Quote:
Originally Posted by TimeConsumer
Just read the whole thread, I like your direction. Couple of questions if you've got the time. Any regrets on the RC lift? did you have to add anything or replace anything to make it more "complete?" and I guess its more of an opinion, but do the 315 BFG AT fill out like you wanted them?
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Thanks man. I sure do; sorry about the late reply.
1). Regrets on the RC lift its self? Absolutely not. For the price, and at the time when I needed it and it was all I could afford its worked great. Granted its fairly incomplete, it got my Jeep off the ground. Since i've installed the lift, i've added a part here, or adjusted something there. But it served its purpose as the best budget kit on the internet. Period. For the lift height to price ratio.
Granted you could do two stackable 1.75'' spacers front and rear, get 3'' total added height (not a REAL suspension lift) and a 1'' body lift and get the same effect as me, and still be under 200 dollars. But then you have shocks 7 sway bar links and etc................ but thats completely beside the point. This is a full on 4'' kit, with full 4'' springs and lower control arms for 500 dollars. Can't beat that. I Don't care what anyone says.
However, I do wish at the time I had more money to buy the more complete X series 4'' or waited out the long arm.
One thing I would like to say, is that I DO NOT believe I got a full 4'' of lift in the front, like I did in the rear. I have added spacers (1.75) in the front to make the Jeep PERFECTLY level.
I did not have enough drive time with out the spacers to comment on that. So I will ASSUME I got weak front springs that needed some help (quality issue maybe? No idea.)
Reference *I think* "Frechtoastking"'s thread. He installed the same lift, at the same time as me, as well as the same tires (I think even on a white Jeep lol) and he neted 2 more inches of lift in the front then I did with the RC springs, and not with the help of spacers. I personally just feel like I got either 2.5'' lift springs, or weak ones.
Here is a picture with out the spacers (and body lift)
Anyways...... Now that I have my little disclaimer out of the way, assuming now with the spacers I have my full 4'' of lift. So, it is rather incomplete and has nickeled and dimed me to death. The local tire shop said it is too tall to align with stock steering setup, and that I needed to get an adjustable trackbar, and a drop pitman arm.
To make it short, the hole that RC makes you drill to the right of the stock hole in the axle for the trackbar mount is just more of a bandaid. Or a "it works fine, but its still not correct" kind of thing. Because my axle was still off center, and I did dog track, but not enough to affect anything as it would have if I left it in the stock location. So I viewed it as more of a temp fix since I needed an adjustable one to get it back to factory location. Also, many many people will tell you to avoid a drop pitman arm. Well, the tire shop said my drag link could not be adjusted far enough to untoe my wheels. The steering pulled everything up, and there for the front end tires toed in. Well, I didnt realize what was happening till I ruined my second set of tires. I assumed (bad mistake) that the swampers wore just that bad. So I kind of ignored a few obvious signs. Well anyways, I ended up getting a drop pitman arm from Clayon offroad
And it worked perfectly fine. The steering geometry doesn't look stock anymore, but it performs like stock. Technically, these lines should not cross
But it works fine. I thought I had bump steer, but I was overthinking this, because I was analyzing my steering so hard. Honestly, its perfectly fine and safe. So I personally feel that in my situation the drop pitman arm was the answer.
So, those are really the two major things I have had to buy. The Adj. track bar, drop pitman arm, and well the spacers if you want to consider those. Bringing the cost of the 500 kit + 100 +70 + 30 = now a 700 dollar kit. If you really want to get technical the alignment also cost me 60 dollars, so thats the better part of 700 I have spent on my kit. Which most people I think would not find acceptable when trying to buy a cheap kit, but for me it worked fine, because I didnt have all the money up front and I needed the kit when I got the 33s.
A few of the things (which is what makes this the economical kit it is) this kit is missing is the upper control arms, extended bump stops, nice Hydro shocks (to upgrade to these would have added 100 dollars to my kit, so I got the standard ones which did not cost extra).
All for all, its a GREAT kit if you know what you are doing, and don't mind doing things part by part, on an as needed basis. I never NEEDED the trackbar and I wheeled many times with the stock one. But I wanted that. I was ill advised when buying it, and RC did not do a good job of letting you know what else will be needed.
Still have any questions?
As for the tires, the 315/75s stand at about 34.5''ish. They are a great tire. However, I wanted the look of a 35x12.5, and I don't feel I got that. It would be better on a 8'' wide wheel, where as I have a 10'' wide. Also the lip on my wheel is huge and distracting. But still, it is DEFINITELY, not as wide as a 12.5 wide tire. So no it did not fill out as I was hoping, but oh well. I don't feel that it looks bad, and the performance is more then satisfactory so I can't complain. 16'' is not a great wheel to have for a Jeep. Its more of a 3/4 truck wheel, all the load ratings are high (D/E) and not much choice. Oh well.
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ArrizX's White Jeep TJ Log
