I've been on the forum for almost a year now I wanna say I just sold my 2012 2 door jk in june and ordered a 2014 rubicon unlimited. She finally came in about 3 weeks ago now and the build is going underway.

My plans with this jeep may be similar to alot of you folks. I bought a jeep to take it off road. I specifically bought the rubicon because I wheeled the shit out of my 2 door and realized that I wish I had lockers and beefier axles. However, with that said, it is still my daily driver. On road performance is my biggest concern.

I want to keep a low center of gravity and run 35's. I will be driving up and down the high way all week long to and from work, with the occasional weekend wheeling trip. I want a solid dual purpose lift, one that will perform offroad and handle great on the road. I am looking into, actually I am pretty much dead set on the rock krawler 2.5" Max Travel lift. So far I have bought the bilstein 5100s to go with the kit, including the steering damper.

I wanted to know what else I need for the kit. for now I am running my stock rubicon tires. I wont be putting 35's on until about 6 months after I put the lift in due to my budget. However, I want to do this the right way the first time and set my jeep up for 35's so that when the time comes to buying them its a simple as bolting em up.

I realize I need bumpstops .. what kind do yall reccomend? From Who? I know with the factory wheels that I will need spacers too .. 1.5" or 1.25" ?? Anything else that I will be needing? any exhaust modifications?

Below are 2 photos of my jeep from the weekend .. one right before I installed the new soft top. Oh and I named it "Yeticon" .. yeti and rubicon mixed in haha. plates are on the way.






thanks!

 

This is an excellent lift choice. It is especially good if you don't plan on changing the lift at all. If you are planning on adding upper rear control arms at any point I would actually recommend going with the 2.5" Flex until you are able to do the upper and lower rear arms. When you add the rear upper arms it allows you to adjust your rear pinion angle. It also extends the rear axle up to 1 inch, because of this the rear lower arms are different than the arms you would receive in the 2.5" Max Travel kit. Being able to adjust the rear pinion angle will help prevent the possibility for drive line vibrations as well as prevent premature drive shaft failure.

The bump stops depend on the size tire you want and the fender combination you go with. We would just stick with the Rock Krawler bump stops and get them along with the kit.

You will need to run at 1.5" wheel spacers with the factory wheels.

Both of the kits (the Flex and the Max Travel) are direct bolt on applications so no modifications are required to the exhaust or anything else.

You also mentioned you went with the Rubicon because of the stronger axles. This is true when you are speaking about the pinion gear and the axle shafts, however when you are speaking about the axle housing itself that isn't true. The axle tubes are the thickness as the D30 tubes, the C's are the same thickness and strength as the D30 C's, the ball joints are the same at the D30 ball joints. So with all of this being said you should still invest in C gussets and a Truss or Sleeve's.

If you would like pricing feel free to PM us. We will give you some of the best pricing around.

Also check out our Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/Smashboogie4x4

 

Just throwing out what I did, I went with a 2.5 inch budget boost from teraflex that included shock adapters, you obviously could get the even cheaper kit with out the adapters having shocks.

This way I could afford a lift and 35s at the same time instead of just throwing all my money at a lift up front. The nice thing about going this route is I have a lot of the little stuff covered, sway bar links, bump stops, brake line extension brackets ect.

I then saved up to do the shocks and took off the shock extension brackets. Since I have all the odds and ends now the next step for me is to change over to a 2.5 inch coil and take out the spacers. I am thinking Rock Krawler springs because I like the dual rate setup. Once I get the springs I will sell the spacers and shock extensions to recoup a little money. Then change out the upper and lower arms, again probably rock krawler.

I honestly would use the spacer setup longer but my Rubicon is an 08 and the front springs are sagging. It does ride nice on and off road, pretty much like it did stock, even better now that I have Fox Shocks. I ran 5100s on my TJ and loved them, I was going to go with them again but got an awesome deal on the Fox 2.0s.

I just saw you were on a budget, like most of us, for me this route was a little more satisfying for me since I am pretty impatient and just wanted to get out on certain trails that are more difficult! In the long run of course you do lose a little money, but for me getting out on the harder trails sooner with 35s was worth it. Heck it snowed last night in the mountains here in Colorado Summer is pretty much over!

Being that winters is about to be here though, you may not be in as much of a rush... I was back in the May/June time frame.

 

Not trying to be critical, but I have noticed the 2014's are coming with clear grill driving lights. Anyway, my 14 Rubi 2door should be in about two weeks from now. I'm considering the 2.5 RKrawler Max , but condidering a 3.5 after seeing several on with 35's. My thoughts are the 2.5 may not provide enogh clearance at the pinch seam. My TJ with 2.5 ift ran great with 33's, but would probably bind more with 35's. Either way, you have a great rig & please update with your final choice. Oh, download the Rk instructions for ideas abut the lift & they discourage mixing their lift with other products. May be a sales putch, but may have some truth to maintaining the integrety of the lift. Good luck!

 

I had an error in my post. I forgot we were talking about the 2012 and newer models. The exhaust is routed differently on these and this causes an interference issue between the exhaust and the front drive shaft. Two solutions are available to correct this. We recommend replacing the front drive shaft with an aftermarket unit so it does not have the interference issue. It will also be at the correct operating angle so it won't wear out as quickly. The other solution is to install a set of exhaust spacers. This will move the exhaust just enough out of the way to prevent the interference issues.

My apologies for not catching this earlier.

 

Would it make more sense to go with the 3.5" Flex system for the same amount of money as the 2.5" Max travel and the add in adjustable upper control arms down the road or will I lose a lot of on-road performance here?

I dont mind springing the money for the lift. I'd rather put more money into my suspension and be patient and save for 35's than rush into a cheap kit or a kit that won't suit my needs just to jam 35's in right away.

I can get a nice discount on the rock krawker lifts (about 25%) so I'm trying to keep everything around $1,000 out the door for now. Should I go for the 3.5" or stick with the 2.5" .. ? I guess I just want to have enough ground clearance but I havent wheeled a 4 door yet so I'm not sure if 2.5" is enough or not.

I like the idea of upgrading to upper arms as well.

 

the 2014's do come with the clear grill guards. If you added the uconnect package you will also get a digital speedometer as well, which I LOVE!

I am kind of in the same boat as you .. not sure If I should try the 3.5 or stick with the 2.5. I am not going to be "rock crawling" but I would like to be able to clear more technical obstacles from time to time.

 

After doing a little more reading this morning I think I like the idea of the 2.5" Flex system more. I would definitely upgrade to the upper control arms around the time when I purchase my 35's so this would work well. Seems like everyone clears 35's with the 2.5" Flex kit pretty easily too.

So, I would need the 2.5" Flex kit, 1.5" Wheel spacers (from who, what brand are best?) and bumpstops. The bump stops come from rock krawler? Also, would I purchase the exhaust spacer kit from teraflex? The drive shaft just isnt in the budget right now.

Let me know. Thanks

 

Also, do I need the rear wedges for the rear coils?

Trying to make a list of everything I need so ordering it here in the next couple weeks can be as easy as possible

 

I think that the 3.5" height is a good height for the JKU. Since they are heavier than the two doors it seems to work out the nicest IMO.

If you did the 3.5" Flex like you mentioned you would still be in the same boat as the 2.5" Max Travel of having to throw away the lower rear arms if you wanted to add the upper rear arms.

Just in case I didn't make myself clear in the previous posts if you add the Rock Krawler Upper Rear control arms you will also need to do the Rock Krawler Lower Rear control arms at the same time. Rock Krawler has two rear lower arms. One set is for Factory Upper Rear arms and one set is for Rock Krawler Upper Rear Arms.

The exhaust spacers are exhaust spacers, a bunch of companies make them. Rugged Ridge is offering a set of exhaust spacers for about $25 if I remember correctly.

Rock Krawler does offer bump stops but you need to know what sizes to go with.

The 2.5" lift height will be fine to fit 35's under a JKU. Going with the 2.5" Flex for now will be a good way to do it as that is the easiest to upgrade into other kits with out having to much waste. You won't need the rear coil correct wedges until you have adjustable upper control arms. You will however want to invest in front spring retainer clips.