I was trying to avoid going taller. If i change the spacers, I'm going shorter. I thought about springs but, a 2 inch lift is actually 3 with springs on a relatively stock jk. As I mentioned, the off road performance meets my needs. I'll take a closer look at whether control arm brackets and/or a track bar bracket was installed with the spacer lift. Thanks.
Beginners guide to lifting your JK
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It looks like those shocks are about an inch or so longer compressed than the stock shocks. So to run them you would need at least 1" of bumpstop extension. The fronts may want 1.5" of bumpstop extension, rounding up instead of down. To maintain suspension travel with stock springs you would want at least 1" of spring spacer to match the 1" of bumpstop extension. The fronts are about 3" longer extended than stock shocks, the rears are around 2.5" longer than stock shocks. You should be OK with 1" of spring spacer, but I would check to make sure the springs don't unseat. If you run the spacers you have now along with 1" or 1.5" of bumpstop extension front and rear you should be fine.
Thanks Guzzimoto! I'm going to stick with the 2.5/1.75 spacers for now. Wouldn't the shock extender brackets I have now be considered in the compressed length of the current shocks for comparison against the new shocks?
Yes, the shock extension brackets would count in the equation to figure out how much bumpstop extension you need. But I assume you would not run them with longer Fox shocks.
I prefer going off the length of the original shocks vs the length of the new shocks. I really don't know if the current setup is right or not. I know the original shocks are sized to work with the original bumpstops. So I know that shocks that are an inch longer compressed than the stock shocks would want an inch of bumpstop extension to keep them from bottoming before the bumpstops halt suspension up travel. It is easier to figure out starting from the stock baseline than it is starting from an unknown baseline, in my experience.
If you upgrade to those Fox shocks you obviously would no longer want use your shock extensions. I don't know what you have now but I assume you have some amount of bump stop extensions. If you use shock extensions with the stock shocks you do need bump stop extensions. Typically you would want the same amount of bumpstop extension that you have for shock extensions. But I don't know if that is what you have.
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Hi all,
I'm about to install my jks 3.5" j-kontrol kit on my rubi. I'm in the fence about installing the quicker disconnects up front, because number one, I have no intention of actually using them. And two, I've read that they require a good bit of maintenance keeping them greased and clean, and I know that's not something I'd keep up with.
I got the adjustable rears. Can I still just move the oem rears up front instead of using the quicker disconnects?
I'm about to install my jks 3.5" j-kontrol kit on my rubi. I'm in the fence about installing the quicker disconnects up front, because number one, I have no intention of actually using them. And two, I've read that they require a good bit of maintenance keeping them greased and clean, and I know that's not something I'd keep up with.
I got the adjustable rears. Can I still just move the oem rears up front instead of using the quicker disconnects?
You should be able to just move the rears to the front and install the new rears.
I can't say I would do that, but if you don't actually off road your Wrangler that might make sense.
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Not so much that I won't off-road, just that it's a rubicon and the e-disco is more than enough for my needs at this point. So the qd's just become an extra maintenance item, and another point of failure. Am I wrong?
I have a question about wheel width and backspacing. Most "Lift" manufacturers say you need a wheels with a back spacing of 4.5 (or smaller) or a combination of wheels and spacers to get there. Since the minimum clearance is between the tire and the vehicle, why don't manufacturers mention wheel width? For example, the difference in actual clearance between a 35x12.5 tire, 8.5 wide wheel with 4.5 backspace and 33x11.5 tire, 8.5 wide wheel with 4.5 is only .03 inch, while the difference in backspacing is 0.7 inch.
The only lift manufacturer that I have seen this quoted is in the instructions for Rancho, where they specify the Rancho 4"lift was designed for 35x12.5R17 tires with 17x9 wheels with 4.5 backspacing. This would give an additional 0.27 inch of clearance over my example above.
I have two questions:
1. Is the 4.5 backspacing requirement advertised for lifts also imply a rim width of 9" or greater?
2. What is the most popular rim width 35-37 inch tires?
The only lift manufacturer that I have seen this quoted is in the instructions for Rancho, where they specify the Rancho 4"lift was designed for 35x12.5R17 tires with 17x9 wheels with 4.5 backspacing. This would give an additional 0.27 inch of clearance over my example above.
I have two questions:
1. Is the 4.5 backspacing requirement advertised for lifts also imply a rim width of 9" or greater?
2. What is the most popular rim width 35-37 inch tires?
The lift manufacturers tend to be conservative with their published requirements. Most say you need a wheel with 4.5" of backspacing, in part because that is a fairly common size but also because that gives them room to spare. So if you follow that requirement you will likely have room to spare no matter what size tire you put on that wheel.
For example, in most cases while the lift says you need a wheel with 4.5" of backspacing you can get away with a wheel that has 4.75" or even 5.2" of backspacing.
If their is clearance issues between the lift and the wheels / tires it is usually at the back with the sway bar links. Often the solution is as simple as running the sway bar link on the inside of the bracket instead of outside the bracket.
As an example to all this, our first lift was a Teraflex 2.5" lift. The lift said the standard thing about backspacing, that you need 4.5" of backspacing. But we ran that lift for a year or so with the stock factory wheels with 6.2" of backspacing. And we wheeled it fairly hard like that. Never an issue with clearance for the wheels / tires.
So lifts really do need less backspacing, this does not apply to all lifts. If the lift uses brackets to space the front shocks out wider that might not work with some wheels if they have too much backspacing. Lifts with extra travel are more likely to be sensitive to backspacing, and they are more likely to need brackets to space the front shocks out. But honestly, just because brand X lift says you need wheels with 4.5" of backspacing doesn't mean you can't happily run wheels with 4.75" or 5.2" of backspacing. Lots of people do. We ran 37's with 5.2" of backspacing on that TF 2.5" lift, the only rubbing was minor rubbing when turning all the way left or right between the tire and the chassis at the back of the tire or on the sway bar up in front of the tire. But it was not a problem.
An 8.5" wide rim is fairly common, but some have 9" rims and that works as well. I would not go wider than 9" myself. But that is in part because we wheel it, and a wider rim is more likely to get damaged off road, all else being equal.
For example, in most cases while the lift says you need a wheel with 4.5" of backspacing you can get away with a wheel that has 4.75" or even 5.2" of backspacing.
If their is clearance issues between the lift and the wheels / tires it is usually at the back with the sway bar links. Often the solution is as simple as running the sway bar link on the inside of the bracket instead of outside the bracket.
As an example to all this, our first lift was a Teraflex 2.5" lift. The lift said the standard thing about backspacing, that you need 4.5" of backspacing. But we ran that lift for a year or so with the stock factory wheels with 6.2" of backspacing. And we wheeled it fairly hard like that. Never an issue with clearance for the wheels / tires.
So lifts really do need less backspacing, this does not apply to all lifts. If the lift uses brackets to space the front shocks out wider that might not work with some wheels if they have too much backspacing. Lifts with extra travel are more likely to be sensitive to backspacing, and they are more likely to need brackets to space the front shocks out. But honestly, just because brand X lift says you need wheels with 4.5" of backspacing doesn't mean you can't happily run wheels with 4.75" or 5.2" of backspacing. Lots of people do. We ran 37's with 5.2" of backspacing on that TF 2.5" lift, the only rubbing was minor rubbing when turning all the way left or right between the tire and the chassis at the back of the tire or on the sway bar up in front of the tire. But it was not a problem.
An 8.5" wide rim is fairly common, but some have 9" rims and that works as well. I would not go wider than 9" myself. But that is in part because we wheel it, and a wider rim is more likely to get damaged off road, all else being equal.
I have a super rookie question....
I bought a second hand 2014 Sport Unlimited. Originally didn't plan to do anything to it at all, but lately have been considering a small lift, wheel spacers, or maybe just a levelling kit and spacers. Funny thing is I THINK it may already have a levelling kit installed...how do I tell for sure? I measured from the fender to the top of the stock tire, and it's 5.5" front and back, so doesn't appear to have a rake at all. Can somebody tell me what the stock measurement should be? What change would I expect with Terraflex 1.5" levelling kit?
I bought a second hand 2014 Sport Unlimited. Originally didn't plan to do anything to it at all, but lately have been considering a small lift, wheel spacers, or maybe just a levelling kit and spacers. Funny thing is I THINK it may already have a levelling kit installed...how do I tell for sure? I measured from the fender to the top of the stock tire, and it's 5.5" front and back, so doesn't appear to have a rake at all. Can somebody tell me what the stock measurement should be? What change would I expect with Terraflex 1.5" levelling kit?
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Welcome to the Forum, from Cave Creek AZ.
This thread tells you what to measure and what stock measurements are. So you can see if you are at stock measurements or if you are a given amount above stock measurements.
How to measure JK lift height ?
Front seems to be very well documented But how do we measure the rear using the same concept ? I've never checked my lift height, specially the rear height, because i never took measurements stock to compare, so i always say 2" lift in general :) Thanks a lot.
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