To Lift or Not to Lift that is the question....(Newbie here)

[mgroeger]

I went with a Rough Country budge boost, basically it uses existing springs and shocks, was wanting a more elaborate boost suspension but after talking to @TTEChris of Tankcustoms he suggested the Rough Country to suit my needs, I’m not a serious rock crawler and the Sahara is my daily driver so using this kit it maintains the factory ride and still gives me clearance to run 35’s to allow me to do some off roadimg and beach running.

Second this.
We did the RC 2" BB which is 2.5" up front to take the rake out and 2" in the rear. Still rides nice and has a great stance now. We threw on 33" Rubi/rims/tires and it looks great. We also wheel it on some pretty rough trails with a bit of rock crawling with no problems.
For $180 you can't go wrong. It's a great intro to having a lift (and pretty easy to do if you are mechanically capable). If you decide to go bigger or full suspension later you've only "lost" $180 in the process.
I also agree to ride as is at least for a little bit. My wife knew right away that she was not going to ride factory for long... lol.

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[Uhdinator]

I just reread your post and you mention Tough Country then Rough Country, these are two different makers of lift kits, the RC boost I had installed uses shock extenders, spacers and bumpstops so my shocks and springs have the same travel, the TC appears not to use the extenders so if that’s the case then you would need new shocks

My bust.......made a typo.........thanks I fixed it. Added RS5000X shocks and they handle the bigger tires much better than OEM. Hitting a bridge seam or RR tracks its solid and doesn't have the slight shudder of the OEM shocks and it doesn't rock side to side on an uneven back road. Not really stiff just what I'd call firm and more controlled.

 

[WranglerMan]

My bust.......made a typo.........thanks I fixed it. Added RS5000X shocks and they handle the bigger tires much better than OEM. Hitting a bridge seam or RR tracks its solid and doesn't have the slight shudder of the OEM shocks and it doesn't rock side to side on an uneven back road. Not really stiff just what I'd call firm and more controlled.

What made you choose the RS5000 over the 7000 ? I was asking @TTEChris about shock upgrades and his recommendation was the 7000 but we really did not discuss it much past that as the facortory shocks I have seem to be good for now.

 

[TTEChris]

What made you choose the RS5000 over the 7000 ? I was asking @TTEChris about shock upgrades and his recommendation was the 7000 but we really did not discuss it much past that as the facortory shocks I have seem to be good for now.

I recommended the adjustable 9000's. The RS5000's are a nice shock, but I love being able to adjust the RS9000's to suit my needs/load

 

[WranglerMan]

I recommended the adjustable 9000's. The RS5000's are a nice shock, but I love being able to adjust the RS9000's to suit my needs/load

My bad, I need to go back and obsess about tire pressures along with battery voltage....lol

 

[Uhdinator]

I go by the 10% rule on my tires. At 30 psi cold they warm up about 3-4 lbs or about 10%. From what I've read a MT thread heats up a bit more than a street tire so as long as they are not going up in temp/psi more than 4 psi I think I'm good and ignore the TPMS warnings. If they go up a lot they are prob too low. I'm getting 25-26 MPG with 91 octane with 305/65 (32.5") tires and Auto 8 spd. The 2.0 handles them fine with 3:45 gearing. I won't go any bigger. This new JL sport looks bigger and taller than my 2003 Rubicon thats lifted 2.5".

 

[WranglerMan]

I go by the 10% rule on my tires. At 30 psi cold they warm up about 3-4 lbs or about 10%. From what I've read a MT thread heats up a bit more than a street tire so as long as they are not going up in temp/psi more than 4 psi I think I'm good and ignore the TPMS warnings. If they go up a lot they are prob too low. I'm getting 25-26 MPG with 91 octane with 305/65 (32.5") tires and Auto 8 spd. The 2.0 handles them fine with 3:45 gearing. I won't go any bigger. This new JL sport looks bigger and taller than my 2003 Rubicon thats lifted 2.5".

Well I get no where near 25-26 but then don’t have the turbo either, I am running my 315x70xR17’s with a 2.5” lift and get about 19 mpg’s running 29-30# and once they heat up 31-32, I don’t worry about TPMS warnings as I reset the low pressure alarm to 30 so won’t get an alarm until 25 and I also set my tire size to 34.49” even though they only measure 34”, my speedo was off by 5 with it set at 34” so I just kept bumping up the size until it was 1:1 at 75 and down.

I may try burning a higher than 87 oct to see if my mpg’s go up but the cost increase may not justify the small increase but no wat to tell unless I try, I don’t see 8th gear that often but that’s ok as it still seems not to struggle so I can live with the 19 over the 21-22 I was getting when I was running the 255 stock 18’s

 

[rkwfxd]

Im on 2.5” with 315s and it works well for what I do. I miss my stock jeep for daily stuff but a stock jeep would just get too beat up on the trails I run.

So my advise is, if you don’t need to lift it don’t, unless it is for looks.

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