Lift Question

[EClass]

I have a 2005 Liberty 4X4 Limited. 17 x 7.5 rims.

I was about to order the Rockfather I lift kit from Rocky Road ($1200) and want to know what everyone else used on their KJ. I really don't need the new shocks so is the Budget Leveling Kit the way to go instead? ($330 with a few extras)

My wife drives it more than I do daily. We take the kids on the trail a few times a year but there is very minimal climbing. Enough water and mud to make it fun. Nothing to fully travel the shocks.

From what I have read I can fit 265/70/17 tires after the lift. Is this pretty accurate? Just wanted a few opinions.

Thanks.

 

[daspes]

First things first. Stay away from RRO!!! up until some complaints dropped this year, they have been a BBB score of F. I don't know how many stories I've heard of that they don't ship parts, ship wrong parts, refuse to do returns when they screw up the order, etc. There is one member on LOST that they still owe over $2k. Plus never trust a manufacture who trashes their competitors as the main style of advertisement. And their site is full of trashing better designed lifts, armor, and A arms.

The Lift itself is poorly designed also. It's done with a combination of OME springs (good) and a OTT spacer (horrible). OTT spacers on a liberty due to it's design will destroy your front shocks and ball joints.

If you are on a budget stick with the Daystar lift for about $155. Though your OEM springs are sagging badly after 5+ years, so a full suspension lift will greatly improve the ride, and give you more lift.

My recommendation for a lift would be:
ALL J's Frankenlift
Jeepin By Al's 4"
and Old Man Emu lift with a new strut plate and clevis lift
Jeepin By Al's 2.5" lift
Skyjacker 2.5"
BDS Lift
Daystar Spacer lift

Crap lifts for a KJ:
Rough Country
anything by RRO
Rusty's

 

[AZ Outlaws]

My wife drives it more than I do daily. We take the kids on the trail a few times a year but there is very minimal climbing. Enough water and mud to make it fun. Nothing to fully travel the shocks.

Something for you to think about....

Going by what you said about your style of off roading, I think a lift is a waste of time and money. The reason I say that is because I've wheeled my stock height KJ on 3.0 medium rated trails with only a little scrapping here and there.

My recommendation... spend your money on full skid plates (including the gas tank) and run some good A/T tires. Off road driving skills and knowing what lines to take also play a big factor in what trails you can do.

 

[EClass]

Thanks. That is the info I was looking for. Daystar was my first choice but I didn't like the idea of spring spacers and I though $150 was too cheep.

Obviously the ride will be stiffer. Even though it is a 2005 it only has 19K miles on it! It was a 3rd car for awhile. Factory springs should be fine.

Do you think a 265/70/17 tire will still fit? Ordering tires online and not through a retailer. So I need to make sure some how what tire size to get.

What is your take on the 1" spacers. I heard they are hard on the wheel bearings. I have the factory 6 star w/ polised lip and want them to be flush with the wheel fenders.

Thanks.

 

[daspes]

Thanks. That is the info I was looking for. Daystar was my first choice but I didn't like the idea of spring spacers and I though $150 was too cheep.

Obviously the ride will be stiffer. Even though it is a 2005 it only has 19K miles on it! It was a 3rd car for awhile. Factory springs should be fine.

Do you think a 265/70/17 tire will still fit? Ordering tires online and not through a retailer. So I need to make sure some how what tire size to get.

What is your take on the 1" spacers. I heard they are hard on the wheel bearings. I have the factory 6 star w/ polised lip and want them to be flush with the wheel fenders.

Thanks.

No a 265/70/17 will not fit. To run that size you'll need a Frankenlift or a JBA 4", and then it requires a lot of work. You need to stick with about a 30.5- 31" tire max (245/70/17). The 17" wheel really limits your choices too.

Spacers, I'm not a big fan of. Yes, they can cause additional strain on balljoints and bearings. But that isn't to much of an issue with the tire size that we run on KJ's. Biggest problem is maintenance. you now have 40 nuts to ensure are torqued correctly vs. 20. 40 bolts that can shear on the highway if you don't maintain them. IMHO it's safer and cheaper to buy a set of Steel wheels in the correct backspacing than to run spacers.

Cragar soft 8's (15x7) $42 x 5 = $210
BFG T/A KO's (31x10.50x15) $150 x 5 = $750
Total for 31's on 15's $960

Spacers $100 x 2 = $200
BFG T/A KO's (245/70/17) 179 x 5 = $895
Total for 17's with spacers = $1095

 

[AZ Outlaws]

^^^^ Good information!!

So... no comments about not really needing a lift for the type of wheeling he has planned?? I know it's his Jeep, and if the lift etc are mainly for looks, so be it.

 

[daspes]

^^^^ Good information!!

So... no comments about not needing a lift for the type of wheeling he has planned?? I know it's his Jeep, and if the lift etc are for looks, so be it.

I agree, lift probably isn't need. But with a blank location, I don't know where and what terrain he does take it in, so I'm just answer questions.

Your right though, first should be armor, then tires and lift.

 

[Shaggy]

Thanks. That is the info I was looking for. Daystar was my first choice but I didn't like the idea of spring spacers and I though $150 was too cheep.

Obviously the ride will be stiffer. Even though it is a 2005 it only has 19K miles on it! It was a 3rd car for awhile. Factory springs should be fine.

Do you think a 265/70/17 tire will still fit? Ordering tires online and not through a retailer. So I need to make sure some how what tire size to get.

What is your take on the 1" spacers. I heard they are hard on the wheel bearings. I have the factory 6 star w/ polised lip and want them to be flush with the wheel fenders.

Thanks.

Welcome to the Militai Eric. When you get a chance, post up a little about yourself in the intro section.

 

[long_tall_texan]

Even though you only have 19k on your KJ, you would be amazed with the improved ride by replacing the shocks and springs. I highly recommend OME springs. 927's for the front, 948's for the rear. For shocks, Go for Rancho, Bilstein, or OME. All are huge improvements over stock. And just doing this will net you at least 1.5" in lift.

 

[EClass]

My recommendation for a lift would be:
ALL J's Frankenlift
Jeepin By Al's 4"
and Old Man Emu lift with a new strut plate and clevis lift
Jeepin By Al's 2.5" lift
Skyjacker 2.5"
BDS Lift
Daystar Spacer lift

Crap lifts for a KJ:
Rough Country
anything by RRO
Rusty's

Thanks for all the info. Sorry I didn't detial enough info on what i want to do or where i drive. I honestly didn't expect this much feedback. Bare with me as I am pretty green at this stuff. That is why I have you guys!

I live in North GA and mainly go to the Blueridge Mountains. There are many "casual trials" that are very hilly but not too steep and your not climbing rocks. Decends that go into shallow creeks that you can follow and plenty of mud on a good day. Wheel size concernes me more that sidewall impact size.

The Liberty does fine there stock but I would definatly like a beefer tire on it and a couple of inches of clearance. Manly a highway daily driver. The tires on it now are good tread wise but are originals from 2005 so they need replacing. My goal was a 2.5" lift and new tires for around $1200.

Example:
Daystar 2.5 Level Lift $150 or Skyjacker 2.5" Level/Lift $465
5 Tires: BFG T/A Tour (245/70/17) $870 or
5 Tires: BFG T/A KO $1000

That puts me anywhere from $1020-$1465. Don't want to invest much more than that.

I saw Skyjacker springs for $165pr that were 2.5" but I could only find Rear's. If the fronts are 3" for around the same I would do that.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that because of the brake package on the Limited's I have to stay with a min. of 17" wheels.

So I am $1020-$1465.

 

[long_tall_texan]

I saw Skyjacker springs for $165pr that were 2.5" but I could only find Rear's. If the fronts are 3" for around the same I would do that.

You can get OME springs for about that price per pair. They say 1.5", but they are closer to 2.5, and you can easily get over 3 out of them with a couple "tricks".

Skyjacker has discontinued their KJ springs. So you will have to find somewhere that has them on the shelf.

 

[daspes]

Thanks for all the info. Sorry I didn't detial enough info on what i want to do or where i drive. I honestly didn't expect this much feedback. Bare with me as I am pretty green at this stuff. That is why I have you guys!

I live in North GA and mainly go to the Blueridge Mountains. There are many "casual trials" that are very hilly but not too steep and your not climbing rocks. Decends that go into shallow creeks that you can follow and plenty of mud on a good day. Wheel size concernes me more that sidewall impact size.

The Liberty does fine there stock but I would definatly like a beefer tire on it and a couple of inches of clearance. Manly a highway daily driver. The tires on it now are good tread wise but are originals from 2005 so they need replacing. My goal was a 2.5" lift and new tires for around $1200.

Example:
Daystar 2.5 Level Lift $150 or Skyjacker 2.5" Level/Lift $465
5 Tires: BFG T/A Tour (245/70/17) $870 or
5 Tires: BFG T/A KO $1000

That puts me anywhere from $1020-$1465. Don't want to invest much more than that.

I saw Skyjacker springs for $165pr that were 2.5" but I could only find Rear's. If the fronts are 3" for around the same I would do that.



So I am $1020-$1465.

The difference with where you live is important, if you are in the dry southwest you can get away with an AT tire no problem. However, in GA where trails get wet and muddy for weeks at a time, you (IMHO) are much better with a MT tire. Since you DD your KJ, I would suggest one like the Cooper STT, or the ProComp Xtreme MT. Both of which are very quiet on the street, but will not gum up on a wet trail.

One thing is for certain though, the BFG Longtrail TA Tours are not suitable for offroad, they will lose traction in wet grass...

If a budget is called for do the Daystar spacers. But the ride on and offroad will be much better with new springs.


X2 on the OME, best quality spring out there for the KJ and without steel bumpers and winch it will give 2-2.5" of lift. They go for about 151.55 a pair.

 

[yodejt02]

You should really consider a suspenion lift. It does not matter if you go off-road or not it will greatly improve your ride quality. KJs are notorious for having exrta saggy springs. You can piece together a budget frankenlift for a fraction of what an actual franken lift would cost (wish I would have know that before I bought one). He is going to kill me for this, but Tommud is the man to talk to about lifts for the KJ.

Related note we should get some stickies started on lifts, tires and other common questions that are going to start popping up

 

[daspes]

You can piece together a budget frankenlift for a fraction of what an actual franken lift would cost (wish I would have know that before I bought one).

Not really, if you add up everything that is the $1042 Frankenlift, it comes up to be $980. Sure you can find some parts on sale or used. Saving 60 bucks or having it come preassembled... Anyway not such a the huge discount piecing it together.

 

[Shaggy]

I still haven't really seen a decent lifted KJ yet.

 

[yellocoyote]

In person, or in general?

And define 'decent'... since there's only so little you can lift a KJ before you have to commit to a solid axle swap.

 

[daspes]

I still haven't really seen a decent lifted KJ yet.

Wow, that hurt my feelings a little. :whymewhyme:

 

[Shaggy]

Wow, that hurt my feelings a little. :whymewhyme:

Sorry I meant like at least a 6" lift, but didn't know you would have to go all straight axle if you did.

I haven't seen a KJ that wasn't just a stock KJ in person yet.

 

[yellocoyote]

4" is about all you can get away with while keeping the rest of the suspension/drivetrain stock... and even that's a little iffy when you factor in cv joint angles, premature wear on ball joints, etc.

6" can be done, but it requires more aftermarket components than just the lift...

If you're looking for anything bigger than that, it's time to go SFA.

Most lifted KJ's are in the 2.5" - 4" range though.

 

[daspes]

4" is about all you can get away with while keeping the rest of the suspension/drivetrain stock... and even that's a little iffy when you factor in cv joint angles, premature wear on ball joints, etc.

6" can be done, but it requires more aftermarket components than just the lift...

If you're looking for anything bigger than that, it's time to go SFA.

Most lifted KJ's are in the 2.5" - 4" range though.

I've managed 4.5" of lift, but I think I'm at the limit before I start cutting down the CV shafts.

Unfortunatly when Chrysler designed the front IFS, they incorporated into the diff a motor mount. So a typical cradle drop isn't easy. JBA is the only company that makes one and it's $5k... So that puts you real close to SFA prices.

Pic of the JBA 12" lift (8" cradle drop, and 4" springs)

Unfortunately, you got all that llift and can still only run 32's without grenading the front diff.