What is the Ideal Lift kit?

Renicknow · **Posted:** Wed Jun 04, 2008 3:11 pm

I sure this has been brought up in the past, but lets shed some new light on it. I wondering what is the best lift kit for a KJ. Frankenlift, OME, or Rockfather, list goes on. I curious to see what you guys run, and what you think of them. I was looking at the OME, or Rockfather from Rocky-Road Inc. Heres what I hope to achive maybe you guys know the perfect kit for it. I want to run a 33inch to 35 inch Mickey Tompson Baja Claw, on a Allied Rock a Thon rim. I plan to hit some hard trails, Moab, Rubicon (Before they close it), Hole in the road. I was looking a a 2.5 inch lift, with a 1" to 1.25" body lift to accomendate the new rim, and tire size.

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Wed Jun 04, 2008 3:16 pm

Renicknow wrote:

I sure this has been brought up in the past, but lets shed some new light on it. I wondering what is the best lift kit for a KJ. Frankenlift, OME, or Rockfather, list goes on. I curious to see what you guys run, and what you think of them. I was looking at the OME, or Rockfather from Rocky-Road Inc. Heres what I hope to achive maybe you guys know the perfect kit for it. I want to run a 33inch to 35 inch Mickey Tompson Baja Claw, on a Allied Rock a Thon rim. I plan to hit some hard trails, Moab, Rubicon (Before they close it), Hole in the road. I was looking a a 2.5 inch lift, with a 1" to 1.25" body lift to accomendate the new rim, and tire size.

You'll never get a 33" tire on a KJ without going at least to a 6" lift(the JBA 6"),then you got some real problems with blowing up the front aluminum D30A front diff and not being able to gear for those tires since 4.10's is the lowest you can go on a KJ,35" tires are totally out unless you do a SFA swap.You can run a 265/75(31.5" tall) tire with the Frankinlift but after you do alot of trimming and pounding to make room for them.And you also can not do a body lift on a KJ since the KJ is a unibody and has no seperate frame and body,it's all one piece.

Renicknow · **Posted:** Wed Jun 04, 2008 3:26 pm

Well, I'm new to this KJ aspect. I was going to replace the front diff with a Dana 44, and the rear with a Dana 44 as well. So, the blowing the diffs wasn't a issue. But, on this note what do you recomend as a well designed trail lift kit? I see you mentioned JBA.

jsc7002 · **Posted:** Wed Jun 04, 2008 3:30 pm

so your are talking about doing a SFA then, your best bet would be to check out the SFA thread, and you can see what parts everyone has used

jsc7002 · **Posted:** Wed Jun 04, 2008 3:31 pm

http://www.lostjeeps.com/forum/phpBB3/viewforum.php?f=73

there are several different builds in there that can help you out

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Wed Jun 04, 2008 3:40 pm

Renicknow wrote:

Well, I'm new to this KJ aspect. I was going to replace the front diff with a Dana 44, and the rear with a Dana 44 as well. So, the blowing the diffs wasn't a issue. But, on this note what do you recomend as a well designed trail lift kit? I see you mentioned JBA.

Yep if your putting D44's F/R any lift for the KJ is no longer useable,start looking at the SFA builds in the SFA section for suspension ideas.

Renicknow · **Posted:** Wed Jun 04, 2008 4:03 pm

Well, thanks a ton. I got a ton of much needed info.

rescu2000 · **Posted:** Wed Jun 04, 2008 4:23 pm

Keep in mind that the 6" lift will run you close to $4k (if you install it yourself). Solid axle swap can run as much as $10k, but has been done for much less. I wold expect to pay at least $2k for the front swap though. No idea what the rear swap costs. Not trying to be negative, just preparing you for the cost. It is worth it for some people. It does make you consider just buying another rig for the trail though.
Rescu2000

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Wed Jun 04, 2008 4:26 pm

rescu2000 wrote:

Keep in mind that the 6" lift will run you close to $4k (if you install it yourself). Solid axle swap can run as much as $10k, but has been done for much less. I wold expect to pay at least $2k for the front swap though. No idea what the rear swap costs. Not trying to be negative, just preparing you for the cost. It is worth it for some people. It does make you consider just buying another rig for the trail though.
Rescu2000

$10,000 for a SFA swap is hard to do,be prepared to spend about $20,000 to do it right with F/R D44's.

Renicknow · **Posted:** Wed Jun 04, 2008 4:28 pm

I have a old ford 150 4x4 with Dana 44 front and back, that I'm going to Ninja.

Renicknow · **Posted:** Wed Jun 04, 2008 4:32 pm

On a flip side to this, would it be cost effective to snatch up a used TJ. You can probally find one with some transferable parts I would imagine? And as far as cost goes, I just want to do it right the first time.

Inc · **Posted:** Wed Jun 04, 2008 5:30 pm

Renicknow wrote:

On a flip side to this, would it be cost effective to snatch up a used TJ. You can probally find one with some transferable parts I would imagine? And as far as cost goes, I just want to do it right the first time.

Your best bet if you are worried about $$ is to buy a TJ, or YJ used and build it up. I saw a used TJ sport with 52,000 miles on it for only $7200. So there are tons of deals out there. With the $$ you'd save from buying a cheaper used TJ you could put that cash back into the jeep and make one sweet trail rig. That being said, if you really want to run 33s or 35s on a KJ, do like tjkj, jsc, and others have said and do a SFA build up. For me, I'd like to run 33s on my kj and swap the IFS for a beefier IFS from a Grand Cherokee. Not cheap either and not easy too I guess. Cost might still be close to the SFA swap.

So I think I will keep my 31s with a Frankenlift and buy a beater TJ to build for real trail abuse. :wink:

JJsTJ · **Posted:** Wed Jun 04, 2008 5:43 pm

Renicknow wrote:

On a flip side to this, would it be cost effective to snatch up a used TJ. You can probally find one with some transferable parts I would imagine? And as far as cost goes, I just want to do it right the first time.

If you gotta have a 4 door Jeep w/ PDL, PW, Hard top, etc. and you have a KJ already, you can build up a nice sfa KJ for about the same cost of building a TJ (depending on what you can get cheap, what labor you can handle yourself and what parts you use). I am happy w/ my decision and though I am still tweaking it in to make it better it is a lot of fun.

(besides, I'm an attention whore and it certainly gets me plenty of that!! :twisted:

)

tommudd · **Posted:** Wed Jun 04, 2008 5:59 pm

rescu2000 wrote:

Keep in mind that the 6" lift will run you close to $4k (if you install it yourself). Solid axle swap can run as much as $10k, but has been done for much less. I wold expect to pay at least $2k for the front swap though. No idea what the rear swap costs. Not trying to be negative, just preparing you for the cost. It is worth it for some people. It does make you consider just buying another rig for the trail though.
Rescu2000

I want to know where you are getting a front SFA done for 2 grand, I want to be next in line!! :lol:

KJ Taz · **Posted:** Wed Jun 04, 2008 6:43 pm

JJsKJ wrote:

Renicknow wrote:

On a flip side to this, would it be cost effective to snatch up a used TJ. You can probally find one with some transferable parts I would imagine? And as far as cost goes, I just want to do it right the first time.

If you gotta have a 4 door Jeep w/ PDL, PW, Hard top, etc. and you have a KJ already, you can build up a nice sfa KJ for about the same cost of building a TJ (depending on what you can get cheap, what labor you can handle yourself and what parts you use). I am happy w/ my decision and though I am still tweaking it in to make it better it is a lot of fun.

(besides, I'm an attention whore and it certainly gets me plenty of that!! :twisted:

)

I guess the main thing that keeps me from doing it is the fact that on a TJ you have a frame and on the KJ you have a unibody. Now keep in mind that I have often thought about upgrading the axles on my rubi then putting the rubi axles under the Libby................but man that could be years down the road.

JJsTJ · **Posted:** Wed Jun 04, 2008 7:25 pm

KJ Taz wrote:

JJsKJ wrote:

Renicknow wrote:

On a flip side to this, would it be cost effective to snatch up a used TJ. You can probally find one with some transferable parts I would imagine? And as far as cost goes, I just want to do it right the first time.

If you gotta have a 4 door Jeep w/ PDL, PW, Hard top, etc. and you have a KJ already, you can build up a nice sfa KJ for about the same cost of building a TJ (depending on what you can get cheap, what labor you can handle yourself and what parts you use). I am happy w/ my decision and though I am still tweaking it in to make it better it is a lot of fun.

(besides, I'm an attention whore and it certainly gets me plenty of that!! :twisted:

)

I guess the main thing that keeps me from doing it is the fact that on a TJ you have a frame and on the KJ you have a unibody. Now keep in mind that I have often thought about upgrading the axles on my rubi then putting the rubi axles under the Libby................but man that could be years down the road.

IMHO it is a non-issue. Plenty of people running around in modded XJ's and ZJ's w/ unibodies and no real problems. Plating the frame will even make it stiffer than a TJ frame.

tommudd · **Posted:** Wed Jun 04, 2008 8:23 pm

Dang it anyways JJsKJ I want to be an attention whore also!!!! :twisted:

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Wed Jun 04, 2008 8:38 pm

tommudd wrote:

Dang it anyways JJsKJ I want to be an attention whore also!!!! :twisted:

KJ Taz · **Posted:** Wed Jun 04, 2008 8:53 pm

JJsKJ wrote:

KJ Taz wrote:

JJsKJ wrote:

Renicknow wrote:

On a flip side to this, would it be cost effective to snatch up a used TJ. You can probally find one with some transferable parts I would imagine? And as far as cost goes, I just want to do it right the first time.

If you gotta have a 4 door Jeep w/ PDL, PW, Hard top, etc. and you have a KJ already, you can build up a nice sfa KJ for about the same cost of building a TJ (depending on what you can get cheap, what labor you can handle yourself and what parts you use). I am happy w/ my decision and though I am still tweaking it in to make it better it is a lot of fun.

(besides, I'm an attention whore and it certainly gets me plenty of that!! :twisted:

)

I guess the main thing that keeps me from doing it is the fact that on a TJ you have a frame and on the KJ you have a unibody. Now keep in mind that I have often thought about upgrading the axles on my rubi then putting the rubi axles under the Libby................but man that could be years down the road.

IMHO it is a non-issue. Plenty of people running around in modded XJ's and ZJ's w/ unibodies and no real problems. Plating the frame will even make it stiffer than a TJ frame.

Probably true although it didn't take long before I started having issues with doors closing etc on my last grand.

rescu2000 · **Posted:** Wed Jun 04, 2008 10:08 pm

And a couple of weekends ago I saw an XJ climb a rock and bust his radiator because his frame twisted enough to get his radiator fan into his radiator...

What is the Ideal Lift kit?

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