views 32 Replies 19 Participants Last post by n3tfury, Sep 23, 2015

jawn_wong

Discussion Starter · Mar 29, 2015

I met someone this weekend who was running a 3.5" rubicon express standard coil lift with their stock driveshaft. Now I know under full droop it will rub against the exhaust but this guy said he had no issues. Anyone else here run their stock ds on a 3"+ lift? Any idea how long before you will need to replace it?

I am currently running a 2" spacer lift on 33's with a magnaflow exhaust but want to move onto a 3.5" rubicon express lift being that it comes with an adjustible track bar and I like the height. (Looking to upgrade to 35's in the future and rather get the height I want now)

I travel about 5 miles a day for work and occasionally wheel on the weekends. Just looking for a second opinion!

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21 - 33 of 33 Posts

jawn_wong

Discussion Starter · #21 · Mar 30, 2015

I appreciate everyone's input!

After reading all this and doing further research I think I am going to go with a 3" Rancho Sport lift with RS9000XL shocks. As far as the ds debate goes I was planning on getting a Rancho Exhaust pipe kit .

I only plan on doing some light wheeling and don't really disconnect much.

Will I have issues with the Rancho Exhaust pipe kit with my Magnaflow exhaust?

I've only read good things about this Rancho lift..feel free to chime in

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kjeeper10

· #22 · Mar 30, 2015

jawn_wong said:
I appreciate everyone's input! After reading all this and doing further research I think I am going to go with a 3" Rancho Sport lift with RS9000XL shocks. As far as the ds debate goes I was planning on getting a Rancho Exhaust pipe kit . I only plan on doing some light wheeling and don't really disconnect much. Will I have issues with the Rancho Exhaust pipe kit with my Magnaflow exhaust? I've only read good things about this Rancho lift..feel free to chime in

Send Rancho/Dynamax Matt here on the forum a PM for compatibility.

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jawn_wong

Discussion Starter · #23 · Apr 3, 2015

I'm going to pull the trigger on a 2.5" Rock Krawler Stock Mod Lift with Bilstein 5100's.

Anyone have any pics?

(I didn't go with the 3" Rancho cause I rather not worry about the driveshaft)

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dawhitesJKU

· #24 · Apr 3, 2015

I have the 2.5 RK max travel kit. I tried to upload a picture but i'm exceeding capped quota. search my threads...pics included.

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MartinJKU

· #25 · Apr 30, 2015

Hey there,
I have a 2008 JKU Sahara and I am planning on getting a 4″ Rough Country Suspension Lift with 35″ Nitto Trail Grapplers. I have been researching the specs on Wrangler Forums, and everywhere I look people are talking about how it is NECESSARY to either have a Steering Stabilizer, Aftermarket Driveshaft or Front Arm Control Brackets or else the front driveshaft will snap. I am not looking to be Rock Crawling, possibly will be doing some trail riding, mainly my everyday driver and I cant afford the extra add-ons right now to make it an extreme off-roader.
Please let me know if any or some are absolutely necessary for my lift, and if so would a smaller height lift be more acceptable for my Jeep?
Thanks

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cdeslandes

· #26 · Apr 30, 2015

I guess it depends how much flex one gets out of the lift. If it's just a springs/shocks affair, that's probably okay. If the lift includes fully articulated control arms and track bars then the front driveshaft is more likely to rub against the exhaust.

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MartinJKU

· #27 · May 1, 2015

This is the "In The Box" list for the lift kit, of everything included:

Front & Rear Coil Springs
2.2 Series Shocks
Track Bar Brackets
Rear Sway Bar Links
Brake Line Bracket
Pitman Arm
Rear Coil Correction Plates
Hardware

Here are some of the features mentioned in the online listing for the lift also:

Contains rear coil correction plates
Rough Country performance 2.2 series shocks
Uses OEM control arms
4 Door JK specific lifted coil springs

Does this help, cdeslandes? I'm not exactly mechanically inclined haha.

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cdeslandes

· #28 · May 1, 2015

MartinJKU said:
This is the "In The Box" list for the lift kit, of everything included:

Front & Rear Coil Springs
2.2 Series Shocks
Track Bar Brackets
Rear Sway Bar Links
Brake Line Bracket
Pitman Arm
Rear Coil Correction Plates
Hardware

Here are some of the features mentioned in the online listing for the lift also:

Contains rear coil correction plates
Rough Country performance 2.2 series shocks
Uses OEM control arms
4 Door JK specific lifted coil springs

Does this help, cdeslandes? I'm not exactly mechanically inclined haha.

Your Jeep is a 2008, correct? If so it doesn't have the same driveshaft clearance issues as a 2012-2015. So you should be okay with the existing driveshaft, assuming the installer sets the caster and pinion angles correctly.

As for the Steering Stabilizer I wouldn't bother unless you experience problems. Then it's an easy swap.

However, based on your intended tire size, a 2.5" lift would be plenty enough and much less likely to cause problems. A 4" lift is useful if you want to run 37" tires. That seems to be the consensus.

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mommymallcrawler

· #29 · May 1, 2015 (Edited)

MartinJKU said:
Hey there,
I have a 2008 JKU Sahara and I am planning on getting a 4″ Rough Country Suspension Lift with 35″ Nitto Trail Grapplers. I have been researching the specs on Wrangler Forums, and everywhere I look people are talking about how it is NECESSARY to either have a Steering Stabilizer, Aftermarket Driveshaft or Front Arm Control Brackets or else the front driveshaft will snap. I am not looking to be Rock Crawling, possibly will be doing some trail riding, mainly my everyday driver and I cant afford the extra add-ons right now to make it an extreme off-roader.
Please let me know if any or some are absolutely necessary for my lift, and if so would a smaller height lift be more acceptable for my Jeep?
Thanks

A 2.5 lift would be fine. I wouldn't do a Rough Country lift tho at any height other than their puck lift maybe. Look for the "most popular lift on WF" post and get drop brackets option. The brackets will help the steering and handling of your Jeep. I believe our vendor AOR sells the lift and everything as a package deal for a good price. Driveshaft will go sooner on a 2.5 lift than zero lift, but will not be an immediate issue. And it will give you warning before it goes - vibrations, grease, torn boot. So just periodically check it. Shouldn't need a steering stabilizer.

Nittos are heavy, not the most daily driver friendly tire. Nor are 35s for that matter.

With the 3.8 engine, you may want to strongly consider regearing with 35 inch Nittos.

Big Jeeps are a pay to play sport. Don't compromise with a cheap lift. Wait until you can do it right. Perhaps if budget is an issue, a better option would be a puck lift.

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MartinJKU

· #30 · May 1, 2015

MartinJKU said:
This is the "In The Box" list for the lift kit, of everything included:

Front & Rear Coil Springs
2.2 Series Shocks
Track Bar Brackets
Rear Sway Bar Links
Brake Line Bracket
Pitman Arm
Rear Coil Correction Plates
Hardware

Here are some of the features mentioned in the online listing for the lift also:

Contains rear coil correction plates
Rough Country performance 2.2 series shocks
Uses OEM control arms
4 Door JK specific lifted coil springs

Does this help, cdeslandes? I'm not exactly mechanically inclined haha.

cdeslandes said:
Your Jeep is a 2008, correct? If so it doesn't have the same driveshaft clearance issues as a 2012-2015. So you should be okay with the existing driveshaft, assuming the installer sets the caster and pinion angles correctly.

As for the Steering Stabilizer I wouldn't bother unless you experience problems. Then it's an easy swap.

However, based on your intended tire size, a 2.5" lift would be plenty enough and much less likely to cause problems. A 4" lift is useful if you want to run 37" tires. That seems to be the consensus.

I have decided against the 4" RC lift after doing more research on it. It seems to be a popular lift, but the amount of Jeepers that have encountered problems is a huge turn off. I am now considering a 3.25" Rusty's Suspension Lift. This seems to be a great, American made lift and not only will it clear the 35's, I will not encounter NEARLY as many issues later on down the road. Here is a link to the lift online, please take a look at it and tell me what you think. I think with this lift, I wouldnt have any problems with the driveshaft/exhaust clearance at all, as it comes with front and rear adjustable track bars. And yes it is a 2008, I am glad to hear that there arent many drivetrain issues with that year's model! Thank you for your continued help on my lift quest.

Rusty's JK Wrangler 3.25" Basic Kit

Many thanks.

MartinJKU

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JKRUBI14

· #31 · Sep 22, 2015

jawn_wong said:
I'm going to pull the trigger on a 2.5" Rock Krawler Stock Mod Lift with Bilstein 5100's.

Anyone have any pics?

(I didn't go with the 3" Rancho cause I rather not worry about the driveshaft)

Here's the 14 Rubi I just sold with that same set up with added flat fenders.

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jksrep

· #32 · Sep 22, 2015

I'll throw our $.02 out there.

Factory JK driveshaft failure is a matter of when, not if.

For our 3.5" JSpec system we have the down travel stopped before the front driveshaft is maxed to keep it alive. Customers have the option of throwing longer shocks in there, the rest of the kit will droop much more, but the factory driveshaft will die. I have some customers that are wheeling some pretty wicked stuff with their factory driveshafts and haven't had an all out failure but a lift kit of any kind will cause the driveshaft to wear more quickly, it is only a matter of to what degree.

Your factory driveshaft will generally give you under 100k miles (of course this being the internet I will say there are always exceptions, so calm down if you have a JK with 125k miles and a factory driveshaft still going strong: I acknowledge you exist so sit down it will be ok.)

If you will be wheeling your JK my recommendation is to either limit down travel to something reasonable that keeps the factory driveshaft from hitting its max, keep an eye on it and just drive it until is starts to wear or just bite the bullet now and get a fancy driveshaft for the front, and if you're going to spend that much coin, just do yourself a favor and do the rear. I prefer the idea of ditching the factory driveshafts right out of the gate to eliminate a weak link then just go enjoy your Jeep.

It's a Chrysler product, you have enough to worry about. Driveshafts are an easy one to remove from the list of things to look at.

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n3tfury

· #33 · Sep 23, 2015

jksrep said:
Your factory driveshaft will generally give you under 100k miles (of course this being the internet I will say there are always exceptions, so calm down if you have a JK with 125k miles and a factory driveshaft still going strong: I acknowledge you exist so sit down it will be ok.)

Lol

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3.5" lift with stock driveshaft?

jawn_wong

jawn_wong

kjeeper10

jawn_wong

dawhitesJKU

MartinJKU

cdeslandes

MartinJKU

cdeslandes

mommymallcrawler

MartinJKU

JKRUBI14

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