AK Jeeper

Last night I had a meeting with the CFO. It actually went very good. After driving the stocker JK and seeing others that have been lifted, she agrees, it's time to start the mods. We on a limited budget and want to do this right the first time. 90% dd with occasional light offroading. Probably won't be disconnecting.

Here's what I'm thinking, tell me if it'll work: 2.5" coil lift, 1.25" body lift, 37/12.50r16s, 4.25" bs on the wheels. Fender and bumper chop.

I'm a fan of tall tires with the absolute minimum lift necessary.

My jk is an X model with auto and 3.73's. Eventually, like next winter, hope to upgrade to 5.13's

Whats your thoughts? Are the 37's a pipe dream or do able? Should I just be content with 33's or 35's on the above mentioned lift?

nclehmann

2-door or 4-door? What's your budget?

I would go with 35s. Although Dana 30s can handle 37s, I'm not sure I'd want to stress them that much. Also, if you're planning to run 37s with 3.73 gears for an entire year, you are going to hate driving your Jeep and will eventually become frustrated.

If you have a 4-door and depending on your budget, I'd go with a true 3" coil lift (Teraflex, Full Traction, Black Diamond, etc), get some adjustable arms (at a minimum front lower and rear upper), adjustable trackbars (JKS makes some good inexpensive ones) and ditch the body lift. Fender and bumper chops are great, but not necessary with 35s and a true 3" lift. Many of these companies make complete kits that include most of the stuff mentioned above and more (brake line ext/brakcets, bump stops, longer sway bar links, etc.).

If you have a 2-door, I would go with a 2.5 lift to avoid swapping out your rear driveshaft. Otherwise, it'll add $500 to the bill.

roketman

I agree with the 35"s, the minivan engine will be wheezing with 37"s. I also wouldn't put 37"s with a Dana 35. Tire slips on ice , then catches...snapped axle. 35"s with 4.10s sucked so you may regret 35"s. It would definitely help if you filled out your Jeep specs in your user profile.

greenamphibious

35s and no chop. 3.7s would suck even more with 37s and your d30 will hate you forever!

greenamphibious

please have your CFO contact my CFO and explain why this is a very WISE move! lol

bosscj351

I would avoid the body lift, but that's a personal choice. MY CFO talked me out of a body lift after the problems with her YJ. I think the simplest route would be a bigger suspension lift. Plus, you'll love the added articulation while maintaining streetability.

Augie

I you don't plan on disconnecting, you don't need much flex. I would go with a true 3" spring lift. You can go without purchasing CA's but you will need to relocate your trackbars. Rear TB can be done with a bracket, I would go adjustable in the front. Stick to 35's I have 4.10 and 35's and want to regear already. Your front axle could handle 37's but you'd have to buy chromo shafts$$$$$$. Just my opinion

AK Jeeper

All goog advice. My rig is a 09 4 door x model with auto. Yea, I'm quite sure it will be 35's. 37's would be way to cool but I'm not financially prepared at this point in time for all the other mods that would need to be done. I've read on alot of the other posts that 35 with the 3.73 will be doable for a while. I've never read that 37's would be doable with stock gears. Concerning the lift, I may just street drive it with the 35's and no lift for a while and save up for the T Flex or the OME. Definitely gonna chop the bumper and fenders. I like the look.

Those of you that have bent your D30 C's with 35's, what is your driving habits like. Did this result from hard core wheeling or will they bend with mainly daily driver duties.

I live in a small town and work is less than 2 miles away. My average annual mileage is less that 8,000. Only occasional off roading and that is mainly mining trails, fire roads and powerline right of ways.

roketman

37s wouldn't be bad if you were always driving downhill.

nclehmann

I know I'll get ripped for saying this by all the rock-crawlers out there, but 35s are fine for a daily driver as long as you understand the limitations of the gears. Since you have an automatic, the feeling of the loss of power will be greater since you cannot shift when you want to. You may want to get a Hypertech programmer to help you out with this (search the Modified forum for Hypertech) - it's about $350 and will improve your auto tranny shift timing, giving you the feeling of more power.

I wouldn't be concerned about the Cs on your D30/35 if you don't plan on stressing the 4 corners of your Jeep - for example rock-crawling or off-camber climbing situations where there's 60-70% of the Jeep's weight on one wheel. Since you will hopefully always be on all 4s and just doing some mild trail-riding, you should be fine.

If you plan to trim the fenders and bumpers, you may be able to get away with a very mild spacer lift just to give you an extra inch or 2 of height. There are companies that offer 1" - 2" coil spacers that you can likely use with your stock shock absorbers with little or no modification. Most lift companies (Terflex, Full Traction, etc.) offer coil spacer lifts for under $400 that get you a fairly complete lift kit that yields appx 2" of lift. In other words, there are plenty of budget ways to boost your height.

Don't overthink this. It's easy. If you don't plan on wheeling hard and want the added height, get a budget boost, get your 35s and hypertech programmer and trim your fenders. In the future, you can always get a complete coil lift and sell your spacer lift for almost what you paid for it.

Enjoy and good luck!