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Which way would you go? 4.5 in lift

Well after a ton of research and being completely indecisive I made some phone calls . Spoke with sevral off road shops and the more I asked the more they told me that rough country wasn’t any better or any worse than anything they’d installed and that they hadn’t had any more complaints with them than Teraflex or Metalcloak or skyjacker or anything else . They also said that there product today was completely different than in the past and that they wouldn’t have any problem running any of their stuff versus someone else . The x-series short and long arm kits included more than any other company I looked at and the price is really hard to ignore . I ended up ordering the 4.5 inch x-series short arm lift with control arm drop brackets . I was ready to order long arms but the more reality set in the more I admitted to myself this Jeep is going to see very little if any “rock crawling” the most challenging off roading it will likely see will be playing around on our farm trails and trying to retrieve deer . I also don’t like the idea of cutting the control arm brackets off unless this is a dedicated off road rig and it isn’t . The control arm drop brackets and fully adjustable arms should allow me plenty of adjustment and articulation and I’m betting it’ll do more in this package than I am even comfortable with doing to it . I am hoping to get my angles good enough to get by without SYE for a little while because the AA 242 sye is almost 500 dollars . I would also like to regear but I cannot do everything at once . My tires and wheels are mounted and balanced and in my garage now and the lift should be here Friday .

Wait a minute! Weren't you one of those "black letter" kids a few days ago???
 
I’m not sure what the reference means. However , it’s easy to go along with what you read on the internet . On the other forum I frequent RC is like a four letter word . Once I talked to some people that install them regularly and read from people who had actually had them I couldn’t convince myself that they were bad . I read and read and read for weeks now about each and every company spoke with people and read on each and everything I could to educate myself as much as possible . I really try to make good decisions when making big purchases and as a mechanic for a living that takes pride in his work I wouldn’t purposely put something of low quality on my own vehicle .
 
I’m not sure what the reference means. However , it’s easy to go along with what you read on the internet . On the other forum I frequent RC is like a four letter word . Once I talked to some people that install them regularly and read from people who had actually had them I couldn’t convince myself that they were bad . I read and read and read for weeks now about each and every company spoke with people and read on each and everything I could to educate myself as much as possible . I really try to make good decisions when making big purchases and as a mechanic for a living that takes pride in his work I wouldn’t purposely put something of low quality on my own vehicle .

Ha ha he was referencing that you are now a NAXJA member.

At the end of the day it's really up to you on what you want and think will do the job. Most will give you their opinion from what they heard from a friend's second cousin, others it's from first hand experience. RC isn't terrible, obviously they are dong something right to stay in business. I just prefer to purchase from vendors that are truly dedicated to the XJ platform and support the forum. I'd also rather give my money on a small shop instead of a juggernaut offroad company. For what you described wanting to do it should be a good starter kit.
 
Oh ok! Yes I joined a few days ago . I didn’t know who was a contributing vendor and who wasn’t at the time of purchase either . The shop I bought from is a small shop called Built 2 Rock Offroad . It should be a good kit to get me started that’s my thoughts exactly and if I have to upgrade over time that’s part of it . I suppose next time I need to talk to someone more familiar with vendors and such because I simply did not know.
 
No Jeep is ever complete and what's awesome about them. You'll gather tons of info from NAXJA. Local chapters are awesome and have gobs of references and resources. If you haven't checked in there highly advise to do so.
 
go 4.56 gears

looking forward to your build!
 
Picking up my lift in the morning . Need help with final parts order . Which shackles should I order ? Want to keep additional lift to a minimum but if someone can reccomend a shackle that paired well with the same leafs I’d jump on it . Which bump stops should I order? Wish there was a hardware kit that came with all the bolts/nuts/washers etc I would need so I don’t have to make multiple parts runs . Still haven’t addressed steering either .
 
Just a little update . I went with the RC X-series 4.5 with a few extras and so on . Everything has been fine so far have driven it 4,000 miles since lifting 3-4 months ago it was in early November ... anyways RF shock seal is already blown ... I install a LOT of shocks ... that’s faster than even the white box no name shocks I’ve installed 100’s of....
 
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