Rock Krawler 1.5" Spring Budget Build

[ljvsnyder]

No settling as of yet that I can tell, the rear has a smittybilt src bumper and full size spare. I have about 4000 miles on the lift now, with 2200 or so miles with her loaded down with the full family (4 ladies and myself) and their accompanying luggage. Wish I would have measured the lift with everything in it, but didn't think about it. I will say on the long trip it handled well. Part of the trip was going through the Great Smokey Mountains. I drove this pre lift and tires earlier in the year, and can say there was noticeable performance difference. She tended to want to run in 4th gear going up hill a lot more than she did without the lift and tires. The corners were a breeze, without any extra body roll. I will try to remeasure at the same location I did before to let you all know if there has been any settling of the springs.

[RulerZigzag]

Rulerzigzag nothing other than the springs and shocks. I am debating between a torsion sway bar and regular disconnects, but since I am not really pushing her right now the stock sway bar links are fine and still within acceptable specification, according to my Jeep dealer. I do plan on building up to a full flex system in the future with larger tires and flat fenders. It is true what they say that once you are bitten by the mod bug you cannot stop. On another note I was parked next to a JKU while on vacation running a budget 3" system and 35's. I sat nearly as high, with maybe an 1 inch difference in overall height.

thanks for the info. i found some spings with low mileage for $200. Rivercityoffroad has a pretty good deal on any of there kits with Bilstein 5100s as well. cant make a decision on which route to go since i do plan on going bigger down the round

[ljvsnyder]

grab the used ones if you think you might want to go bigger down the road. Part of me wishes I had gone bigger. Maybe in the future when the girls are a little taller. Test drove a 2014 JKU with the Mopar stage 3 lift kit and it felt really nice. But I don't think my little girls could get in without me picking them up.

[RulerZigzag]

I'm in the same boat. I have a 6 month old and occasionally my wife drives the jeep. Add in the cost of regearing for 35s and it's just not in the cards right now

[RulerZigzag]

The good thing about the RK kit though is it uses the same control arms up to a 3.5 lift. All you have to do is trade out the springs.

[ljvsnyder]

The good thing about the RK kit though is it uses the same control arms up to a 3.5 lift. All you have to do is trade out the springs.

This was one of the main reason I went with RK.

[DallasJKU]

I'm thinking of this lift. I currently am running stock Rubicon suspension with MCE flares. I only want 2" of lift. I run an extremely light Jeep with no winch. I want to stay as close to stock geometry as possible and have floated the idea of just an AEV spacer lift. I don't do any rocks. I ran an AEV 2.5" on my last Jeep with same 315 DT's and MCE's. Gap was ok but made the DT's look a little small and the suspension was stiffer than I want. How stiff are these 1.5" coils. I rode in a RK 3.5" that I felt was too stiff.

[ljvsnyder]

In my opinion they are very soft. I am running rancho rs9000xl shocks which are adjustable and allow me to fine tune the ride.

[DallasJKU]

I just need to decide what version I should go with. I don't want much more than a couple inches. I was also looking at the OME 2" lift since they have different spring rates for coils.

[Pznivy]

I'm thinking of this lift. I currently am running stock Rubicon suspension with MCE flares. I only want 2" of lift. I run an extremely light Jeep with no winch. I want to stay as close to stock geometry as possible and have floated the idea of just an AEV spacer lift. I don't do any rocks. I ran an AEV 2.5" on my last Jeep with same 315 DT's and MCE's. Gap was ok but made the DT's look a little small and the suspension was stiffer than I want. How stiff are these 1.5" coils. I rode in a RK 3.5" that I felt was too stiff.

The RK springs are stiff. They are made to handle the weight of a winch and steel components. So with nothing on them, they will feel stiff.

That way, if you want a winch in a year, they won't turn to mush under the weight.

If you want to stay as close to stock as possible, and no wheeling in mind, id say do the spacer and keep all the stock stuff in there. Its a cheap route too, so if you hate it, you spent $300. and you will know. Rather then spending more changing everything, Springs, shocks, and THEN finding out that you hate it.

Thats the route id suggest.