mr72

You mean that splash guard? Nope. I have a high-clearance front bumper, no splash guard or whatever that plastic part was. It (was) rubbing only on the sway bar and only at full lock like in a parking lot.

I think this is a part of it (although my original tires were Bridgestone.. but the same theory applies). The Bridgestones appear to run a little bit smaller than advertised and the Coopers a little bigger.

Yes, his has been far and away the most useful input.

So far I have:

FRONT: 2.5" lift, adjustable track bar, adjustable/longer sway bar disconnects (end links), hockey pucks for bump stop extension.

REAR: 1.5" lift, TF track bar dropping bracket (frame side).

I think there's a pretty good chance this will solve the rubbing problems, at least on the road, without detrimental effects on handling. I suppose there's a chance at full compression there may still be some rubbing but that's a problem that I will only have off-road so I'll worry about that at a later time.

I plan to replace the shocks with longer shocks in the next 6 months.

The only "off-roading" I will be doing in the next months is driving on the beach which is only a traction challenge, not a travel or rubbing risk.

EDIT: I got everything installed. The Jeep has a ton more body roll with the lift, steering feel is more vague on-center (caster) but it's not like it was very good before. I still need to get the front axle centered right on the money and re-center the steering wheel but I am driving it the way it is until I have time on Saturday to get it nailed down just right. The Jeep really did handle a lot better before the lift but it's like on a scale of 1 to 10 it was a solid 2.5 before and now it's down to a 2.0. So while that may be a big difference, it's still really bad. I think some gas shocks with firmer valving may help a lot. Bigger sway bars would also help a lot on the road, and with disconnects it would be the best of both worlds.

nthinuf

Before the lift, you felt the ride quality was a 2.5 out of 10? Which is a lot better than the after lift ride quality of 2.0 out of 10?

What psi are you running in the tires? Some have found that their tire shops seriously over-inflated. Something to look at before buying shocks, anyway.

mr72

I said handling, not ride quality.

I haven't done a chalk test but the tire pressure feels about right driving (36).

The shocks' job is to dampen oscillations. The stock shocks don't do that well. Need to get some firmer valving to control such a heavy vehicle. I'm not concerned with a soft ride.

mr72

Today I finished getting everything dialed in.

After centering the axle within less than 1/8 inch in front I had no rubbing at full lock going left but still rubbing on right turns at full lock. I figured the steering lock was maybe not the same side to side or maybe it is body roll during turns that decreases clearance. In either case I didn't want to intentionally off center the axle to balance the clearance left to right, so I opted to put washers under the right side steering stop.

Before the lift it was rubbing significantly on both sides at lock and after the lift there was only slight rubbing one side at full lock. So the lift does improve clearance but not 100%.

TheDirtman

I hope people don't read this thread and think this is the way to go for tire rubbing. This is how things are done wrong and why your ride has gotten worse with more body roll and light steering. By lifting the jeep and lowering the frame side track bar bracket in the rear you lowered your roll center making the jeep more top heavy so it will lean more in cornering and will increase the chances of a roll in off camber situations. With the increase in height in the front you will experience more side to side axle shift causing wander in uneven or rough roads. You should notice an increase in the amount of steering correction needed when driving on the road. Rubbing will be more pronounced on the passenger side due to the increased axle shift due the the steeper angle in the front track bar. If everything is centered you should not rub on one side and not the other. The front is hard to find a measure point and likely the axle is not actually centered. Unless you are bump stopped to your ride height you are going to experience rubbing whenever you are at full lock and one tire is higher then the other. Your light steering will be corrected with one of the geometry correction brackets that lowers the control arms, will increase caster, but will increase the angle at the axle of the driveshaft.

Adding wheel adapters or proper back spaced wheels would have actually improved your ride by having a wider track and retaining the flatter factory geometry. Adding shocks valved for increased compression loads and higher rate sway bars will help reduce body roll (at high speed) but will decrease ride quality overall.

Did you add any bump stop to the jeep?

MarkY3130

It's been interesting to follow this thread. The OP won't change to different back spacing due to steering geometry/engineering concerns, yet will lift the vehicle which has more of an effect on the steering geometry than a backspace change. Different angle on the drag-link, changes to castor, etc.

TheDirtman

I think many people just try justifying lifting a vehicle because they think it makes a jeep better when generally it does not. Some like the more open fender for a more aggressive look. A flat fender will achieve this without messing with geometry.

TheDirtman

For the op and rubbing on the sway bar one side and not there other it should be known that the sway bar can move side to side in its mounts so the sway bar itself may not be exactly centered.

zstairlessone

Then bend your sway bar and be done with it!

How many cars have you heard of with the wheel travel you have on your Jeep?
How many are still using solid axles on the steering axle?
How many cars have the same turning radius as your Jeep?
The steering stop solution costs less than 3 dollars if you have to buy washers and select SS, takes less than 15 minutes to do, and is completely reversible in the same time frame. If you aren't willing to try it and see if you can park at work your only solution may be to put your OEM tires back on.

Don't get angry with people here answering your question with what they know works, they are really trying to help you.

Edit: after reading the rest of the posts I have to let you know Jeeps have only had coil springs for the last two iterations, so 75 years ago they weren't dealing with side shift.

A cheap lift is a cheap lift, if you want good road manners and good trail manners you can't do it cheap, and it makes your real question completely different than the one you posed to the group. Read Dirtman's great thread on lifts, decide what you really want from your Jeep, and go from there.

mr72

Yeah, why didn't I think of that? And while I'm at it, maybe I could reprogram the Uconnect so it's not useless and remove the half second delay operating the horn. And redesign the seat belt retractor so it functions without you having to manually feed it before closing the driver's door. As usual I should also cast my own cylinder head, assuring I get one that is less likely to crack. You know, fix all of Jeep's engineering problems like every other ordinary end user has to do.

In retrospect, I should have attempted this first. However, given the thickness of washers I had to add to one side even after minimizing the rubbing by adding an extra 1.75" of lift, I think the chances are I wouldn't have been able to shim it up enough to eliminate the rubbing altogether without putting a longer bolt in and giving up a significant amount of steering lock at least in one direction.


I'm not angry with people who are trying to help, believe me. I'm not angry with anyone In fact, despite Dirtman trying to denigrate the work I have done, I am quite happy with the result of all of this. I wish I could have left it at stock ride height but it all worked out fine in the end. And truly the new tires are worlds better than the ones they replaced.

Main reason I continued posting this is just to get the word out: you can't put 33" (or 32.6" in my case) 265/70R18 tires on a stock 2015 JKU without rubbing, regardless of what the stickies and other forums say.

And here I was hoping they'd figure out Bluetooth and a computer-controlled horn sometime in the next half century.