Alright guys I’m new to the forum but a long time Jeep guy. Anyways I’m looking to get my 2010 Jeep jk up in the air a lot more. I live in Nebraska so there is no rocks just river bottom. Flat and lots of deep water. So my main concern is getting her up out of the water as much as I can. I know center of gravity etc. but need any ideas or places I could go for help!! Thanks!!

 

Be prepared for a bunch of people to try talking you out of that. But it's you Jeep, so do it your way.

I haven't actually seen any 8" lifts for the JK, but there are some 6" lifts out there. Then add a body lift or coil spacers. Beyond that, make sure you research the individual components. You're going with a long-arm setup? Either way, you will want all adjustable arms so you can reposition the axles to regain wheelbase. Front and rear adj trackbars along with brackets, draglink flip / highsteer setup, new hd steering components, driveshafts, etc, etc.

You might consider a shorter lift, waterproofing, relocating the breathers, getting a snorkel, whatever else.

 

You'd probably be better off looking how to build a swamp buggy where they put the vehicle on a subframe then do a massive drop tcase so the driveline angles are fairly flat. Sounds neat, but it's certainly not something I'd want to undertake anytime soon.

 

I don’t need it swamp buggy big!! But 8 looks just about right for the water I want to go through!

 

I can't say I've seen an 8" kit but you should be able to get close to where you're looking by going with a well built 5.5" that will net you around 6.25" then put some big tires under it. With that lift height you'll likely be looking at poorly designed long arm kits or you could check into Metalcloak and at least look at their db3 bracket, it may help whichever kit you end up with aside from the long arms.

 

You are not going to find a 8" lift kit available but it can be done. There are coil over shocks that you can buy that will easily allow you to adjust for a 8" lift but you will have to limit the travel on them or your tires will be into the body. A 16" travel shock should do it and you will limit it to around 10" of actual usable travel which should not be an issue since you are not doing anything that need articulation. There is also a product made by JKS called the ACOS which is an adjustable spacer that goes on top of your coils and allows you to adjust the height like a coil over shock. You could install these over a 5.5-6" lift coil.

You will want to caster correct your front axle or buy a new housing that is caster corrected. If you are paying for labor buying a new housing or whole axle would be cheaper and better. If buying a new axle or housing I would get one that is at least 68" wide for a 37" tire and wider for bigger tires. If doing coil overs it would be nice to do a 70" wide axle for more clearance. The extra width will be good for stability and roll over with the extreme height.

You will need new cv driveshafts that can handle the extreme angles with 1350 or 1410 u joints. You may also need new yokes or flanges on the axles and transfer case depending on where you get the driveshafts from. There are not many good long arm kits out there and you will be better off finding a shop that knows what it is doing and have them custom build the links and weld on the new brackets. Metal Cloak or Synergy joints would be good for water as they are not a metal on metal joint that can seize up.

Your exhaust cross pipe will need to be re routed for clearance.

You will want to upgrade all the steering links and do a high steer kit or drag link flip or you will have some nasty bump steer and wandering when driving down the road.

I would run a snorkel as the 2007-2011 3.8 air box is poorly located and it is easy to get water into the intake and hydrolock the motor. Personally I have seen this done splashing thru big mud puddles.

I would plan on at least $10k for the mods if you are doing everything yourself and if paying a shop it could easily go $20k+ depending on the components.

Good luck with the driving thru the water.

 

Bump for hornee!!!!😂

 

You have reached the end of the line I think. I can't imagine anyone having more to say about achieving so much lift other than TheDirtman. That seems insane on a JK.

 

So I called the guys at Rusty’s and had a good conversation about this. Sounds like with there long or short arm set up and some acos like dirt man said or even just cheap spacers I’ll get to that 6-7 mark which is where I want to be. Already have a rugged ridge snorkel set up. So thanks for the help everyone.

 

I would not use rustys kits. Not a fan of a radius front set up and their rear has poor geometry and lots of pinion change through the travel, Teraflex has a similar design and same issues. The rear track bar might as be thrown in the trash and the kit does not include a rear raised track bar bracket. You will also want a front raised track bar bracket and a flipped drag link. You are going to battle between low caster and poor steering feel with lots of bump stop vs front driveline vibrations. The standard shocks with the kit are junk as well.

Good luck.