James
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- James
- Joined
- Aug 14, 2017
- Threads
- 14
- Messages
- 560
- Reaction score
- 558
- Location
- Huntington Beach
- Vehicle(s)
- 2018 JLUR, 2018 Jaguar XE, 2018 Fiat 500E
- Occupation
- Real Estate Broker
I understand what you are saying.You don’t need to replace control arms on the JL with a 2-2.5” lift. The control arms being swapped are about a 1/4-1/2” longer, any corrections that minor can be made with an adjustable track bar. My skyjacker lift rides just as good as my buddies mopar lift and as good as my OEM ride on my sport S. I didn’t have any axle shift and only required a small adjustment to re-center my steering wheel.
I I am no expert either, but being in a large Jeep club there are a lot of flavors and various Jeep gurus that can piece together components at half the cost of a mopar lift and it will ride just as good if not better than factory.
Everyone has their brand preference, and ride quality expectations, but Mopar has never been a leader in Jeep lift market, at least not as long I have had Jeeps.
Yet everyone keeps knocking the Mopar lift without comparing it apples for apples.
I wanted to do a full blown coil over conversion at first. Yet when I broke it down to the reality of what is what, I did not want to be a Guinea pig for the aftermarket companies. Down the road I’ll bet the aftermarket companies will have some of the best stuff out there.
Right now for the cost the Mopar 2” lift, in my opinion is a great deal. The shocks have been specially tuned just for the JL. All other shocks are a one size fits all unless you custom order them. Even with custom ordering a shock you need to know so much to be able to get it to work right. Coil spring rate is also another Science within itself.
Than you have everyone’s opinion on what to use and what works best without any real testing.
Back in the earlier 90tys I road races motorcycles, I had a pro license, light sponcered by Honda and then Suzuki. With racing we tried everything to see what worked and what did not. What I found out was you can not compete against the big factory teams with factory engineers and unlimited resources.
Off roading if very much the same thing. The factory engineers have tools and resources that the rest could only dream. Yet some of the aftermarket company’s get help from the factory’s. Take AEV and their products. They had partnered with FCA on the JK, so did Tera flex.
The point beaing, I’ll take a factory engineer over anyone else all of the time. Do the engineers get it wrong some of the time? Yes, with mass produced parts the tolerance or variance are a factor. The Mopar coil spring problem is proof of this kind of problem. With small quantity and high quality comes a high price.
Mopar has invested a huge amount of money and resources in going after the aftermarket parts for the JL.
They withheld the JL from all of the aftermarket companies, unlike when the JK came out.
They are going after the billions of dollars being spent for the aftermarket parts on their JL.
I spent a good amount of time talking with some of the engineers who worked on the JL at the LA auto show.
What frustrating to me is, if a company like Mopar who is making a run at the aftermarket parts keeps screwing up like this they will lose guys like myself who are willing to spend on their parts. And your completely right, they are not known for their aftermarket parts.
My guess is after a year or two of testing the aftermarket companies will leave Mopar in the dust. By than the diesel will be out and I’ll be looking at selling mine and getting it.
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