LACK

Stay with 3.75-4" of BS and you should be fine.

Im personally running 3.75 with 35's

munyanb

This is a ZJ question, I'm about to put in 1.75 spacers so I feel better about 31's. You can run the 31's without but you wont like it, it does rub on tight turns. Its a 97 Laredo 4.0, i haven't had it jacked up yet, but are there any surprise tools or specific things to look for? Also i do not like spacers, i think it will reduce flex and tear up my shocks, but just to get by short term I'm doing it. And they were under the back seat of my other jeep when i bought it. If i wanted a small lift would i benefit swapping front springs to rear, and the front springs from a V8 jeep in the front? I know Iron Rock Offroad was selling a kit that does something similar, but you get new fronts and shocks. I haven't looked lately but it seems like every time i do they get more expensive and are changing the inventory a little.
Also id like to say i have a rough country lifted jeep besides the one I'm talking about. I'm guessing it is a 4" kit, i bought it like that. It apparently did not come with a front track bar or upper control arms, and it should be illegal to sell one like that if so. That track bar pulls hard and eats bushings, you can look closely and see an offset of the wheels to the body even. And not having uppers turns the pinion angle down making vibration and probably even rolling resistance.

salad

Sorry, what is the question? About spacers or lifting a ZJ?

Adapter-type spacers are fine if they're good quality hub-centric. You just need to remember that they need maintenance, too. The effect on bearings is the same as a rim that sticks the tire out the same distance.

jedijeb

Sounds more like he is talking about spacers on the springs than the hubs after I read it a couple of times. Wheel spacers shouldn't affect flex and I doubt spring spacers would either unless you just need a longer spring to compress more, but the difference wouldn't be enough to matter.

munyanb

I am talking about spacers for a lift, for the springs. I'm only adding these spacers in so I can run 31''s with no rub. And this is not supposed to be long term.
I ran into some trouble when changing wheels over from my other jeep, A frozen lug nut on the one with the cobbled 4" lift cost me several hours, lol. I tried to pound sockets on for grip, just made it more round, lol. I ended up drilling the stud out and was deep enough, then went to step the bit size up and it snagged just a little so I tried to wiggle it out and restart but it broke off. That cost me hours of chiseling and pounding to finally get the broken off bit to crack and get out so I could finish the drilling, finally it broke off.
I was asking about any surprise tools id need like a spring compressor or what not. I found you do not need a spring compressor, but you do need some star bits or what do they call them, torx bits?
The spacers I used were a hard poly urethane I think so I put them on under the rubber factory spring seats against the body/frame. So far i only did one btw, but the 1 3/4 lift looks good on the one rear wheel ive done. Normally id have all of them done if it weren't for the over tightened frozen lug nut.
Using the correct springs and correct length shocks is obviously better, but like I said I got these spacers for free and don't have the other stuff. I think I also asked about using factory springs from a V8 jeep in the front for a little lift, but I think ive read that they are the same. Not sure so I'm asking. I know you can buy kits to place the front springs to the rear and use a new spring from the kit for the front. I think that's a 2.5 or 3" lift.
Are there any salvage parts at all from any other vehicles that can be used safely and feasibly for lift? I just let a 99 Dakota go to the scrapper, hopefully it didn't have anything I could have used. I know the axles seemed heavier, but who wants a goofy 6 lug, lol? I you cant fab at home any fab costs or welding makes things not worth it.
Mostly I am just talking about it as I go, wish I could post pics, never have been able to well on this forum and now not at all since I made the windows 10 mistake, does anyone have any thoughts or concerns or input?

munyanb

Since someone thought this was about wheel spacers I do have a question on them, again I don't like them, but I see so many nice wheels and sizes available from newer 5x5 wheel pattern jeeps I have considered buying adapters. One of the thinks good about the grand Cherokee is it can fit in tight spots, you make it wider by using spacers, but in cases of high lift you need width so you don't easily flip over. The center of gravity is very important, especially if you plan on highway speeds. Can anyone post a mechanical drawing of center of gravity on a ZJ? At what point on a lift should you make it wider? I personally would not go over 4", on purpose anyway, since I am not a pro rock crawler or racer and it would be a multi purpose vehicle.
Obviously the bearings would have more strain than designed to have, but it may not be enough to hurt anything. Then you have to worry about not throwing rocks and debris into other drivers or pedestrians from wheels sticking out to wide, and you could get some rub from being out to far. Just looking for experienced input.

Outlaw Star

Anyone here run 285/75R16's (~33x11.50) and 4.56 gears?

Basslicks

No worries. Just get QUALITY hub centric spacers. G2, Spidertrax, Alloy USA... basically stay away from chinese made crap that's a brand you've never heard of or is made for and sold on ebay.... seriously, do your research, read product reviews - specifically the negetive reviews. While it's true you can't please everyone, if there are legitimate concerns like "my wheel fell off while going down the highway" (seeing that 1 time on a product with over 300 shining reviews may be due to installation error), then you might want to exclude that particular product.

I'm no engineer, but the BASIC idea of center of gravity as I understand it.



Unfortunately, the weight of the Jeep is not balanced across all of the area of that triangle drawing, so there are many different factors that will effect this. Keeping your heavy weight as LOW as possible inside the Jeep will help this.

To "draw" you something that shows all the factors involved with weight distribution/bias, one would need AutoCAD.

Dude. Relax. You think too much. They make extended fender flares and mud flaps for that. Yeah your bearings are probably going to wear quicker, but not THAT quick.

munyanb

I've gotten most of this installed, I stopped reassembly because I may try to re furbish the bump stops that are deteriorated. I have some 2 part elastomer mix from a TVA nuclear plant surplus auction. It makes a rubber like compound meant for sealing electrical components that are under heavy vibration or shock stress. Its also heat and chemical resistant. It takes 7 minutes to cure after mixing. Mostly I just want to try this stuff out, if its to soft ill try adding some dirt or saw dust or graphite to harden it up. May even be able to color it. I'm guessing the bump stops aren't all that critical.
Also I'm still not sure whether or not to add the extra 1/2" spacers in front as a leveling kit since they do sit slightly higher in rear. The spacers I found under the back seat of my other jeep were 4 pieces 1 3/4 and 2 pieces 1/2" I'm trying to foresee what kind of load or how often passengers may be in the rear seats. I'll probably end up trusting jeep engineering and keep them all the uniform. What experience have others had with adding a little more in front?
Some of this stuff I'm just saying or asking so others consider it, it could be a first time for someone ever messing with a vehicle. I do think way to much, at the same time it seems like almost any time I didn't consider every possibility and scenario something goes amiss, and I probably wont get a chance to do much on this for quite a while after this. So I want to do it one time and be satisfied and safe, lol. But yeah I do tend to overthink and worry a lot. In past situations it kept me alive, lol
I think the mechanical drawing of the weight and fulcrum point from the drawing is upside down, lol. Thanks so far for replies and thoughts.

munyanb

I agree totally on not buying cheap Chinese stuff. Some of that stuff is so shoddy I don't see how they can legally sell it. And the vendor that does sell it assumes zero responsibility for it, although as a vendor they are endorsing it. That's another thing I worry to much about, I shop long and hard for about everything I buy to try to buy American or European. Mostly to support my countrymen but also for quality.

Tevett Goad

I need some input, where does Rubicon Express rate in the grand scheme of lift kits? Im looking at RE, Zone, and RC.

TFitzPat87

You're on the right track. Just remove RC from that list.

RE, Zone, IRO, all good kits.

Tevett Goad

Thanks, good to know. It seems like RE comes with pretty much everything i need for the lift except SYE and a new drive shaft, so I'm kind of leaning towards them.

TFitzPat87

You won't be disappointed. Just know to expect more than the advertised lift out of it. Their 3.5" lift usually nets 4 to 4.5".

SatiricalHen

I got lucky. I got 4.75" out of a 4.5" lift and that was the day I put it in so it could've settled a touch.