Unknown lift?!
Thread Starter
JK Newbie
Joined: Dec 2019
Posts: 2
Likes: 0
From: PA
Unknown lift?!
Hello it’s the new guy here lol
just looking for some advice. I bought a 2010 jk and it has a 4.5 in lift on it and it rides like a damn brick. I don’t know what lift kit is on it all I know is that it has bilstein shocks... I can looking to lower it to a 2.5 or 3 in due to the fact that it is my DD and my wife is short and has a hard time getting in.
what is needed in order to lower it? Can I Just get new springs or do I need a new lift kit? Also open to any suggestions on a comfortable ridding lift kit.
and yes I have owned lifted vehicles before and never had one ride this rough
just looking for some advice. I bought a 2010 jk and it has a 4.5 in lift on it and it rides like a damn brick. I don’t know what lift kit is on it all I know is that it has bilstein shocks... I can looking to lower it to a 2.5 or 3 in due to the fact that it is my DD and my wife is short and has a hard time getting in.
what is needed in order to lower it? Can I Just get new springs or do I need a new lift kit? Also open to any suggestions on a comfortable ridding lift kit.
and yes I have owned lifted vehicles before and never had one ride this rough
JK Jedi Master
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 11,463
Likes: 165
From: Austin <--> Colorado Springs
Advice on the best approach to lowering will depend on what is currently installed. So take some pics and post them, hopefully we can help you identify what you currently have. (coils, shocks, control arms, trackbar brackets, steering components, swaybar links, everything...)
If you think about it, when the lift went on, the caster went down, so something was added to raise the caster back up. If you drop the lift height, you probably don't want to remain at that high caster setting, as the number will rise further as height decreases. But we don't know what form of correction you have, assuming you have anything at all. It's likely that you have some form of steering correction (draglink flip, high steer, drop pitman) which you may need to remove depending on the height you drop to. You need to identify the shock specs (or remove and measure), since you don't want to lower the rig and be riding around with them constantly bottomed out, right? So yeah, you could just swap out shorter coils and do nothing else, but a little research and thought would be a better choice.
If you want to just swap for a quality kit, look at the MetalCloak 2.5" lifts, there are a few different ones to choose from depending on budget.
Also, what tires are you running now? Load rate, PSI, etc? Many times a harsh ride comes from stiff tires with too much air in them.
If you think about it, when the lift went on, the caster went down, so something was added to raise the caster back up. If you drop the lift height, you probably don't want to remain at that high caster setting, as the number will rise further as height decreases. But we don't know what form of correction you have, assuming you have anything at all. It's likely that you have some form of steering correction (draglink flip, high steer, drop pitman) which you may need to remove depending on the height you drop to. You need to identify the shock specs (or remove and measure), since you don't want to lower the rig and be riding around with them constantly bottomed out, right? So yeah, you could just swap out shorter coils and do nothing else, but a little research and thought would be a better choice.
If you want to just swap for a quality kit, look at the MetalCloak 2.5" lifts, there are a few different ones to choose from depending on budget.
Also, what tires are you running now? Load rate, PSI, etc? Many times a harsh ride comes from stiff tires with too much air in them.
Last edited by nthinuf; Dec 5, 2019 at 01:07 PM.
JK Jedi
Joined: Jun 2013
Posts: 11,362
Likes: 2,089
From: Willow Park, TX
Most jeeps are lifted on the cheap without addressing proper things, so this isn't surprising. 4.5" is damn tall on these things. Lowering it should help a lot, but we do need to see what ya got to start with, so pictures like nthinuf is asking for above.