Hey all,

I'm stamping my V-Card on the forums and in this community, top to bottom. So here is my first post out here about my first Jeep - a 08 Silver Sahara Unlimited with a newly added ARB bull bar, some KC Slimlites, PIAA bulbs to replace those awful flashlight bulbs in the stock headlamps, Spidertrax 1.5" spacers, with 32" Nitto Grapplers with 17" Rubi wheels on it so far -and I run a bikini top above 50 degrees Fahrenheit Couldnt be happier about my choice and looking forward to finding some Jeepers in the Charlotte area to get introduced to and show me the ropes around wheeling and places to go in the area!

I read through about 15 pages of posts looking for the answer, then my eyes started to bleed...so have mercy on the question if I just missed the answer somewhere.

I want to move to 35" tires at some point, so I'm evaluating a modest lift in the 3-3.5" range and havbe narrowed my search down to the Teraflex 3" kit. My question is this, being new to modding and not a super mechanical type, can I buy the 'entry level' 3 inch kit for about 900, then add the control arms later or do I need to (should I) get the kit that includes the control arms now for the 1400?

My understanding is that Ill need the control arms at a minimum to adjust for any alignment issues, and without em I cant make any camber adjustments. The goal is to get myself enough flexibilty to handle moderate wheeling - Im not looking to get in any rock crawling - yet.... If Im blowing smoke or have it mechanically wrong, just let me have it or tell me where to grab the answer, Ill go searching.

Thanks for the time!

 

i have a 3" lift and my jeep is fine. no control arms needed. you could to with a bb boost and get a body lift. you should be able to clear 35's with that. but the 3'' works great for me. no problems at all got it aligned after i put the lift in straightened out the wheel and i was good to go.

hope this helps

im sure other people will chime in too.

 

As Offroadme said you will be fine without control arms for now. I ran without adj ones for awhile and it was ok. But after I did get them and adjusted my caster, I couldnt beleive the difference. The increased caster made our JK handle ALOT better on the street. So while they arent absolutely needed, they are definitely worth adding eventually. Even adding just lower fronts would let you dial your caster in.

 

Welcome to the forum! Nice to see somebody else in the Charlotte area. Seems to be quite a few on here. Good luck with the lift.

 

As mentioned before you dont NEED them, you will do fine without them and you wont cause any damage. Now that being said, if your JK is your DD then you may want to seriously consider investing in them. Mine curently does not have adjustables and after having the oppertunity to drive one with adj arms i went straight home and ordered them! IMO udjustable control arms could bennefit a stock Jk let alone one that is lifted.

 

Thanks for responses all - Ill pick up my kit without the arms and go from there.

 

OK, this might turn into a rathole, but what am I looking for when I start shopping for arms? Is this going to turn into just a brand difference? If there are durability fcators between manufacturers I would prefer American made, with a solid lifetime 'if you break it, we will fix it' type of warranty. This would make it easy .... are there other factors to consider??? Would it be something I can play leapfrog with if I were to eventually move up to a larger lift and not have to replace again? Or are there actual functional difference from manufacturer to manufacturer?

 

You dont need control arms. After my lift iw as a little darty or strange feeling but turned out i had 4 bad ball joints. Much better now. All though i will be adding them in the future. Best control arms ive seen out are teh JKS ones but they are expensive.

 

What makes these the best?