The perfect 3in lift kit

[JamesHatch]

Hey all. I am looking to lift my 1999 XJ 3in for daily driving and monthly trail use. I want the best ride quality and reliability possible. Steering upgrades will come later down the line and possibly some driveline such as a SYE if I seen it necessary. Linked is the google doc to the parts I am choosing and why. My solution offers what I believe to be a no compromised 3in lift and comes in at $300 under what Iron Rock Off-road would sell an equivalent kit for. Let me know if there are any improvements to be made. I am looking to keep this under $2000 but again, want the best ride quality and reliability possible for a 3in lift. I am also considering the Rubicon Express 3.5in super flex lift, but that doesn’t include a track bar or upper control arms. The lowers also aren’t adjustable and use flex joints which I am not a huge fan of. What’s more, it seems to be very hard to find in stock. Tell me what you think of my lift!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/13oIYu_xCDShXKV76oXfHYIDb0WLLSuKEXMXyB7GwcRQ/edit

 

[smokeyyank]

Based on what you're saying you want to do; I'd do a Upcountry lift with some fender trimming, solid tie rod and steering refresh, shackle relocation box rear, suspension refresh for other worn components and a traction device. It will be plenty capable and under budget.

If you want a lift you have the right idea to piece together a kit but your falling short.
-Leafs and coils. Shackle relocation box for the rear and either a bastard pack or new leafs. Going to more than $425. I'd look at OME coils or RE. Can't remember if metal cloak have a lift low enough to be used. Zone is meh at best.
-Go with SS brake lines waste of time and money to swap in rubber ones again.
-Don't know what shocks you selected as it goes to a blank page. Bilis and OME have good reputations. Recent thread talking about it.
-Track bar get a double shear one like the IRO. Again link doesn't work.
-Go with control arm drop brackets or bit the bullet and go with LA.
-TC drops are dumb af. Get a SYE and new shaft to do it right.
-Sway bar discos are awesome but no need to spend almost $200 for JKS ones.

 

[JamesHatch]

What’s your opinion on either the Rustys 4.5LA or the Rough Country 4.5LA. That would be the same price range and provide a long arm setup for going higher once I retire the jeep as a daily.

 

[smokeyyank]

Junk especially RC. Rustys while I haven't dealt with them in years has supposedly improved. Issues before was poor customer service and sub par parts. If you're looking for a LA set up neither would be a top 5 choice. If you want quality you're going to have to drop some coin. Ironmanfab, stinkfab, cavfab, core all make LA kits waaayyy better than cRustys or junk country.

 

[maxbraketorque]

This could be slice a lot of ways. Its easy enough to piece together a kit. For ride quality, I think the biggest challenge is rear leaves and shock selection. Everyone seems to make stiffer-than stock leaves because the all assume that the vehicle is going to have a ton of gear and armor. The vehicle then DDs like a buckboard. Shocks are tough because everyone has different taste, and figuring out what shocks suit your taste make take some trial and error. There are lots of options on track bars and track bar mounts. I would do a track bar + mount, and I'd match it to a drop pitman arm. I think the RC double shear track bar, track bar mount, and drop pitman arm are a solid choice. My only complaint would be that the bushings in the track bar have a lot of squish that can add some vagueness to the already vague steering.

I wouldn't mess with a short arm lift, even at 3 inches. The CavFab Alpha 3-link looks really nice to me.

 

[JamesHatch]

I guess all this makes me lean in the direction of doing it once and doing it right. Assuming I want to do a 4.5in long arm setup, who make the best system for max ride quality and handling? I am ok sacrificing some off-road performance. I have heard that 3link have lots of bumpsteer and brake dive, along with a general unstable feeling at high speeds. Does that make a 4link my best option? Is that too hard to stuff under an XJ at 4.5in? Would that pretty much leave me with radius arms as my best choice? So many options….

 

[maxbraketorque]

A 3-link is nothing more than a 4-link with one of the upper links removed. The basic layout concept of upper/lower link design is preserved, including the ability to adjust anti-dive / anti-squat properties. A 3-link makes it easier for the front suspension to articulate. Or to put it another way, 4-link suspensions inherently have some amount of bind during flex. There is no true bind-free long arm 4-link, at least not for link mounting points that are possible on an XJ. There is nothing about a 3-link that will induce more bump steer or brake dive.

There's no problem running a 4-link on an XJ, but the value is unclear, at least to me. Pretty much all the reputable XJ shops now offer a long arm 3-link, often as their best front suspension product.

 

[smokeyyank]

I guess all this makes me lean in the direction of doing it once and doing it right. Assuming I want to do a 4.5in long arm setup, who make the best system for max ride quality and handling? I am ok sacrificing some off-road performance. I have heard that 3link have lots of bumpsteer and brake dive, along with a general unstable feeling at high speeds. Does that make a 4link my best option? Is that too hard to stuff under an XJ at 4.5in? Would that pretty much leave me with radius arms as my best choice? So many options….

3 vs 4 link really comes down to what you can fit. Both do well and one isn't "superior" to the other, butt both have their advantages/disadvantages. As for the best it just depends on how you set it up. Joints are also important. There's a reason that some of these kits are a couple grand. Decent joints can be 80-100 each.

No to radius arms, just old design and the binding is less than ideal.

Here's my suggestion, start off simple and wheel it. Stuff is going to break you weren't planning on and things will need to be fixed once you lift it. Can't tell you how many times people say I just lifted my jeep and now I have deathwobble. Majority of the time is because of cheaping out and not doing things fully and correctly. I'd also put traction higher on your priority list than suspension. A little lift with traction devices will out wheel a lifted rig with open diffs all day.

The suggestion I gave earlier is a capable for what your wanting. Moving to LA right away with out the other supporting parts is just kind of a waste. You'll want bigger tires with more lift and bigger tires needs deeper gears. It adds up quick and it sucks to start a project and realize you are in over your head/budget and then your stuck with something incomplete on jack stands.

 

[75SV1]

I couldn't acces your list.
I'd probably add IRO (Iron Rock) Long arm on the list. I'd look for LA's that the center section can be removed. I did go with Ironman's, front and rear. With say an IRO LA, its a $300-400 upgrade over SA.
If you bump up to 3-1/2 lift, some spring options open up. I'd probably then go with OME. I did buy a set. It is a Dual rate rear leaf spring. Two negatives are cost and you have to put in bushings. Then you could add Metal Cloaks at 3-1/2 front springs. I'd also might look into Curries Rock Jock line. Both Metal Cloaks and Rock Jocks are Dual Rates.
SYE or Hack-n-Tap with a custom drive shaft. Also, I might look into an true OTK track bar. I had to use those on my two XJs, as I did the WJ Big Brake upgrade and (true) cross over steering. I'd also look at Stinky Fabs, Ironmans and RE's trackbar brace. They do need eachs track bar bracket. I have all three. I do have Stinky's installed. Might also look at Cav Fab.
I'd look into steering box braces and improvements to the front axle. Ironman and Boostwerks steering box braces. I'd look at K-suspensions Dirty 30 improvents and Stick Fabs spring bracket upgrade as minimal.
Shocks as noted before are subjective. I have Bilstein 5100's on my 4.5 and KYB Monomax on my 2". Both are a bit stiff for DD. If towing is part of the plan, then I might look into OME rear spring and some adjustable shocks for the rear. Part of a rough ride is that the rear spring and shock is stiff without a load in there.

 

[BALTANAKT]

Old Man Emu

 

[eschmit04]

Sorry to hijack the thread I was just surprised to hear the negative reviews on rusty's. I have been reading a lot of good reviews on both the 3' SA advanced lift and the 4.5" long arm.

I'm not against building a kit but it makes it rather convenient, and generally better priced when you can find all or a majority of the components as a package deal.

has any had recent negative experiences with either the products or support?

 

[75SV1]

I did have a Rusty's Trackbar, before I went with WJ Big Brakes and Cross over steering. Actually, I replaced it with a Rusty's OTK trackbar. For the level of my build both were/are OK. I think shipping comes into play with Rusty's. I had to replace the bushings on the first trackbar. I bought it used. I think the guy wheeled 5 times or so. The bushings were slotted. The cost of the bushings were $10, but the shipping was $20.
I went with the Rustys OTK as it had bushings. Don't know why I prefer rubber bushings instead of heim joints for a road vehicle. So, I'd check the total cost of Rusty's vs say OME or RE or IRO.

Also, I'd look at IRO's 3.5 rear leaf spring for an option. That, RE and OME were in my considerations. I went with OME. A bit more expensive though. Part of that is I used MOPAR bushings.

 

[jeep ride]

Rustys shipping charge's was the reason I never bought from him the people I knew who had his parts seemed to like them.

 

[gearwhine]

In my absence from the Jeep world for about 15 years, I understand Rubicon Express went under and came back....or something of the sort.

I was extremely happy with all things Rubicon Express back in the early 2000s. I had their 5.5" control arm drop kit (before long arms were the norm), and found everything to work exactly as anticipated. The coils/springs had a great rate (maybe requiring a bit too much extra load on the leaf springs to work well, but that's consistent among most from what I hear). Everything Rusty's and/or Rockkrawler back then had extremely low spring rates and just felt unsafe; maybe they've changed by now though.

I am also very happy with everything I've bought from RE in the last 2 years, and I have become even more particular with age. Leaf springs, shackles, Adjustable LCA/UCA, large 3/4" flex joint for a homemade trackbar, coil spacers, etc. Maybe it's made overseas now (I think it used to be US built?), but it still all seems just as well built and well priced as many years ago. I'm still sold on them, and it will take some great persuasion to go to a different company if RE offers it (aside from Stinky Fab Racing...newly proven to me to make fantastic equipment as well).

-Nick

 

[Da XJ nut]

Rusty's is less than 2 hours from me and I still won't buy from them. My old 99 XJ with a Rusty's 5.5 long arm inch lifted with 35's on it the parts seemed to wear out very quickly. just light wheeled it a year a less than 3k miles the end joints had to be replaced, Should've gone with Iron rock

 

[75SV1]

I did have a Rusty's Trackbar, before I went with WJ Big Brakes and Cross over steering. Actually, I replaced it with a Rusty's OTK trackbar. For the level of my build both were/are OK. I think shipping comes into play with Rusty's. I had to replace the bushings on the first trackbar. I bought it used. I think the guy wheeled 5 times or so. The bushings were slotted. The cost of the bushings were $10, but the shipping was $20.
I went with the Rustys OTK as it had bushings. Don't know why I prefer rubber bushings instead of heim joints for a road vehicle. So, I'd check the total cost of Rusty's vs say OME or RE or IRO.

Also, I'd look at IRO's 3.5 rear leaf spring for an option. That, RE and OME were in my considerations. I went with OME. A bit more expensive though. Part of that is I used MOPAR bushings.

Edit: Also to note, I went with Stinky Fabs OTK setup, except for the trackbar itself. I already had some plans to fab up a trackbar. I did have RE trackbar bracket and brace. Good stuff. I needed an OTK bracket for the axle. I wanted something a bit beefier than Rusty's. Stinky's way beefier, also the frame bracket was too. I might also check out Cav Fab.

 

[eschmit04]

Rustys shipping charge's was the reason I never bought from him the people I knew who had his parts seemed to like them.

See and now Rusty's offer free shipping on orders over $100. IRO is about $200.

 

[jeep ride]

Cool I hate paying shipping charge's.