From everything I've read and from talking to rough country as well, along with a number of jeep shops, they made a lot of changes to their Springs and overall kits in the last couple years or so due to complaints and have supposedly come a long way. Fingers crossed!

 

I would avoid their shocks if you want a good ride. Don't do the drop pitman arm. At 3.5" you might want to look into a drag link flip and a raised rear track bar bracket on the axle. For those hitting the ds boot at droop, install a limiting strap at the differential to prevent contact.

 

Just put the rough country 4 inch on my jk and its great, need to re gear.

 

lifts have nothing to do with gears. That would be tire size.

 

Just curious, but is this opinion from your own personal experience with this particular kit? From almost every review I have read, the new n2.0 shocks are a huge improvement over the older 2.2 and provide a quality ride (not looking for a Cadillac). I do realize that ride quality is very subjective as well. I am deff not questioning your opinion and appreciate and consider your input. I have just seen a lot of folks making negative comments based on experience with older RC lifts (including the 3.25 kit) which deff did have a number of issues that have supposedly been addressed on this newer kit (newly engineered coils and the new shocks). Considering I only do some trailing but nothing requiring much articulation.. what issue do you see me having if I use the drop Pitman(regarding on road behavior)? Again. .not questioning your opinion but just asking as a newbie on a budget wanting to learn Thanks for adding to the discussion!

 

I have seen and replaced several leaking shocks from rough country, the finish is poor on them and I have even seen the shafts rust up.
The drop pitman arm puts extra stress on the sector shaft and steering box causing bent sector shafts and leaks around it.

I was talking to a dealer that carries rough country lifts and asked his opinion about them. He stated that they were a terrible lift and he only carries them because he needed a sub $500 4" lift to satisfy the low budget crowd. He also stated that he could not believe how much those people would eventually spend on fixing the poorly engineered components and geometry after having the rc lift installed over time.

You stated that you were a daily driver and wanted a nice ride at 3.5" of lift. The RC lift will give you an ok ride on the initial install, it will not be better then stock or as good, and you should expect it to get worse over time.

 

Thanks for clarifying!

 

You will find the same from several of the low cost lift manufacturers out there. Zone, BDS, Rubicon Express, Skyjacker, Ranchero all have low cost lifts that share the same components or leave out important parts that are needed for a proper set up and will end up costing you in the end. The taller you go in lift the more you will need to correct steering geometry. You will be unlikely to regain the proper caster and factory steering feel with a tall lift unless you replace the axle housing or cut and turn the inner C.

For quality of ride shocks will be the most important component followed by the steering geometry at 3.5" of lift. Unless you are running 37"+ tires on your jeep there is no reason to run such a tall lift. 2.5" will run 35" tires fine and will give you fewer problems with steering and suspension geometry.

But in the end it is your jeep and your money do what you will with it.

 

Man its tough. For every positive review that gets me excited I read a negative that makes me question my decision. Issue is that I don't think I will ever be able to justify dropping $1500 all at once on a lift that will be way over built for me needs. So if all of the various "budget"lifts have these types of issues..I may just have to deal with it and hope for the best and make needed adjustments as they come. May turn out to be perfect for my needs/expectations...or may end up being a learning lesson

I agree that a 2.5"would allow me to fit my 35s however being I am coming up from a 1.5" lift...Im fairly certain I would not be satisfied with the upgrade and would not get the look I'm going for. Decisions decisions.
Thanks again

 

I have the 3.5" series II on my Jeep and haven't had any issues over the last 6 months that it's been installed. I think it rides pretty close to stock