Installing Clayton 3.5 Overland Plus lift on 2023 Gladiator Rubicon. Any Advice?

[Ordnanceman20]

Hello everyone! My son and I will be installing the Clayton 3.5 Overland plus lift on my 2023 Gladiator Rubicon in a couple of weeks. I know there is a plethora of knowledge here, so I figured that I would ask if anyone has any advice or tips, or tricks they might pass on before I attempt. I put a 2.5 Skyjacker level kit on it and have installed a 4-inch lift on my TJ, so I do have basic knowledge of how to do this, but I want to see what everyone has to say. Also will be adding the Fox 2.0 shocks and Fox 2.0 TS Steering Stabilizer. Thanks and Semper FI!

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[Jglad15]

I have the 2.5in overland plus and love it, but if I could do it over skip the fox 2.0s. Buy once cry once. I recently upgraded to the falcon 3.3 fast adjusts. On here they get mixed reviews, but I like them so far. The adjustability is nice.

 

[Rusty PW]

A coil spring compressor will help. You want your axles to hang low as possible. Install the control arms first and leave them loose. Disconnect the track bars and sway bar links. Remove the shocks. You might have to remove the axle breather hoses from the axles. And disconnect the locker plug to get the axle low enough.

 

[BunkieJeeper75]

My son an I installed the Clayton kit last year … pretty straight forward !
My only advice … read directions carefully, layout all parts before hand for easy reference and make sure you have the correct socket and wrench sizes.
It took us about 8 hours in my garage with just a floor jack and 4 jack stands.

 

[sl65racer]

I did the 2.5” Overland + kit and wound up with 3.5“ of lift. No complaints. Rides nicely on the road. And 37” tires look perfect with this lift.

 

[TJMarc]

A few things that come to mind:
1) Pressure wash the underside of your jeep a couple days prior and let it dry
2) Get a tape measure and mini digital angle finder, park the jeep on an area of constant slope and measure every angle and distance you think you might want to reference later (I.e. front to back flat surface on the axles, height from ground at the front and rear of the rock rails, etc). Makes things like getting the caster into the ball park much easier.
3) Get a Bull Pin/alignment punch…makes aligning holes much easier
4) Stout set of tall jack stands will make things much easier (I have a set of 12 ton stands), I usually will do one end (front or back) at a time and support the jeep off the frame just in front of the control arm mounts for the end I’m working on. I will make sure to solidly chock on the opposite wheels. Get the jeep as high as you’re comfortable because jeeps require a lot of downtravel to unseat the springs. Another trick to free the spring is to jack up the other side to tilt the spring seat.
5) If your not doing extended brake lines…pull the rear brake calipers
6) Having multiple floor jacks is nice…especially when trying to shift the axles around
7) A long handle torque wrench is also nice to have…it’s not as bad as full size trucks but makes setting the control arm bolts much easier

Good luck and have fun with it.

 

[andarxx]

Nice looking Rubicon! @TJMarc's list is on point. When I did my wife's Mopar lift I did/had everything he said except washing it a few days before. That will be on my todo for my Clayton install. Was there a specific reason (other than price) that you decided on Fox 2.0s? I'm going back and forth on the 2.5s and the 3.0s. I have the 2.0s on our JK and have been very happy with them, but I do want to step up on the JT.

 

[JT1]

You won't need a spring compressor.
Make sure you put the extended rear brake lines on the correct side.
Don't tighten any of the control arms until the weight of the jeep is on the suspension.

Get a REALLY long torque wrench. 200 lb/ft is a lot laying on your back.

 

[Silverator]

As mentioned - extended brake lines for the rear. I got away without it for my Clayton overland 2.5, but with the 3.5 you will probably need it.

Second, get a carrier bearing drop kit while you're at it. Initially I was told that at 2.5" I didn't need one. Well, the lift is significantly higher than 2.5" and it turns out that I should have done it. I've got one on order now. Will have it installed before Moab next month....

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