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Anyone drive anything..lifted?

BlackTigers

BlackTigers

Diamond Member
About a month and a half ago, I drove a jeep WJ home from the dealership.

....a week later, I was bottoming it out on rocks, trees, small children....not getting the ground clearance I'd like. (going from a ford escort to a jeep was pretty badass thou).

Sooo, looking around on my local craigslist, I found a 4.5" long arm lift for a decent price.

Has anyone driven anything lifted for a DD? I have a 20 mile round trip highway journey every day, but from what I'm reading my gas mileage will only drop about 3-4 mpg at most, once I factor in the 33's and larger axles.
 
4.5" inch kit is pretty darn high and a long arm kit will affect your on road handling, as will your now much higher center of gravity. Also, that tall of a lift will probably require you to buy a slip yoke eliminator kit and a new drive shaft that is the correct length for the new axle position and has a feature in it to allow it to change length as the suspension cycle through its travel. Add another $600+ for just the parts for the new driveshaft and SYE kit. That will be on top of the cost of tires, wheels with the correct backspacing for the tires you want, axles (either you get junkyard axles that you spend a ton to modify, or you buy the ones you want, in general the price difference between the two isn't as big as you'd think unless you can do the work yourself), etc.

Remember, a lift won't get you a single extra inch of space under your axles and diffs. If you're hanging up on your axles and diffs you need to do 1 of 2 things. Either pick better lines so you don't hang up or get bigger tires. In much of the jeep modifying world there's now more people choosing to run as little a lift as needed to get to the tire size they want. This idea was epitomized by Jeep's "Lower 40" concept, which ran 40 inch tires without a lift. You'll want to research how much lift it will take to get those 33's under your jeep, if they'll require bump stops to prevent the tires from eating your fenders, and even modifying your fenders and/or fender flares to accommodate the bigger tires.

By keeping your lift and tires to reasonable amounts you won't need to change your axles, driveshaft, or install a slip yoke eliminator. In the end it will be FAR cheaper and your vehicle won't be a beast to drive on the highway.
 
I know they like to tip over. You are basically raising the center of gravity of a vehicle that already has a high center of gravity. I don't know how guys drive those things with big off road tires. They just howl on the freeway and that's got to be annoying as hell for the passengers..

Many of these lift kits are not legal for use on public roads but nobody seems to enforce these laws so it's unlikely that you'll ever run into problems with the law.

Of course, larger wheels will kill gas mileage, increase braking distances, and make your vehicle even slower to accelerate.
 
JulesMaximus said:
Many of these lift kits are not legal for use on public roads but nobody seems to enforce these laws so it's unlikely that you'll ever run into problems with the law.
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Yeah, that statement is incorrect in all but the most restrictive areas. Very few lifts themselves are illegal, some do require things like mud flaps though. In some areas you'll also need extended fender flares that extend out past the tire.

Also, keep in mind that he's talking about a 4.5" lift, not the multi-foot ones you see on those big diesel pickups that never leave pavement. You tend to see fewer jeeps with useless lifts like that.

My old jeep has a 3" lift on it and that's as far as I'd want to go. While he can get away with a bit bigger lift due to his WJ being a wider, longer vehicle I personally think that for a daily driver that's too much. < 3" will be much cheaper and won't compromise the normal driveability of the jeep as much.

JulesMaximus said:
I don't know how guys drive those things with big off road tires. They just howl on the freeway and that's got to be annoying as hell for the passengers.
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And I don't know how you can ride around crouched over on your bike for hours on end. I think that would be incredibly uncomfortable. However, there's no problem with you liking it. You're willing to deal with riding in a way that I would find uncomfortable, I'm willing to deal with tire noise. If it's your hobby you deal with annoying things because you find it fun.

Imported said:
That's one awesome Jeep.
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Yes it is, I really wish somebody would come out with a conversion for it. When they took it out for a spin for the first time it popped a wheelie in the parking lot. 😀.
 
I had a WJ with a 2" budget boost that my dad now drives. I'd go that way if I were you. IIRC, you can fit 245/75/16 tires, or 265 with a little trimming. Also get a full set of skid plates.

I have a XJ with a 2" lift right now. It's pretty nice knowing I have ground clearance for pretty much any trail here. I drive it like a sports car and it hasn't flipped.

wGnK5.jpg
 
JulesMaximus said:
I know they like to tip over. You are basically raising the center of gravity of a vehicle that already has a high center of gravity. I don't know how guys drive those things with big off road tires. They just howl on the freeway and that's got to be annoying as hell for the passengers..

Many of these lift kits are not legal for use on public roads but nobody seems to enforce these laws so it's unlikely that you'll ever run into problems with the law.

Of course, larger wheels will kill gas mileage, increase braking distances, and make your vehicle even slower to accelerate.
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I don't know how guys drive 265hp FWD cars.

It's not going to tip over in normal driving even with a 4" lift. There are lots of vehicles that are almost at that height straight from the factory, like the 4Runner. All terrain tires are usually pretty quiet. BFG TA/KO tires are almost as quiet as pure road tires, which is why Ford and Hummer use them as OEMs.
 
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Go on jeepforum.com and ask about what brand is good for the WJ. They'll also be able to tell you what else you need such as extended brake lines, what kind of lift you need to run what size tires, or what lift height will require a slip yoke eliminator and new drive shaft.
 
BlackTigers said:
http://www.ironrockoffroad.com/Merc...=IROR&Product_Code=IR-W_3LK&Category_Code=PFW

Better? Seems much more reasonable... I'll fab up my own sliders for the rocks and I should be good. A set of 265/75/16s and I can have a good lift and a much better stance for under a grand...much more reasonable. ...
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3" is too much for stock control arms. The angle will be too great and the ride will suck. Even at 2" the XJ and WJ ride pretty rough up front. When you hit a bump the angle forces the tire forward into the bump.
 
With 2" pucks, you can keep stock shocks, stock driveshafts, etc. So it's a lot cheaper. Then if you want to go higher you can get 2" lift springs to combine with the pucks, and get a long arm kit.
 
Throckmorton said:
3" is too much for stock control arms. The angle will be too great and the ride will suck. Even at 2" the XJ and WJ ride pretty rough up front. When you hit a bump the angle forces the tire forward into the bump.
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The nice thing about a 2" lift is that they are CHEAP. A budget boost with new shocks can be had for less than $400 and won't require any other purchases to make it work. It won't really get you more wheel travel but getting bigger tires will help more than anything else you can do. Bigger, better tires and a traction device in the rear axle (limited slip, locker) will be more useful than the crazy long travel suspension in almost every situation.
 
Which rear axle do you have? Dana 35 or Dana 44 aluminum? You can tell if it's the Dana 44 by testing the housing with a magnet
 
BlackTigers said:
Soooo 2 inch pucks, some bilstein 5100series shocks, and bigger tires is a good entry?
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Go and ask at jeepforums in their WJ section for recommendations on specifics (brands and places to buy them), but pucks, shocks, and tires will make your jeep noticeable better on trails. If you still scrape, start picking better lines when you drive order things or invest in some skid plates (those aren't a bad idea anyways).
 
Bignate603 said:
And I don't know how you can ride around crouched over on your bike for hours on end. I think that would be incredibly uncomfortable. However, there's no problem with you liking it. You're willing to deal with riding in a way that I would find uncomfortable, I'm willing to deal with tire noise. If it's your hobby you deal with annoying things because you find it fun.
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Oh believe me, it's not comfortable for long periods of time. It's just that when I'm buying a car that I'll likely be commuting to and from work daily I want it to be comfortable and quiet...two things a truck or Jeep with big off road tires is not.
 
JulesMaximus said:
Oh believe me, it's not comfortable for long periods of time. It's just that when I'm buying a car that I'll likely be commuting to and from work daily I want it to be comfortable and quiet...two things a truck or Jeep with big off road tires is not.
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I'm 19 - my DD and toy all just happened to be wrapped in one vehicle. Loudness isn't a concern, considering I have a Dayton 12" sub, mb quart components, and ~1000w of amps waiting to go in.... I think I can drown out some road noise if needed.

I'll go check my axle in a second.
 
JulesMaximus said:
Oh believe me, it's not comfortable for long periods of time. It's just that when I'm buying a car that I'll likely be commuting to and from work daily I want it to be comfortable and quiet...two things a truck or Jeep with big off road tires is not.
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So what you care about is different than what I care about. For a while my only vehicle was my '71 CJ-5. I didn't have doors or a roof, the ride is bouncy, the handling wasn't great, the tires were loud and the exhaust pipe was only a foot or so away from your butt, the engine was loud, and it topped out at 60 mph. However, I love driving that thing. It's just something I like enough that the other stuff doesn't matter. Hobbies rarely make sense, but we love them anyways.
 
Bignate603 said:
So what you care about is different than what I care about. For a while my only vehicle was my '71 CJ-5. I didn't have doors or a roof, the ride is bouncy, the handling wasn't great, the tires were loud and the exhaust pipe was only a foot or so away from your butt, the engine was loud, and it topped out at 60 mph. However, I love driving that thing. It's just something I like enough that the other stuff doesn't matter. Hobbies rarely make sense, but we love them anyways.
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That's cool. I have no problem with that. I'm sure it is fun to drive and I'm sure I'd enjoy driving it, I know I wouldn't enjoy driving it on a daily basis though...but that's just me.

What I have a problem with is these trucks I see with huge, and I mean the bumper is 4' off the ground, lifts. Those things should not be street legal.
 
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JulesMaximus said:
What I have a problem with is these trucks I see with huge, and I mean the bumper is 4' off the ground, lifts. Those things should not be street legal.
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I agree with you on that, and for the most part the modifications to those trucks have nothing to do with what the OP wants to do. Monster lifts like that typically end up making the vehicle unusable offroad. They're unstable and often more prone to break due to the ridiculous suspension geometry. Even on fullsize pickups and things you don't find people serious about offroading that put on lift kits measured in multiple feet. The kinds of people with the monster lifts are just idiots trying to show off. For the cost of one of their tires and rims they could get a beater jeep or small pickup that could do better offroad.
 
I have 6 inches on my 72 wagoneer. I have 33's but could probably fit 35s. 6 is the max i would want to go on anything. my truck is just a toy also. I spent 1200 on new custom leaf springs and am planing on getting a d44 for the front in the future.
 
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