At 123,000 miles, the CRD's suspension is more shot than I'm willing to deal with for much longer. Having to replace that is a good excuse to lift it a bit, as well as to take care of some maintenance items that make sense to do while I'm in there.
This vehicle is 97% daily driver, 3% tow vehicle and light-to-moderate trail runner. The main goal is a little more underbody clearance without compromising on-road manners. To that end, here's what's been ordered so far:
- OME 1.5" lift, HD springs at both ends, long-travel shocks in the rear
- JBA lifted KJ upper A-arms
- Moog strut mounts
- Moog greasable lower ball joints
- Moog inner & outer tie rod ends (outers also greasable)
- Raybestos R300 brake discs
- Raybestos semi-metallic brake pads
I've used OME suspension before on XJs and really like it. I'm willing to trade off some ride quality for the added load capacity of the HD springs - they're mainly wanted for towing and cargo hauling, but figured I may as well do both ends in case I ever picked up a bumper and / or winch.
Anyway, I'm torn between two choices on the rear UCAs. Choice #1 is the Iron Rock Offroad
Short WJ Adjustable A-arm and WWDiesel's mounting bracket. Choice #2 is JBA's
KJ Tri-Angulated 4-Link.
There is a significant price difference between the two. However, this is a case where I'm willing to spend the money if, in the longer term, it makes sense to do so.
What I'm mainly interested in is hearing from anyone with the 4-link installed as to how road manners (particularly when towing) are. While it should improve articulation over the boomerang setup that the stock UCA uses, this one is going to mainly stay a DD and not be pushed hard in the dirt, so I'm not sure that I'll see much of a benefit from it. That said, if it works better for towing, I'm more likely to be talked into it.
Also, are the rear lower control arms likely to need replacement at 1.5"? I doubt it, but since the bushings are shot on the current set I'm going to have to figure something out on those as well.
I'm looking to pull the trigger on the rear control arms either tomorrow or Monday at the latest so that everything arrives next week, so any ideas between now and then would be extremely helpful.