Starting to look into lifting my 5.9L. How high can I lift before I have to start replacing drive shafts, brake lines, etc? I will be doing the work myself, is there anything different than the 5.2L that I need to look out for. Any suggestions on lift kits under 1k. Thanks for the advice.
You will be fine just make sure the lift comes with control arms. Depending how long your brake lines are you may have to unbolt the bracket. Im at 4" which was suppose to be5.5. But anyways no problems with shafts or brake lines. Needed new sway bar links and track bars because the kit did not come with them. Other things to make sure the kit comes with.
if you ask my opinion, dont do rough country, many around here will agree. Some will say it's ok, not good though. Use the search button, these questions have been answered about 1000 times.
To answer your question, usually about 3.5" you need new brake lines. Every zj is a little different so it just depends.
The real question is what size tire do you want to run? Wheeling this jeep or just for driving around town? I still recommend going Iron Rock Off Road or Rubicon Express. Either way if you search around you'll see all these lifts have been covered in depth on what you need besides the lift or need to junk from that lift and replace with something better. Basically you can do a 3.5" lift without replacing control arms and brake lines. Doesnt' mean it's not an advantage to do so or you caster will be off and you'll get drive line vibes if you don't.
Depending on your wheeling status, assuming you have a cv style front drive shaft and you're planning on going to a bigger tire size (i'll say 33" or above) you need that to be replaced with a u-joint type.
if you ask my opinion, dont do rough country, many around here will agree. Some will say it's ok, not good though. Use the search button, these questions have been answered about 1000 times.
To answer your question, usually about 3.5" you need new brake lines. Every zj is a little different so it just depends.
The real question is what size tire do you want to run? Wheeling this jeep or just for driving around town? I still recommend going Iron Rock Off Road or Rubicon Express. Either way if you search around you'll see all these lifts have been covered in depth on what you need besides the lift or need to junk from that lift and replace with something better. Basically you can do a 3.5" lift without replacing control arms and brake lines. Doesnt' mean it's not an advantage to do so or you caster will be off and you'll get drive line vibes if you don't.
Depending on your wheeling status, assuming you have a cv style front drive shaft and you're planning on going to a bigger tire size (i'll say 33" or above) you need that to be replaced with a u-joint type.
That is worth looking at for sure. What is the purpose of lowering the transfer case with that kit? I currently have the 249 is it worth the swap and cost to go with a 242?
Im at 4" with 31s and I wouldn't want to go with bigger tires. Go with a 5.5 I wish I did. Remember replacing the cv ds involves changing the connection the u joint style wont bolt up to the cv style. I want to do this after I get a new vc. Mostly because I misplaced mine and the new cv ds is 700$.
seriously? I'm at 3" and my 31's have plenty of room. Once I throw the new springs in and get the money i much rather run 33's. And if he's planning on seriously wheeling it, 33's or 35's are going to be much better. Depending on his willingness to spend all the money to lift, new ca's, replace ds, regear, and start replacing front end parts as they fall off hehe. Not to mention a possible axle swap down the road.
Gearing has nothing to do with lift height. With larger tires and stock gear ratio it will feel more sluggish and kill what pathetic mileage you get. If your going to run 33's/35's, I would re-gear to a 4.56 ratio.
I've got 4" of lift on my 5.9 with 32" tires. It's not bad driving it around town. I usually turn OD off unless I'm on the freeway. Otherwise it keeps kicking into OD and your driving 45 mph at 1300rpm. Which is annoying.
I run the RC long arm on my 5.9, no problems other than just plan on buying a complete set of shocks from some where else, the shocks suck and wont last ( unless they have fixed them) and plan on the passenger side sitting lower than the front. (used ACOS to adjust it out)
For 4.5" you really should think about adjustables to keep pinion angles in check.
IRO is good stuff. It all depends on what kind of ride quality you're willing to live with. For $1k I don't know that 4.5" is a reasonable goal.
If you stay with stock CA's you should check the condition of the bushings and replace as necessary (I prefer to replace the whole arm, its not much more $ and way easier).
Your gearing with 32s has you almost at idle while running around town. Your tranny keeps downshifting to get you s better gear. If you regear to 4.56s with say 33s, you'll be back at stock power with better mileage.
Now don't get me wrong. Building it up is half the fun. Here's the thing with most of our jeeps. The ca bushings are shot, hell 2 of my ca's are dented on the bottom. They're going to need to be replaced one way or another so I vote do it all at once if you can afford it. Me, I'm poor so I'm going in stages
3.5" Should run 33's if you're not afraid to do a little trimming, depends on how much you want to be able to flex. For a pavement princess it should be fine.
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