i'm absolutely NOT intending to rehash the ever-popular debate, but here we go...

about 2 yrs ago, my wife decided she wanted to lift her JKU and add 35s because it looks "bad***" (keep in mind, she's only been off pavement 10x's). obviously this was for aesthetic reasons, so rather than heed the advice of you guys that actually know what you're talking about, i purchased the Rough Country 3.5" series II.

needless to say, her jeep has become virtually un-driveable at highway speeds/conditions. being her daily driver, i've convinced her to right the ship. this is going to be a multi-stage process because i sold ALL the OEM parts i removed to help offset cost of wheels/tires/lift.

so far, we've swapped back down to 33s (it no longer shifts in and out of passing gear @ 65mph). now i'm ready to remove the RC lift and fix the ride. keep in mind i can't justify a high-cost solution because this JKU will never be seriously off-roaded; but she wants a SMOOTHER DRIVE and at least a little lift (2-2.5") because she's prefers the look.

based on what i've found in the forum, simply replacing the shocks and springs with higher quality and keeping ANY of the RC lift installed would leave me disappointed. PLEASE speak up if ^^^ is a viable solution because that would save the $ of repurchasing all the OEM parts.

therefore, my tentative plan is to go back to everything stock (control arms, pitman arm, shocks, springs, etc) and add a Teraflex BB or similar.

does this plan make sense for the budget minded, or has the last 2hrs of searching through the forums fried my brain to point i'm no longer able to interpret internet speak???

thanks for any help/suggestions

 

I would look around and see if people have parts you need laying around. I would guess your main issues with the jeep is the lack of steering correction, caster, and proper gearing. A budget boost makes the most sense for what you are doing but don't expect to regain the factory ride with a 2.5" lift. Persanally if you want the "look" flat fenders will give you the look of a 4" lift while giving you the clearacne to run 35" tires on the stock suspension and maintaining the factory ride. Good luck witht he mods.

 

yep, it drives better w/33's, but still very sloppy feeling. i personally love the flat fenders, but unfortunately a no-go for her. thanks

 

You sure you don't have an under lining issue like warn ball joints or something to give you that sloppy feeling?

 

Personally I'd buy their control arms, get some control arm drop brackets, new springs, new shocks, and a draglink flip. At that point you'd be happy.

You still may have problems with ball joints or improperly torqued bolts. If you torqued all the bolts in the air then you need to retorque them all on the ground. Make sure your coils are sitting in their perches correctly and shock bolts are all tight. The rough country shocks don't have a very reliable dampening or rebound. When I swapped mine out with 9k miles, I could push them in by hand and they wouldn't rebound by themselves at all. So, the coils were doing every bit of the work. Taking corners was like driving without sway bars.

 

3.5" of lif tis a bunch to run 33s.

Your idea to lower it back down is solid. You will not need or want to do a D-link flip at only 2-2.5" of lift but you certainly should consider either brackets or adjustable front LCAs to adjust the caster.

Question: is the ride and handling something that changed, or has it been crap since you installed the lift?

 

Go back to stock and a budget boost (TF or RK). If you're still driving sloppy, could be your ball joints or bearings wore prematurely.

 

Good plan. There are tons of people who sell like new OEM parts when they put a lift on. You should be able to get new control arms, track bars, coils, and shocks, for maybe a couple hundred dollars. Sell the RC lift on Craigslist or something. Get the Teraflex budget boost with shock extensions. Lastly, get some control arm drop brackets to fix the caster.

You can probably accomplish all that for $100 net cost. Once that is done, go to a good alignment shop. Also check your ball joints, tie rod ends, hubs, etc. May have some bad parts in there. And please use a torque wrench and follow proper procedures.

 

I have the same lift on my jeep for 2 years now, it's my DD and I drive 65+Mph everyday with 35's with not one problem. Are you sure the lift is causing this problem or installed correctly?

 

definitely worth a look, but been pretty bad since install... seems to be worse as time goes on though. thx