Hi all, new member here. I bought a used JK a couple months ago and have been going through and replacing some worn out parts. When I first got the Jeep I felt like I was in a horror movie every time I drove it and made sure my will was up to date before heading out lol.


So far I have replaced the tie rod ends, tie rod bar, drag bar, drag bar link, sway bar links, stabilizer shocks and front and back shocks. Everything in the steering is tight and I have had it aligned at a 4wd shop. It drives a ton better now but I still feel like I am driving a boat. The Jeep has a skyjacker 4" lift and 35" tires. The tires aren't terribly bad but the two back ones (formally the two front ones) do have some uneven wear do to the tie rod ends being bad. From what I have read, once you go to 4" and above you lose some handling on the road. I'm running skyjacker 8000 series shocks and the skyjacker control arms (not adjustable) that, I assume, came with the 4" suspension lift.


I am thinking about dropping to a 2.5" lift but Im unsure about a couple things. If I do drop to 2.5" springs will I be ok keeping the shocks and control arms? Also, am I on the right path thinking that dropping to 2.5" will get me some handling back? My original plan was to buy some new 33's and see if that clears up the handling but I think its more of the 4" lift than the tires.


Any insight would be great. I am a former mechanic but not a former Jeep owner lol

 

Hard to diagnose without pics so we can see the build. Just off hand, Skyjacker doesn't have the most sterling rep in the JK world, but any suspension can be augmented & adjusted to make it handle well on the street at least. I'd be looking at raised rear track bar bracket presence, the angle of the bar to the frame, and same up front. If at 4.5" it doesn't have raised track bar brackets and a flipped drag link you've found a major issue that once corrected will work wonders....assuming everything else is properly adjusted.

 

Agree....at that height, if you don't have some sort of "high steer kit" installed, you need one. Should be easily identified up front....if you can't identify what you have, snap a pic and post it up.

In regards to your idea of lowering it to 2.5".....It sounds like you have extended fixed length control arms. Those control arms are helping set the caster for the size lift it has. If you use 2.5" springs with those same arms, you're likely to have higher than desired caster. It's hard to really determine where you'd land as different 2.5" coils will net different ACTUAL achieved lift, and is it is the actual lift that matters rather than the stated height of the coils. Running too high caster could translate in to some driveline vibes (I assume you have an aftermarket DC driveshaft at that height). If you made that change and found the caster was too high, you could easily remedy it, but I'm just highlighting the potential issue with your thought.

ALSO, if you DO have a high steer kit installed, that could throw a little hitch in the lowering idea as well. You'd have to remove the high steer kit in the process as 2.5" is not tall enough to run a high steer. It's not like it can't be corrected, but would need to be addressed.

And I'd also agree......SkyJacker, although a name with trucks, is not really known as a quality name for jeeps. Work with what ya got though as you didn't install it, and you've replaced a good bit of parts already. If you do need to change those arms for something else however, don't feel like you have to stick with that brand.

 

I do have a raised rear track bar mount but I do not have a flipped front drag link. The drag link angle is pretty extreme as you can imagine. I will post up some better pictures tomorrow when I get off work.

https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1Q...hlEQBa-MswICdd

 

That link was dead when I tried it. Research the different high steer kits and evaluate the costs. You'd need a raised TB bracket and at the very least the knuckle side end of the drag link (or a whole new drag link) to flip it. You also need to run 3" bump stops. Compare that to the cost of dropping to 2.5" and addressing the caster/fixed length arms as other odds and ends....like if your shocks would then be too long.

Depending on how long you envision owning that jeep, paying up a little now to have it suit you better in the long-run might be worth it. Just depends on how you're going to use it.

 

You should be able to simply swap the coils out just realize that you would loose 1.5"-+ of up travel if you don't swap out the shocks. That is if you current shock/tire/bump stop is correctly set up. 1.5"+- of height change will make a slight increase in caster but I would rather have more than less and more should give you a better steering feel. Your sway bar links should be looked at but having the point up a bit is fine as long as they don't hit anything at full stuff.

 

Sorry about the dead link. I do have a raised Track bar bracket and I'm running 3" bump stops. I'm not opposed to a flipped drag link if it calms down the handling. I like the height I have right now and it would help being that I mostly want to crawl with it, I just don't want to keep throwing parts on it just to find out that at 4" I will never have a decent ride on the road. From what I am hearing here though it seems possible to have a 4" lift and decent handling on the road. I appreciate all of the help so far.

 

Your steering issue is that you have a raised front axle mount and don't have the drag link flipped. You should have some pretty bad bump steer. I would pick up a synergy drag link (it can be run flipped or not) and the tapered bushing, drill out the knuckle and run the link flipped.It should make a big difference to what you have now.

 

I don't look at Skyjacker lifts much. Is that by chance a drop pitman arm? It looks like both the TB and teh DL are parallel in that picture, but it also sounds like you have the TB mount raised. If it IS a drop pitman, you're already achieving the same thing a DL flip would.

 

Good catch, it is likely it has a drop pitman arm and maybe a drop track bar bracket on the frame. Verify this. While the drop brackets will correct for bump steer they lower the roll center and will make the jeep pitch and roll more. You also want raised axle bracket on the rear to flatten the link and raise the roll center.