gnarly_mike

If I were to take the advice of the 95% of people and forums and magazine articles online, I would need nothing short of a prorock44 and 4.88s to run 35s. What a joke.

I am worried about steering over time with the 37s, but not the axles. I will be building them. Idk about a truss up front but everything else that "built" entails.

If we could stick to talking about suspensions I'd appreciate it gents

Dirtman, thanks for your input, haven't read it all yet but can tell you're getting to a lot of what I was asking/talking about. I didn't necessarily mean the "best" control arms, but rather the best style for my intentions for my finished build height and style

TheDirtman

I would not put a dime into a stock dana 30. You will be just throwing your money away. Wheel it until it breaks then upgrade, but don't fool yourself that a built 30 is somehow indestructible with 37's.

sa29560

I have done exactly this.

Every time I have cash for shafts or gussets or sleeves I put it away for a new axle. Only done ball joints on my 30 and will be gone by next spring. It is holding up but it will go away in time. I do want to run larger tires , but the 30 has to go first.

I can't imagine paying labor for trusses and sleeves and for what? It's like tying toothpicks to tree bark to make it saw proof. Granted it will buy you time but all good things must come to an end.

gnarly_mike

I am not under the impression that it's indestructible, but for what I will be doing and my driving style, and what I've seen others do, I have basically no fear that I will have any problems.

$60 for c-gussets and a couple hundred for inner shafts is a massive price difference than spending 2500-4500 on a new PR44 or similar setup, especially when you don't have excess money fall the time. And add artec truss maybe, I am sure I will be fine. I am no professional wheeler and do not drive like recklessly offroad. I do take it out every week to some trails about 5 minutes away from my house, but it's for fun. I'm never trying to push it to it's limits or do things in it that are questionably possible. It's a $30k vehicle and I don't drive it like a $5-10,000 one. Or try to outdo anybody.

When I have everything lifted and built besides the axle, maybe I will look into saving towards a new front axle. But I doubt I will NEED it before then.




Back to lift though, I am now debating between 2.5 and 3.5. I really have my heart set on 3.5 but I do not want to have to immediately address the drag link/tie rod issues. And I don't want to have to run bumpstops so tall that I limit uptravel. But I also won't have as much uptravel with a 2.5 vs a 3.5 coil. But when you add the flip....it might actually be the same?

How sh*tyy will it be to run RK 3.5 coils without a draglink flip?

My goal is to get it lifted with as minimal amount of parts/money used, and then build from there. I don't have the money to spend or the patience to save $3k+ to buy everything all at once. I'd like to get it going and then finish it in stages if possible.

If my best bet is to get coils, trackbars/brackets, then sit them off and save til I can buy the other stuff then I'll do that I guess. But me and saving "large" amounts of money doesn't usually work. I end up using it for things I actually NEED or random things due to the fact that I don't have tons of disposable income after bills. So buying everything at once probably isn't gonna be how I do things.

BeachJK

I had the RK 3.5 with and without drag flip, I couldn't tell any difference in handling. I had a heavy front end too, so it probably wasn't at full height but I don't think it's a problem.

gnarly_mike

@BeachJK Did you have the trackbar in the stock location or was it raised?

I'm kind of wondering what would be worse, raised trackbar mount without draglink flip, or stock trackbar location without drag link flip. Both using the RK trackbar.

One would assume the latter would feel "best", but then I also think about less body roll with the raised trackbar maybe making up for some of the crappy feeling of not having a flip...but then they aren't parallel so idk...guessing it's best to leave them parallel

nthinuf

That would be worse. You want those bars to remain parallel to each other. Either do both at the same time, or leave them alone. The steeper angles may transmit a bit more road feedback up into the frame, but not a huge deal. For the roll center, you will have the rear raised with the lift, just wait on the front until you decide if you want to flip.

I ran a 4" lift with no flip and no raised brackets at either end for several years. Admittedly the ride/handling improved after adding them, but if you don't already know the difference, you may not even care. Drive it with the lift and see what you think before throwing money at something you may not even feel is a problem...

TheDirtman

I love it when people buy huge tires without looking at what is needed to properly set up a JK to run them then complain and try and justify doing thing on the cheap because they don't have the money to do it properly. but want a set up that rides and performs great on road and off. Guess what, it can't be done. Throwing money at a D30 is a total waste, if you don't wheel hard or do difficult obstacles, what are you running a heavy 37" tire? IF you don't wheel hard why would you need sleeves and a "truss"? The Artec "truss" is not a real truss anyway and I can't believe the number of people that have install that thing as it adds almost not strength to the axle. It is good for relocating brackets and stiffening the long tube but thats about it. The RK 3.5" lift is more then likely to net you well over 4" in actual lift. Steering will be light, you will have lots of bump steer, will tend to wander on the highway. Don't forget to save up for driveshafts at that height as well.

Uptravel and down travel is determined by your set up and what you to run. Shock mounts, bump stops, fender clearance, whell bs, tire size all are factors to setting your up and down travel as well as what you are going to be doing with the jeep.

Seems to me the real problem you have is running too big a tire and not being able to afford to do it right. My best advise to you would be to seel the 37's and run a more reasonable set up since your wheeling style and budget does not justify huge tires.

Properly running 37's typical runs around $7k to set the jeep up correctly for good on road and off road performance and this does not include doing anything to axles but gears. IF money is an issue just start by buying some 3.5" coils of your choice and deal with the ride quality if you don't like it.

mds22

amen!!!

BeachJK

Stock location, didn't get a front relocation bracket, until I went 5.5