CO Gladiator Build... Help me select my parts along the way...(vote)

[rdubb1031]

Hey all, Starting my build out here in Colorado. I'm coming from a JKU which I had for over ten years. Built it up with Teraflex 3.5" lift, Nitto Trailgrapplers (35s), 5100 Bilsteins and a host of other things.
(Quick Discos, Gobi Rack, Teraflex Track Bar, Dynotrack ball joints, Synergy steering to name a few).

Now I need some help with the Gladiator as I can't make up my mind....

First up, Lift. My JT is my daily driver and it will see most of its miles to and from downtown, so must ride as nice as possible. I plan to wheel lightly, but this could grow as do my kids. Mainly I'll use this to get off the beaten path, go skiing, go biking, find a trail now and then.. I wasn't the biggest fan of my old setup.. very rough and drove like a rock, which is why I'm looking at alternate lifts.

I called around and three shops, recommended 5 different lifts.
So here's the first Q... Which Lift??
Vote below and add a comment on 'WHY'?

Part II: Wheels to go with 37 or 38 Ridgegrapplers......

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[jay21mojave]

AEV.. 2.5 Dual Sport.. Have it on our JKU, a 90% dd, and it rides as good if not better than stock. Running 35/12.50 Toyo ATIIIs "E"s on 17x9s with good BS and it still rides as stated.. We did add Rancho GC Brackets. BTW the JKU has 80K on it. Believe we could go to 37s with our current set up if we wanted.

 

[Deleted member 28696]

Hey all, Starting my build out here in Colorado. I'm coming from a JKU which I had for over ten years. Built it up with Teraflex 3.5" lift, Nitto Trailgrapplers (35s), 5100 Bilsteins and a host of other things.
(Quick Discos, Gobi Rack, Teraflex Track Bar, Dynotrack ball joints, Synergy steering to name a few).

Now I need some help with the Gladiator as I can't make up my mind....

First up, Lift. My JT is my daily driver and it will see most of its miles to and from downtown, so must ride as nice as possible. I plan to wheel lightly, but this could grow as do my kids. Mainly I'll use this to get off the beaten path, go skiing, go biking, find a trail now and then.. I wasn't the biggest fan of my old setup.. very rough and drove like a rock, which is why I'm looking at alternate lifts.

I called around and three shops, recommended 5 different lifts.
So here's the first Q... Which Lift??
Vote below and add a comment on 'WHY'?

Part II: Wheels to go with 37 or 38 Ridgegrapplers......

I had Trail Jeeps out of Golden install my lift and revolution gears they deal in JKS quite a bit, They recommended the J-Venture 3" - 3.5' Lift with Fox 2.0 performance shocks since I'm not doing any serious rock crawling and I wanted a decent ride. You can still off road with it but it's more geared towards ride quality. I also didn't want to spend 10K or more on a lift and gears. They recommended Nitto Trail Grapplers M/T 37x17's, I ignored the recommendation on that one and went with Nitto TG MT 37x20's because I like the look. I expected it to be a rough ride with the bigger aggressive tires but actually it's better than stock. I only really hear or feel them at very slow speed when coming to a stop. I re-geared to 5.13's from 4.10's which was a really good decision. My power without it was terrible and it wouldn't shift correctly. It would occasionally get stuck in REV mode lol. I was thinking of installing a supercharger but after the gears were installed I didn't need it, the power is as good or better than stock even with the 37's and lift. i still want the Super Charger but no longer need it. I no longer have issues with wind or passing trucks affecting the steering. I can control the steering with one finger if I wanted it's been great. Also the lift is really pretty level front to back. I did attach a few photos of the lift in my Gallery it was in a sloping drive way, not sure how much you can tell.

 

[rdubb1031]

Build so far:

• 2.5" Evo Overland Enforcer Stage 3 (replaced arms at 1 year due to failure)
• Teraflex Control Arms (front U/L, rear L)
• Falcon 3.1 Shocks
• Nitto 38x13.5R20 Ridgegrapplers
• BAK X4S Tonneau Cover (since removed)
• RSI SmartCap
• Alta Superior 6 Bike Rack
• CBI Rock Sliders (since removed due to constant noise)
• LOD Destroyer Rock Sliders

Been an interesting year with the lift and other mods. Put the CBI sliders on, but got a racking noise constantly and pulled them off after 1 month. replaced them with the LOD which as AMAZING!! Also had the EVO control arms fail and had to replace with Teraflex. Evo is going to warranty them, but already spent money on Teraflex so will likely stay with those.

I also added a puppy to the mix so took off the Tonneau (preferred this look) for the RSI Smartcap. It's pretty amazing, just changes the appearance.

Just realized I don't have a photo of the cap yet, so will add that shortly..

 

[Hdog911]

Synergy lift and then everything from their catalog plus a JKS geometry correction. ADS triple external bypass shocks and air bumps.

Synergy is quality and so is ADS. All that other stuff is junk - go look at the bushings and size of the synergy pieces and compare them to teraflex or metalcloak. There is a reason ADS shocks are 5k and teraflex is 1k. It's cause teraflex spends all their money on marketing and ADS actually builds everything to the highest quality (unlike king or fox who make good but also lots of subpar quality shocks too).

Best advice I can give you is get off the forums, go talk to a person that builds desert Jeeps. Most builders use synergy or metalcloak from what I've seen. Metalcloaks lift quality isn't on the same level as synergy though. If you don't want to go racing pace fast then SDi eclik custom valved to pair with a clayton lift is another option. I recomend Action Axle for SDi eclik and Liberty Mountain Fabrication if you want more of a racetruck type set up. It'll crawl just fine with most any of the stuff you listed, but having a set up that won't break, and can go fast is the part you pay a lot more for. At least that what I wanted and without it, this ride would be a lot more boring.

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That's like 50 on a wet trail. It's bumpy, shocks are just really good, and def need the beadlocks to stay safe if you push it this hard. Very minor fab work for the airbumps, its basically all bolt on parts to get here.

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