I'm looking at doing the 683x lift kit from rough country on my 2009 Wrangler Rubicon 4 door, but I have a few questions;

is anyone on here running this kit, and if so have you had any issues with it?
I've read that some of these taller kits can cause a tear in a transmission boot (or something like that) anything that I need to worry about?

The jeep is mostly street duty, just doing the lift for looks. It sees fire roads and very light duty off roading in the north georgia mountains and the florida beaches but thats about it.

Thanks in advance jeepers
-Carson

 

Your driveshaft boots will be angry. Many will say do not do this tall/brand. I will say bolt it on and learn from there...

Or read dirtmans thoughts on lifts which is a stickie and save yourself a headache and wasted money.

 

Thats what I was looking for, thank you! Why do they even sell this kit if it damages crucial components, and is there anything that can be done to prevent it? I've read the sticky (all really good info for those who wheel their rigs, mine is mainly street/beach duty though. It's never been flexed out and the odds of that ever happening is rare) I really want a 6" lift but I don't see the need to spend 3 or 4 grand on a long arm kit that allows for all the articulation I'm never going to use.

 

Because people see a big lift and a cheap price and think those two things go together.

Stay around the 2.5-3.5" lift area

Long arms aren't just for articulation. A long arm will keep the arms parallel to the ground improving the ride. The bigger the lift with short arms the steeper the angle the arms will have.

To lift your jeep properly it costs about $1000 per inch.

 

You "could" go 6" and get but at the bare minimum get driveshafts at some point and make sure your caster is set with adjustable control arms to the happy medium . But its not ideal. With minimal offroad it may last awhile. But dont be shocked if some stuff does come up over time...

 

"You 'could' go 6" with driveshafts"
sounds an awful lot like
"You'd be a ****ing idiot to go 6" with a short arm kit" lol

I appreciate the input guys. I definitely want the 6" lift. I definitely don't want it $6,000 worth though haha.

I would really like to see if anyone on here has used the short arm kit with upgraded drive shafts and what their experience was.

 

The arm length maybe the least of my concerns... Id have to look what the kit all comes with though im not sure offhand.

 

The first concept you may want to wrap your head around is that: Lifting causes issues with 'onroad' driving. 100% of the time. Not just the .005% of the time you are off pavement. So, most of the components you see talked about are to correct those 'onroad' issues.

The axles tilt, which raises the pinion, which lowers the caster, which causes flighty steering. At 6", caster correction is a must. But what else is going on there? When the pinion goes up, the caster goes down, right? So to correct the caster, you point the pinion back down. And when you point the pinion back down, you increase the angles on the driveshaft joints. The joints on that brand new aftermarket driveshaft you just bought. Raising the caster (to the point where it is acceptable to you for driving) could be putting the pinion so low that you induce vibrations in the driveshaft. It can be a trade-off between good handling and good angles. (6" lift? Bigger tires? So you will be regearing? Which means the driveshaft will be spinning much faster, compounding the vibrations? This has led to a few tcase explosions...)

How about steering correction for the steeper angles on the trackbar and draglink? The kit comes with a drop pitman, correct? Research it. You just might find a negative comment or two, with suggestions for a draglink flip instead.

Roll center? Research opinions on drop brackets (frame) vs raised brackets (axle).

 

For me the first question is WHY do you want that much lift? What size tires are you wanting to throw under your JK?

You can run 37's on 4.5, even 40's if you do flat fenders... Which is a much better option than going with 6" anything let alone anything by Rough Country.

 

You're lifting a Jeep, OP, not a pick-up truck. Jeeps are designed to have large tires with far less lift than pick-up trucks. Unless you're putting 44s on this rig, the only thing 6" of lift will tell anyone who knows anything about Jeeps is that you don't.