Mopar 2" lift, installed wrong. How will affect ride?

[cguareschi]

I had a rough country cheap 2" lift (spacers) installed on my 2018 JLU Sport and the jeep was driving horribly even after alignment. Very wobbly at speed > 40mph, particularly after hitting a bump on the road. Tires are 35" @ 32 psi. I felt the car was unsafe so I went to the Jeep dealer looking for recommendations and I was told those cheap rough country lift mess up suspension geometry and the way the car drove was to be expected. I was also told with the Mopar 2" lift, the car would drive much better, close to stock.
So I had the Mopar lift installed last week with high hopes. They did a new alignment. When I picked up the car I was told it was driving ok but not great and that I may need a "caster kit". I was told to drive the car a little, see what I thought and that they would contact me with the price of this "caster kit" if I felt the ride was not satisfactory. As I drove the car I was very disappointed. The Jeep drove worse than with the rough country spacers lift. Need to keep two hands on the steering wheel to constantly correct, If you hit a bump or a pothole the car swerve. I spoke to the dealer and I am going back tomorrow tho have it checked.

In the meantime I noticed a few disappointing things with this Mopar lift install:

1. They did not remove the rear spacers from the previous lift, So the car is 2" taller in the back that it is in the front.
2. The coils with the blue tag were installed on the driver side, the red tags on the passenger side. Reading the forum and the mopar lift instructions (which have screwed up illustrations by the way) I understand they are swapped.
3. The lower front coil isolators are made of black plastic on both side. The pictures I saw in the forum of the new isolator that corrected the spring bow are grey. Did I get an old lift kit?

Are issues 1 and 2 serious enough to cause this poor handling? Is there a chance this car could drive and handle properly with this lift once these issues are corrected or should just forget the lift and go back to stock?

What is a "caster kit" ?

Any explanation of advice would be greatly appreciated.

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[1quick1]

I would absolutely take it back since you paid for their overpriced installation costs. I'll let others respond in detail to the others.

On a side note I have a 2.5" spacer lift and it rides stock but I do have the lower control arm relocation brackets which help keep close to factory geometry. I would imagine not having those would have an impact.

 

[Bearman95]

I had a rough country cheap 2" lift (spacers) installed on my 2018 JLU Sport and the jeep was driving horribly even after alignment. Very wobbly at speed > 40mph, particularly after hitting a bump on the road. Tires are 35" @ 32 psi. I felt the car was unsafe so I went to the Jeep dealer looking for recommendations and I was told those cheap rough country lift mess up suspension geometry and the way the car drove was to be expected. I was also told with the Mopar 2" lift, the car would drive much better, close to stock.
So I had the Mopar lift installed last week with high hopes. They did a new alignment. When I picked up the car I was told it was driving ok but not great and that I may need a "caster kit". I was told to drive the car a little, see what I thought and that they would contact me with the price of this "caster kit" if I felt the ride was not satisfactory. As I drove the car I was very disappointed. The Jeep drove worse than with the rough country spacers lift. Need to keep two hands on the steering wheel to constantly correct, If you hit a bump or a pothole the car swerve. I spoke to the dealer and I am going back tomorrow tho have it checked.

In the meantime I noticed a few disappointing things with this Mopar lift install:

1. They did not remove the rear spacers from the previous lift, So the car is 2" taller in the back that it is in the front.
2. The coils with the blue tag were installed on the driver side, the red tags on the passenger side. Reading the forum and the mopar lift instructions (which have screwed up illustrations by the way) I understand they are swapped.
3. The lower front coil isolators are made of black plastic on both side. The pictures I saw in the forum of the new isolator that corrected the spring bow are grey. Did I get an old lift kit?

Are issues 1 and 2 serious enough to cause this poor handling? Is there a chance this car could drive and handle properly with this lift once these issues are corrected or should just forget the lift and go back to stock?

What is a "caster kit" ?

Any explanation of advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Bearman95]

I had a rough country cheap 2" lift (spacers) installed on my 2018 JLU Sport and the jeep was driving horribly even after alignment. Very wobbly at speed > 40mph, particularly after hitting a bump on the road. Tires are 35" @ 32 psi. I felt the car was unsafe so I went to the Jeep dealer looking for recommendations and I was told those cheap rough country lift mess up suspension geometry and the way the car drove was to be expected. I was also told with the Mopar 2" lift, the car would drive much better, close to stock.
So I had the Mopar lift installed last week with high hopes. They did a new alignment. When I picked up the car I was told it was driving ok but not great and that I may need a "caster kit". I was told to drive the car a little, see what I thought and that they would contact me with the price of this "caster kit" if I felt the ride was not satisfactory. As I drove the car I was very disappointed. The Jeep drove worse than with the rough country spacers lift. Need to keep two hands on the steering wheel to constantly correct, If you hit a bump or a pothole the car swerve. I spoke to the dealer and I am going back tomorrow tho have it checked.

In the meantime I noticed a few disappointing things with this Mopar lift install:

1. They did not remove the rear spacers from the previous lift, So the car is 2" taller in the back that it is in the front.
2. The coils with the blue tag were installed on the driver side, the red tags on the passenger side. Reading the forum and the mopar lift instructions (which have screwed up illustrations by the way) I understand they are swapped.
3. The lower front coil isolators are made of black plastic on both side. The pictures I saw in the forum of the new isolator that corrected the spring bow are grey. Did I get an old lift kit?

Are issues 1 and 2 serious enough to cause this poor handling? Is there a chance this car could drive and handle properly with this lift once these issues are corrected or should just forget the lift and go back to stock?

What is a "caster kit" ?

Any explanation of advice would be greatly appreciated.

whoever did your lift definitely did not do it right. My dealer installed mine without any extra components and it rides and drives great on my Rubicon. I would definitely take it back.

 

[cguareschi]

So if I understand correctly from @1quick1 the "caster kit" may just be a control arm relocation bracket and from @Bearman95 this should not be necessary on a properly installed lift. The Mopar lift has longer lower control arm to fix the reduction in caster angle you otherwise have by lifting the car. Am I correct?

 

[cguareschi]

If I am understanding the problem correctly, the poor handling should be the consequence of not enough positive caster. I can see how the increased rear height compared to the front may reduce caster angle even further. So hopefully removing the rear spacers will fix the problem.
What would be the effect of right springs installed left side and right on left? Currently the spring are not bowed. Do they have different length or compression rate?

 

[Crusifix]

Sounds like you had two different lifts installed by shop monkeys. This is why I do things myself.

 

[Arterius2]

So if I understand correctly from @1quick1 the "caster kit" may just be a control arm relocation bracket and from @Bearman95 this should not be necessary on a properly installed lift. The Mopar lift has longer lower control arm to fix the reduction in caster angle you otherwise have by lifting the car. Am I correct?

Wow man! The Mopar 2" on a sport is more like 4", and they kept the 2" spacer on the rear??? So technically you got 4" lift at the front and a 6" lift in the back! the pitch angle and steering geometry must be a gigantic mess right now, no wonder it drives like a tractor. They also might have not even used the new spring-isolators that came with the kit and re-used the originals.

Also, the longer springs (higher part number) always goes on the passenger side. So if they installed that incorrectly, your roll angle is also a mess, your Jeep is basically tip toeing it's way when you drive it, no amount of alignment is going to help that. I would be seriously pissed right now at the incompetency of this dealer's service department. I would stop driving it immediately, bring it back and have them either give you a full refund or redo the entire lift kit for free!

 

[Crusifix]

First thing. Remove the spacers from the rear. You can, but should not use two different lift kits at the same time.

 

[cguareschi]

@Crusifix, I am with you with this. Lesson for the future. I figured a Jeep dealer would know what they are doing. Those shop monkeys cost a pretty penny.

 

[Crusifix]

@Crusifix, I am with you with this. Lesson for the future. I figured a Jeep dealer would know what they are doing. Those shop monkeys cost a pretty penny.

Yes they do, and they can do know wrong..LOL

 

[cguareschi]

I would like to confirm the location of the coils. My front coils pn are 68414065AA (red tag) is presently installed on the passenger side. 68414067AA (blue tag) now on the driver side. According to @Arterius2 and all I read on this forum the higher part number (67AA) with the blue tag should go to the passenger side and hence my jeep was done incorrectly. I want to be super sure so that I don't get the run around by the dealer.

With the coils mounted wrong, did they mess up the coil lower isolators as well? The driver side isolator doesn't seem to sit flat on the perch. Are the right and left keyed in a way they cannot be swapped?

The isolators I have on the jeep are black, in the wooden box they gave me back with the old parts, I have the old isolators so I suppose the one they installed came with the kit. The date on the box is 4-2-2019, so it should be a revised one. Every picture I saw with the new revised kit has grey plastic isolator though. Is there a way to distinguish them from the old one when mounted on the jeep?

Now I am really concerned they may mess it up again. You know, they take the car in and you are not allowed to see what they do, I wonder how many other things may be messed up that I didn't notice.

 

[Arterius2]

I would like to confirm the location of the coils. My front coils pn are 68414065AA (red tag) is presently installed on the passenger side. 68414067AA (blue tag) now on the driver side. According to @Arterius2 and all I read on this forum the higher part number (67AA) with the blue tag should go to the passenger side and hence my jeep was done incorrectly. I want to be super sure so that I don't get the run around by the dealer.

With the coils mounted wrong, did they mess up the coil lower isolators as well? The driver side isolator doesn't seem to sit flat on the perch. Are the right and left keyed in a way they cannot be swapped?

The isolators I have on the jeep are black, in the wooden box they gave me back with the old parts, I have the old isolators so I suppose the one they installed came with the kit. Every picture I see with the new revised kit has grey plastic isolator. Is there a way to distinguish them from the old one when mounted on the jeep?

Now I am really concerned they may mess it up again. You know, they take the car in and you are not allowed to see what they do, I wonder how many other things may be messed up that I didn't notice.

Looks like the shop monkey totally fubar-ed on your job.
67 goes on the passenger, 65 goes on the driver.

I am very very very sorry you are going through this experience, I don't know why I'm apologizing, but I somehow feel very bad and would like to apologize on behalf of the service department of your dealer...

 

[cguareschi]

@Arterius2 Thanks, so if they don't own to their mistake, all I have to do is to ask them to pull the part number sheet and tell me which is left and which is right.
Any visible difference between the right and left lower isolator? The black isolators I have installed look the same between left and right. The gray one I saw pics on the forum seem visibly different between the two sides, one being taller. Is it possible there is a third revision on these isolators now black? The date on my kit (4-2019) would suggest it is a newer one.

 

[Arterius2]

@Arterius2 Thanks, so if they don't own to their mistake, all I have to do is to ask them to pull the part number sheet and tell me which is left and which is right.
Any visible difference between the right and left lower isolator? The black isolators I have installed look the same between left and right. The gray one I saw pics on the forum seem visibly different between the two sides, one being taller. Is it possible there is a third revision on these isolators now black? The date on my kit (4-2019) would suggest it is a newer one.

I'm not 100% sure on this one, but I believe the newer spring isolator is black.

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