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Rough Country lift - good or bad? Give your "final" opinion

Goatslayer

NAXJA Forum User
Location
PA
I've searched and read quite a bit on this site and there seems to be mixed opinions on Rough Country lifts.

The guys at PORC are recommending I go with RC full leaf packs (I have LOA up front) to replace the bent springs I have. The XJ will see some DD use, like when the roads are just too damn nasty for my Civic and when I just feel like driving it to/from work. Other than that, the XJ is meant to be my weekend toy.

I'm a semi-noob so my wheeling won't be "hardcore" right away. I need a lot more experience before I can go all out offroad, but I'll eventually work up to it.

RE is going to cost me almost double to do leafs all the way around and my front end is 2" wide leafs but RE leafs will require me to convert to 2 1/2" and at the present time I don't want to do that extra work.

Shocks have not been determined yet and will not be purchased until after the leafs are installed and measurements have been taken.


So, final opinions...for the "beginner" offroader who plans on working his way up to hardcore wheeling, go with RC? It's going to cost me just over $400 to get the leaf packs (no AAL, full packs), shipping included.
 
i had a RC lift for about 8 months to see if liked the idea of having a lifted jeep, cost me $100 bucks. It sucked so bad i thought about selling my jeep and getting another one, waiting for my RE lift to come in the mail (should be in tomm.) i have ceased driving my jeep until it comes in. 8 months down the road and my lift decreased by 2"
If thats something that sounds like it would save you money, go for it. Im now trying to convince my wife that the jeep will be safe for her to drive again!
 
nothing to compare too, but I've been running a RC lift for 2 years. No complaints
 
I hated my RC 3 inch lift!! But it was all I could afford when I bought it. I ran it for less than a year, and then switched to the Rubicon 3.5 inch superflex lift. I now love my Jeep as much as the day I bought it. I would not ever recommend RC to anyone. It might be ok for a jeep that would only see offroad duty, but then again I had the 3 inch lift and in 8 months or less it sagged about 1.5 to 2 inches.
 
Rubicon Express gets my vote. I have their 7.5" lift and the TnT LA upgrade. Awesome is all I have to say. TnT is probably as serious as our XJs can get without becoming something else entirely....lol ;)
 
had a 3" RC lift, I hated it. I have RE now and feel much better about it. My RC lift sagged within a couple of month with minimal offroad use and rode like crap.

So if you are planning on replacing it in 6 months go ahead but I'd say you'll be better off getting something better that you can use for a few years instead of months for a few more clams.
 
i have the 4.5" kit, i have sagged probably at least 1-2" in back. it sucks, i need to CUT my fenders here to get some decent travel/flex. it rides like hell, but it was cheap and works decent. the flex is weak but its probably my shorty CA's. i cant wait to save up, cut this crap out and go 5.5" TnT Y-link....someday. but for now it works. save you money and get a RE. imo. best of luck!
 
Here is my oppion, I have the RC 3in AAL kit.. i got it for 220 shipped.. although i have nothing to compare it to, i love it. I think it flexxes great and rides semi decent on the roads.. my tires are always at 10 - 15lbs and i have no sway bars so i just have to take it easy.. I think if you plan on upgrading later on.. then its a great lift to get into the hobby of off roading.. i think the 4.5 kit is to stiff, 2 of my friends have it and their's dont flex as well. after rereading what you posted seems like you have leaf's up front?

anyways heres a quick pic of my jeep.. i have more if you'd like to see..

hig115039.jpg
 
PornstaR said:
Im running the RC 4.5 lift, with aal and shackles in the rear. Only problem I have had is my speaker box is a little heavy and makes my rear sag about 2inches. Thats my fault so im swaping out to larger full rear packs. Other than that lift is A-OK!!!

The current rear is CJ springs with 2" blocks, shackles, and AAL and will be replaced by full leaf packs, no AAL. One of the springs is bent a little so I've gotta swap it out. I'm hoping that I can remove the blocks from the rear too. They welded a truss onto the 8.8" rear and there's a single anti-wrap/traction bar running off of it so there may have been some axle wrap issues. Getting rid of those blocks would help out.

How damn heavy is that box???? My XJ has two JL 12s in the rear (came with it) and I konw the box isn't too heavy.


For those of you running RC kits, is it an AAL kit or full leaf packs? Guess I should've asked people to specify when I started this thread, as that may make a difference in the sag department :dunno:
 
i dont have any blocks, got completely new spring packs...i'm pissed i have so much sag in the rear now....oh well, gonna get some new shackles someday to correct my lost height


one word of advice, DONT buy the RC discos, i cannot stress how much they suck, they take me almost 30 minutes to reconnect. real b*tches....stay away!!! terrible design, if you wanted you could make the same things for $10 from a local hardware store. they were a total waste of $55...trust me they suck
 
barillms said:
Rough Country and Superlift both ride like sh*t. The coils are cheapo and way too stiff for me.

On the road ride I don't care too much about.

I was told that RC > Superlift. Actually,the words were, "I wouldn't spend the extra for Superlift if my life depended on it."
 
YeaItsSlo said:
Here is my oppion, I have the RC 3in AAL kit.. i got it for 220 shipped.. although i have nothing to compare it to, i love it. I think it flexxes great and rides semi decent on the roads.. my tires are always at 10 - 15lbs and i have no sway bars so i just have to take it easy.. I think if you plan on upgrading later on.. then its a great lift to get into the hobby of off roading.. i think the 4.5 kit is to stiff, 2 of my friends have it and their's dont flex as well. after rereading what you posted seems like you have leaf's up front?

anyways heres a quick pic of my jeep.. i have more if you'd like to see..

[IG]http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j248/YeaItsSlo/hig/hig115039.jpg[/IMG]

Why are you always running at 10-15psi? Yeah, the lower pressure will soften up the ride but that seems low for the street. The prior owner had the 35s up to 35psi :dunce: I dropped them down to 28psi and it rides smooth on the road without being too soft.

I always like seeing pics.

Yes, the front end is leaf over axle. I bought it like that and I'm not converting back anytime soon.
 
cuboulder96xj said:
i dont have any blocks, got completely new spring packs...i'm pissed i have so much sag in the rear now....oh well, gonna get some new shackles someday to correct my lost height


one word of advice, DONT buy the RC discos, i cannot stress how much they suck, they take me almost 30 minutes to reconnect. real b*tches....stay away!!! terrible design, if you wanted you could make the same things for $10 from a local hardware store. they were a total waste of $55...trust me they suck

I havn't even started thinking about quick disconnects yet. I've got plenty of other things to work on at the moment :eek:
 
I'm starting to think about doing RE in the rear and RC up front for now. The rear is the "easy" end to figure out and it'll be an extra maybe $50/ea to get 4 or 4.5" RE in the rear.

Up front I think I'll go with Rough Country for a few reasons. Spring width is one reason (see first post). I'll also be playing with the height up front. The LOA conversion is supposed to add a few inches so I don't want to go all out on that at the moment. I just want to get it level and replace the bent (and mismatched) front springs.
 
cuboulder96xj said:
you'll need to, if you plan on daily driving it, i'd get discos. night and day difference, at least with my rig.

It's on the list, but not at the top. My list of needs isn't pleasant at the moment...
  • new springs
  • install BPEs in the rear since I already broke an upper shock mount
  • new shocks
  • play with lift so this thing is level
  • take care of the PCV (or CCV, whatever) clog so I stop getting so much blowback through the breather (it's so bad it soaks the air filter then leaks out of the box and leaves small puddles)
  • new tires (should still be able to clear 35s)
  • pass PA state inspection (I hate state inspecions and I'm pushing the limit on the bumper height law)
  • locker in the rear (already regeared to 4.88 so that'll save me some $$$)

I've got my hands full :eek:
 
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