Suspension upgrade

[John Bernard]

Seems every door one opens in this quest...leads to a room with another 3 or 4 doors to open ! On the geometry/ drop brackets.. I notice now that JKS and Rancho both list their brackets as a welded unit. The same design by all accounts but welded and ready to go out of the box. Given the first step on the 'plate' brackets is to actually bolt them together the JKS/Rancho units come ready to fit and given their construction, possibly stronger ? I've now heard on the grapevine that my exhaust may get in the way of fitting ..any of these units to the diesel so I'll have to scratch around underneath and check that out first.

[RLT]

I've got a 2007 built JKU 2.8 Diesel.
Went with the AEV 2.5" with brackets 8 years back and done about 100,000 km on it with no issues so far, apart from surface rusted springs (England), as the protection appears not as good as OEM plus the aluminium surface on the shocks corrode.

[John Bernard]

Originally Posted by RLT

I've got a 2007 built JKU 2.8 Diesel.
Went with the AEV 2.5" with brackets 8 years back and done about 100,000 km on it with no issues so far, apart from surface rusted springs (England), as the protection appears not as good as OEM plus the aluminium surface on the shocks corrode.

.. Thanks for that. Good and tested information is always welcome. The brackets clearly have been around a longer time and I guess JKS and Rancho just put their spin on it. They are more $ of course but not dramatically so. I checked under the car yesterday and from an access point of view there is no problem getting to the control arm mount points on either side. The after market exhaust may have helped but I dont recall how the OEM unit was routed. If I can jag a set of these solid units I may grab them but at least I know the AEV & equivalents are a good and proven thing. Thanks again.

[st_za]

I run the Rubicon Express brackets that are a 2 piece bolt-together unit. They have taken lots of punishment over 4 years because I like to rock crawling and they are the lowest point on the body, but they held up perfectly fine.

If the CRD has them and they're still on your Jeep, remember to reinstall the exhaust heat shields because the control arm rubber joints perishes faster without it.

[John Bernard]

The radiant heat from the exhaust is understandable but my 3" system seems to be well clear of the control arms currently and no heat shields at all are evident below the cat . Very glad I didnt have to deal with a DPF on my model. I'm still waiting on some feed back from a local agent with regard running with the Pedders set up but wondering if I should run some bump stop extensions in the front at least if not the rear ? The lift will be in the region of 2.5-3". It doesnt do much hard work or extended articulation but it is running 33's currently and that may step up to 285/75R17's on the next tire change. Wondered if the push in Teraflex units were the way to go. Cant drop any serious coin but it appears there's no end to 'Just Empty Every Pocket' ?

[RLT]

I'm running 315/70/17 Duratracs (a little over 34") on the 2.5"AEV
Only thing I had to do was trim the front air dam a little as they run a little wider than most tyres that size (12.7" I think)

[destron]

My JK has a 2.5" Rubicon Express from 4wheelonline and 285/75/17's. I am quite happy with this setup. I did no trimming.