Hello all,

Just picked up a 2012 Rubi Ul. About 100k miles. I am not new to Jeeps, but its been about 12 years. This is my first JK.

First step is to completely go through the truck mechanically, change all the fluids etc. Already ordered water pump, acc belt tensioner, acc belt, Oil cooler, rear brakes, spark plugs, and a few other odds and ends. Does it need all this stuff... maybe not, but I seem to be loosing some coolant and the belt is squeaking, so I like to take care of everything I can in a certain area of the engine while I am there. If there is anything I am mission on the list of "should do's" please let me know.

Here are my questions:

1) Transmission (auto). The pan is shot (new Dorman on order) and the shifting is not exactly crisp. Maybe it never was. Obviously, I need to flush the fluid and replace the pan. I stumbled upon the Transgo "shift kit" for this NAG1 trans, which appears to be more of a correction to soft shifts and slow torque converter lockups due to age and wear. Has anyone used this kit? did you install it yourself ? I am not afraid of some pretty hefty wrenching and or fabrication but I do not want to pull the transmission a the moment. I notice the exhaust crossover is an issue. It appears that some have gotten the pan out by jacking the transfer case a bit. Any thoughts, advise, etc with regard to getting this trans in tip top shape would be appreciated... I heard there is something else people upgrade or replace - short of a rebuild, but I can't remember what it was.

2) lift kit (yes I know you are all tired of the newbie lift kit questions - hopefully this is a little different.) Yes, I have read the sticky and done some other research. First I will mention.... This truck is going to be a Mystic Cruiser (Mystic is cute little New England Town - Mystic Pizza). It will get a 2.5-3" lift kit and 33 or 35" tires (has 410 gears). The truck will spend 99% of its life on the road, BUT, if I am going to go through the trouble of doing it, I want to do it right and be capable off road as well - you never know. I am certainly capable of picking my own lift kit, even fabricating one. With 100k miles on the truck, I am thinking about the lift kit not just in terms of lifting the truck, but also replacing many of the worn suspension components. Therefore, it seems to me that a short arm lift kit makes a lot of sense in replacing the control arms.

Here are my questions: How much wear do the stock control arms get? Do people replace the bushings like I have in so many other vehicles? are the bushing even replaceable (pressed out) ? Anything else in the suspension that should be replaced when doing a kit on a higher mileage truck ? ( I assume ball joints and steering tie rod ends, etc? ) Does anyone know of people that have modified existing control arms... doesn't seem that hard to weld a threaded nut and put a heim joint on one end... but this goes back to the wear/life of the other bushing also.

And finally (for the moment) a little more specific to manufacturers... spring rates... ? I have lifted and replaced springs on other vehicles and have found a variety of spring rates - some have been much to soft for my taste. In the bit of reading that I have done, although I have not searched this specifically, I have not noticed any information on spring rates, progressive rates, etc. Is there some collective common knowledge of spring rates - maybe with or without additional equipment - like a winch ? Are some lift manufacturers known to be softer or firmer ?

Thanks for all the help, Looking forward to sharing some info of the build.
clint