AEV JL lift explained by EPIC 4x4

[Zandcwhite]

If you watched last year his Metal cloak setup was for the Rubicon and they spent a week there. He also built one for the other guy on the channel with much larger tires. He brought it back and was trying to sell it at one point for under 40K with all the Metal CLoak, ARB and other stuff after a full refresh. It even had the 6 pack shocks. I guess no one bought it so he is trying a more road friendly approach to sell it. Their shop used to do a lot of custom setups for many You tubers.

The drop brackets can help road manners and bump absorption for sure, but just add those to the metalcloak kit and he'd have a WAY better kit. He'd have all the flex of the metalcloak kit and even better road manners than the AEV kit. In my opinon what he did wouldn't make sense even if the AEV kit was free. You'd have to pay me to make the obvious downgrade. Not to mention, he literally said it's an AEV SPONSORED video, so they paid him for the downgrade.

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[jeepingib]

The drop brackets can help road manners and bump absorption for sure, but just add those to the metalcloak kit and he'd have a WAY better kit. He'd have all the flex of the metalcloak kit and even better road manners than the AEV kit. In my opinon what he did wouldn't make sense even if the AEV kit was free. You'd have to pay me to make the obvious downgrade. Not to mention, he literally said it's an AEV SPONSORED video, so they paid him for the downgrade.

Oh, you actually watched the video? I wasn't even going to begin to do that with the obvious nature of it.

 

[Remorseless]

Does it rhyme with thponsorship?

The drop brackets can help road manners and bump absorption for sure, but just add those to the metalcloak kit and he'd have a WAY better kit. He'd have all the flex of the metalcloak kit and even better road manners than the AEV kit. In my opinon what he did wouldn't make sense even if the AEV kit was free. You'd have to pay me to make the obvious downgrade. Not to mention, he literally said it's an AEV SPONSORED video, so they paid him for the downgrade.

Oh, you actually watched the video? I wasn't even going to begin to do that with the obvious nature of it.

Didn't even watch a second of it, but totally called it

 

[yokramer]

Oh holy shit. $1600 for entry level shocks and springs. I had no idea. Yeah I see the stamped brackets too, but that doesn’t add up

AEV is bougie as fuck for what you get, they bill themselves as good enough for OE to put on from factory so they think their shit is gold.

 

[Zandcwhite]

AEV is bougie as fuck for what you get, they bill themselves as good enough for OE to put on from factory so they think their shit is gold.

Their kit is basically the mopar kit with drop brackets instead of longer front LCAs, so yes it's OE quality. The thing that the inexperienced don't realize is that the kits from the reputable off road aftermarket companies are WAY better than OE quality. That's the entire point of upgrades, being better than stock isn't it? Being one of the few kits that include drop brackets, they get well deserved marks for on road ride and bump handling. Short of long arms you won't get better ride even with 8 new control arms and new track bars. The geometry is just better with drop brackets. Even with aftermarket arms, we still run drop brackets on the JLUR because we do tens of thousands of road miles and thousands of miles in the desert at speed every year and the handling and ride are well worth the little bit of ground clearance we give up.

 

[Zandcwhite]

Oh, you actually watched the video? I wasn't even going to begin to do that with the obvious nature of it.

I hit play while I was typing my reply so didn't get past the first 2 minutes... and he already said it was an AEV sponsored video by then.

 

[jeepingib]

AEV is bougie as fuck for what you get, they bill themselves as good enough for OE to put on from factory so they think their shit is gold.

Which is ironically such a low standard to set.

 

[Remorseless]

Which is ironically such a low standard to set.

What do you mean?!?! OEM spec is almost as good as milspec

 

[jeepingib]

What do you mean?!?! OEM spec is almost as good as milspec

 

[Richard_JL]

I hit play while I was typing my reply so didn't get past the first 2 minutes... and he already said it was an AEV sponsored video by then.

A couple of things. ..He never said AEV is the best, he said AEV is good (and here's why, etc).

Also, if by 'sponsor' you mean AEV gave up a free kit for review, that's not necessarily a bad thing. Unless AEV has some other financial agreement with these guys, getting a free kit for review is actually less biased than a reviewer who spent their own money and research time because of confirmation bias of their own decision making.

Sure, some lower-level reviewers with less influence would whore their 'positive' opinions out for free stuff (DRC used to do that a lot), but that doesn't apply to these guys who already have a good rep to maintain and have installed nearly every kit known in the industry.

 

[yokramer]

[snip] (DRC used to do that a lot)[snip]

Used to?

 

[Zandcwhite]

A couple of things. ..He never said AEV is the best, he said AEV is good (and here's why, etc).

Also, if by 'sponsor' you mean AEV gave up a free kit for review, that's not necessarily a bad thing. Unless AEV has some other financial agreement with these guys, getting a free kit for review is actually less biased than a reviewer who spent their own money and research time because of confirmation bias of their own decision making.

Sure, some lower-level reviewers with less influence would whore their 'positive' opinions out for free stuff (DRC used to do that a lot), but that doesn't apply to these guys who already have a good rep to maintain and have installed nearly every kit known in the industry.

It's still a downgrade from the metalcloak kit he had, so even free it's a poor decision. I would hope he got more $ than just a free kit. Either that or do the review for the views and then put the metalcloak arms and track bars back in at a minimum.

 

[Richard_JL]

Used to?

Well...they give away free V8 Gladiators, so I figured they are a step above needing to acquire free stuff.

It's still a downgrade from the metalcloak kit he had, so even free it's a poor decision. I would hope he got more $ than just a free kit. Either that or do the review for the views and then put the metalcloak arms and track bars back in at a minimum.

The two kits have different users / uses and philosophies. MC is for true rock crawling capability and the $1500 AEV is more overlanding (more on-road) that keeps more of the oem parts. One isn't better or worse than the other except for the targeted use cases.

I'm sure the used MC kit it will be on one of their customer's Jeeps in no time. Or maybe he wants a better use for it than on his 2 door sport. Either way, he installs (and uninstalls) kits a lot, so I don't think this 'downgrade' is some sort of betrayal of trust.

 

[AmericanPatriot100]

For a company who is sponsored by Metalcloak and then installed a different company’s lift I think it’s a great review! And I’ve driven a couple jeeps with the AEV lift and the ride offered by this lift is incredible. And then by hearing what @jadmt has to say about the lift and its function on road and offroad on Moab trails carry’s a lot of weight for me personally. Metalcloak is a sick company with sick parts I’d love to have on my jeep. But having a family of 7 sometimes splurging on a kit like metalcloaks 2.5” GC or RL kits is out of the cards. And a $1500 AEV 2.5” kit becomes more appealing and much more affordable and since we all spend much more time on road than offroad (unless your @wibornz) the AEV kit has fantastic on road manners. I have seen some discussion or complaints about metalcloaks on road manners with their shocks. I haven’t seen complaints about AEVs lift. Maybe that’s because there isn’t many on here with the AEV lift. And maybe there is just a bunch of princess peas with Metalcloak shocks!! I know I’m very picky with my shocks. Granted I haven’t had much experience outside of factory shocks(stock sport, JL rubicon reds, JT rubicon Fox and 392 Fox shocks) but the way my jeep is set up it rides best on the 392 shocks. And I’m sure once I put the AEV lift on I’ll be even happier!

 

[vaJLUR]

the AEV kit has fantastic on road manners. I have seen some discussion or complaints about metalcloaks on road manners with their shocks. I haven’t seen complaints about AEVs lift. Maybe that’s because there isn’t many on here with the AEV lift. And maybe there is just a bunch of princess peas with Metalcloak shocks!! I know I’m very picky with my shocks. Granted I haven’t had much experience outside of factory shocks(stock sport, JL rubicon reds, JT rubicon Fox and 392 Fox shocks) but the way my jeep is set up it rides best on the 392 shocks. And I’m sure once I put the AEV lift on I’ll be even happier!

This is true, the couple MC equipped jeeps I drove before had MC shocks and I hated the ride, so much so I attributed the entire feel to MC being a jalopy too soft this is stupid kit.
Turns out I was wrong. Got to drive another Jeep that kinda did what I wanted to before I cut back on the budget a little. They had RK front lowers, and the rest of the arms were MC, can't recall the trackbars but steering was RPM - paired with off the shelf fox dsc shocks.
I loved it. I did similar, but with @AccuTunedJL Fox 2.0s, MC arms/springs, Cavfab steering
Bias being what it is, this is the best riding jeep i've driven.

All that to say, AEV is fine and you can do a lot with less. I have many miles on a Clayton Ride Right lift with a predominantly stock suspension system. That doesn't mean that doing the same or more is equal. I know for certain my wife for example is much more comfortable in this setup than the previous. But YMMV and what we "feel" is subjective.

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