Hello everyone. Needs some help and pointers. I recently purchased my first Jeep. Although I have had many lifted vehicles in the past, this is my first Jeep. I purchased a 2013 JKU with what looks to be a 4” Rugged Ridge lift. How I came to this conclusion is based on serial numbers I found on the springs. It currently sits on 305/65 17s. Ride quality is pretty solid and front end feels tight. My plan is to go 35x12.50 17’s in the near future. Can anyone tell me how this kit is? Is it junk or is it good? What issues should I be aware of, should I change anything or all of it? When I go to aftermarket fenders 35’s should fit pretty well? Thanks in advance to all.

 

I am fan of rugged ridge. I have a few of their products installed on my Jeep. Idk how their lift kits are though, but I could imagine its a good kit. there are better kits out there. I might replace my teraflex lift kit that might be worn out now. I had 35s on a 2.5 lift. It was perefect. I did offroading and there will be plenty of room. I had the rugged ridge flat fenders. Now i have the metal cloak fenders. You are going to have fun with your jeep....

 

Rugged Ridge, Smittybilt, etc are mostly Chinese parts so I wouldn't say high quality but acceptable most of the time. If it does what you want it to do then it's perfectly acceptable. If a point in time comes where the handling isn't as nice as it should be or you notice sagging then go from there. You just bought it- get out and enjoy it before sinking a ton of money in it. You'll find plenty of people who build awesome vehicles and never get to take them anywhere because they're trying to afford asall of the extras they had to put on it.

 

I did not know rugged ridge even made lifts.I would consider their stuff to be on the cheap side as far as quality goes.

 

35's will fit fine right now. (what is the backspacing on your rims?) With flat flares, 37's would look better to fill some of that wheel well space.

Does this look like it might be the kit?
https://ruggedridge.com/4-inch-lift-...ription_tabbed
http://www.ruggedridge.com/instructions/18401.60.pdf

No idea of the quality, but a few items that jump out are:
Cam Bolt Kit - (it comes with a set of front and rear fixed control arms, were the cams installed also?)
Front Trackbar Drop Bracket - (which requires a Drop Pitman Arm that, as indicated in the description, is very helpfully not included in the kit...) Verify whether these are installed.

 

not sure on the back spacing as they were on when I bought it. That does look like the kit from what I can tell. I’ll climb under her in the next couple of days get some pics and respond. She’s not a daily driver.

 

If it rides fine by your standards, don't change anything. No kit on the market is complete, so the best course of action would be to piece one together.

Avoid Rough Country and Rock Krawler. I have swapped all Rock Krawler components out, except for my coil springs (which will go soon too).

 

Curious what issue you have with Rock Krawler?

 

IMO Rock Krawler puts out crap and gives people a huge run around when you try and get them to honor their warrantee. Lots of bad parts pass thru their "quality control". Their coils sag boos badly, they have had lots of issues with joints. The ride sucks. Their arms are overly heavy. They sell you fixes for their bowing coils instead of giving you the proper way to correct the issue. Poor instructions.

They do put out lots of scenic photos of jeeps with big tires and talk about how great they are on social media. From what I have seen RK is one of worst companies in terms of issues over the past. They also actually make only a few of their parts and outsource things like joint, coils, brackets. As far as I know they do actually make their arms and shocks.

If you want them to warrantee something you basically have to get on the forums or social media and complain about the issue you are having then they will tell you to call in and they will address it.

 

good to know, thank you!