Mojave Lift Options

[DirtGadgets]

Good to know! I plan on an aluminum bumper, either rock hard or genright and a winch. I’m not sure that would be enough to make it sit level...

Good selections. I've also been eyeing the Genright bumper. A winch will add some weight. However, an aluminum bumper won't be heavy at all.

You also need to account for the weight of the engine, batteries, lighting, roof rack, etc. That's all persistent, sprung weight. Your front coil springs have to carry all that weight all the time.

Wheels, tires, and axles are unsprung weight, meaning their weight only impacts the springs as the terrain dictates. All said, it's important your front springs are a little stiffer to accommodate for sprung and unsprung weight increases. The Nitto Trail Grappler tires and Hutchinson Rockmonster wheels are heavy. They're going to punish your front springs a lot more than the stock wheels and tires. I'm also planning to build custom axles, with much heavier tubes and larger brakes, which will add more unsprung weight.

I considered these things and decided the front MetalCloak springs are a good fit for how I've configured my build right now and how I plan to continue to build my Jeep in the future. I expect the MetalCloak springs will handle these increased drive train loads well over time. They'll naturally relax as they break in.

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[TheGinger]

How are those Apex disconnects working out for you so far?

Well I finally got to test them on our display ramp/stand, they seem to work quite well but... not with the new American Adventure Labs inner fenders I am now running without butchering holes in them back to the drawing board, video coming soon.

 

[yoda13]

Well I finally got to test them on our display ramp/stand, they seem to work quite well but... not with the new American Adventure Labs inner fenders I am now running without butchering holes in them back to the drawing board, video coming soon.

I have a set now too. I haven’t installed them yet, but I should be OK as I am still running stock fenders...

are you ditching the disconnects or fender liners?

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Yeah, the gold zinc is definitely a matter of personal taste. That said, it’s pretty easy to hit it with a bit of paint, and it’s the perfect prep surface for it. I painted the new springs, but liked the gold zinc for the rest of the hardware. Whatever suits you, gold or painted, you’ll appreciate the anti-corrosion properties of the gold zinc once you scrape up your linkage on a few rocks. ;-)

Yellow zinc and clear zinc now have pretty much the same salt spray ratings. It used to be there were big differences between black zinc, yellow zinc and clear/blue zinc (I do zinc plating for show cars and restorations), the passivate for that yellow zinc is almost orange in concentrate form)
There are different make-ups of the passivate these days due to the risks of chromates and things have pretty much evened out in protection. So clear zinc and yellow zinc from most companies are almost even. I have the specs for the chemicals I get from my supplier I could look up and compare the salt spray test certifications.

Zinc is an active metal so even when scratched it will protect the substrate below it until it's eaten away from the scratch some distance. That's the advantage on parts like shown in the JT images here. If you want it black, you can paint it black and have even MORE protection.
Being an active metal, zinc "sacrifices" itself. It's one reason I zinc plate a lot of the hardware for my cars' suspension and steering systems and I don't use the black oxide any more, I use black zinc for fasteners that should be black for restoration purposes.

I powder coat some things, plate other things, rarely paint. Powder coating is tough - the cross member on my 70 was powder coated and survived having a floor jack under it a couple of times. Nice thing is you can touch it up with paint.
Plating is nice as it can be painted over, etc. and if scratched, you can touch up the paint but the plating below will still protect the steel.
However, plating lasts only so long and the length of time is dependent on many factors - exposure to salt/chemicals/water, etc. Even in storage, the plating will face and its protection will dwindle. I have disassembled and re-plated windshield wiper motors that were in boxes in storage for 40 years because the protection faded and the wiper motors started to rust.

Anyone interested in plating for protection or even appearance -

The color and sheen is dependent on the surface being plated, current used, other factors and the color depth of the yellow can be changed with time in the passivate, temperature of the passivate and other factors.

I actually like the look of the zinc plated parts under that JT.

Tie rod sleeves are yellow zinc, clamps are black zinc, bolts and nuts are clear zinc - it's the difference in the passivates used -

 

[DirtGadgets]

Your Jeep really looks great!!! Is it an optical illusion, your driveway, or does your nose sit a bit high?

I did some additional measuring parked in a level place. The nose sits only about 1/4" higher than the back, so the MetalCloak lift is more level than I originally thought. The front fenders (high-top variant on the Rubicon and Mojave) are 2" higher than the stock rear fenders. This adds to the illusion that the lift sits nose high. However, in reality the lift kit is very level as installed.

 

[TheGinger]

I have a set now too. I haven’t installed them yet, but I should be OK as I am still running stock fenders...

are you ditching the disconnects or fender liners?

I really love the look of my Mojave with these fender liners so likely these disconnects will be finding a bew home shortly.

 

[yoda13]

I did some additional measuring parked in a level place. The nose sits only about 1/4" higher than the back, so the MetalCloak lift is more level than I originally thought. The front fenders (high-top variant on the Rubicon and Mojave) are 2" higher than the stock rear fenders. This adds to the illusion that the lift sits nose high. However, in reality the lift kit is very level as installed.

Thank you for that!

 

[yoda13]

I really love the look of my Mojave with these fender liners so likely these disconnects will be finding a bew home shortly.

They do look great, but I’m in love with the disconnects. I think I read on Apex’s website that there is a set of fender liners that work, but I cannot recall which...

 

[PabstBleuRibbon]

Hey @TheGinger, do the Teraflex front shock mounts require drilling on both upper and lower holes? Also what size drill bit, and can this be done with a vice and hand drill

 

[TheGinger]

Hey @TheGinger, do the Teraflex front shock mounts require drilling on both upper and lower holes? Also what size drill bit, and can this be done with a vice and hand drill

yes both holes require re-sizing, I think it was 9/16 but I could be mistaken, just has to fit the both size that the shocks were originally bolted with on the Mojave.

 

[AdrianVall]

I have the Iron Rock Offroad 2" spacer and shock extension lift coming this week. Definitely a very inexpensive option that seems to have amazing reviews. Doing the install this weekend myself, so we'll see how that goes.

 

[ckage83]

Please report back and take before and after pictures! We Mojave owners need more intel and options!

I have the Iron Rock Offroad 2" spacer and shock extension lift coming this week. Definitely a very inexpensive option that seems to have amazing reviews. Doing the install this weekend myself, so we'll see how that goes.

 

[SloW8]

I have decided to go with the AEV spacer lift, geometry brackets and adj track bars front and rear from Teraflex.

Also doing 17x8.5 wheels and 37x12.5r17 tires.

Got the wheels and tires today and mounted them up. I don’t have the lift yet.

On a stock suspension, with a decent stuff, you can see that there is still a tiny bit of air between the tire and fender liner.

If you ran one of the inner liner removal kits, like AAL brackets and lights, you could run these wheels and tires without a lift on a Mojave. I think the 2” AEV is going to do everything I want and keep the factory springs and shocks.

 

[JTWAVE]

Thinking of putting a Fabtech 2 inch Trail Lift Kit on my Mojave and keeping the stock Fox shock set up. My Jeep dealership's service department said it was the one that they would recommend since the Mopar lift won't work. My questions is that since the Mojave is already lifted an inch above the Rubicon, would this lift kit add another 2 inches or would it be displacing an inch or so? Hopefully, not since that would make it worthless. Just wondering.

 

[yoda13]

Thinking of putting a Fabtech 2 inch Trail Lift Kit on my Mojave and keeping the stock Fox shock set up. My Jeep dealership's service department said it was the one that they would recommend since the Mopar lift won't work. My questions is that since the Mojave is already lifted an inch above the Rubicon, would this lift kit add another 2 inches or would it be displacing an inch or so? Hopefully, not since that would make it worthless. Just wondering.

Doesn’t Fabtech have a kit specifically for the Mojave? If they advertise as such, I would think it’s 2”.

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