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AEV vs RK Lift

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Old 10-01-2015, 04:09 PM
  #21  
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Rednoll, I used the Spidertrax Black 1.5" Spacers to move the stock wheels out because if I did not the larger Goodyear Duratrac 315/70/R17 Tires will rub when making turns and the tires would hit the rear lower control arms. If you use stock wheels you can use 1.25” or 1.5” spacers, but make sure you purchase a quality spacers like Spidertrax or Alloy. Do not go cheap.

Also one thing you will need to purchase for the larger tires is a AEV ProCal or similar Programmer to change your speedometer for larger tires to increase transmission and engine performance and recalibrate your Tire Pressure Monitoring System.
Old 10-01-2015, 07:11 PM
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Originally Posted by WillysWheeler
Rednoll, I used the Spidertrax Black 1.5" Spacers to move the stock wheels out because if I did not the larger Goodyear Duratrac 315/70/R17 Tires will rub when making turns and the tires would hit the rear lower control arms. If you use stock wheels you can use 1.25” or 1.5” spacers, but make sure you purchase a quality spacers like Spidertrax or Alloy. Do not go cheap.

Also one thing you will need to purchase for the larger tires is a AEV ProCal or similar Programmer to change your speedometer for larger tires to increase transmission and engine performance and recalibrate your Tire Pressure Monitoring System.
Thanks for the additional tips. Some of this I've picked up on previously in regards to the ProCal and super chips. Rims and Tires will be my next investigation of decision making. I am planning on going with 35's, likely something in an AT tread and aftermarket 17 or 18 in rims, but I'll leave those items to another thread discussion. Now I know when choosing those rims, I'll need to consider spacers as well. Does it ever end?

Another thing along those same lines of the ProCal is that I've learned I'll likely need to "Regear". So let me ask this. My Sahara is the 3.8L with auto trans and stock 3.73 gears. I was just shopping around on Craigslist and saw someone was selling their stock 2015 Rubicon 4.10 gears for $200, fronts and rears. Is that a good price and should I buy them based upon knowing I'll be getting 35's or should I look into some other gear ratio instead? My preference in gearing will be for daily driving performance to better match the larger tires in regards to highway driving with the stock auto trans.

Front and rear 4.10's, says they have about 2700 miles on them.

Last edited by Rednroll; 10-01-2015 at 08:25 PM.
Old 10-01-2015, 07:26 PM
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4.10 gears are going to do nothing for you and the front will not work anyway since you have a dana 30 front. To run 35's on a 3.8 auto you should be looking at 5.13 gearing.
Old 10-01-2015, 08:01 PM
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Originally Posted by TheDirtman
4.10 gears are going to do nothing for you and the front will not work anyway since you have a dana 30 front. To run 35's on a 3.8 auto you should be looking at 5.13 gearing.
So it sounds like I need to add a Dana 44 front axle to the shopping list as well.....my wife is gonna kill me. The good part, is since I'm not going for the extreme off-road capability and I'm not in a rush, my upgrade items tend to be stock Rubicon take offs for someone else so I can save a few bucks that way.

I just found some rear 5.13 gears in my area.
https://detroit.craigslist.org/okl/pts/5187229957.html

Last edited by Rednroll; 10-01-2015 at 08:04 PM.
Old 10-01-2015, 08:32 PM
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Don't forget the install kit and make sure whoever is going to do the swap will do it with your supplying the parts. I would start the process with finding an installer.
Old 10-02-2015, 03:42 AM
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Originally Posted by Rednroll
So it sounds like I need to add a Dana 44 front axle to the shopping list as well.....my wife is gonna kill me. The good part, is since I'm not going for the extreme off-road capability and I'm not in a rush, my upgrade items tend to be stock Rubicon take offs for someone else so I can save a few bucks that way. I just found some rear 5.13 gears in my area. https://detroit.craigslist.org/okl/pts/5187229957.html
Guessing you live in the Detroit area? If so, DTS is the place to go for a regear. They install your parts if they're new. That said, I wished I had just got the parts from them. If there is an issue with any parts during install or after, they'll make you deal with the manufacturer. Yukon had sent me a bad locker and it was a total mess. My axle sat there for a couple weeks while I dealt with Yukon. Had I bought the parts from them, they would have grabbed another locker.
Old 10-02-2015, 01:43 PM
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Originally Posted by Invest2m4
Guessing you live in the Detroit area? If so, DTS is the place to go for a regear. They install your parts if they're new. That said, I wished I had just got the parts from them. If there is an issue with any parts during install or after, they'll make you deal with the manufacturer. Yukon had sent me a bad locker and it was a total mess. My axle sat there for a couple weeks while I dealt with Yukon. Had I bought the parts from them, they would have grabbed another locker.
Was about to suggest the same thing about looking into DTS as soon as I scrolled down to the reply button. I had 4.56 put in my 2010 6 speed this summer and I couldn't be happier with the work they did. It was admittedly my first experience with getting a regear, but the equipment (gears and F/R Truetracs) has worked flawlessly and have found no scary looking shavings in oil or anything like that. They also made it really easy to drop the Jeep off to them after hours and pick it up after hours a couple days later (I'm in Ann Arbor). There was a rebate on the Truetracs too they told me about and left all the paperwork to send in for it in the Jeep for me.

Last edited by igobytony; 10-02-2015 at 01:43 PM. Reason: typo
Old 10-02-2015, 05:40 PM
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Originally Posted by Bkeeper
If you are going to use your Jeep hard off road and load it down with heavy bumpers and armor go with the RK product line. AEV products are good and ride nice on road, but RK at least out west in our deserts and rocky terrain holds up to the abuse of being banged around a lot better.

I run a JKU with a 2.5" (3" actual height) RK system with 35" Mickey Thompson ATZ P3 tires, heavy ARB front and rear bumpers, Warn Zeon winch and a bunch of underside armor. The RK springs with their heavy rates have not sagged even after 39K miles of hard use.

Your choice of the ATZ P3 is excellent. They are built on the well proven nearly bomb proof carcass of the MTZ M/T tire. There are other hybrid AT/MT type tires out there like it but none have the lineage of the ATZ P3. Mine have proven crazy strong with grip like those found on the proverbial Mach 5 running it's grip tires. All that said it may be to much tire for your needs and wheeling terrain. I would point you to also look at BFG KO2 tires. They are not as aggressive off road as the ATZ P3 but ride super smooth and handle the foul weather of the Atlantic costal US superbly.
Which RK kit and shocks are you running?
Old 10-02-2015, 05:48 PM
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Originally Posted by fredrok
Hey Darth,

First off; THANK YOU for your service.

As mentioned here, you really can't go wrong with either. I've beat on and ran an RK kit for 3ish years now and I've been really happy with it. The things I've had trouble with have been handled with some excellent customer service recently. I've never been a fan of the control arm drop brackets that AEV uses, but that may be fine for a mostly on-road, few rocks application like you describe.

You can do a Rock Krawler 2.5 Flex system + Rancho RS9000Xl adjustable shocks for under $1400 and it's a nice riding system.

The AEV is a bit less but utilizes bracketry in lieu of adjustable control arms/track bar, etc.

You didn't talk about wider tires but if you go wider/larger, you'll need spacers (I'm not a fan) or wheels with 4.5" backspace.
This is the RK 2.5 kit and shocks I hear about often, if I got only these two things, what (if any) would I HAVE to get or SHOULD I get to finish the kit or enhance the ride performance?
Old 10-02-2015, 07:25 PM
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Originally Posted by Rednroll
So it sounds like I need to add a Dana 44 front axle to the shopping list as well.....my wife is gonna kill me. The good part, is since I'm not going for the extreme off-road capability and I'm not in a rush, my upgrade items tend to be stock Rubicon take offs for someone else so I can save a few bucks that way.

I just found some rear 5.13 gears in my area.
https://detroit.craigslist.org/okl/pts/5187229957.html
Brand new Yukons on Amazon for $157 and Motive master install kits for $118.

IMO, for the money "saved" in the difference just isn't worth installing used gears. I've done so in the past for people that REALLY want to go that route but I've always prefaced the job with a "no guarantee" clause. Luckily they've turned out fine but new isn't much money to begin with. It's a shitty job to have to do over.

Last edited by fredrok; 10-02-2015 at 07:37 PM.


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