What matters in a lift kit? Any recommendations?

[buzz1708]

Hope this isn’t an annoying question but I’ve done my desktop research on lift kits and what not but not anything past basic desktop.
What are the things that come to mind for yall when considering g what kind to get? Also any associating parts I might not realize need to be paired with It ?

For context, I have a ‘21 Rubicon with 35” black rhino Abrams and nitto ridge grapplers. I want to have something capable but I’m not a serious off roader. Want to invest in something that will let me do some middle to high difficulty crawling sometime down the line. I was thinking 3” as the base case as well because I might want 37’s down the line and don’t want to have to change suspension. Let me know any thoughts! I’d love to hear whatever you have, just trying to learn!

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[GuzziMoto]

I am getting mixed signals. You say "I'm not a serious offroader", but you also say "something that will let me do some middle to high difficulty crawling".
Those two things don't match up.
If you have been researching lifts, then you should know that there are spring lifts and spring spacer lifts. Spring lifts are more expensive, but they allow you to change things like spring rate to help carry extra weight. Spring spacer lifts don't change spring rate, they just add their thickness in height to the existing spring. But if you are fine with the stock springs and just want it to sit a couple inches higher, there is nothing wrong with a spring spacer lift.
That said, first question is how well do you like the stock suspension? The Rubi should have good shocks to begin with. Some people are just fine with a mild lift that adds shock extensions to the stock shocks. If you want something of good quality in that range, AEV has a decent 2" spring spacer lift. If you want something better, AEV offers a 2.5" or 3" spring lift.
If you really want something more hard core for offroad, I would look at MetalCloak.
Clayton seems really popular around here, but personally I have no experience with them.
Whatever lift you go with, I would make sure it either includes caster correction or I would add caster correction to it. Caster correction usually involves different control arms, either adjustable lower front control arms or longer lower front control arms, or geometry brackets. Geometry brackets will ride a little better as they also correct the control arm geometry in addition to adding caster. But they do hang down a little and for people who wheel in the rocks that can be a drawback. We wheel pretty hard, but the improvement in ride quality is still worth it for us. We actually run both control arms and geometry brackets on both our JKU and our JT.

Our JT has a hybrid lift, EVO 2.5" lift with a lot of extra parts from MetalCloak, from geometry brackets and adjustable lower front control arms to the MetalCloak track bars and rear track bar bracket.

 

[dirty red label]

There are a lot of good Lift kits out there. But if you want to go with a company which has a phone number on their website and answer the phone. A company which sells quality products in my opinion and knows what they’re talking about, My choice would be MedalCloak

 

[Idlethunder]

On my 22 JT Rubicon I used a Clayton overland plus 2.5” lift, Falcon 3.1 shocks, Fox ats steering stabilizer, and had 37” Baja Boss tires. It not only gave me more than enough room for the 37s, it rode and drove much better than it did stock. Completely got rid of all wandering and tracked straight as an arrow. The main reason I went to 37” tires wasn’t rock crawling but for added clearance offroad. The Clayton 2.5” lift raised the Jeep 3.25” and that was with a front bumper and winch combo that weighed about 175 pounds. That Jeep did fine rock crawling but there are better shock choices if maximum articulation is important and the Falcon shocks rode a little stiff even on the softest setting. Before going with Clayton I narrowed down my lift to them or Metalcloak. Both companies were very helpful answering questions and providing guidance. Both were easy to get on the phone and answered email quickly. They both have excellent customer service before and after the sale. The reason I went with Clayton was because the Metalcloak game changer lift recommended replacing the front drive shaft and I didn’t want to spend more than I had to. I sold that Jeep about a month ago and now have a stock height diesel Rubicon. When it comes time to install a lift on this one, I will go with Metalcloak. Not because there was anything wrong with Clayton but because as a company Metalcloak is that good.

 

[rharr]

establish a budget. If you only have $500 to spend that is going greatly impact your choices.
plan to spend 600 to 1500 for budget spacer stuff. Plan to spend 1500 to 3500 for good spring lift.
Labor costs not included.

For best impact i would pair a spring lift with recommended shocks from the same supplier of the lift.

If you get a lift with upgraded control arms, pay attention to bushing style. The arms can come with standard rubber type press in bushing which are good if you don't want reduced maintenance but limit articulation some. Or jonny joint or some sort of heim joint type end will give you more articulation but require more maintenance.

It's pointless to get high articulation arms if you are running short shocks that have limited droop or are to long and limit up travel.

A sign of a good lift kit will be when a MFR includes a replacement trac bar up front and/or relocation brackets for the rear trac bar. It's in the details that will make or break a lift kit.

 

[JTGuy]

The shocks will make the biggest difference in ride quality so spend the $$$ there .

 

[Stan H]

The riders preference really , but the single most important part of a quality lift is Shocks. I mean Good Shocks.

 

[Wheelin98TJ]

At 3” of lift, you’re getting into territory where more things need attention vs. a 2” coil spacer lift. Coil springs instead of spacers, longer shocks, track bars or at least a front track bars an a rear bracket, sway bar links, and front control arms or control arm brackets to adjust caster. That’s the minimum to have it work ok on the road. About $2k in parts.

You could do a 2” coil spacer lift cheaper if you’re ok with a shorter lift. It can work with 37s on a Rubicon.

 

[Sandman 4x4]

Like the old saying goes,”you only get what you pay for”! Means a lot for lift kits. Some have their parts manufactured in China, look out.

 

[Free2roam]

Metal Cloak tends to give you a large amount of articulation. They recommend replacing the front drive shaft.
I chose Clayton Overland lift 2.5 because, yes I off road, but mostly Forest service roads. Occasionally rocks happen. Rock crawling (never) kept the Rubicon take off tires. Gives me enough of everything I need. Plus I didn't have to replace the front drive shaft. Went with Fox 2.5 elites for the shocks. Great on road manners, great off road manners, two different times into Death Valley along the worst washboard roads ever. Got back on the road smooth as butter.
Buy once cry once!

 

[ColoradoCantu]

One thing you need to consider is the final weight of your build, are you gonna keep it simple or are you going to add a lot of weight to it, winch, steel bumbers, rock sliders, rack, rtt, etc. That will help you determine the weight specs for your shocks and springs, thats really the only place you can screw up. I also wanted 37s so i got a 3in lift which was the lowest lift recommended but i was building an overlander so i needed heavy duty springs. I also knew i am not always going to be super heavy so i wanted adjustible shocks, so i can switch from trailing mode to camping mode. Altough it turns out even in my light mode, im still pretty heavy so i keep my shocks on the stiffer side. What you dont want to do is spend all this money only to find your shocks and springs are too soft causing excessive side to side rocking over bumps and swaying when turning, feels like you're on a boat. At minimum you need f/r adjustible track bars, f/r contol arms, 3in lift shocks and springs. If your going heavy, i highly recommend Dobinson Adjustible Remote Reservoir Shocks and Springs paired with Metal Cloak f/r adjustible track bars and f/r contol arms. If keeping it simple, the Metal Cloak lift kits are also top notch. Clayton is another good company that i would recommend.

 

[Bandit’s Lair]

What matters most on a lift kit? Hands down the installation. Either doing it yourself or having a shop doing it, if that gets screwed up it doesn’t matter if you spent $100 or $10k. It’ll never work right and you’ll be hating driving the Jeep. I already nixed 1 shop from my list of potentials for install. They weren’t a fan of the springs I intend on using. If they don’t value the product and are vocal in dissuading a customer from using it I can’t feel sure they’ll do a good job on the install. Add that wicket to your research if you’re going to have a shop doing it.

 

[slodsm]

I’d look into a 2.5 at most. Honestly until you’re ready to slap the 37’s on it I wouldn’t lift it. 3” lift on 37’s is a lot, 3” lift on 35’s looks like you forgot left day.

Split your fenders and run it as is, if/when you decide to slap on some 37’s look into a quality 2.5 like Metalcloak, rock krawler, evo, whatever.

 

[BlueScapegoat]

Bad lifts disregard alignment. Cheap lifts don't necessarily but you need to put it together yourself. The kits usually ignore things like caster angle, bump stops, sway link, track bar.

Decent shocks are always worth the money but an $800 set of Fox shocks is very acceptable. If you go with a spacer lift and address the other points like bump stops, you can keep your factory shocks and it'll ride very nice.

I ran for a couple years a pieced together spacer lift that drove great and worked really well, addressed all the basic points like sway links, bump stops, etc, and maintained a factory level of Rubicon travel. There's a lot of little bits to be aware of. It really depends on what you want and how much you want to spend. I think the spacer lift route is a totally acceptable way for you to go for your first foray into Jeeping. You might find out it's not for you and at least you haven't wasted a bunch of money. It is, however, more expensive than it used to be... I pieced this same setup together in 2022 for half the price it is today.

If you wanted to go that route yourself:
IRO 2" Spacer lift - $230
Mopar 68322798AA Extended Front LCAs, need two - $72.26 total
Mopar 68306981AA 2" Front Sway Links, need two - $55.78 total
Mopar 68436812AA 2" Rear Sway Links, need two - $57.68 total
Clayton adjustable front track bar - $289.00

Add 2" bump stops both front and rear. You can use hockey pucks if you want, drill and countersink for bolts. Don't over tighten or they'll crack over time.

If you go that route and want to reduce the rake you can go to a 3" front spacer or stack a 1" on the 2" IRO (they're keyed and it works fine) and you'll lose an inch of down travel but I believe Metalcloak makes a 3" shock extension bracket that would replace the IRO bracket and you'd still retain the factory ride and travel.

This is my rig on that setup 4 years ago, 37s. It drove great:

And just so you know I'm not preaching the cheap approach just because it's what I have, this is my rig now, which I'm also happy to share the pieced-together setup for if you want:

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