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Lift, make sure I am thinking correctly


Citron
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Right now I want to keep things pretty mild. I would like to avoid UCA if possible. I am planning steering upgrades in a different post, so no need to mention the need for them here, unless my thoughts are totally screwy.

 

Start with the front.I read a post, I believe from Nefarious, that was saying you could crank the torsion bars to a max of two inches of lift without a need for UCA. So that is my plan for the front, crank torsion bars to two inches. I shouldn't need longer shocks, brake lines, etc for that, right? Sway away bars needed or just a nicety?

 

Rear. Two options. I was looking at the ome .75 lift MD coils with a fluerys 1 inch space. Total lift 1.75. Or keep the old saggy rear coils and do a fluerys 2 inch spacer. Both options pretty cheap. How about panhard and rear links, does anything need to be done for two inches of lift?

 

Thoughts on this lift, or any other options. Anything I missed? Thanks.

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You may want to reconsider your approach to the front end treatment. I wholly advocate for Steve's spacers in the back, soooooper easy install. I tried the t-bar crank and re-index as it was suggested on here, I did not like the results. If you go with the t-bar crank be prepared for a more harsh and bouncy ride in the front. What you will have done is turn up the pre-load on the springs in the front without changing anything other than it's height in the back. It makes the truck too hoppity in the front, but that is just my opinion, using it as a daily driver and hardly off-roaded. I had to dial mine back just to be able to drive it around the city and I am now looking at installing UCAs from 4x4 parts to get the truck back from soooper raked out!.... seriously... it looks ridiculous.... like one of these: / .... welll. maybe not that bad.. but I'm going to change the UCAs just to be happy with the ride anyway.

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Thanks guys. Somehow I missed the kit from 4x4parts. I saw the deluxe kit but missed the standard. Deluxe is too much money right now.

 

I am looking at the standard kit from 4x4parts with a panhard drop, with some calmini shocks since they are half the price of shocks offered on 4x4parts.

 

Now to get the steering sorted out in my other post.

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If you don't do UCAs and lift it, you'll be doing ball joints every few months because your maxing out the ball joint all the time. Also watch for CV Bind when you lift or you'll tear those up all the time too. When you do lift it, longer shocks are not needed, because you are not lengthening full droop of the IFS. Also for a 2" lift, a panhard drop isn't needed, but it wouldn't hurt though.

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I did a 2" suspension lift with a 2" body lift. I did have to index the torsion bars 1 tooth. JGC springs in the rear.

 

I don't have any noticable front end issues. I did rebuild the entire front end though. The ball joint angle isn't bad. The CV angle isn't too bad.

 

That why I didn't go with a 3" lift. I went the cheap way. I can't remember how long since I have done it, maybe 2-3 years. No issues that I know of. I pretty much drive it daily.

 

I didn't get longer shocks for the rear. I know I should have. I don't do a lot of wheeling. So I didn't see the need for it.

 

Disclaimer; your results may be different than mine.

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So only longer shocks for the rear? The kit from 4x4parts is a 3".

Correct. Some members here are using ford shocks, but I'm not sure what part numbers they are using. Hopefully someone using them here will chime in.

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You guys realize the UCA don't lift the truck at all right? They just allow you to adjust the camber and caster properly. Get the Superlift UCA the 4x4parts ones are okay but the ball joint angle sucks.

 

If you crank the T-bars you need to ensure that you have around 1/2" between the bumpstop and the control arm. Or get low profile bumpstops. Or, since it doesn't matter in this scenario, cut your stock bump stops in half like I did.

 

Don't use cheap shocks. You will have a stiff, yet bouncy ride at the same time. It will handle like ass on the highway when you hit an expansion joint.

 

The Jeep cherokee springs gave me next to no lift. I feel like if your stock springs are sagged to @!*% it will, but mine were in great shape, and I only got 1" out of a brand new set of jeep springs. Sold them to my friend for his wd21 and they gave him over 2".

Edited by adamzan
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You guys realize the UCA don't lift the truck at all right? They just allow you to adjust the camber and caster properly. Get the Superlift UCA the 4x4parts ones are okay but the ball joint angle sucks.

 

Correct, all the UCAs do, is allow for proper alignment (Camber/Caster) and correct ball joint angle. The 4x4parts ones just look beefier then stock, but offer no real advantage. Nobody said the UCAs themselves do the lift.

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You guys realize the UCA don't lift the truck at all right? They just allow you to adjust the camber and caster properly. Get the Superlift UCA the 4x4parts ones are okay but the ball joint angle sucks.

 

If you crank the T-bars you need to ensure that you have around 1/2" between the bumpstop and the control arm. Or get low profile bumpstops. Or, since it doesn't matter in this scenario, cut your stock bump stops in half like I did.

 

Don't use cheap shocks. You will have a stiff, yet bouncy ride at the same time. It will handle like ass on the highway when you hit an expansion joint.

 

The Jeep cherokee springs gave me next to no lift. I feel like if your stock springs are sagged to @!*% it will, but mine were in great shape, and I only got 1" out of a brand new set of jeep springs. Sold them to my friend for his wd21 and they gave him over 2".

Thanks for the info. I used to work at a dealership and have repaired lots of vehicles back to New, but this is my first foray into modifying.

Edited by Citron
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