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am i going to hate myself for using a rough country lift?

dfarmxj

NAXJA Forum User
Location
western WA
I have been going back and forth on what lift kit to buy for my DD '00 xj. A few days ago I had decided on the rusty's 4.5" kit and was going to order it until I saw that it was going to cost me $200 in shipping. I had started looking for a way to work around paying that much to ship, which led me to find a bunch of stuff on the various forums saying rusty's isn't all that great. One of my buddies has been trying to talk me into a RC kit for a while (he's been around 3 yjs that have RC kits, and he bought one for his zj ) so I did some looking around, I found that jc Whitney had free shipping on orders over $75 and they had a 4.5" kit from RC for $450, so I called to ask if the kit had rear spring packs or aal, and being assured the kit came with spring packs, I ordered it, now I'm wondering if this is going to be one of those times where its the worst money I've saved.

The vehicle isn't going to be wheeled too much, maybe one day a month, and I'm only planning on 31" tires and hopefully a locker in the rear at some point. I'm basically shooting for what I think an suv should have been from the factory. A vehicle that will take me hunting, fishing, camping, let me drive around in the snow, and take me out to play on the trails every once in a while.

Thanks for your thoughts / opinions.
 
RC - I bought back in 2003 their shocks for YJ because they were couple $ cheaper. I am quite happy I sold the jeep with them. Started to rust after one winter, and way too stiff. For xj I would go with rubicon expresss kit.
 
Rough country makes quality stuff. Almost all the bad crap you hear about them are from way back in the day before they changed their ways.
 
Rc has the best customer service you can imagine.. if you have any problems at all call mitch at rough country he will make sure everything is fixed! Also if ericfx is right, then you got lucky! The only problem ive ever seen on rc 4.5 lifts is normally they come with the 4.5 springs for the rear requiring you to use the stock shackle.. the main leaf in the new pack is a tad longer as with any lift springs pushing the tiny stock shackle back. Not only causeing a bad shackle angle, but turning the shackle into a smackle by making it hit the unibody ever small bump you hit.. All of that is resolved by the 3 in leaf pack with 1.5 shackle.. doesn't hit, and creates a much nicer shackle angle!
 
My experience on NAXJA is if you search long enough and read enough threads you'll find someone bitching about a product made by pretty much manufacturer....including homemade products.

Assume you did your due dilligence and put that Rough Country lift on then get out an run that thing on some trails!
 
$200 in shipping is absolutely ridiculous. WTF is up with Rusty's????

Jcwhitney confuses the %$@$ out of me. They tend to sell the cheapest lift from any manufacture but fail to explain what's included until you click, click, and click some more to get to the details. I checked em under RC and they sell the AAL kit with shackle. I do not see the spring pack option anywhere so I hope you get what you want and not the AAL kit.

This is the only 4.5" kit listed and it spells Cheap with the capital "C":

Front coil springs, front lower control arms, transfer case drop kit, swaybar links, brake line relocating brackets, (4) RC Hydro 8000 series shocks, and rear add-a-leafs and shackles.
Install Time: 5 - 6 hours
Wheel Backspacing: 4 "
Recommended Tire Size: 32x11.50


For future references, if anyone wants to buy RC suspension kits, buy DIRECTLY from RC themselves. The prices will pretty much be the same anywhere and you get 10x better customer service dealing with them directly. They also ship 10x....maybe 11x faster!
 
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My experience on NAXJA is if you search long enough and read enough threads you'll find someone bitching about a product made by pretty much manufacturer....including homemade products.

Agreed!
 
All the RC bashing I've seen in the last year seems to come from dudes who cannot or will not be made happy by customer service or who have totally unreasonable expectations.

They have a customer service guy who frequents this board, I think his name is Jason, and I've been continually impressed with this guy's dedication to making people happy with his company. He is awesome.

Also - RC products aren't the very top of the line but they DO seem to be excellent value for what you pay. I haven't heard any complaints about their parts, really, except that maybe HDOffroad makes a better shackle relocation kit for the money. THat isn't really even a knock on RC.

If it fits the budget and you aren't attached to branding, go for it.
 
All the RC bashing I've seen in the last year seems to come from dudes who cannot or will not be made happy by customer service or who have totally unreasonable expectations.

They have a customer service guy who frequents this board, I think his name is Jason, and I've been continually impressed with this guy's dedication to making people happy with his company. He is awesome.

Also - RC products aren't the very top of the line but they DO seem to be excellent value for what you pay. I haven't heard any complaints about their parts, really, except that maybe HDOffroad makes a better shackle relocation kit for the money. THat isn't really even a knock on RC.

If it fits the budget and you aren't attached to branding, go for it.

I bet fifty percent of the complaints of RC kits are from the joints they put out the past two years. I can understand the frustration from these folks bashing the company because I, myself, have been dealing with the bushing issue for over a year and it got quite annoying to the point where I had to switch to another manufacture to solve it. I never bashed the company, despite having to change the bushings 12 times, but I did warn folks about the issue.

Nonetheless, their customer service has been top notch throughout the whole ordeal but unfortunately wasn't able to fix the issue before I went to another manufacture.

It appears they released a fix for the bushing issue that plagues many of their kits so I expect a big turnaround in points towards RC.
 
Just throwing in my experience here, but I'm going to defend Rusty's here a little. I ordered the Rusty's 4.5" lift with the adjustable HD tracbar and mount. I ordered it through 4 Wheel Performance in Whichita Falls, TX. The whole thing cost an even grand to thier shop. I've never had a problem with the kit from day one. Everything fit right and the trac bar has never been a problem. The main complaint I heard about Rusty's is the tie rod used to connect to the Stock body side trac bar mount, that the tie rod would bend or the trac bar would. The HD one doesn't use a tie rod at all. It's got a nice ride, and Rusty's springs DO have a good rep. My wife's XJ had a Superlift 4.5 and it was stiff as hell. Didn't like the ride at all. I haven't regretted the Rusty's lift for a single second.
 
Call RC not JC whit.Get full leaf packs. You'll be much happier with them.

PS
I also found if i called rusty the shipping price wasn't so high.About the same as everybody else.
 
Call RC not JC whit.

Agreed. Yesterday, I ordered their adjustable track bar directly with Jason (call their 800#, ask for him and tell him you are a NAXJA guy).

Great service, and expected deliver today. Of course, I am only about 120 miles from their shop, so that could be the source of speedy delivery!

I'd absolutely buy from them again.


****PLUS, he is throwing in a Rough Country sticker, so I will get a track bar PLUS an extra 5 HP!
 
To the OP, not exactly what you asked but 4.5 inches is a lot of lift for 31 inch tires. I have 2 inches of lift and 31's fit nicely, granted I did have to extend bumpstops to prevent rubbing, but I would have had to do that to prevent overcompression of my new shocks anyway. There are other benefits to keeping your lift lower not the least of which is the money you will have to shell out...but its your rig.
 
Back in the day RC had really crappy stuff but they have changed Thierry ways and are putting out a quality product with great customer service now!
 
I just bought my RC 4.5 xflex kit and love it. The joints aren't all that great but RC will ship I out new ones at no charge or send u rebuild kits. Me personally if u do buy the RC kit just do yourself a favor and go Johnny joints, they are way tighter and a lot quieter. But RC kits are very nice I love mine and just like mxracer624 said talk to mitch he is an awesome guy and will do anything he can to keep a customer happy and pleased with their product. Great people people!!! Just don't go Rusty's my friend talked me out of them, thank god. Rustys might be cheaper but u get what u pay for!
 
If you go with the 4.5" kit see if you can get the 3" spring and an extended shackle or relocation kit. Their 4.5" leaf spring as a very steep arch and makes the spring a little shorter than the stock springs. This will bring you rear shackle to far forward and have a crappy ride and make noise cause the shackle slaps on the unibody. Just my .02 because it happened to me.
 
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