Final Decision...Which Lift Kit...Buying This Weekend

[DanW]

I have held off on the purchase to see if any incentives come up, such as double bonus points, around Presidents´ Day.

But if I were to buy at this minute, AEV gets the nod.

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[porsharman]

What is a good vendor for Clayton. I looked at them awhile back and can´t remember what steered me away from them, maybe cost for what I wanted? Not sure. But I´d be open to taking another look. What shocks come with them?

I want 2 to 2.5 inches of lift for the kind of off-roading I do. Mopar usually gives 2.5-ish. It gave almost 3 on my JLUR. AEV gives what they say, which is 2.5.

Well I’ll give you my $.02. I just installed the Mopar lift on my 2021 JTRD and it is excellent. My reasoning was using a lift kit that was designed by the performance arm of the manufacturer of the JTRD. I’m on 35’s with a winch /bumper combo plus diesel engine at the front and a RSI Smartcap on the bed. The lift eliminates the bump stop smacking I got with the stock suspension. The ride is supple and controlled and very comfortable. My kit included the Bilsteins w/ reservoir. The only thing I added was a Synergy adjustable front track bar and had previously installed an adjustable Fox steering damper. That’s not to say AEV or Clayton kits are not as good or perhaps better I chose Mopar because they engineered the vehicle plus there wouldn’t be any lift related warranty issues . My lift height is about 3” front and rear.

 

[porsharman]

I know their rep, and it is great. But I have a big head scratcher with them. How come they don´t offer the drive shaft carrier bearing spacer? We all know that is an important piece. But they don´t have it. Neither does Mopar, which is a major oversight. Yet AEV does, which tells me they may be have more knowledge than some think.

To extend that further...AEV includes a jack riser and programmer. That kit is the closest I´ve seen to having every single necessary component. I only wonder why they didn´t include an adjustable front track bar. Their rear bracket centers the rear axle perfectly....or at least it did on my JK. I am expecting it to on the JT, as well.

I am now considering the Clayton $1500 lift, but I will still have to add shocks and the drive shaft carrier bearing drop spacer. I would probably go with the Fox shocks with this lift, but the Bilstein 5100´s are only $300, so that puts it at about $1900, which is only 100 bucks more than the AEV and includes both front and rear adjustable track bars. It is certainly an attractive option. The one thing I don´t love about the Clayton is that it removes the rake and levels the truck. I want at least a 1 inch rake. I can´t stand a nose-up rake when loaded. The AEV won´t do that and the Mopar pretty much leaves the factory rake. I have great confidence in the load carrying ability of the AEV. They talk directly about it on their website and my JK´s AEV lift performed exceptionally well in that area. I also wonder why Clayton advertises theirs as mainly for on-road with bigger tires and only light off-road use. Maybe that´s just to sell more of their more expensive kits? Probably. I can´t imagine why their $1500 kit would not do well off-road. Especially with good shocks.

I am still wondering if anyone has run the Bilstein reservoir shocks that come with the Mopar lift. I´m very curious about them and the kind of ride they deliver. I think they are the 5600 series?

The Bilsteins w/ reservoirs are excellent that come with the latest Mopar lift kits.

 

[Hairymonkeyfish]

I have held off on the purchase to see if any incentives come up, such as double bonus points, around Presidents´ Day.

But if I were to buy at this minute, AEV gets the nod.

I've had the aev kit on my diesel for a little over a year. It's a night and day improvement over stock and totally redeems the truck. The bottoming issue is cured, and it's a hoot drifting around roundabouts. These trucks should have came this way.

 

[DanW]

I just ordered the AEV tonight. @Northridge4x4 helped me out and went above and beyond, which is why they have such a great rep and why I keep going back.

Once it arrives, I will schedule a Saturday with a group of buddies, chill some beer for them, and put it on my nephew's lift at 4Piston Racing and get this baby lifted. I'll start a build thread this weekend.

First up will be a FAD skid plate from Artec and a set of cool Auxbeam round lights with amber DRL in them. It will ultimately have those and a re-built set of Rigid flods pointing 45 degrees outward, so 4 cowling lights, total. Then, the lift and the 35's will be next.

Thanks again, everyone, for the wonderful input, wisdom, and opinions!

 

[DanW]

Northridge4x4 is just badass. I ordered this thing around 6pm last night and it was in my driveway by noon today. Unreal.

I´m just trying to figure out when I can get my buddies together and put this thing on the Jeep!

 

[chaosjake]

...and the hardest trail I´ve ever run in a Jeep, which was in Vermont.

I'm headed to Vermont with my JTR next month and looking for fun trails, if you have any suggestions.

 

[DanW]

I'm headed to Vermont with my JTR next month and looking for fun trails, if you have any suggestions.

There is a state park there that has a REALLY hard but good trail system. I will try and remember the name of it. It was one of the toughest trails I´ve done, but it was great fun. Very slow going. LOTS of rocks and thick woods.

Look up the Appalachian Byway. The northern track goes through Vermont and New Hampshire and Maine. It had some fun places, for sure, mainly in Vermont.

That state park might actually be in New Hampshire, but if so, it was just across the border.

I´ll post up when I find the name and location of that state park.

 

[chaosjake]

There is a state park there that has a REALLY hard but good trail system. I will try and remember the name of it. It was one of the toughest trails I´ve done, but it was great fun. Very slow going. LOTS of rocks and thick woods.

Look up the Appalachian Byway. The northern track goes through Vermont and New Hampshire and Maine. It had some fun places, for sure, mainly in Vermont.

That state park might actually be in New Hampshire, but if so, it was just across the border.

I´ll post up when I find the name and location of that state park.

I've been trying to find more info on the New England section of the Appalachian Byway, but all the links I have stumbled across are dead. I've scoped out some Class IV roads on Onx and have some options, but I'm always looking for a challenge.

I wonder if that state park was Jericho Mountain in New Hampshire? They have a bunch of trails that are mostly for dirt bikes and SxS.

 

[DanW]

I've been trying to find more info on the New England section of the Appalachian Byway, but all the links I have stumbled across are dead. I've scoped out some Class IV roads on Onx and have some options, but I'm always looking for a challenge.

I wonder if that state park was Jericho Mountain in New Hampshire? They have a bunch of trails that are mostly for dirt bikes and SxS.

Pretty sure it was Jericho Mountain! We never saw one dirt bike, though. It was all Jeeps when we were there. I don´t think we even saw a SxS. I got stuck so badly in some big rocks that it took two winches, a high lift Jack, and lots of creativity to get it out.

 

[wildtaco]

I've been trying to find more info on the New England section of the Appalachian Byway, but all the links I have stumbled across are dead. I've scoped out some Class IV roads on Onx and have some options, but I'm always looking for a challenge.

I wonder if that state park was Jericho Mountain in New Hampshire? They have a bunch of trails that are mostly for dirt bikes and SxS.

Pretty sure it was Jericho Mountain! We never saw one dirt bike, though. It was all Jeeps when we were there. I don´t think we even saw a SxS. I got stuck so badly in some big rocks that it took two winches, a high lift Jack, and lots of creativity to get it out.

Jericho Mountain has a Jeep Badge of Honor Trail so it's definitely for Jeeps as well.

 

[chaosjake]

Jericho Mountain has a Jeep Badge of Honor Trail so it's definitely for Jeeps as well.

Oh nice, I'll have to check it out sometime. My wife and I stayed at a campground near there a few years ago (before I had the JT), and I saw nothing but SxS headed towards Jericho Mountain.

 

[Trauma PA]

Northridge4x4 is just badass. I ordered this thing around 6pm last night and it was in my driveway by noon today. Unreal.

I´m just trying to figure out when I can get my buddies together and put this thing on the Jeep!

Did you install the lift yet?

 

[DanW]

Did you install the lift yet?

No. April 6 is the tentative date where I can use my nephew´s lift. So hopefully we will get it on there then.

 

[DanW]

The AEV lift has been installed! It took us about 9 hours, with a lift. We did not rush anything and really took our time to do it right and it is perfect. It drives beautifully with no shimmy or wobble of any kind. It tracks true and feels perfect. I did install the lower control arm relocation brackets and I think those are the key to getting the caster angle just right. I could not be happier. Of course, I have only driven it on-road, so the jury is out on off-road performance, but the AEV 2.5 Dualsport on my old JKUR performed exceptionally well off-road, so that´s what I expect. It looks like it got a significant amount of lift. Unfortunately, I forgot to measure it. But you can see from the pics. I love the stance of the truck (I do like some rake. It is a truck, for goodness sakes, and it needs that for when it gets loaded down. I hate the looks of a loaded truck with a nose high attitude.)

Anyway, I will update as I drive it more. Next up....I sent for a Rough Country adjustable front track bar. Before anyone poo poos that, I had two of them on my JK and never had an issue. The nice thing is that it can be adjusted while on the Jeep, saving me from installing and re-installing to fine tune it. On my JK, once it was set, it never moved in probably 50k miles of driving and off roading. And it is solid forged steel. VERY much stronger than stock. Never had an issue with the bushings, either. They are just like OEM.

Here are some pics... Break over angle issue.....SOLVED! LOL.

Big thanks to my nephew and 4Piston Racing for letting us use his lift and tools at their factory! Maybe down the road I will put one of their 1100 horsepower Honda 4 cylnder turbo set-ups in this Jeep! Lol!

Before.....

After......

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