Anytime, did you decide what you are going to do? I never did ask if you were doing it yourself or having a shop do it?

 

I don’t weld so a local shop will do it. I’m going 6” stretch for now then maybe another 2” in the front. Keeping stock axles and tank. Leaning toward 12” ORIs frenched in frame ( probably with 3 link ) or in stock shock location ( ish ) with standard 4 link.

 

I think you will be wasting your time and money with a 6" stretch. It's just not enough gain for the effort. I would push the rear out so the tires are even with the bumper. Put your decline axle at 90*, the longer arms will give you a better ride, and the longer driveshaft will have better driveline angles. If you are going to leave the fuel tank I would stick to a 4 link. The three link feel loose in the rear and you won't have the up travel issues that goes with the tall bridge over the axle. With your specks (12" travel) a 4 link will have all the flex you need.
The outboard ORI's will need a balanced up down and will be tough to do with factory width axles as keeping the track bar will push/pull the axle side to side reducing your clearance. If you are looking at one of the stretch kits offered by a couple of companies, be know they are not 6" for performance reasons, its because they want to people that don't know what they are doing a "stretch" kit that costs a ton and does little for the performance. A real stretch kit requires too much jeep modifications for the companies to take the liability risk. I have seen a couple already stretched JK's for sale, you may be money ahead to sell yours on pick on of them up. With what you are talking about you will eat up $10k pretty quick. Too bad you were not a bit closer, I could do a proper stretch for about what a kit runs price wise.
Good luck with the build.

 

Guess I still have some questions. What’s the difference in performance with a 6 inch stretch in the rear and a 2 inch stretch in the front, versus an 8 inch stretch in the rear?

 

approach and decline angles but you should be more than 8 in the rear.

 

I saw you suggested in another thread to move the lower control arm axle mount up 1 inch, and upper control arm axle mount up 2 inches to increase ground clearance and separation. Should the upper control arm frame mount be moved up a little bit into the curve of the frame as well?

 

Yes, the upper mount should be as high as you can get it. The frame cross members are typically in the way and need to be relocated as well to allow for better control arm mounting location. You may also want to look at your sway bar to decide what you are going to do with it. I intergraded an anti rock into a relocated frame cross member in front of the axel and it has worked well for me.

 

What do you think about the Motobilt back half kit?

 

Looks weak to me and expensive for what it is.

 

Subscribed to this one