Now what

[Patrol65]

Got a 2024 Rubi around the holidays. Bought smart cap used for under half price. Got the Memorial Day and first responder discount on the intrepid 2.5 tent.

Now thinking going with AEV 2.5/3 inch lift but unsure on what springs. Probably do 35s for now. 90% road queen but might get froggy.

Goal is hit camp sites and some mild off-road trails

in

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[HopSlammer]

Now go get dirty

 

[RubiNewbCB]

AEV High Capacity 3", because of the cap and tent, if they're mounted full time. 35s are adequate and it will look good, but you'll wish you went 37s if you get Froggy.

 

[HooliganActual]

Got a 2024 Rubi around the holidays. Bought smart cap used for under half price. Got the Memorial Day and first responder discount on the intrepid 2.5 tent.

Now thinking going with AEV 2.5/3 inch lift but unsure on what springs. Probably do 35s for now. 90% road queen but might get froggy.

Goal is hit camp sites and some mild off-road trails in

Everyone will say go with this lift or that lift "because it is awesome". Meh. Once you start talking quality lifts (AEV, Clayton, Metalcloak, et al) you are really not talking about sweeping differences in performance, etc., rather you are hearing what comes down to brand loyalty. Personally, having driven Jeeps for 40 years and currently having 3:

I went "off the reservation" and put an Icon Vehicle Dynamics 2.5" lift on the Gladiator.

I've had all the various brand lifts on various Jeeps and I can't personally say one out performed another, but that's just me. Here's what I found I have liked about the Icon lift versus others: It is modular. Don't want to spend a ton of money initially? Get a Stage 1 or Stage 2 lift. Feeling like you want to get a little froggy? Upgrade the Stage 1 to a Stage 3 or 4. Want to get REALLY froggy? Upgrade to Stage 8. The beauty of the Icon system is that based on whatever Stage you have installed, there are modular, paired components you can swap out to make your Stage 1 a Stage 5.

As far as springs go, I will give you the best advise that you won't take because 47 people are going to come in here and post "You gotta get the AEV HD springs" or "You suck if you don't get the Clayton Overland springs". Go to your place that you would have install your lift, or where you would buy your parts, and ask if they can order custom springs. I already knew what my payload weight was going to be, so my lift shop worked with Deaver Springs ( https://deaverspring.com/ ) and had custom springs built for that weight. It cost me an extra $600 but they are springs that are the right rating for my load. Nothing against any of the brands that are selling the HD springs to go with their lift kits, but those springs are a one size fits all solution and they may be too stiff for your load or too spongy because they weren't made with you in mind.

Okay, rant over. LOL. Seriously, buy a quality lift brand but really consider custom springs...

Oh yeah..don't screw around with 35's:

 

[DR.]

A lot of accuracy in the posts above HD springs to carry the weight is key to make the highway ride better with less sway. No reason not to go straight to 37s.

A good lift, I have AEV with their heavy springs but might go Clayton if I were to do it again but I'm very heavy comparatively and I'd rather suffer ride quality for lack of sway.

 

[Patrol65]

Everyone will say go with this lift or that lift "because it is awesome". Meh. Once you start talking quality lifts (AEV, Clayton, Metalcloak, et al) you are really not talking about sweeping differences in performance, etc., rather you are hearing what comes down to brand loyalty. Personally, having driven Jeeps for 40 years and currently having 3:

I went "off the reservation" and put an Icon Vehicle Dynamics 2.5" lift on the Gladiator.

I've had all the various brand lifts on various Jeeps and I can't personally say one out performed another, but that's just me. Here's what I found I have liked about the Icon lift versus others: It is modular. Don't want to spend a ton of money initially? Get a Stage 1 or Stage 2 lift. Feeling like you want to get a little froggy? Upgrade the Stage 1 to a Stage 3 or 4. Want to get REALLY froggy? Upgrade to Stage 8. The beauty of the Icon system is that based on whatever Stage you have installed, there are modular, paired components you can swap out to make your Stage 1 a Stage 5.

As far as springs go, I will give you the best advise that you won't take because 47 people are going to come in here and post "You gotta get the AEV HD springs" or "You suck if you don't get the Clayton Overland springs". Go to your place that you would have install your lift, or where you would buy your parts, and ask if they can order custom springs. I already knew what my payload weight was going to be, so my lift shop worked with Deaver Springs ( https://deaverspring.com/ ) and had custom springs built for that weight. It cost me an extra $600 but they are springs that are the right rating for my load. Nothing against any of the brands that are selling the HD springs to go with their lift kits, but those springs are a one size fits all solution and they may be too stiff for your load or too spongy because they weren't made with you in mind.

Okay, rant over. LOL. Seriously, buy a quality lift brand but really consider custom springs...

Oh yeah..don't screw around with 35's:

I did not know that you could get custom springs, interesting.

 

[Patrol65]

I have watched a few videos on doing 37s on a Rubicon. What would u say are the definite changes needed to the suspension/steering needed? Price points experienced doing it? Mind you wife loves the stock feel of the truck.

 

[HooliganActual]

I did not know that you could get custom springs, interesting.

And it was literally, zero hassle. Since I have built out many Jeeps, I already knew what I wanted to do with the Gladiator build. I wanted onboard water, solar, a kitchen, etc. and so before I put in my suspension, I built the whole thing out. Check out the squat on the stock Rubicon suspension:

Then I took it to a local truck scale and weighed it. This told me what my true and actual weight gain was...my payload. With that information, I went to the shop that was going to install my lift and they ordered springs that essentially placed that weight value in the middle of the spring's range. I scheduled the lift install that day and since the earliest opening was a couple of weeks out, that allowed time for the springs to be made and arrive.

This was sitting outside the shop after the lift was installed:

Here's "the best part", since the Icon lift's are essentially modular, they just gave me an upcharge on the standard lift springs to cover the new springs. No skin off their nose because those springs will just sit on their shelf until the next 2.5" Gladiator lift.

Now I'll give you just a little other food for thought. If you search the forum for info on Icon Lifts, you really won't find a lot. In fact, it will probably mostly be me...LOL. When I bought the Gladiator in 2020, there weren't many lifts available. I think at that time AEV and Clayton were the only two that I could get through the typical offroad shops and at that point I don't believe either of them had come out with the HD versions of their lifts. As it turns out, one of the local shops where I would buy parts sometimes was a place that really wasn't an offroad shop that catered to Jeeps and such; it was actually a shop that specializes in building trophy trucks for desert racing. I thought..."Hmm, nothing against the typical Jeep aftermarket suppliers, but they have a learning curve for building truck suspensions while vendors like Icon have been playing in that space for years."

So I went with the Icon lift and have been extremely happy with it. In fact, I have been so happy with it that I am probably going to replace the AEV DuoSport lift on my JKUR with an Icon suspension.

 

[HooliganActual]

I have watched a few videos on doing 37s on a Rubicon. What would u say are the definite changes needed to the suspension/steering needed? Price points experienced doing it? Mind you wife loves the stock feel of the truck.

I'm sure others will tell you things perhaps more definitively but you really don't have to change anything to put 37's on the Rubicon other than a lift. In my last post where I showed the pic right after the lift was installed, you can see that with a 2.5" lift and the Rubicon's highline fenders, there is more than enough clearance. One thing to note is that in that picture, I am 600lbs over GVWR; so she is at "full squat". There is no rubbing in that configuration.

Now to really answer your question, it depends on what you're going to be using it for. I have two JKUR's that I take out for aggressive wheeling adventures; the Gladiator is my overlanding/camping rig. To put 37's on a Wrangler, you would want to reinforce the C's, truss the axle, upgrade ball joints and a few other things; however, the Gladiator is essentially built on the RAM 1500 frame so it does have more substantial brakes, yokes, etc. and you can get away with not having to reinforce those components like you would on a Wrangler if your use case is grocery getting and fire roads.

I have been running my setup on forest roads, moderate trails and even a few more aggressive obstacles and have not had any issues. If you want to be proactive, here's a few things you could do because they will definitly wear out faster with the 37's (but I literally waited for the stock parts to wear out):

1. Replace the front ball joints to something HD. The stock ball joints are crap as they use plastic internals. I went with MetalCloak because they actually capture the top ball joint in the yoke (on the Wranglers, one ball joint presses in from the top and one presses in from the bottom. On the Gladiators, they both press in from the bottom, so if you break a U-joint at the wheel, the whole wheel assembly can pop off. There are videos on YT of that happening). I installed for around $700.
   
   
   
2. It wouldn't be a bad idea to upgrade the steering components. The stock aren't awful becuase they came from the 1/2 ton truck but eventually you will ruin the rod ends. Personally I went with an aluminum setup from RPM steering. Aluminum Tie Rod and Drag Link with 2.5 ton rod ends and a Fox ATS 2.0 steering stabilizer. I installed myself at around $1500 (mind you RPM Steering's shop is 2 blocks from my house so I did not pay any shipping.
   
3. When it came time for brake work, you are basically at the limit for the upgrades you can do in a stock wheel configuration without going to Wilwood or some other really expensive brake set up because the RAM truck brake package fills up the wheel. There might be more you could do brake-wise with an 18" or 20" wheel BUT I just upgraded to better pads and rotors when the ones I had needed replaced (pads) or turned(rotors). I did the install of the brake components but I honestly don't remember the prices...

That's all I have done and I'm sure I have some ticking time bombs, and I'm sure others will have more recommendations but I've got about 20K miles on this setup and it's worked fine.

As far as the wife liking the stock ride...wait until you ride on a properly installed non-stock suspension. I mean, even just going to 37's is going to change the feel significantly from stock.

 

[Patrol65]

Would you put in new gears due to 37s tires and weight of the rig.

 

[HooliganActual]

Would you put in new gears due to 37s tires and weight of the rig.

Again, this is a preference thing. The weight really doesn't have anything to do with the need to re-gear. It has more to do with the change in the tire size because, once you update the Jeep's computer to the new tire diameter, it changes the shift points of the transmission and such.

If you don't change from the stock 4.10's then you have better gearing for crawling but you lose some of the high end, i.e. your gas mileage at highway speeds will be somewhat lower and you won't see 8th gear as much. That's really what it boils down to low gear ratio for crawling or 8th gear and 1-2 mpg at highway speeds.

In my 2016 JKUR, I regeared from 3.73's to 4.56's when I put 35's on it and i saw a 1 mpg improvement in gas mileage. Personally, I have no plans to regear my Gladiator. It does everything I want it to do, when I want it to do it. If I ever shell out a gear set and have to repair/replace the gears, then I might go up a size or two; but I honestly don't feel like the $2500 I spent doing my Wrangler actually drove a lot of benefit. You will see on this forum that there are plenty of guys running 37's on stock gears and plenty that have upgraded and both will tell you that whichever way they chose to go was the only right decision. I personally believe it really comes down to whether you want the lower crawl ratio or more 8th gear but that's just my $0.02USD

 

[Zachanadandy]

Everyone will say go with this lift or that lift "because it is awesome". Meh. Once you start talking quality lifts (AEV, Clayton, Metalcloak, et al) you are really not talking about sweeping differences in performance, etc., rather you are hearing what comes down to brand loyalty. Personally, having driven Jeeps for 40 years and currently having 3:

I went "off the reservation" and put an Icon Vehicle Dynamics 2.5" lift on the Gladiator.

I've had all the various brand lifts on various Jeeps and I can't personally say one out performed another, but that's just me. Here's what I found I have liked about the Icon lift versus others: It is modular. Don't want to spend a ton of money initially? Get a Stage 1 or Stage 2 lift. Feeling like you want to get a little froggy? Upgrade the Stage 1 to a Stage 3 or 4. Want to get REALLY froggy? Upgrade to Stage 8. The beauty of the Icon system is that based on whatever Stage you have installed, there are modular, paired components you can swap out to make your Stage 1 a Stage 5.

As far as springs go, I will give you the best advise that you won't take because 47 people are going to come in here and post "You gotta get the AEV HD springs" or "You suck if you don't get the Clayton Overland springs". Go to your place that you would have install your lift, or where you would buy your parts, and ask if they can order custom springs. I already knew what my payload weight was going to be, so my lift shop worked with Deaver Springs ( https://deaverspring.com/ ) and had custom springs built for that weight. It cost me an extra $600 but they are springs that are the right rating for my load. Nothing against any of the brands that are selling the HD springs to go with their lift kits, but those springs are a one size fits all solution and they may be too stiff for your load or too spongy because they weren't made with you in mind.

Okay, rant over. LOL. Seriously, buy a quality lift brand but really consider custom springs...

Oh yeah..don't screw around with 35's:

What if I told you...all lifts are modular. If you want a stage 1 or 2 metalcloak lift just buy springs and shocks. Want to upgrade to stage 3 or 4, add control arms. Stage 8 add nice reservoir shocks tuned for your vehicle weight by accutune. Just because most of them either sell parts or full kits with control arms and everything doesn't mean you can't build out and upgrade as needed. Having run kits and parts from most major manufacturers over decades like yourself I agree that it's mostly brand loyalty. However having upgraded the gladiator to rock krawlers triangulated 4 link in the rear I'll say that is the single biggest upgrade in ride I've ever done to a jeep. From removing head toss to having the rear end planted when running washboards at speed. If never run a gladiator with super short uppers and a track bar again. Even if I was going icon or aev or Clayton I'd add the triangulated uppers period. Beyond that is mostly shocks as far as ride in my experience anyway.

 

[HooliganActual]

What if I told you...all lifts are modular. If you want a stage 1 or 2 metalcloak lift just but springs and shocks. Want to upgrade to stage 3 or 4, add control arms. Stage 8 add nice reservoir shocks tuned for your vehicle weight by accutune. Just because most of them either sell parts or full kits with control arms and everything doesn't mean you can't build out and upgrade as needed. .

I absolutely agree. I just assumed by the OP's question that he might not be experienced enough to piece out a Franken-suspension by doing this. A lot of the parts places aren't all that forthright with telling you that you can just buy portions of a suppliers "full kit". Icon just sort of makes that available from the get go. There is also a bit of risk associated with running one outfit's widget with another outfit's widget. Lots of stories about guys having to buying more parts than they wanted just to get widgets that would play well together so I was keeping it basic.

However having upgraded the gladiator to rock krawlers triangulated 4 link in the rear I'll say that is the single biggest upgrade in ride I've ever done to a jeep. From removing head toss to having the rear end planted when running washboards at speed. If never run a gladiator with super short uppers and a track bar again. Even if I was going icon or aev or Clayton I'd add the triangulated uppers period. Beyond that is mostly shocks as far as ride in my experience anyway.

^^^^
This for sure. As soon as you start talking about 4 link systems it is a whole different world, but it's also a whole different price point.

 

[Zachanadandy]

Would you put in new gears due to 37s tires and weight of the rig.

The regear is definitely optional with the 8 speed. With 4.10s you already have the same 1st gear ratio as a JK with 5.13s. People make a big deal about holding 8th gear, but 7th with 4.10s is identical to 8th with 5.13s. It won't drive any different.

 

[HooliganActual]

The regear is definitely optional with the 8 speed. With 4.10s you already have the same 1st gear ratio as a JK with 5.13s. People make a big deal about holding 8th gear, but 7th with 4.10s is identical to 8th with 5.13s. It won't drive any different.

Yeah, the 8 speed is a brilliant add to the Jeep power train. I wish I had it in both my 2016 JKUR and my 2018 JKUR!!

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