Darth Maul

Hello all,

I'm wrapping up my USN deployment soon and I'll be returning to a 2016 JKU Sport waiting for me to be picked up. This will be my only vehicle making it my daily driver. I've been doing a lot of research on what lift I want to add to it when I get home and through all the forums, countless reviews and arguments I've read, I've been convinced I've narrowed my options down to either one of the AEV or RK kits. I've come to you all to ask what everyone's personal experiences are with these lifts or things that make them vouch or even changed from AEV to RK or vice versa.

Goals with my JKU:
It's inevitable my Jeep is going to see a large amount of time on the road, so I want a lift that excels in on road handling but I can play with one or two weekends out of the month.

Things to consider:
-This is my ONLY vehicle and I have next to no mechanical experience. So in the event I'm wheeling and something breaks, I'll most likely have to pay for professional help along with the part(s).
-As much as I want to think I'm gonna be extreme wheeling, flexing and destroying the trails on my Jeep, it's ultimately not going to be high on my priority list of hobbies. My main off time hobbies consist of games, trampoline warehouses and food. So while I want to have fun, paying 2K for a lift would be my absolute limit.
-I've also decided I'm going to run 35" Mickey Thompson Baja ATZ P3's.
-I'll be stationed in Norfolk, VA, I'm not familiar with the wheeling terrain out there, but if anyone is then that'd help my choice as well. Look forward to reading everyones responses.

WillysWheeler

Really depends on how you are going to equip your JKU. Both RK and AEV make good Suspension Kits. The first of July I installed the AEV 2.5" DualSport XT Suspension with AEV Geometry Correction Front Control Arm Drop Brackets and Spidertrax Black 1.5” Spacers with Factory Willys Wheeler 17” Wheels and Goodyear Wrangler DuraTrac 315/70/R17 Tires. The main reason I selected AEV over any other Suspension Kits is because of the heavy bumpers I installed on my JKU. I have ARB Deluxe Front Bull Bumper and Smittybilt X2O-10K Waterproof Synthetic Rope Winch which weigh over 180lbs. The rear I have ARB Rear Bumper with Tire Carrier and tire/wheel and weigh over 195lbs. I use my JKU as a DD and driven over 3000 miles and the AEV Suspension and Goodyear tires handles and rides great. You may want to watch YouTube Video on how JKU handles with AEV 3.5 Lift and 35s on a road track - https://youtu.be/HbKniB2gkl8



I also was looking at the Mickey Thompson ATZ P3 Tires and I could not find anyone that had them in stock and a friend told me to get the Goodyear Duratracs and I am glad I did. Goodyear Duratracs are great DD and quite compared to the stock BFG mud tires. I have friend that just installed the Mickey Thompson ATZ P3 in 315/70/R17 on his Rubicon JKU and said they are louder compared to the stock BFG mud tires.

karls10jk

There is zero wheeling here and it's mostly bumpy highway to get anywhere so ride will be supreme for you. The closest thing is an hour and a half to drive on the beach. Next closest is roughly 5 hours west, followed by 7 hours north to Rausch Creek.

Either kit will be nice but I think you'll want to be at the 2.5" level to avoid excessive wear and too much adjustability in the system.

Watch out for shops in the area, they know they can take advantage of the military even though they're "giving you a great deal".....

Darth Maul

Ouch, I thought there'd be at least few places closer to Norfolk.

I've read that as well and I know I'd only be initially be adding a lift and tires, then looking at extras a few months down the road.

Rednroll

Subscribed......

I'm in the exact same boat and am currently leaning towards either the a RK or AEV 2.5" lift as well.

Rednroll

Am wondering, what are the Spidertrax Black 1.5" Spacers and why did you need them?

jadmt

I have a RK 2.5" on my 2014 rubicon 4 door and a buddy has 2.5" aev on his 2014 rubicon 4 door. he has Km2 35's I have Toyo at2 35's. We just completed the rubicon trail. he had about a 2000 mile drive to get there and I had a 1000 mile drive. He said he was happy with his ride on the highway and I have put 36000 miles on mine and very happy with the ride. I believe mine did a bit better on the trail and was a bit taller than his. I run a bit lighter as he has aev front bumper winch etc and I have stock bumper with winch. my rear bumper is a bit heavier as I run a Shrock works at about 95 lbs and his is an AEV at about 65lbs. both had the same lod sliders and roughcountry skids underneath.

My front end sits about an 1.5" taller and my back about an inch taller. I think between the two they are pretty much splitting hairs. Both handle 80mph highway drives no problem.

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.

Rednroll

I've read quite a few posts where many recommend adjustable control arms to be able to adjust properly for ride. This sounds great, but I'm a lot like the OP in that if something goes wrong, I'll likely have to rely on someone else to fix it and to be honest, when I read about something that says it's "adjustable" and not really having the knowledge of being able to understand how to adjust it, this aspect of the RK lift is more of a deterrent for myself, but I'm sure most who understand more than myself would appreciate the ability to adjust. All of this could be just my misunderstanding as well, because I really don't know what a control arm is, what it does, and it's main purpose.

Stubicon

They are wheel spacers to be used with the stock wheels to achieve the correct back spacing for larger tires.