It's finally lift time! What do I need to lift? Do I need new shocks? How about springs??

Any help would be great. I have a 600 dollar budget. I'm looking for a 2.5-3 inch lift/level kit.

 

My .2 that ive been told is go right to 35s with as little lift as you would really need. Personally i picked out the rustys 2 inch lift coil and shocks for 300 bucks. That left me with more money not to possible choose a better tire that may cost more. Ill be running 33's on my sahara

 

with 600$ I would go with rubicon express 2.5" coil lift (budget boost) with twintube shocks. For 100$ more you can get the better monotube. It it the best budget kit IMO. you can fit 35" tires with a 2.5" lift.

 

Go to ebay look on the forum I've picked up a 4" lift for 175 shipped to me so be patient and you won't need that 600 $

 

I know, real life steps in and we all have to live within budgets. However, you are more likely to get good answers if you tell what you would like to do with your Jeep. Rock crawling? Dirt roads to your hunting lease? Overland/expedition travel? Keep the wife and kids safe when it snows? Look cool at the mall? It affects the answers lots more than budget. That is, you might be better to hold off until you can afford what you really need, rather than spend money on something that will only need to be removed once you get ready for your heart's true desire. BTW, it's okay to say for the next couple years you want to do AAA within a restricted budget, but then later when you expect that rich uncle to kick the bucket, you hope to do ZZZ. We just want to ensure you know in advance that some of that money will be lost.

 

A good kit will come with tuned coils and shocks. I don't think you will find that for as low as 175$. For this price you can get a puck lift which I do not reccomend. If you are lucky and patient I would try to find the RE 2.5" coil lift with monotube for around 600$. It could be possible I believe. Don't go cheaper or your ride will suffer.

 

I got the rancharo 4" lift (rs6507b) with oil shocks (r5530) its a 1100$ kit

 

Since he asked for a 2.5" lift, think it's prudent to point out that taller lifts need other things that don't usually come in the kit--maybe not right away, but sooner or later. Adjustable control arms (to fix caster), adjustable track bars (to fix tracking), new driveshafts (because the OEM shafts won't last long when used off road at those steeper angles), diffy covers (because the lift drops the fill port down on the OEM cover), etc. These things are also nice at 2.5-3", but the need isn't as immediate. I went about 100K miles before my front DS failed, and that was after lots of hard off roading. All of the other goodies I replaced as money allowed, rather than as parts failed or I couldn't stand the way the Jeep looked/felt/drove with the lift.

 

Change 'need' to want, and give some clues to your expectations.

Plenty of people run a simple spacer lift with shock extensions. Will that work for you? If you plan on added weight from armor, bumpers, winch, tire carrier, etc, you will be better off with new coils. Which added components you want will depend on lift height and personal preference. A 2-2.5" spacer lift can get away with fewer added components than a 3" coil lift that actually puts you up around 4".

What size tire are you wanting to run?

Have you browsed through the faq's at the top of this modified area? Among other things, you will find some suggestions for components at various lifts heights and some comments on caster and driveshafts. Wouldn't be time wasted to browse through them.

 

All I can add to this party is, elevating the rig to fit larger rubber is elementary in application. Where the challenge comes in, is realizing and anticipating what happens to thee overall geometry and fixing it. So go ahead and lift the JK, and then proceed with the knowledge on what the next mods will be.