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Rubicon Suspension + Spacer Question

iboostgti335

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Perhaps its a rhetorical question, but I figure it cant hurt to ask.

I am planning to put a Rubicon take off suspension on my Sahara which I was told will give me 1" of lift. I would like to add an extra 1-1.5" of lift. If I am to achieve this by adding a spacer lift kit, do I buy one for a Rubicon or a Sahara? Any brand recommendations are also appreciated. Thank you
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Sheepjeep

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all spacer lifts will work with sahara or a rubicon
 

Jerrybizzle

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Yep. Any will do. May need longer sway bar extensions.
 

pitsqrd

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Hey Paul,
I think you may get more than 1 inch lift from a Rubi take off. I put a Rubi take off suspension on my 2020 Sahara 2.0 Turbo with a .5 Teraflex spacer front and back and I think I may have at least 1.5 inches of lift. I looked at Daystar .75 for the fronts and nothing in the back, but I don't have an after market bumper, winch or other things that would require a .75 spacer in the front.

I think it also depends on the springs you get with the Rubi take off you buy. I was able to get springs that were 91/91 and 61/61 from a 3.6 Rubi with hard top, metal bumpers, but no tow package. I think there are even longer springs from the Rubi diesels.

I don't know for sure how much lift I got because I didn't measure before and after when I had the Sahara with stock wheels.

If you could do me a favor and measure your stock Sahara from ground to bottom of the fender lip, front and back, I will do the same and we can compare numbers. This will give you some idea of how much lift you may be able to get from a Rubi suspension take off.

Here is what my Sahara looks like now. Not sure but looks to me to be more than 1 inches from stock.
Jeep Wrangler JL Rubicon Suspension + Spacer Question Jeep Rubi Take Off 1
 

OscarMike85

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Hey Paul,
I think you may get more than 1 inch lift from a Rubi take off. I put a Rubi take off suspension on my 2020 Sahara 2.0 Turbo with a .5 Teraflex spacer front and back and I think I may have at least 1.5 inches of lift. I looked at Daystar .75 for the fronts and nothing in the back, but I don't have an after market bumper, winch or other things that would require a .75 spacer in the front.

I think it also depends on the springs you get with the Rubi take off you buy. I was able to get springs that were 91/91 and 61/61 from a 3.6 Rubi with hard top, metal bumpers, but no tow package. I think there are even longer springs from the Rubi diesels.

I don't know for sure how much lift I got because I didn't measure before and after when I had the Sahara with stock wheels.

If you could do me a favor and measure your stock Sahara from ground to bottom of the fender lip, front and back, I will do the same and we can compare numbers. This will give you some idea of how much lift you may be able to get from a Rubi suspension take off.

Here is what my Sahara looks like now. Not sure but looks to me to be more than 1 inches from stock.
Jeep Wrangler JL Rubicon Suspension + Spacer Question Jeep Rubi Take Off 1
That looks great! I'm looking to do the same thing. I bought some take offs for $100, and from a Facebook post, people were saying the ONLY thing you need to swap out are the shocks and coils. Is that what you did? Or did you swap out anything else? I tried to find stock part numbers and compare them to what I have, but I couldn't find much. Thanks for the help!
 

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pitsqrd

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That looks great! I'm looking to do the same thing. I bought some take offs for $100, and from a Facebook post, people were saying the ONLY thing you need to swap out are the shocks and coils. Is that what you did? Or did you swap out anything else? I tried to find stock part numbers and compare them to what I have, but I couldn't find much. Thanks for the help!
Hi Calder,
So to be clear, I also installed the longer Mopar LCAs. I figured for less than $100, if they helped to calm the nervous steering of the Saraha on the freeway, its a great investment,. If not, I could probably sell them and get some of my money back and gain a lot of knowledge from the install.

So i compared the Part numbers for the stock LCAs, track bar, and sway bar links and the parts that came with the RuBi take off I bought. Of course the coils and shock were different, but the track bar, and the LCAs from the Sahara were the same as the part from the Rubi. The Part Numbers for the front sway bar links were different but measured the same, so I left the Sahara links on the car.

Long story short, unless you are installing longer Mopar LCA the only thing you need to swap from Sahara to Rubi take off are the coils and shocks.

I'm going to drive this config around for a while, go off road on some moderate trails and then decide if I need and want more lift, like the Mopar, Dynatrac or one of Rock Krawler 2.5 lifts. There is a lot of info on this site that indicates there is value in a lift that has matched coil and shock performance characteristics, and from my other car experiences and engineering background I believe in this also. However there is also a some info (some speculation, perhaps) that a supposedly match coil and shock lift like the Mopar, has also had some problems (bow in coils).

With so much data, it's difficult sometimes to determine what to believe. So, I have decided to make incremental changes, test/evaluate them and install everything myself if possible. This way, if I don't like the result or mess up the install, I only have myself to blame, and I can usually fix stuff anyway.

My next mod is to find and install a light weight front bumper that I like the looks of.

Good luck with your Rubi take off lift. Ping me anytime if you need info on the install.

G
 

OscarMike85

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Hi Calder,
So to be clear, I also installed the longer Mopar LCAs. I figured for less than $100, if they helped to calm the nervous steering of the Saraha on the freeway, its a great investment,. If not, I could probably sell them and get some of my money back and gain a lot of knowledge from the install.

So i compared the Part numbers for the stock LCAs, track bar, and sway bar links and the parts that came with the RuBi take off I bought. Of course the coils and shock were different, but the track bar, and the LCAs from the Sahara were the same as the part from the Rubi. The Part Numbers for the front sway bar links were different but measured the same, so I left the Sahara links on the car.

Long story short, unless you are installing longer Mopar LCA the only thing you need to swap from Sahara to Rubi take off are the coils and shocks.

I'm going to drive this config around for a while, go off road on some moderate trails and then decide if I need and want more lift, like the Mopar, Dynatrac or one of Rock Krawler 2.5 lifts. There is a lot of info on this site that indicates there is value in a lift that has matched coil and shock performance characteristics, and from my other car experiences and engineering background I believe in this also. However there is also a some info (some speculation, perhaps) that a supposedly match coil and shock lift like the Mopar, has also had some problems (bow in coils).

With so much data, it's difficult sometimes to determine what to believe. So, I have decided to make incremental changes, test/evaluate them and install everything myself if possible. This way, if I don't like the result or mess up the install, I only have myself to blame, and I can usually fix stuff anyway.

My next mod is to find and install a light weight front bumper that I like the looks of.

Good luck with your Rubi take off lift. Ping me anytime if you need info on the install.

G
Dude, this is some solid info. I really appreciate it.

I'm not a wrench head or anything, so I plan on enlisting a buddy to help with the install. Did you find instructions somewhere, or are you mechanically inclined? It sounds like the latter.

I'm making list of immediate upgrades I want to make. Immediate mods are rock rails with a step, a mesh shade, and I was going to include lower control arms onto that but maybe I won't. It seems like an upgraded steering stabilizer goes a long way to improve the steering. Have you looked into that at all?
 

pitsqrd

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Hey Calder,
Yeah I've been wrenching on cars, motorcycles, bicycles, racing karts, etc, etc, since I was little kid. I did find a good You Tube video about doing a lift, but apparently its from a banned site .

If you want to improve steering, look into the TSB for Improve Steering first, before you invest in the stabilizer. You can find info about it on this forum. If you are doing a lift, get longer LCA or adjustable LCA before you get the stabilizer.

Good luck, the work isn't difficult if you follow instructions, but you need to have the tools or can get access to them, otherwise it will be tough.

Thanks
G
 

Drsaekimdc

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Hi Calder,
So to be clear, I also installed the longer Mopar LCAs. I figured for less than $100, if they helped to calm the nervous steering of the Saraha on the freeway, its a great investment,. If not, I could probably sell them and get some of my money back and gain a lot of knowledge from the install.

So i compared the Part numbers for the stock LCAs, track bar, and sway bar links and the parts that came with the RuBi take off I bought. Of course the coils and shock were different, but the track bar, and the LCAs from the Sahara were the same as the part from the Rubi. The Part Numbers for the front sway bar links were different but measured the same, so I left the Sahara links on the car.

Long story short, unless you are installing longer Mopar LCA the only thing you need to swap from Sahara to Rubi take off are the coils and shocks.

I'm going to drive this config around for a while, go off road on some moderate trails and then decide if I need and want more lift, like the Mopar, Dynatrac or one of Rock Krawler 2.5 lifts. There is a lot of info on this site that indicates there is value in a lift that has matched coil and shock performance characteristics, and from my other car experiences and engineering background I believe in this also. However there is also a some info (some speculation, perhaps) that a supposedly match coil and shock lift like the Mopar, has also had some problems (bow in coils).

With so much data, it's difficult sometimes to determine what to believe. So, I have decided to make incremental changes, test/evaluate them and install everything myself if possible. This way, if I don't like the result or mess up the install, I only have myself to blame, and I can usually fix stuff anyway.

My next mod is to find and install a light weight front bumper that I like the looks of.

Good luck with your Rubi take off lift. Ping me anytime if you need info on the install.

G
How are the Mopar LCAs?

I just installed rubi suspension (came off of 4 door, hardtop, metal bumpers, towing pkg) and teraflex 2 front/1.5 rear spacer lift on my 4 door sport s.

On highway, it feels like its very windy outside when driving.
 

pitsqrd

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Hi Sae,
Mopar LCAs are great for getting back to 6deg caster angle that will provide a more stable straight line drive at highway speeds. I was surprised to find out that the Rubicons did not come with these longer LCAs from the factory, but when I read all the post of Rubi owners complaining about "jittery" steering on the highway, it made sense. I guess Jeep thinks that Rubi owners are either going to upgrade to a lift and get new control arms or think that Rubi owners are primarily going to use their Jeeps for offroad trail driving at lower speeds.
The description you provide of your steering feeling like it's very windy outside, i.e. the Jeep moves side to side and you have to correct steering back to a straight line make sense because you already lifted the care to Rubi height witht he take off suspension, but then you added 2" spacer on the front and 1.5" on the front. That's essentially a 2" lift on top of the Rubi factory height, so your caster angle is now probably in the 4.75-5.5 deg range.

Because you raised the suspension an additional 2" in the front, the Mopar LCAs (.25" longer than stock) you may not completely get rid of the Jeep "wandering" around at highway speeds but you should lessen it. If you are going to keep the 2" spacer in there in conjunction w/ the Rubi take offs, and want to get to neutral, straight line steering at highway speeds, you might want to get some adjustable front LCAs.

I have similarly tall Rubi take off suspension and a .5" spacer on my Sahara and the Mopar LCAs work great. My dealer did an alignment after they replaced the steering box for the SBU and the caster checked out to be at exactly 6degs.

Anyway, hope this info helps you.

Thanks
G
 

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Drsaekimdc

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Hello pitsqrd.
Thank you so much for the reply.
I really appreciate your info. Very helpful!

Any recommendation on brands for adjustable LCA? I was putting my eyes on the teraflex one but im open to any good priced durable that does its job ones. Thank again!
 

Pabst113

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How are the Mopar LCAs?

I just installed rubi suspension (came off of 4 door, hardtop, metal bumpers, towing pkg) and teraflex 2 front/1.5 rear spacer lift on my 4 door sport s.

On highway, it feels like its very windy outside when driving.
Do you know what the stock part numbers are for the springs you installed? I’m looking at getting 61/62 and 91/92 springs for my ‘20 Willys
 

Drsaekimdc

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Do you know what the stock part numbers are for the springs you installed? I’m looking at getting 61/62 and 91/92 springs for my ‘20 Willys
its the same one.

68253661AC (Front Left) and 68253662AC (Front Right).

Rear is 68253591AA / 2AA.
 

Pabst113

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its the same one.

68253661AC (Front Left) and 68253662AC (Front Right).

Rear is 68253591AA / 2AA.
Awesome thanks! My Willys is at the shop getting the steering box upgraded. I’m itching to do some small upgrades and the Rubi takeoffs sounds like what I’m looking for!
 

Drsaekimdc

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Awesome thanks! My Willys is at the shop getting the steering box upgraded. I’m itching to do some small upgrades and the Rubi takeoffs sounds like what I’m looking for!
no problem! whats the upgrade on steering box for?

I have those springs and shocks with teraflex 1.5 spacers W/ 35s and i love the stance!
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