School me!
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JK Enthusiast
Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 232
Likes: 0
From: Alameda
School me!
Upon doing lots and lots of research over the Internet and through these forums, I am in the market for getting a 2.5" lift kit, my question is I see a lot of kits with track bar brackets, sway bar links, the coils, the coil spacers, and some with and without shocks. Now there are a few like the old man emu 2" lift kit that only comes with coil springs and shocks, that's it, so what I'm getting at, are all the track bar brackets and sway bar links necessary??? And I'm dumb, so that being said, WHAT is a track bar bracket and its purpose?? Obviously it can't be that serious if some kits don't come with it right? Or am I wrong? Sorry there are just so many options out there and I just don't know the best one for me, I have a 2 door auto and I don't plan to do rock crawling but I want to go mudding and take it on the beach whenever I can, and the max tire size I want is a 35. Sorry for the long drawn out thread, but obviously I need to be Schooled, please and thank you.
JK Junkie
Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 2,203
Likes: 4
From: Jacksonville NC
The brackets and miscellaneous extras in other kits keeps the geometry of the Links to the suspension close to what Jeep engineers intended. Without them the steering can seem flighty, floaty and just plain awkward. If you do go with the old man kit you really need to consider bump stops. To me the old man lift is just a base to build on. But thats ok because Jeepers are always trying to make our rides better. So whatever you do good luck and post pic's we want to see the transformation.
JK Super Freak
Joined: Sep 2012
Posts: 1,564
Likes: 7
From: United States
Hello, welcome, and let's start you off with some basic reading first. This will get you pointed vaguely in the right direction:
"Answers to questions every newbie has
From a large maker of suspension lifts, direct from their website, here's an intro to some more advanced concepts and reasoning why you'd want to replace some of the parts like track bars:
12 Things to Know About "Lifted" Suspension Engineering
I probably sound like an AEV salesman as of late, but there's some good info there even if you don't go with one of their lifts. There's lots of good products out there, and at the end of the day you should pick something that matches your goal of what you want to do with your Jeep!
"Answers to questions every newbie has
From a large maker of suspension lifts, direct from their website, here's an intro to some more advanced concepts and reasoning why you'd want to replace some of the parts like track bars:
12 Things to Know About "Lifted" Suspension Engineering
I probably sound like an AEV salesman as of late, but there's some good info there even if you don't go with one of their lifts. There's lots of good products out there, and at the end of the day you should pick something that matches your goal of what you want to do with your Jeep!
Last edited by jk_sea; Feb 8, 2013 at 08:53 AM.