RCubed

I dont really forsee going to greater then 35's for a rig that is used as a daily driver.

My very uneducated assessment is going over 4" and greater then 35" tires is going to require so many other drive train changes that I feel at that point I would be making a mostly trail vehicle that would be towed to a wheeling area or only really driving when going wheeling.
Not that it could not be driven as a daily driver, just that changes beyond those start changing the geometry of the drive line and the power and gearing and all the other stuff I have been reading about from those far more knowledgable on this forum.

I also cannot see selling a 2 month old Jeep to upgrade to a different model. Driving it off the lot reduced it value enough to not make that an optimal financial decision. I learned a little too late is all about the hows and whys of the drive line differences between the Rubicon and Sahara. In the Sahara these are upgradable and something that I can do just about any time down the road if I get into wheeling that is beyond the capabilities of the Sahara drive line and my driving abilities and that I feel I can spend disposable income on.

ALso as I said at the beginning... I was and still have my F350 Crew cab diesel and every time I saw one of the "Its a Jeep thing" I just thought yea .... ok not I am BEGINNING to get it.

Major Ho

If it means anything to you, If I could go back and do it again, I'd get the 4" Long Arm over my RE 3.5".
Still very comfortable as a DD and still very capable off road.

RCubed

that was supposed to read

now I am BEGINNING to get it. with an additional follow on of why did I start getting it at the start of a recession this takes money

Also ... one of my considerations for the 4" is dealing with the additional weight. I bought a 350 truck vs a 250 for the simple reason that 500 pounds can add up in a hurry. When you load up an unlimited with 2 adults 3 kids a dog and gear for a long weekend and you have already put on heavy duty bumpers front and rear, heavier tires, winch and other recovery oddss and ends, wouldn't having an additional inch of suspension travel be a better thing ?

RCubed

bump.
Any other thoughts, opinions recommendations?

Is a long arm suspension the best way to go?

Phishjeep

Wranglers hold their value better than just about anything else. You may want to see what you can get on a trade in. At 8 months and 15000 miles (I don't remember the exact numbers, but they're on the forum somewhere) I was offered what I paid for my Rubi 2D.

Piginajeep

for ride quality its the best, Do it right the first time and go long arm.

It'll save you money

JKBenB

For your concerns about weight on the suspension, Full Traction offers Heavy Duty springs on their kits (The 4" LA, it's standard)
This should make up the difference for a heavy load and heavy bumpers and such.
If that's the only reason you were wanting to do a 4" LA lift, you could just do the 3" with HD springs, put on 35's and call it done.

Eracer76

Yep, I learned this the hard way...
I had the RE 3.5" superflex before, It was a great kit and did just fine off road, but I sold the whole kit with shocks for a $500 loss.
I did use it for almost 8 months though

Now I have the RE 4.5" long arm and it is VERY nice to drive, on and off road.
I wish I would have just bought this kit the first time around!

RCubed

It is not jsut weight it is the complete holistic package.
4" lift is higher then I need but I also do not want to be running down the road feeling like I am riding in a buck board horse drawn wagon going over a wash board either.

There is the whole cool factor too. There are a couple of folks on this forum also from Parker. I am sure I have seen them running around town. There are two way nice rigs that I just love the look of.

So stage one looks like it is going to be :
Full Traction 4" long arm lift

stage 2 will be

Micket Thompson Baja Radial MTZ's 315/75 R16 mounted on
Dick Cepec DC 1 in Black
Body Armor tire carrier rear bumber.

Stage 3 will be
Fab Fours Front winch bumper with winch yet to be decied and additional driving lights to augment the long range windshield lights I already have and the built in fog lamps in the fab fours bumper.

I am so looking forward to getting this all done. Although I know for sure I will have to put a call for assitance out to the local guys/gals around to give me a hand to install the lift. But that makes for a great day to get together share some experiances, add mods and beer and pizza.

Anyway that is with wish list/plan. More then originally budgetted so it will take a few more months to get completed with these 3 stages but I sould be done by mid summer. Guess I better put some aside for repairs... I have seen some of JKKAT's posts on how much fun they have had

dick_burns

After reading all of your posts it definetly sounds like you want the long-arm, so get it. I keep trying to come up with reasons why I dont want to buy the long arm just to make myself feel better because it doesnt fit into my budget, but there isnt any. And it sounds like you have a little bit bigger budget than I do, so I think the best and smartest decision for you would be to just spend the extra grand and get what you really want.

If you can afford it then the only good reason not to get it is if you were building a mall crawler (which according to your posts isnt what you are doing), and in my opinion people with mall crawlers shouldnt be allowed on this forum.