Hey guys

I am new here, and a proud owner of a brand new, flame red, half door, manual 2009 Rubicon. I am posting because I have been doing tons of reading here on suspension lifts and I need some advice.

I am planning to put 35" tires (BFG Mud Terrains) on my Rubi (with Cragar Soft 8 wheels). I pretty much am convinced the lift I want is 3" (I want to avoid any redo of the driveshafts), but I am confused as hell between a 3" spring/shock lift and a 3" spring/shock/short arm lift. I know I don't want to go a BB route because I want the added articulation, and from what I have read a long arm lift is overkill when you are only going up 3". That being said I am so confused on the pros/cons of going with just the coils/shocks and adding the arms. Also any advice on a good kit manufacturer would be great!

Can anyone give me some advice??

 

hey WindyCityGuy, welcome to jk-forum!!

regarding your question, the bare minimum you will want for 3" of lift is coils, shocks, adjustable front lower control arms, rear track bar drop bracket, adjustable front track bar, front and rear bump stop extensions, rear brakeline extensions and longer rear sway bar links. if you have a 2-door, you will want rear adjustable upper control arms and an aftermarket u-joint style drive shaft. if you have an automatic, you will want to get a new front drive shaft as well. so you know, the drive shafts are not critical but they will need replacing sooner than later.

if 35's and 3" of lift are all you are going to be running, i can tell you that i ran a full traction 3" ultimate lift and felt that it was a perfect setup. granted, that's about as complete of a kit as you will need and if you are on a budget, you can get a basic kit like their economy kit or a teraflex basic kit and add the control arms that you need only.

 

Hey windycity, I'm at exactly the same crossroads as you are, with the difference that I have a 4 door 6speed. Thanks for the reply wayoflife, it really helped, that was exactly what I was looking for. Is the ultimate kit really neccesary? I was considering the Full Traction kit just below it, the premium one which costs $1.6k (including nitro shocks). The ultimate costs $2.3k with shocks.

 

naw, the ultimate is not needed and if budget is an issue, i would save your money and get the economy lift with the addition of just the control arms you need.

 

The $1.6K kit is the economy kit???

 

more like $577

http://www.northridge4x4.com/proddet...?prod=FTS-7103

 

You want a kit that's gonna address most of your concerns from the get go. On a budget, like me and alot of others on here are adding parts as money permits. I have a Superlift, and for the price it addressed most of my needs. Drove it for awhile then added a jks rear trkbar. Drove some more added Teraflex frt lowers . With each part your suspension gets better. Don't think you'd go wrong with any of the TeraFlex or Full traction kits. All of my ctrl arms will be changed out when I have the $$. So far, I'm happy with the Superlift springs but kinda wish I'd went with one brand of lift to start off with.

 

You can start of with a TeraFlex basic 3" (#1251200) and add arms later on. Down load the 2009 TeraFlex catalog in my sig line. That way you can see the differances in the TeraFlex kits. If you have any questions, give me a call!

 

yup, i have installed a bunch of these with just front lowers and rear uppers on 2-doors and it's a great setup.

 

I look through the forums and I find a lot of people that have to go back and add more and more parts. The Full Traction kit is the most complete kit on the market. Rather than finding out you need more parts to solve a problem, avoid the problem and go with the Full Traction kit to begin with. Besides the FT kit is made in the USA.