Im new here. I'm looking to replace my suspension on my 07 Jeep Wrangler 2 door. It currently has rough country. I purchased the jeep about a year ago with the suspension system already in place. I've replaced a lot of the front end with rough country parts already. rc adjustable track bar, RC adjustable control arms and some other front end work. Anyway, I recently put on mickey Thompson 35x12.50x 20 Baja atz. I pretty much replaced the tires that were already on with a better tire. I wanna get rid of tire rub if at all possible. im not sure how big of a lift and what kind to get. Im looking for some advice. This jeep is my daily driver so im looking for something that is good on the road but also quality enough to take a beating when I do decide to take her off road. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks
I would stay around 4 1/2" lift for a daily driver, I have a 6" lift and it requires alot of upgrades to your suspension, front end work, transfer case mods, pinion angle mods.. no death wobble because I dumped tons of money into stability and I still get play in the steering. So choose wisely
For that size tire you can run a 2.5" lift to get rid of any tire rub, assuming your new wheels have the proper backspacing.
You could just buy a 2.5" lift that has the features / performance you want.
Or, since you already have some parts you could simply franken lift it buying only the parts you still need (springs, shocks, bump stops, rear sway bar bracket, brakeline brackets, etc).
I would suggest you simply buy a 2.5" lift kit.
A few basic rules; A spring lift tends to deliver more lift than advertised, keep that in mind. Up to 2.5" lift tends to be a lot less expensive to do right than a 3.5" or higher lift. Less lift is cheaper to do right, better to do less lift right than more lift but poorly. A well designed lift can ride better than stock. But a poorly designed lift will ride worse than stock. That is especially important to remember if you decide to frankenlift it, a lift is only as good as it is designed to be.
I have a 2010 JKU. I started with a Teraflex leveling kit which was just spacers and longer sway bar links up front. I then went to a Teraflex 2.5 inch lift but left the spacers in. My wheels have a 4.75 offset. I run 33x12:50s and I have no rub whatsoever. For shocks I run Bilstein 5100s. For me it's a perfect set up. It's a daily driver but it can also handle some pretty rough trails too.
Just thought I'd share to give you something to think about. Just like advice, the options available are almost too much!
Here's one of the main problems with Rough Country. They use a rubber bumper on the shock shaft as a bump stop. It is not adjustable, not really removable, etc. It's a really poor design. You didn't say where your tire is rubbing...
If you wanted to fix the rub and stay with what you have, you could add some traditional bump stops in the proper height and that would do it if you are rubbing the fenders. Or you could just add a set of flat fenders to allow the tire to stuff higher and that would actually increase your performance.
Or go with a much better lift kit as you mentioned. This will be the popular choice and probably what you should do... A very good setup that is recommended a lot here is the AEV 2.5 XT lift kit. It rides remarkably well and is still very capable off road. We do recommend a few updates to go along with the base lift kit. I would add a set of front lower control arms to correct caster and we like to add a set of 2.5" rear sway bar links and move the stock rear links to the front instead of using the brackets that come in the AEV kit. That's an outstanding setup.
I would add a set of front lower control arms to correct caster and we like to add a set of 2.5" rear sway bar links and move the stock rear links to the front instead of using the brackets that come in the AEV kit. That's an outstanding setup.
The issue is likely the off set on your wheels, not the lift. What back spacing are the wheels? Are you rubbing the frame or the fenders? IF you are rubbing on the plastic air dam just remove it like everyone else does. Rough country is a budget kit for sure and tends to ride really soft and the coils don't handle weight as well as something from Metal Cloak or Synergy. Just swapping to another kit like the AEB2.5 XT will not do anything if you are rubbing now with a 3" Rough country lift. Disregard post #3 as he is talking about TJ's not JK's. The two are very different in terms of lifts.
If he is rubbing the sway bar or control arm at full steering lock, you are correct... If he is rubbing fender and wants a new lift kit like he mentions in his post, switching to the AEV will absolutely fix his problem. That's why I asked where he was rubbing.
an AEV 2.5 on a 2 door will handle like a sport car on the road and do very well on all but the toughest trails offroad. It will give the right amount of lift for 35's.
If rubbing the fender, all you need is to add some bump stop. You don't need to buy a whole new kit. The OP already has a more complete lift than the AEV 2.5 offers. The OP just needs to get into the details. As far as your comment on the rubber bumps on the RC shocks, they are made to protect the shocks from bottoming out not to act as a bump stop for the vehicle. Other shock companies offer the rubber shaft bumps and if you don't like them you simply cut them off with a razor knife.
Well, the bump stop on the shock is all that is provided by RC. It absolutely is their bump stop. You apparently didn't read my post at all other than the AEV recommendation... What you said is EXACTLY what I said.
AEV springs and shocks are VASTLY better than Rough Country springs and shocks.
I would agree the Rough Country kits are incomplete and should come with proper bump stops. Their newer shocks do not have the rubber bumps BTW.
The OP also already has adjustable control arms and adjustable track bar. Did you not catch that in the first post? You recommend a basic kit with the addition of adjustable control arms with a weaker track bar than the RC one.
It amazes me on this forum with as big as it is the amount of poor advise which is basically "buy the kit I have and bolt it on" Very few people here actually understand suspensions and proper set up. I would swear the Quadratrac catalogs is the main resource of knowledge here.
IF the AEV coils and shocks are so great, why not recommend buying them and some bump stops vs buying a whole kit where you are going to throw out 20% of it. The AEV kit's bump stop pads are a fixed length as well so you can't really fine tune them.
For this user, this will allow you to more fine tune the suspension with more travel over the AEV and give you a great ride all for less money then the AEV 2.5xt kit. $773 vs the AEV kit at $980
I would agree the Rough Country kits are incomplete and should come with proper bump stops. Their newer shocks do not have the rubber bumps BTW.
The OP also already has adjustable control arms and adjustable track bar. Did you not catch that in the first post? You recommend a basic kit with the addition of adjustable control arms with a weaker track bar than the RC one.
It amazes me on this forum with as big as it is the amount of poor advise which is basically "buy the kit I have and bolt it on" Very few people here actually understand suspensions and proper set up. I would swear the Quadratrac catalogs is the main resource of knowledge here.
IF the AEV coils and shocks are so great, why not recommend buying them and some bump stops vs buying a whole kit where you are going to throw out 20% of it. The AEV kit's bump stop pads are a fixed length as well so you can't really fine tune them.
For this user, this will allow you to more fine tune the suspension with more travel over the AEV and give you a great ride all for less money then the AEV 2.5xt kit. $773 vs the AEV kit at $980
Well, your comprehension isn't all that great... It always amazes me on this forum when someone comes on and makes absurd statements about things like bent front axles when there is zero evidence of that being the case...
Listen, you don't know me. PERIOD. Or have any clue about my knowledge of suspension. I do not run AEV, I also do not specifically push what I run (Patagonia's are an exception). I help based on what the poster is asking for. For example, the AEV kit doesn't come with a front track bar, so he can keep his RC bar. He doesn't say he has a rear RC bar and he gets one with the AEV kit. Again, get some comprehension in your reading.
I've read your posts and believe you are pretty sharp. But you are highly biased and think everyone should build only 1 way. That is not the Jeep world we live in. Also, your attacks on Rock Krawler are bordering on obsessive and certainly childish. I haven't responded directly on any of your posts until you tried to hit my post directly on the AEV recommendation. It's a solid recommendation in his application period.
So we are going to just have to continue down different paths...
Bias in what way?
I just expose RK for what they are. People should be aware of what they are buying not rely on instagram photos. Much better companies out there from Synergy, Metal Cloak, Genright, Currie, Clayton, JKS, some Off Road Evolution products, Core4x4 control arms, Fusion 4x4 axles. Ruff stuff steering and brackets.
You're clearly biased towards rock crawling builds... For a rock crawler, that's great. But, there are many other build types and keeping an open mind to what a member is actually asking for is a desirable skill.
Your comment of "exposing RK" just reinforces my statement.
I'm done as nothing positive can come from this discussion continuing and it certainly isn't helping the OP.
The alignment camber read out in the other thread for the guy you could not even help adjust toe shows the axle is indeed bent. How is that not proof? How else would the camber be out of spec? It would be nice if a guy offering advise could actually read an alignment read out.
I am not sure how you come to that conclusion as I have not even mentioned anything about rock crawling builds. One photo of me flexing must have got your panties in a twist. That or you are a RK fanboy.
Rock crawling builds are easy to do, the real tough builds are the daily driver that drive good and require much more time in the details and spending some time on the set up. Alignments are super important here as well as realizing that height doe not equal capability.
Control arms allow you to adjust caster for better steering while drop brackets do this as well as flattening your links for better tracking and reduced roll steer when you are driving on the road. For most people that use there jeep as a daily driver are better off with the brackets. If you are where you are playing in the rocks a lot then you gain some clearance by using adjustable control arms vs the drop brackets.
Moving the rear sway bar links to the front will not increase flex but it is important to do so you don't flip the front sway bar under full droop. If this happens the links will wrap around the drag link and lock up your steering links. You want your front sway bar links to put the sway bar into a horizontal position at minimum and I like to put it pouting up 10-15 degrees. The steeper the angle on the links the less effective the sway bar becomes so you don't want to much up angle on it.
Actually a jeep with the sway bar links connected would keep the body flatter on obstacles. Disconnecting will actually increase the amount of body roll and decrease the stability you get off road if that is what you mean by "smoothing out the ride a bit." When disconnecting the sway bar you are in effect reducing the spring rate of the suspension allowing the coils to compress more easily. It will give you a bit more articulation but a properly set up suspension running both front and rear sway bars hooked up will actually work better overall in terms of traction and reduce the chance of roll over in extreme off camber situations.
Well, the heart of the issue is that as the axle drops, the geo brackets cause the pinion to rotate up, effectively limiting the travel of the driveshaft to something similar to a 3” lift and keeps the CV within its operating angles. This also works the opposite way at extreme uptravel, where the pinion rotates slightly down. The CV joints used in the JK can handle more torque than a 1350 Ujoint and have more range of motion with less vibration than a traditional Ujoint/Double Cardan drive shaft.
· They rotate the pinion in the extreme ends of the travel to limit driveshaft movement
· They drastically increase anti-dive so the nose doesn’t drop when the brakes are applied suddenly
· They get the control arms working in a more natural range of movement for a better ride quality
· They adjust castor so adj arms are not necessary which tend to be a point of failure over time on a street driven vehicle.
I agree they will allow the axle to travel in a flatter arc but the pinion would not rotate up during droop, it would still rotate down as the upper arm is shorter then the lower and would move in a tighter arc. It would rotate down less than a lifted jeep with conventional or adjustable control arms. At a 3" lift height this would be very minimal and only be seen under extreme articulation at slow speed.
Anti-dive with the brackets would be the same as stock, it would not drastically increase anti-dive but is better than factory or adjustable control arms on a lifted jeep as it puts it back to factory.
we can agree to disagree. I have driven many with and without and no way is the anti-dive even close, I have had them on and off several of my own lifts as well as ones I have installed.. the difference is drastic. I have seen the computer data in action and i am going to go with what what I posted.
You're completely ignoring the pivot points and the angles of the control arms. jadmt is right, with the brackets and lowered pivot points, the upper arms are actually moving the top of the axle forward as it droops.
Also, feel free to find a small ramp and with your sway bar connected, just go up it a short ways. Put an angle finder on the front bumper.... Then back it down and disconnect the front sway bar and go the same distance up the ramp and put the angle finder on the front bumper again. Note the difference... It's not theory, I've done it.
Sorry you don't understand geometry The only way the upper could push the axle forward while drooping is if at ride height the upper arms were pointing way up. The furthest forward position would be when the arms are flat and as they start to angle down with the droop they would pull the axle towards the center of the jeep.
Neither jadmt nor myself said full droop. But now that you acknowledge how it works, you must now also realize that the pinion angle is reduced at full droop, all of which is easier on the driveshaft.
The AEV brackets do this because they don't just drop the mounting points vertically. They also change the relationship of the mounting points in other ways. (Front to Back and the amount of separation.)
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