Which Lift kit? Clayton vs Rock Krawler vs Evo

[DankjeeP]

Yet I succumbed to the triangulated 4 link by RK lol.

This looks tempting to me also. Getting rid of the rear track-bar looks like a good selling point. Did you install it yet?

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[hjdca]

Clayton 3.5”
39” KM3
Metalcloak Control Arms (8 of them)

Congrats ! I think that is the perfect stance, height, etc... for an overland rig. I love the way your truck sits... Those poor guys in the other threads where they put their lifts in, load up their trucks, and the rear sags... ugh...

 

[darkhorse13]

@Corsy I believe that you and I have the same uses for our trucks... For any type of weight in the rig I'd only recommend Clayton springs. I have my (2) in-depth write-ups in posts #11 and #12 = here

In summary, anything over 500lb constant load you'll want the Clayton 3.5" springs in the rear and the 2.5" springs in front. With closer to 700lb you'll even want to run a 3/4" Daystar spacer to retain a slight rake for handling characteristics. Again, follow the hyperlink above for the full story.

Other than that, I chose an entire Synergy Mfg front control arm/steering upgrades. I have no issue with Clayton control arms but I liked that the Synergy stuff could be adjusted on-vehicle. My rear is completely OEM. No aftermarket driveshafts for me. Falcon SP2 3.3 shocks all around.

John

 

[darkhorse13]

Clayton. But 3.5 is actually about 4 inches. You’ll need shocks. You’ll need a front driveshaft. You’ll need 37’s. You’ll need a beefier steering stabilizer for the 37’s. You’ll want gears as soon as you put the 37’s on.

Arguably $2k is not realistic for this route unless you deal with some compromises as you build.

^^^ THIS ^^^

Clayton under advertises their lifts by at least 0.5"

If the "most important thing to [you] is reliability" I completely agree that with 37's it would be in your best interest to upgrade tie rod / drag link / track bar / sector shaft brace. These have been the best upgrades to keep the Gladiator driving "stock" even with those heavy 37's.

A re-gear is definitely desirable too. I'd factor these into you budget is you don't want to compromise drivability.

 

[Wet Willys]

Are r

Are those Black Rhino's? If so real beadlocks?

Yeah, mine has Black Rhino Abrams wheels on it. Poser beadlocks.

 

[Mjolnir]

This looks tempting to me also. Getting rid of the rear track-bar looks like a good selling point. Did you install it yet?

I have. and I have terrible squeaking in the rear now due to joints made with incorrect compound that causes them to give out far too quickly. Otherwise it has rode fantastic. RK has updated joints, however you have to take apart all of the arms, change out the joints then reassemble the arms to fix. The time this will take is astounding unfortunately.

As of now I have the updated joints, but waiting to see what others say before I put the time and effort in. So far two people are still having issues so I am not holding my breath. Im getting closer and closer to ripping the arms out that I can and getting MC arms as replacements.

 

[DankjeeP]

I have. and I have terrible squeaking in the rear now due to joints made with incorrect compound that causes them to give out far too quickly. Otherwise it has rode fantastic. RK has updated joints, however you have to take apart all of the arms, change out the joints then reassemble the arms to fix. The time this will take is astounding unfortunately.

As of now I have the updated joints, but waiting to see what others say before I put the time and effort in. So far two people are still having issues so I am not holding my breath. Im getting closer and closer to ripping the arms out that I can and getting MC arms as replacements.

That is a bummer. I have read about the issue but was unaware the "fix" didn't fix the issue.
Yeah, maybe cut your losses, keep the RK ones for trail spares.

 

[Silvertruck]

^^^ THIS ^^^

Clayton under advertises their lifts by at least 0.5"

If the "most important thing to [you] is reliability" I completely agree that with 37's it would be in your best interest to upgrade tie rod / drag link / track bar / sector shaft brace. These have been the best upgrades to keep the Gladiator driving "stock" even with those heavy 37's.

A re-gear is definitely desirable too. I'd factor these into you budget is you don't want to compromise drivability.

well said. I went my own way up front with the steering hardware. 1 ton ball joints. 2.5 ton steering. Trussed. Gusseted. Lca Skids. Metal cloak steel diff cover. Yeti track bar. Synergy sector shaft brace. Stuff like that. I just took care of it all while the axles were off the jeep. But you could probably get away with stock steering with a better stabilizer. Clayton overland kit very complete.

 

[Slacks]

As of now I have the updated joints, but waiting to see what others say before I put the time and effort in. So far two people are still having issues so I am not holding my breath. Im getting closer and closer to ripping the arms out that I can and getting MC arms as replacements.

That’s concerning. I just received (not installed yet) my MC GC kit, but with RK 4.5” springs and Pro-X 4-link. I’m hoping that since I ordered well after the discovery and fix, I’ll be OK, but concerned that the fix is essentially the same as new ones, so if that’s not working...

 

[Mjolnir]

That’s concerning. I just received (not installed yet) my MC GC kit, but with RK 4.5” springs and Pro-X 4-link. I’m hoping that since I ordered well after the discovery and fix, I’ll be OK, but concerned that the fix is essentially the same as new ones, so if that’s not working...

I'm still waiting on more reviews of the new bushings. I'm hoping that it was an isolated issue with those two that posted saying they had issues with the new joints.

 

[Duke56]

I'm still waiting on more reviews of the new bushings. I'm hoping that it was an isolated issue with those two that posted saying they had issues with the new joints.

I have the RK arms and the rears squeak bad. Ordered them in February of 2020. Received them a couple months later and installed them in may/june of 2020 so about 1 year and 15,000 street miles on them. All my neighbors know I’m coming down the road. I complained soon after installation about the squeaking and nothing was suggested to check. I first thought I was shipped a dry joint so I greased ‘em all. It went away for a short period only to return again. Very annoying. It’s the OLD joints that have the issue due to the wrong material used by Dayster who supplied the rubber type joints to RK.
The story is that Daystar used an inferior material for the application as spec’d by RK.

What’s really really bad is that GREASE CAUSES THE MATERIAL TO DEGRADE AND BREAK DOWN!!
ARRRRGGGGHHHHH

So WHY should I have to remove all 8 arms, rebuild all 16 joints and reinstall all 8 arms?

 

[bastage]

@Corsy Clayton & Evo are both under rated.. So on actual height that you list in the OP the Rock Crawler 3" is the shortest. Followed by the Evo 2.5 which is considerably taller & then the Clayton 3.5 is about 1" taller then the Evo 2.5" (Rock Crawler bases the lift height at the front vs Clayton & Evo both doing it at the rear & all 3 brands get rid of most of the factory rake). Bang for buck.. Clayton 2.5 is probably the best for what your looking for. I have been using there overland 2.5 since last summer & cant speak highly enough about it. The only real drawback is that its over built which means that it is stronger & thus heavier then the others.

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