ZoidMax

Here are the basics, followed by my wants, and questions below.
2013 JKUR Build plans include:
• 37” tires with beadlocks
• Flat fenders
• Bumpers front and rear
• Armor
• Gears
Budget: not an open checkbook, but I understand this is going to cost some coin.

I have been researching lifts for the past few months and I want a long arm kit and coilovers. Maybe this will be some overkill for my experience level, but I only want to lift this thing one time and want a lift that will do just about everything from crawling to highway cruising and if I want to run fast in the desert I may do that once or twice. I do want the best on road ride available and to tackle slower trails/obstacles. From experience if I go with a budget lift I may not ever upgrade so I want to do it right the first time. My wife may be driving the Jeep for several months straight while I am not at home so I would like any advice about maintenance intensity avoidance as well. After looking at pictures, videos, and forum discussions and compiling all of the information, here is what seems like the best combination for me.
• Adjustable long arms - 8 (various manufacturers are ranked highly)
• King coilovers in probably the 14” travel
• Duroflex joints look technically sound, quiet, smooth, and the most flexible. MetalCloak is the only brand I have seen with these, but I don’t want a mid-arm setup. They do sell the joints individually. Johnny Joints are great, but I like the elastomer segment in the Duroflex for the theory of great ride quality due to eliminating any vibration. If those don’t work then for a few hundred switch to JJ’s down the road.

Maybe I have missed a few things that would be needed, but these are what seem to be a constant in most posts with a similar subject.

The EVO products look nice and get great reviews, but the explanation of how to use their products and go from no lift to an entire system with coilovers and longarms was not something I found easily on their website. I find it hard to locate a picture of anything EVO that doesn’t have other aftermarket parts included. I don’t need the Double Throwdown and most pictures are of this setup. The EVOLever could also be an option, but what else is required with that setup? Perhaps someone can explain how to get an entire kit by piecemealing it? I asked EVO the question, but their reply did not include an explanation of how to put everything together.

The Recon coilover kit looks interesting as well, but I just haven’t seen the same amount of traffic about that setup.

Going with the Teraflex LCG kit and adding coilovers seems to be somewhat common. Is this a better route?

Other brands?

So, how do I go from stock to longarm/coilover and possibly with Duroflex joints in one step? Please let me hear some feedback based on experiences you have had. Is there one single kit that does it all? Do I need to have a custom build? Do I need to order each piece individually? There are so many threads out there that I have probably forgotten or missed some input. Vendors are welcome to put in their opinions as well.

Thanks in advance.

big dr

I like where your head is at on this build,, but In my humble opinion,, ditch the duro flex joints. I'm not saying they are a bad product, but I have compared the two side by side and can tell you the Johnny Joints are twice as beefy. After seeing the two side by side I decided on the JJ's. ( prior, I was leaning toward the metal cloaks) I'm completely satisfied on my choice. I know they are strong,, and there is no vibration! I would go JJ's. Good luck with the build!

inline6

Look at the genright suspension system, looks like a complete kit and covers all your looking for as well.

JKZinger

You will need to go with Johnny Joints if you are going to flex the coilovers. Also, with 37s you would be better served with the 12" coilovers. The 14" are more than you will need. Also figure on a draglink flip kit.

Maertz

Control arms wont affect flex just dial Pinon but id get them. Also id go 14 on coilover you can get 12 on shock and coil and shocks on stock mounts. If your moving them id get 14. Unless you want a lcg build or arent going bigger that 35s maybe 37s

JKred

There is, technically speaking, no issue going directly from stock to long arms and coilovers. You do not need to build up to it... anyway... Sorry for the following wall of text but what you're looking at isn't simple. I'll try to give you as much as I can to help your decision.

First thing I would suggest is thinking of the long arms and coilovers seperate. The coilovers are going to give you the complete ride tunability you are looking for, in terms of lift height, coil rates and rate transitions, compression and rebound dampening, etc.... and the arms are going to provide you with your axle location, and ride characteristics from a link geometry standpoint such as roll center and roll axis, anti squat, anti dive, etc... I do have to agree, since you're looking at 12"+ of travel you are better off looking at longer arms.

So first, what long arm? The easiest thing to say first is that no company has a long arm that is perfect from a geometry standpoint. "Perfect" is a relative term, but to work with a full body jeep many have made compromises. Personally I would not consider teraflex for their rear link lengths. The lower is significanly longer than the upper, causing drastic changes in pinion angle over axle travel. Companies like Clayton, Synergy, and RK all have more acceptably matched rear arms. RK's 3 link will give you the highest vertical seperation at the frame mounts, which plays into anti-squat and how the back end will bounce (or not bounce) on tire slippage when climbing.

In terms of joints, you can use any joint you want. The metalcloack joints have been fairly well recieved. All you need is a joint with a mounting width of 2.625" and a 9/16" (or 14mm) bolt hole with a shank thread matching your control arms. With the travel you are looking at, you need to make sure your joints have the required misalignment. All of your catridge joints (JJ's, Duroflex, Teraflex) will contact the contact the bracket before maxing out the joint misalignment. Usually if you're running a cartridge joint with lots of travel you have them on both ends of the arm (like mtalcloak putting the duroflex on both ends). That said synergy and clayton use JJ's on one end of the arm, and a clevite bushing on the other to dampen road feel.A joint like RK's Krawler joint or conventional heim joints will transfer much more road harshness to the frame, but have drastically more travel before bind. MFG's the use heims will put a poly bushing on one arm end to remove road vibes and harshness. I would consider all of these points when choosing your joint, but like i said before the MC duroflex joints have been well recieved by a lot of people, including those who build their own custom suspension.

Coilovers.... as simple as possible, they are amazing if tuned right, and if not can be a headache. No matter what way you chose to mount them they still need to be tuned specific to your rig and what you intend to do with it. Valving and rates for highspeed is very different than low speed krawling. I'm not going to get into tuning cause I'm not expert, but any coilover will work with any mount, you just need to work with the MFG to tune them to exactly what you need, and this may involve weighing your rig at all 4 corners.

Mouting, this is also your call. With a 14" coilover mounted to the very bottom of the engine bay will give you 3-3.5" of uptravel and the rest down. You will have to mount the axle tab behind the tube, which is not optimal as it puts constant bind on the arm bushings, but works well. If you want to top mount a coilover on the tube with 14" you need to run the towers up into the engine bay and cross brace the towers. 12" will allow you to top mount to the tube and stay out of the engine bay.

The rear is tricky. You can't outboard coilovers on factory axles, so you either have to inboard them and cut into the body, run them like the recon kit (leaving them highly exposed to rocks), or go with the evo lever, which puts them up between the frame rails.

Again sorry for the brain dump but I wanted to give you as much information as possible

Jkforlife

CHECK OUT ICON VEHICLE DYNAMICS on YouTube! They have a video showing their coilovers in the desert and some rock crawling, it's by far the most advanced system I've seen past the king coilovers


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JKred

Icon's design is almost a direct copy of the Rebel Recon kit with their coilovers instead of kings.....

ZoidMax

Thanks for the input everyone. The information about altering the engine bay is the first I've heard of it so great to know. Also a good point about the arm length dimensions. I may have to read through all of that information again to figure out what question to ask next.

big dr

In response to wanting 14" CO's,, I agree with the previous post on going into the engine bay. On my build we had to ditch the washer reservoir on the drivers side and turn the computer sideways and mount it on the shock tower. On the passenger side we ditched the air filter box and shortened the intake tube to use a K&N unit. A brace bar was made to go over the engine cover between the towers. It is a very tight fit!! One problem with the shock tower on the passenger side is it gets in the way of any snorkel kit I might want to use,, so more custom work and more money is needed for a snorkel.