Sahara_Maverick

Howdy!

So, I am making the final decisions on the 2in lift for my Sahara JKU. I'm leaning towards coil lifts after reading many threads and reviews all over the places.

My main application will be overlanding. Not crawling. My jeep is also my DD and the lift is just for those cases where even in mild trails we want to go over some stuff, but not radical ones. It should also help a bit with creeks crossing, snow, etc. Not planning on mud.

I use the 32s set when in DD/city and change for the 35s set when going offroad, which includes highway travel.

1) Old Man Emu, Teraflex or ... ?
The OME kit seems to get better reviews. I am currently leaning towards this kit. Any other kit and (good) reasons to consider it?

2) In Wayalife's OME install article there are some mentions about having to install adjustable stuff for fine tuning it. Is there really any need for adding more stuff than the springs and shocks that come with the kits, considering what I am planning to do?

3) I also saw the Mopar 2in lift and it comes with tons of stuff. Are they really necessary and would make the Mopar kit a better choice? I really want to avoid having to start adding stuff later to fix "new issues" hence the question number 2.

4) The 35s add one extra inch, even though in some cases airing them down negates that. Nonetheless, anything else I should consider when getting the lift kit? I'm not planning on going over this height. This will be it.

5) Is it better to get the coils from one vendor and the shocks from other, meaning piece-mealing the kit? This is related to questions 2 and 3.


Vendors welcome to chime in with technical reasons.

Thanks in advance!

blue project

If your looking for an overland lift I would highly suggest that you look at AEV's 2.5" lift. Thiers are made for that exact thing more so than the other company's. That kit with the addition to their geometry brackets will be everything you need and want. It will also clear 35's when your fully flexed with rubbing on the fenders. I had another company's leveling kit (close to a 2" lift) with my 34's and I broke a lot of rear fender clips. As with most parts you get what you pay for.

Rock Krawler Suspension

If you have any questions on any of our 1.5" products let us know. We have many 1.5" systems with adjustable components or you can simply start with the 1.5" Triple Rate Coils front and rear then build up from there on your JKU. They will provide you with almost 2" up front and 1" in the rear for your application. Good luck with your build. Let us know if you have any questions...

RK

Sahara_Maverick

Thanks much!

I gave another look into AEV and Rock Crawler and have a couple questions about them.

AEV
- I read several posts about the geometry brackets where they either create some low dragging points and are not strong enough when hitting rocks or other stuff. Very good highway/street performace. However, it was not very clear whether the users that complained were doing rock crawling, which is not my intention. Any comments/experience on this?


Rock Crawler
- Read very good testimonials about it. Priced above the others but overall seemed that the quality justified. Very good points on the adjustable arms' flexible head. However, it was not very clear whether the Jeep will maintain (or improve) the highway/street handling. It seems more geared towards rock crawling than highway/street performance. Will it sacrifice my Jeep in that aspect? Do I need to also buy new shocks? The kit does not include them, but it appears longer travel shocks are needed. Or can I just add shock spacers?



I also noticed that some kits have control arms and others not. What benefit new control arms provide?



Thanks much again!

blue project

Aev lifts are more of an overland type. Small rocks and obstacles are fine with the brackets. They are not intended for serious rock crawling. I have their 2.5 with the brackets and love it. I ran it without them and having them made a world of a difference having them. You will be really happy with it! The highway and street manners are greatly improved over stock and I'm running 34's.

jadmt

I give kudos for the RK 1.5" coils if you want to limit the amount of lift you are going for which is what I wanted and the fronts ride really good. I got exactly 2" up front on my 14 rubi unlimited with stock bumper and winch and front skid plate (about 100lbs total). Still waiting for the rear coils. RK has a strange shipping policy, for some reason they wait 2 weeks to ship after you place the order even tho they say they have stock on hand, I guess it is like the restaurant that makes you wait to be seated even tho you can see half the tables are empty .

going just with the 1.5" triple rates is pretty inexpensive at about $260 or so. I already had a 2" AEV kit so I already had bump stops and was running longer Rancho 7000 shocks.

nthinuf

It sounds like you might want to spend a little more time learning what the various components do, and why they become more important as you lift higher? Things like caster correction and centered axles are for the 99.99% of the time spent driving onroad, not the .01% spent offroad. Swaybars being angled down too far has been an issue while on a lift at the mechanics shop, not just flexed out in the rocks. Same with brakelines that are too short for the setup.

At 2", many people don't worry about these things, and you may never have an issue if you slap the coils on with no other components. Just saying that you should know what they do so that you can decide what you need.


Caster correction. Same thing the drop brackets do, but the brackets do it a bit different and have an added benefit, as well as the negative of hanging down.

If you are happy with your current shocks, you can buy a set of extensions. Many lower priced lifts come with them, they will work fine.

jadmt

good points on the brake line bracket extensions and front sway bars both are needed or at least they were for me. When max flexed front brake lines were tight so I did the aev mod and just removed the brake line from the bracket and zip tied them to the front shocks. The rears were even more banjo tight so I installed a teraflex bracket extender. I picked up a set of rear sway bar links for the front and they are the perfect length for a true 2" lift. Fortunately for me my caster is 3.7* and 3.9*

TheDirtman

It looks like you have a pretty heavy jeep. When you are off roading are you carrying a lot of extra weight as for as tools, gear, and spare parts as well? Coil rates wil vary from manufacture and the amount of lift you gain from different companies will vary as well with your overall weight. What gearing do you have in the axles? With the 3.8 and the automatic 35" tires will the jeep will strain quite a bit and performance will be low if that matters to you at all. If you are one of the lucky ones you got 4.10 gears and swapping between 32" and 35" will not be that big of an issue although the 35's would perform much better with 5.13 gearing. With a heavy jeep with lots of gear up high on the jeep I would try and address your roll center buyrasing the rear track bar bracket and you may want to look at a higher rate torsion bar on the rear to minimize sway.

Sahara_Maverick

Thanks everyone!

After going back to more searches and reading I'm leaning more towards the AEV with the drop brackets. Since I'm lifting I'll with the 2 inches.

It also looks simple enough that I can install myself.

My JKU has a LoD full width bumper + winch (synth line) and the rear bumper is still the original plastic one but I plan to replace it with Lod full width also. However, my Jeep already has an OrFab tire and Jerry can carrier. Add the Congo Cage rack + the dual seater kayak and travel stuff and it can get a bit heavy. So the 2.5 may end up being 1.5 to 2in.

When I put the 35in tire set it easily rubs on the fenders. So, this lift should help with that also.

Thoughts?