Lift Kit suggestions

[Trauma PA]

Where is the cheapest price for the factory Mopar lift?

Believe it or not, last time I checked prices, the cheapest was on Amazon and then Ebay.

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[Seanst34]

Agree with Seanst34. I had a 2.5" Rubicon Express suspension lift on my 2014 JKU and it was just "ok." The Bilstein mono tube shocks were very stiff thus making the ride a little bit on the harsh side. Fast forward to my current JLU where I installed the Mopar 2" lift. No comparison between the 2 lifts. I couldn't be more pleased with the Mopar lift. My wife even likes the way my JLU drives whereas she was not a fan of the way my lifted JKU drove.

Agreed I think the Fox shocks (not sure what series they use for Mopar but I’m guessing the 2.0s) ride great. Great plush feel without the nose dive of a desert runner (Think Ford Raptor).

 

[Shots]

Speaking of Fox shocks. I've heard nothing but good reviews on the Dynatrac 2" kit for the JL. It was a strong consideration for me, but I couldn't bring myself to spend $1,300 for a lift when the Daystar 2" was $200. I know they're not in the same class of lift so it's not a fair comparison and I don't mean to compare them against each other. I'm just saying, for my purposes a $1,300 kit was overkill. For any of you doing any serious off-roading, who also want good road manner, I hear the Dynatrac is a stellar choice. Price wise, it's about the same as the Mopar kit too. Might be one to consider.

 

[xtopherm]

I am looking at either the Rubicon Express 2.5 inch lift with monotube shocks or the Teraflex ST suspension kit. Any suggestions? I know Teraflex is highly regarded but nit sure about rubicon Express. Thanks.

I've got a similar question - I am trying to decide between the:
- Mopar 2” Lift with the Fox shocks
- Teraflex 2.5 Sport St2 with falcon shocks
- Metalcloak JL Wrangler True Dual-Rate Lift Kit, 2.5" with RockSport shocks

The Jeep is off-road a lot, but mostly in sand dunes and then weekend trail runs in woodsy rocky trails. 2" or so is all I want or need for my use case - will be running 35s on 17" steel rims.

Walking into this, I note that the Mopar kit is about $500 less than the Teraflex or Metalcloak, plus is supposed to be good on the geometry and include good shocks. I am also not yet sold on these dual rate springs - on a short lift I am not sure they add anything but weight.

My concerns with Mopar are those crappy plastic spring perches and the spring bowing. What's with that? It is caused by careless installs failing to index the springs to the perch, or does that happen to nearly 100% of the installs, and if so, is it just cosmetic, or does it affect function? Didn't I read that Mopar had changed the perch to fix the issue?

Teraflex looks like a great option, but not sure it is 60% better than Mopar to justify the 60% price hike?

Metalcloak is a bit intimidating because they say the kit causes a lot of driveline wear and virtually requires new drive shafts, and they position it as totally inferior to their more expensive kits with the sixpack shocks - they seem to be pretty uncommitted to their milder kits. And again, not sure it is 50% better than Mopar to justify the 50% price hike over Mopar?

Overall, I am leaning toward the Mopar kit, but I am open to being convinced by someone knowledgeable with specific facts that the Teraflex or Metalcloak are both worth the 50%-60% price hike.

Thoughts?

-----Update EDIT------

FYI, I ended up going with the MOPAR. Very happy with it overall. Here's a few notes:

1/ Pretty easy install - when you boil it all down, it took me about a full day of work (dealer quoted 16 hours at $90/hr!)

2/ Parts quality is very high. I took care to seat them correctly and index the springs carefully and they are holding up well - kit says they are designed to have a little spring bow, and that is all I have. Rest of the parts are very heavy duty with good finishes and clean welds.

3/ Fox shocks valved for Jeep are excellent and appear to be well-made quality items

4/ Kit rides WAAAY higher than the advertised 2 inches. Mine is 3.5 inches with a full load of recovery gear, full tank of gas, aftermarket steel front bumper and winch. You'd have to armor the heck out of a jeep and put in 4 passengers and a full load of gear and maybe a few inches of wet snow on the roof to get this thing down to 2 inches of lift - the springs are very heavy duty and very tall. My wife is 5'9" and my daughter is almost 6' and they both complain about the height. when getting into the vehicle Attached picture shows it - those are 35x12.5 tires, which this lift just swallows like they were 31s.

5/ Despite that, the front axle caster angle on my jeep stayed right within spec using the supplied MOPAR front lower control arms. Some people say those MOPAR arms don't add quite enough additional length for the height of the lift, but my caster is right on point.

6/ I've wheeled this lift 5 times since installation (couple times somewhat hard) and it has performed really well - very quiet, great articulation, good ruggedness. I did develop a tiny clunk right before the 1500 mile required re-torque (1500 miles after putting on any lift you have to retorque everything - do not skip this step - you will oval out a hole in your frame or risk your safety), but the clunk was just a lower rear shock bolt that had dragged on a rock and been knocked loose. Did the re-torque and everything is perfect.

7/ Handling with this lift is definitely NOT improved over stock. A lot of people say its great, rides smooth etc., but I don't know what the hell they are talking about. On smooth flat roads, it I guess it is ok, but this lift definitely introduces some yaw and sway and the roll center is definitely modified. If you deliberately oscillate the steering wheel to induce a little body sway, it definitely has a higher, more tippy, more ponderous feeling with more yaw and more body movement (as one would expect from a lifted suspension - my point is that to those who wonder how noticeable it is, it is definitely noticeable). The changes also introduce weird body motions crossing things like rail road tracks that are not perpendicular to the road, etc. I come from a sports car frame of reference, so I am more tuned into this kind of thing than others might be. I don't expect this thing to drive like a sports car, but I would say that the handling went from a "how the hell did Jeep get a live axle body on frame truck to handle so well??" to "this thing feels a bit funky and has some odd body motions and feels kinda tippy - I think I will take corners a lot slower from now on...."

8/ I experimented with adding trackbar relocation brackets to raise the axle end of the front and rear trackbars up to restore the geometry, but they made things considerably worse. Those are designed for really extreme lifts in the 4-6" + range and I think the reality is that this MOPAR lift is just right in the middle. Tall enough to affect the geometry, but not so tall that it benefits from correction.

9/ Overall, it is a hell of a lot of bang for the buck. Easy install, good tough high quality parts, good articulation, tons of height, acceptable handling.

 

[Roky]

I've got a similar question - I am trying to decide between the:
- Mopar 2” Lift with the Fox shocks
- Teraflex 2.5 Sport St2 with falcon shocks
- Metalcloak JL Wrangler True Dual-Rate Lift Kit, 2.5" with RockSport shocks

The Jeep is off-road a lot, but mostly in sand dunes and then weekend trail runs in woodsy rocky trails. 2" or so is all I want or need for my use case - will be running 35s on 17" steel rims.

Walking into this, I note that the Mopar kit is about $500 less than the Teraflex or Metalcloak, plus is supposed to be good on the geometry and include good shocks. I am also not yet sold on these dual rate springs - on a short lift I am not sure they add anything but weight.

My concerns with Mopar are those crappy plastic spring perches and the spring bowing. What's with that? It is caused by careless installs failing to index the springs to the perch, or does that happen to nearly 100% of the installs, and if so, is it just cosmetic, or does it affect function? Didn't I read that Mopar had changed the perch to fix the issue?

Teraflex looks like a great option, but not sure it is 60% better than Mopar to justify the 60% price hike?

Metalcloak is a bit intimidating because they say the kit causes a lot of driveline wear and virtually requires new drive shafts, and they position it as totally inferior to their more expensive kits with the sixpack shocks - they seem to be pretty uncommitted to their milder kits. And again, not sure it is 50% better than Mopar to justify the 50% price hike over Mopar?

Overall, I am leaning toward the Mopar kit, but I am open to being convinced by someone knowledgeable with specific facts that the Teraflex or Metalcloak are both worth the 50%-60% price hike.

Thoughts?

I have the Mopar lift and I really like it. It performs well on and off road. But here’s the thing, if you get over 3 inches like myself and some others on here got, then you’ll need additional parts. Front and rear adjustable track bars, front lower adjustable control arms, to increase castor. The fixed lcas that come with kit aren’t long enough to give amount of castor needed for good steering. So you should pick whichever lift you like because with these extra parts you’ll be spending close to the same amount on all three. This is if you get 3” or more. Good luck with your build

 

[robd1438]

One thing I'm considering based on a local shops recommendation is the Rubicon Express 2.5 lift but with Falcon shocks all around and falcon steering stabilizer. Thoughts?

 

[IslandJlU]

I’m going ST1 or ST2. That’s just me, I like Falcon. I’ve never heard of Rubi Express.

ST1:

Yummy

Im also thinking of going that direction . Which setup did you ended up with? the st1 or st2 do you have photo's

 

[TrailTorque]

Im also thinking of going that direction . Which setup did you ended up with? the st1 or st2 do you have photo's

I still have not pulled the trigger lol sold my house and in a rental house while having a house built haha it’s been hectic to say the least! As soon as I get my family into this new house I’m getting the ST2 likely and putting it all on in my garage haha

 

[IslandJlU]

I still have not pulled the trigger lol sold my house and in a rental house while having a house built haha it’s been hectic to say the least! As soon as I get my family into this new house I’m getting the ST2 likely and putting it all on in my garage haha

I still have not pulled the trigger lol sold my house and in a rental house while having a house built haha it’s been hectic to say the least! As soon as I get my family into this new house I’m getting the ST2 likely and putting it all on in my garage haha

what tire size are you running? 33x12.5? I like the setup on your jeep looks dope

 

[TrailTorque]

what tire size are you running? 33x12.5? I like the setup on your jeep looks dope

Thanks buddy yes you nailed it!

The NITTO Ridge Grapplers in 33” actually measure 34” to be exact.

 

[landshark99]

I had the TeraFlex ST2 kit installed two weeks ago with the Falcon 3.3 quick adjust shocks, running 315/70/17 KM3 tires on 2019 JLUR very happy so far.

 

[piloto]

I had the TeraFlex ST2 kit installed two weeks ago with the Falcon 3.3 quick adjust shocks, running 315/70/17 KM3 tires on 2019 JLUR very happy so far.

That looks fantastic! How is the ride so far, compared to stock (presumably on the softest setting for the Falcon shocks)? And did you change anything else, like adding an adjustable track bar, etc?

And did it come out to 2.5" of lift, or just below that given the winch?

 

[landshark99]

So far the ride might be slightly stiffer than stock, but handles the bigger tires much better, on the washboards roads the ride at speed was awesome, there has been no front end droop, unlike my Landcruiser where i put a whole new steel bumper on along with the winch, I do not think adding the winch changed the weight difference as much because I used the stock bumper and saved some weight by taking the ends off, I did not measure before and after but it looks and feels to be about a 2.5" lift. Very happy so far

 

[mcmark]

Thanks buddy yes you nailed it!

The NITTO Ridge Grapplers in 33” actually measure 34” to be exact.

What tire pressure are you running your Ridge Grapplers at? And did you get c ply or E ply?

 

[Renhilio]

I had the TeraFlex ST2 kit installed two weeks ago with the Falcon 3.3 quick adjust shocks, running 315/70/17 KM3 tires on 2019 JLUR very happy so far.

Great looking Jeep! I’m curious now a year later, any updated feedback on the ST2? How had life been with it? Pros and cons?

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