Lift Limits With Stock CV Joints?

[Majoraslayer]

I'm still new to the Gladiator world (I got mine about a month ago now), coming from a 2007 2-door Wrangler JK. I lifted my JK 4", and in the process learned a lot about geometry correction. One major point of failure that often got overlooked on the JK was the front driveshaft pinion angle. Many a lift was installed that led to tearing boots on the front driveshaft CV joint, throwing out grease and running it dry until the joint itself exploded. For my JK build I ran into a limit on how much a high angle CV joint could correct, so I ended up springing for a u-joint driveshaft conversion. I love those driveshafts.......but I really don't want to eat that cost again for my new build if I can avoid it.

My Gladiator will likely be used for longer road trips than my JK, so I'm not looking to put quite as much lift on it. After reading through a couple other threads, I think I've decided to go with an AEV 2" spacer lift, adjustable track bar, control arm correction brackets and 35" tires (hopefully on my stock Nighthawk rims). However, I've not seen a lot of information on the CV joints specific to the Gladiator. ExtremeTerrain appears to carry a high angle joint, but it doesn't specify what lift sizes it's recommended for. Does a 2" lift need a high angle joint on the JT? If anyone is running high angle joints on their 2" lift, how well has it held up? Would anything extra need to be done for the rear pinion angle as well at that lift size, or can the factory setup tolerate 2"?

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[imallcrawl]

From my experience, if you won't be doing any hardcore off-roading you should be fine with just a 2" spacer lift for a very long time, factory setup will definitely tolerate 2".

It wasn't until I went to over 5+ of lift on my JKU before needing to change out my driveshafts. Right now I am running a 5" lift with stock driveshafts and will run it until it blows. I do have a Teraflex driveshaft drop bracket for the rear driveshaft though, the front is fine being I don't put it in 4WD much often (hence my username: imallcrawl ) in 2WD the fronts don't even move.

 

[Rusty PW]

The rule of thumb around here is 4" and how long your shocks are. And that's around 28".

 

[Sweetums]

There's a reason Metalcloak strongly suggests a new drive shaft with their 2.5" gamechanger lift...

Also, space lifts are sucky in my experience. They can actually worsen the ride and impair off road performance compared to stock.

 

[Majoraslayer]

There's a reason Metalcloak strongly suggests a new drive shaft with their 2.5" gamechanger lift...

Also, space lifts are sucky in my experience. They can actually worsen the ride and impair off road performance compared to stock.

I generally avoid spacer lifts, but thought it might not be so bad with only 2" plus some extra geometry correction. Even most of the correction brackets I'm looking at show a recommended range starting at 2.5", and that's just slightly more than the listed lift of the kits I'm shopping. I'm not going to be doing any extreme offroading anyway, basically just cruiser trails, so my priorities are mostly to improve stance on a budget while maintaining handling/ride quality. I want to be able to comfortably take long road trips in it, so I want to maintain the factory ride quality as much as possible. I still have my JK for anything more serious than that.

I'm also considering the 2" Mopar lift for this reason, but I've seen mixed reviews on it. Supposedly it gives more than the 2 inches advertised, so there's some debate about it not including all the geometry correction you actually need to maintain factory ride quality. I was hoping the entire point was that it would work while maintaining a factory ride. That $2,000 is also a big pill to swallow if you still need to add on even more corrections for it anyway.

 

[Sweetums]

For $2,000 you can get a Metalcloak kit.

https://metalcloak.com/jeep-jt-gladiator-2-5-true-dual-rate-lift-kit.html

 

[Majoraslayer]

For $2,000 you can get a Metalcloak kit.

https://metalcloak.com/jeep-jt-gladiator-2-5-true-dual-rate-lift-kit.html

I think the Mopar kit actually includes shocks at that price. If Metalcloak also recommends driveshafts at 2.5", that's at least another $1000 (at least based on when I shopped them for my JK a couple years ago), and there's still another $370 to add on for control arm correction brackets. Metalcloak makes quality stuff, but it may be a little outside of what I'm looking to spend for my goals.

 

[Free2roam]

There's always @Clayton Off Road lifts. It's what is on mine. Love it so far. It's a diesel and with HD springs.

 

[Sweetums]

I think the Mopar kit actually includes shocks at that price. If Metalcloak also recommends driveshafts at 2.5", that's at least another $1000 (at least based on when I shopped them for my JK a couple years ago), and there's still another $370 to add on for control arm correction brackets. Metalcloak makes quality stuff, but it may be a little outside of what I'm looking to spend for my goals.

True, but the MOPAR doesn't fix the binding in the drive shaft at full droop.

I decided to run stock one more year and save up for a proper and complete kit.

 

[Clayton Off Road]

There's always @Clayton Off Road lifts. It's what is on mine. Love it so far. It's a diesel and with HD springs.

 

[Majoraslayer]

There's always @Clayton Off Road lifts. It's what is on mine. Love it so far. It's a diesel and with HD springs.

Are you running the stock CV joints, high angle CV joints, or aftermarket driveshafts?

 

[Free2roam]

Are you running the stock CV joints, high angle CV joints, or aftermarket driveshafts?

Stock!

 

[whysoserious]

I'm still new to the Gladiator world (I got mine about a month ago now), coming from a 2007 2-door Wrangler JK. I lifted my JK 4", and in the process learned a lot about geometry correction. One major point of failure that often got overlooked on the JK was the front driveshaft pinion angle. Many a lift was installed that led to tearing boots on the front driveshaft CV joint, throwing out grease and running it dry until the joint itself exploded. For my JK build I ran into a limit on how much a high angle CV joint could correct, so I ended up springing for a u-joint driveshaft conversion. I love those driveshafts.......but I really don't want to eat that cost again for my new build if I can avoid it.

My Gladiator will likely be used for longer road trips than my JK, so I'm not looking to put quite as much lift on it. After reading through a couple other threads, I think I've decided to go with an AEV 2" spacer lift, adjustable track bar, control arm correction brackets and 35" tires (hopefully on my stock Nighthawk rims). However, I've not seen a lot of information on the CV joints specific to the Gladiator. ExtremeTerrain appears to carry a high angle joint, but it doesn't specify what lift sizes it's recommended for. Does a 2" lift need a high angle joint on the JT? If anyone is running high angle joints on their 2" lift, how well has it held up? Would anything extra need to be done for the rear pinion angle as well at that lift size, or can the factory setup tolerate 2"?

Just a thought...


JL/JT: Factory Replacement CV Joint Kit – High-Angle Rzeppa

 

[Majoraslayer]

Just a thought...


JL/JT: Factory Replacement CV Joint Kit – High-Angle Rzeppa

I believe that's the same high angle joints I mentioned being sold on ExtremeTerrain, I'm just trying to determine at what lift size they become actually necessary.

 

[Bbannongmu]

I’m running a Rusty’s 2” lift plus a Teraflex 1.5 spacer up front to clear 37s on my 2020 Rubi and zero driveshaft issues for my daily driver, weekend warrior, on stock driveshafts for 50k+ miles.

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