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Rough Country 3.25 vs 3.5" - On road ride quality

Old May 23, 2013 | 07:58 AM
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Question Rough Country 3.25 vs 3.5" - On road ride quality

This is my daily driver and i besides some light trailing, i dont do any "real" wheeling. Just wanting a good kit to fit some 35's under and give me a good stance and even more importantly, "good" on the road handling.

I was about to pull the trigger on the 3.25" but realized the 3.5" is only ~$100 more and includes a number of "added goodies" in addition to being a full coil lift vs coil+spacer lift as is the 3.25".

My question is this:
are the "added goodies" going to be directed more towards people that wheel their rigs, or are the "added goodies" going to improve the on road handling of the kit? If the extras dont equate to added on road ride quality, i dont see the need to spend the extra cash on it since i wont be taking it to extreme wheeling conditions.

Finally, as i will not be flexing or doing any real articulation, do i need to be concerned about my driveshaft? Seems like that is only an issue if you wheel it(?). After i purchase the kit, i am not going to have much cash to change out additional parts beyond what is included.

Any insight is much appreciated.

P.S- I realize some people love RC kits, some hate it. This is the direction i want to go based on use/budget so i would appreciate this thread not turning into a "i think RC sucks" discussion


THANK YOU!!!
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Old May 23, 2013 | 08:28 AM
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I have the 3.5 kit and love how it looks but with exhaust spacers I am still hitting driveshaft boot at full droop.

I would say go for 3.5 and start saving for a driveshaft. That's my plan.
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Old May 23, 2013 | 08:34 AM
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Originally Posted by johnnymurad
I have the 3.5 kit and love how it looks but with exhaust spacers I am still hitting driveshaft boot at full droop.

I would say go for 3.5 and start saving for a driveshaft. That's my plan.
Thanks for the quick response! I cant imagine hitting "full droop" since i dont do any heavy wheeling so hopefully the DS will be a non issue. If i get more into wheeling, i will definitely invest in the right parts. Ride quality relatively good compared to stock?

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Old May 23, 2013 | 08:42 AM
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It is a little stiffer, I think I like it better.
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Old May 23, 2013 | 08:50 AM
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Originally Posted by johnnymurad
It is a little stiffer, I think I like it better.
Thanks for the opinion and also for the pics. Your rig looks great!


Anyone else? Thanks again, JKF helpful as always
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Old May 23, 2013 | 10:19 AM
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Originally Posted by mpthompson84
Thanks for the opinion and also for the pics. Your rig looks great!


Anyone else? Thanks again, JKF helpful as always
I also would go for the 3.5" lift because it's all coil as compared to the spacers. I'm running spacers on my JK right now and can't wait to get coils. they will give you a better ride along with more performance off road. The Rough Country kit is a great kit for the price, I would recommend it to anyone lifting their Jeep on a budget.

I hope this helps!

-Zach
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Old May 23, 2013 | 10:31 AM
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Originally Posted by XTZach


I hope this helps!

-Zach
Everyones opinion is considered and helpful. Thanks Zach!
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Old May 23, 2013 | 10:54 AM
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You could always just do a 2.5" BB with shock extensions. Ride should stay stock and you can fit 35's. If its just for stance with no real wheeling this should work great.

When you are do for new shocks you could improve ride even more.

Just 2 pennies.
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Old May 23, 2013 | 11:15 AM
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Originally Posted by idiotec
You could always just do a 2.5" BB with shock extensions. Ride should stay stock and you can fit 35's. If its just for stance with no real wheeling this should work great.

When you are do for new shocks you could improve ride even more.

Just 2 pennies.
Gotcha, i appreciate the input. I currently have 33's with a 1.5" leveling kit and after looking at a billion pics, i decided that a 2.5" BB would not be enough of an upgrade to be worth the effort/$. If i am going to redo my current setup, i figured i would go ahead and "go bigger" to get a more profound effect and avoid the "damn i shoudl have gone bigger" thoughts like i now have with my current setup ..if that makes sense lol. Also, while i dont wheel now, i want to only do this once so i figured i would be ready in case i get more into wheeling at some point (at which point i will look at driveshaft, etc upgrades).
Also, my apologies for not mentioning that when i do the lift, i am also throwing on 315/70r17's duratracs ("35s") which also factored into my decision.

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Old May 23, 2013 | 11:20 AM
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Default rough country

i had a 4" Rough Country on my first TJ. didn't sit level (front to back or side to side) the transmission lowering brackets were all wrong, and it rode awful.

I've never even remotely considered them since. I hope they've improved, but there are too many makes for me to ever look back.

I'm on a BSD lift on my JK, it came with it, 3" I believe, with Fox Shox, and I love it. 35s too. (315s i think? I'd have to go look). so technically 34.5. which is what most 35s are anyway.
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