My Sport S Max Tow, Budget Piecemeal Lift

[Aonarch]

Here is what I've come up with for a lift on my new Gladiator. The goal was to retain the Max Tow capabilities and OE ride quality, while easily fitting 33" tires or even 35" tires, and to achieve a better visual appearance. This truck is used as a daily driver and a motorcycle/ dirt bike hauler, so it will never see anything offroad more than a Fire Service road. I didn't want to compromise its towing potential with an "offroad focused" lift kit.

So far I've installed the Teraflex 1.5" spacer kit in the front, which has lifted the front by an as advertised 1.5", resulting in .75" of front rake (The rear is higher).

I've ordered the Rubicon front springs, which I hope will give me .75" to 1" of front lift. I will then install the LCAs and the rear spacers.

After all of that, If I do not have enough front rake for towing (~.75-1"), I will remove the .5" front spacer, leaving in the 1" spacer.

I left this part out of the pricing table above, but I have ordered Bilstein 5100 series shocks and their steering damper designed for 0-2" of lift, but the rears are on backorder and this all is optional for this budget lift. I've read countless threads here of people saying the factory shocks are fine with a 1-2" spacer lift.

So my grand total is $874 with tax and shipping. I'm assuming a 2-2.5" lift in the front and a .75" lift in the rear, hopefully resulting in better ride quality than stock, while retaining the Max Tow capabilities.

The Mopar 2" Lift came out to $1814 shipped with tax to my door. I've heard great things about this kit.

A picture for your reading pleasure (Daystar 1.5" kit only).

I'll update the thread once I install the Rubicon springs and rear spacers.

I also have wheels and tires in the mail, and I am going to order sway bar quick disconnects once I find ones I like. JKS maybe?

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[Aonarch]

Update: the 340/343 springs are 1" taller unloaded. With the vehicle on the ground I gained 1 1/4" front lift. Needless to say, the Rubicon springs definitely have a heavier spring rate on top of being taller.

 

[red_rider_elsinore]

Did you get to install the bilstein and lca?

 

[Aonarch]

Did you get to install the bilstein and lca?

I did. Very straight forward to install.

It rides great. I aligned it myself as well.

It no longer has the unsettled oscillation when hitting a bump that the factory shocks would give. They clearly weren't up to task with damping vibrations and movement.

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