How to lift?

[Gianni]

As some of you know I'm new to off road cars, I come from the jap world.
When we lower out cars it does put extra strain on drive shafts as the average gap between box/hub decreases.

What's involved in lifting a TJ. I've done done research so far and found 2 ways. Suspension and body lifts. Or combinations.

Can someone run through pro's and con's of each or walk me through a decent setup?

As I understand it the body lift just places spacers between chassis and body lifting it higher but leaving suspension the same so no extra strain.
A suspension lift lifts the while car higher and would have similar effect to lowering. Drive shafts, steering rack ect would be under more stress being seperated more. Their fire causing more strain and ware and tear. So what do people do to improve this.

I guess someone give me a decent rundown if you can.
Cheers :)

[anthonygubbin]

If you want a decent lift kit it would be best to talk to one or more of the vendors on here regarding your needs. I would suggest buying a kit as you will have most things in it that are required for your desired lift. Be mindful too that on your TJ you won't need all that much lift to do some decent offroading shit.
Larger tyres are often a goer but be mindful that bigger tyres will mean other issues that required large amounts of cash to sort out. Eg diff ratios, axle bracing.
In Vic, Double Black Offroad you could try. I assume they do suspension kits. I use Wooders for near on everything I need as he is one of a few who deal in XJ stuff regularly.

Regards A

[Moses]

It does depend a lot on what sort of hight and tyres you want to run


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[Gianni]

I don't want a lot more height. 2" seams to look good. Tires probably 1 size larger (32) but wider I think. I just think they look too low standard.

[ozjeepster]

Bend at the knees & keep ur back straight haha ;)

[Moses]

For a 2" lift there is not much to it, springs and shocks and that is about it
Drive train does not have too many issues with only a small lift
But it does depend who you ask, some people will tell you to fit an SYE and change control arms and regear your diff ect ect



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[Dustbowl]

Bend at the knees & keep ur back straight haha ;)

Hahaha my thoughts excactly :mrgreen:

[Gianni]

Oh very good. And the body lift with spacers? What about them. Reason is I've looked at a few pics and 2-3 look good. So might go a 2" suspension lift and 1" spacer. I'm sure 2" will be fine. Like lowering 2" it does cause faster ware but its not that dramatic.

Another question. To get fatter wheels is it just the tire or the rim as well. I've never dealt with off road tires

For a 2" lift there is not much to it, springs and shocks and that is about it
Drive train does not have too many issues with only a small lift
But it does depend who you ask, some people will tell you to fit an SYE and change control arms and regear your diff ect ect



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[Gianni]

Bend at the knees & keep ur back straight haha ;)

Bwahaha. Shit out your o-ring

[anthonygubbin]

Tyre width will depend on how wide your rims are. If they are only 7" then 31/10.5 is your limit if you have 8" rims then you can go wider. I would find out how wide your TJ rims are.

Regards

[Gianni]

Looks like they will be stock rims on it. Tyres are new so will probably wait till I need new ones before upgrading unless someone is wanting to head back to stock and trade. But I'll advertise that when I get to it

So for now 2" suspension lift. (How much would I be looking at spending on average?)
And I'll grab a 1" eBay spacer kit

[anthonygubbin]

Looks like they will be stock rims on it. Tyres are new so will probably wait till I need new ones before upgrading unless someone is wanting to head back to stock and trade. But I'll advertise that when I get to it

So for now 2" suspension lift. (How much would I be looking at spending on average?)
And I'll grab a 1" eBay spacer kit

IMPE I have had little success with Ebay Jeep items. IMPO I would go to the vendors list on here and purchase through one of them. That way you will get the exact kit probably cheaper and not something that has been made to suit a few different Jeeps and is therefore made "close enough" (which is not actually close enough) as I have found out the hard way. But its up to you, you might get lucky, might not........;)

Regards A

[Gianni]

Yeah I'd get the shocks and springs through a good company. Always do. I have bc coil overs on my coupe ATM. Great quality, they sell directly through suppliers but also on eBay.
I might just scrap the 1" spacer idea. Ill talks to the suppers on here about prices :)

[anthonygubbin]

Yeah I'd get the shocks and springs through a good company. Always do. I have bc coil overs on my coupe ATM. Great quality, they sell directly through suppliers but also on eBay.
I might just scrap the 1" spacer idea. Ill talks to the suppers on here about prices :)

It would be a wise move. Like I said, been there done that. I only wish I knew about the AJOR site and its vendors when I first bought my Jeep it would have saved a fair amount of head ache some of which has only just now surfaced over two years later.

Regards A

[Gianni]

How much would I be looking at spending? On my jap cars a really nice set of fully adjustable (height, damper,camber) shocks and springs are around 12-1400

[Moses]

If you only want to run 31-32" tyres I personally just stick to the suspension lift, in saying that I do have a 2" body lift fitted to my TJ
As for fatter tyres that depends on who fits them, I did have 33x12.5 tyres fitted to a 7" rim on my old XJ without dramas
Allot will be personal preference as there are so many options for a TJ


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[Gianni]

Alrighty. I just found out there are coil spacer lifts too. Jebus. A lot to take in. Was looking through the TJ lift pictures thread. Ha ha.

What's the difference between a coil spacer lift and a body lift?

[Moses]

Exactly as it says
One sits on top of the coil to add height and the other sits on the chassis to lift the body
It is a cheap option to fit coils spacers to get a 2" lift


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[Gianni]

Aha. I'm slowest getting there :) I'm defiantly going with a 2" suspension lift.

Now the body lift. What does it sit on to lift. I've read people put spaces on diff's ect to drop them down (is this the body lift) so the shafts aren't under as much strain, but doesn't actually make the car sit higher. Is this correct?

[Richo]

Coil spacers will lift your car, but in fact provide less travel in many circumstances..... The coil may bind on full compressions before the shock bottoms out, and the shock may top out before the spring fully extends.
And you will get no improvement in ride quality.

They should only really be used for leveling the car.

A body lift only provides more under guard clearance to stop rubbing or to allow you to fit bigger tyres. I doubt with 31's youd have any reason for a body lift. Big body lifts can cause all sorts of problems from issues with gear selection and transfer case shifting to cracking/breaking the mounts off the floor due to excessive movement between the chassis and tub.

Use vendors on here for a proper suspension set up, take their advice, they generally have more experience about what works than most.

[Gianni]

All right coil spacers are out of the question for me then.

So far worked out suspension with 2" or 3"

So where do the body lift components go? Is it as I said before where it spaces the drive train away from body or is it something else?

[Gianni]

Anyone heard of these guys?
They seem to be Australian
http://robustsuspension.com/products.php#Jeep

[Richo]

Anyone heard of these guys?
They seem to be Australian
http://robustsuspension.com/products.php#Jeep

Nope, never heard of them, which doesn't mean much though....
Cheap suspension is generally that.

[Gianni]

Alright. After more googling and more discussion in here I think simply a suspension lift will do.
I'll just go a 2" suspension lift no coil lift or body lift. Anything else you guys would recommend.

I'm not looking at spending more than 1.5k on the suspension lift though

[Moses]

I am guessing from reading some of your posts that you will be fitting the lift kit yourself ??


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[Gianni]

I am guessing from reading some of your posts that you will be fitting the lift kit yourself ??


Yeah bro. That's the easy part. I'm used to doing suspension stuff on jap cars is all. We like it stiff and low. Labor is easy. If you haven't read my introduction, I make my own exhausts, cooler setups, I do a lot of engine swaps, drive train upgrades (I can do an evo gearbox in 80mins in and out *fist pump*) even did an awd conversion in 3 days. My first introduction to the 4x4 world was when my mate bought his 2012 hilux. Brought it straight to me and got me to cut the bumper in half and install a bull bar :p

[Moses]

Doing it yourself means you are open to far more options of lift kits and you will save heaps of coin


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[Gianni]

Alright sweet. If anyone know any other good places to source from let me know. I found some second hand old man emu ones at good price.

[Gianni]

http://www.quadratec.com/products/16110_012.htm
What do you guys think?
Also #16117.10?

[Sontssonts]

The problem with the American kits is they have a reversed track bar to us and most of the brackets are for the axle end. You could get that and source a bracket locally though.

Also, you may want to look at a stiffer spring rate depending what heavy mods you might attach.

[Gianni]

The problem with the American kits is they have a reversed track bar to us and most of the brackets are for the axle end. You could get that and source a bracket locally though.

Also, you may want to look at a stiffer spring rate depending what heavy mods you might attach.

Stiffer? Where does it say how stuff it is? Do you have any good links?

[Gianni]

Update the robust kit I posted up yesterday is made in the uk and has two ratings 40-80kg and 80-120kg

[Gianni]

Also these for $450
Only 18 months old cones with t/c drop and rear track bar drop bracket
http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z323/lxanda/70E82171-BCE5-462C-9023-96D2C1F21297-581-000000EB8A7C4E3B.jpg

[Sontssonts]

Stiffer? Where does it say how stuff it is? Do you have any good links?

the one you linked states they are stock rating. once you add extra weight for bar, winch etc, particularly on the front, it can start sagging. Best to get HD springs where you can.

I had the same OME kit. they also have different ratings available. about 1200 new from memory. never had a drama with it. looking at that pic, if you have/get and auto, you will need another 2 T case spacers for the extra skid.

[Gianni]

the one you linked states they are stock rating. once you add extra weight for bar, winch etc, particularly on the front, it can start sagging. Best to get HD springs where you can.

I had the same OME kit. they also have different ratings available. about 1200 new from memory. never had a drama with it. looking at that pic, if you have/get and auto, you will need another 2 T case spacers for the extra skid.

Yeah I think the jeep I'm buying is sagged at the front. Has an arb bull bar and standard suspension.

Winches, is it hard to fit the to the arb bar? The gap looks tight. Do I need a mounting plate or is it designed into bar?

[Sontssonts]

Winches, is it hard to fit the to the arb bar? The gap looks tight. Do I need a mounting plate or is it designed into bar?

I fit a 12000 tigers 11 in no problems. Should bolt strait in

[Gianni]

Cheers with the winch info :)

Got my wrangler. Looked under it and it looks like front shocks at least are aftermarket.
Not knowing how high the sit normally I need to see if it has in fact been lifted (previous owner bought it as is so doesn't know)

What is the stock height (centre of hub on wheel to the inside of the arch (front and rear)
Or any other points. :)
Cheers

[Matthew Phillips]

http://www.4wd1.com/TJ-Wrangler-Suspension.htm

Stage 4 $1407

This is the kit i bought and fitted. It's a good 2.5" lift, not much to it and i've had no problems. I'm running 32" 11.5" muddies and theres plenty of room. No need for a body lift i reckon.

Good small lift setup.

- Matt

[low ranger]

I wanted to run a good 4" long arm kit but after talking to machinery inspectors & their nasty cousins, I fitted the Rancho stage 5 kit. It`s a great kit but in hindsight, far too expensive when you compare it to the US pricing.
Cheers,
Rick