Pyro1415

Well I don't plan on pulling the trigger for a while. Wife and I agreed only one more lift in my lift time so I talked her into coil overs this was like a week ago. Because, coil overs are adjustable I wanted a good foundation. I'm still trying to find out how adjustable a long arm kit is to see if you can use the same ones for a 3.5 to 5.5. Maybe one of you can enlighten me.

I've done a lot of research and know past 3.5 the driveshafts need replacement, almost all the steering parts will as well. But my jeep has 50k miles and the wear and tear is showing anyways.

I'm just looking for the best way to do this once and I figure a tf elite 4" or mc/rk 3.5 is the way to go. I haven't looked into coil overs too much but the recon 12" bolt on seem nice and I like the bolt on approach. Maybe I'll just go short arm but is there even a point with coil overs at that point?

I might sound like an idiot here but that's why I'm posting. So people who know more can give their experience.

JK505

Andy, Dirtman: this is all yall. I don't want to give you bad information and they know a lot more about them than I do.

TheDirtman

It should not be an issue between running 3.5" of lift or 5.5" of lift with a long are as most will have more then enough adjustment to regain the loss of wheel base because of the lift. However different manufacturers do have varying lengths in their joints. You can look up my joint comparison thread on Jkfreaks. I list dimensions and explain how the joints are made. Now you are throwing coil overs into the mix and when you get down to this type of set up you will want to map it out and do lots of flexing and measuring to get the most articulation from the set up. Tire size, shock length, up and down ratios, coil and valving rates all need to be looked at to maximize the set up. You may be looking at a front end stretch as well to gain some clearance

Pyro1415

Definitely don't see my self doing a front end stretch. I'll have to find you're comparison thread. So would coil overs still be worth having with a short arm kit?

TheDirtman

I does not matter one bit if you are running a long arm or short arm with coil overs, set up is the key. The only reason everyone does not run coil overs is due to the cost and knowledge to set them up. I you could get a set of coil overs for $200 everyone would be running them.
From what I have seen in this thread, I doubt doing either a long arm or coil overs is going to be much of a benefit to you. It seems like you are just looking to throw money at the jeep.

Pyro1415

Well I'm a weekend trail guy, will definitely go out more in Alaska and like I said I only want to do it once. My 2.5 is only a partial and I would like a little more lift for the technical stuff. I would also like to do arms and trackbars which bring the cost of a new lift height to being worth it. I'll never be the guy with 40+ and 6+ inches of lift though.

Pyro1415

On a side note I'm surprised no one has called me a retard for misspelling coast but it's probably because of all the other reasons lol.