Rough Country Lift

minimoto139 · **Posted:** Fri Aug 21, 2009 1:01 am

Hey, I'm new to forums in general, but i'm lifting the ol' KJ and just wondering if anyone has ever used or know someone who has used the Rough Country lift. I have a chance to get one for $150 and am wondering if its worth it. Thanks

tommudd · **Posted:** Fri Aug 21, 2009 8:43 am

I will not start an argument on this but even at 150 its a waste of money in the long run. LOTS of posts about various lifts on here, there is even a dedicated thread about the different ones, read through them and then we'll talk :wink:

minimoto139 · **Posted:** Fri Aug 21, 2009 10:49 am

Sorry Tommudd. I don't want to start out on the wrong foot here in the forum. The fact of the matter is that I have spent several hours off and on over the last few weeks reading up on various lifts in this forum. I may have overlooked it, but I don't believe I've found any reviews or anything concerning the Rough Country lift specifically. I realize it is not the OME or the Frankelift II, and I completely agree with the general consensus of this forum regarding spacer-type lifts. While I would love to drop 800 or even 1200 bucks on a lift, the problem is that I have a pretty tight budget right now. It is my wife's daily driver and I would like just a little more aggressive look and more capability for it as I do like to take the family up the mountain on some weekends. The reason I have been exploring this one is because it does come with new rear springs, and the spacers up front are different than any I've seen. Its actually a clevis spacer. I thought this might be easier on my front springs for the time being because it doesn't compress my already tired springs any more than they are now. Anyway, I was just hoping for some input from anyone with experience with this specific lift. Thanks for responding so quickly. Hope I didn't annoy anyone my first time through.

JeepBumm68 · **Posted:** Fri Aug 21, 2009 10:52 am

If your looking for a quick lift that is cheap and well work for a good two years or so then go with it. But if you want to spend more money and get a lift that well last for 2+ years go with the OME. I personally think the Frankies are a waste of money. I would just get the OME get your tires, armor, and wheel the piss out of it. Then when you want to go bigger SFA it.

jsc7002 · **Posted:** Fri Aug 21, 2009 11:53 am

you can make it work but you can do a OME lift for about $650 shipped to you. IMHO its best to wait and save and do it right the first time.

minimoto139 · **Posted:** Fri Aug 21, 2009 12:16 pm

Good call...I may just wait a while. Anyone heard anything about or have experience with lifts from Rocky Road Outfitters in Utah? I've seen other products that are pretty sweet from them, but I haven't heard much about their lifts besides what they say on their website.

jsc7002 · **Posted:** Fri Aug 21, 2009 12:24 pm

Their customer service is sometimes good and sometimes bad, what are you looking at from them? I would get a lift from them, you can get the daystar spacer lift cheaper and their coil lift just uses longer coils with the same spring rate as your stock coils so it will sage and cant support a bumper or winch OME has a higher spring rating to support bumpers and winch. As for their rock rails I like them they are strong and if they are on sale they can be pretty cheap.

tommudd · **Posted:** Fri Aug 21, 2009 12:46 pm

First what year do you have?

If its an older one with over 30,000 miles then the springs have already settled some and the shocks are weak, with any type of spacer lift it will make them sag faster. When you do any type of suspension work you should look at it as an upgrade. Any spacer may work but in the end you will more than likely replace it since the ride has went south.

Better really to save up and do it once and do it right. Lots of people on here have went the cheap route and later stated that they never knew how well it could ride until after they replaced the springs and shocks.

Its your money of course all we can do is make suggestions as to what we have seen and done.

I waited and bought my parts over a two month period back in early 05, since then over 95,000 lifted miles and not one problem.

minimoto139 · **Posted:** Fri Aug 21, 2009 12:48 pm

Thanks for the input everybody. I'll post some a picture or two once I get it all installed. I found some brand new Super Sliders from Rocky Road for $200. I think I'm going to nab them.

tonycrd · **Posted:** Fri Aug 21, 2009 6:30 pm

wow minimoto, don't let 'ol Tom get to you, he's just a bit tired of typing the same thing for the 10 zillionth time.

No need to make excuses, we were all ( except for Tom!

) noobs on KJ lifting at some point in time.

$150 for the Rough Country is pretty cheap...

But..there are one or two downsides on this lift:

Your UCA's (upper control arms) will bang on the spacers. You can fix that by adding JBA UCA's..but those will cost ya $280+shipping for the Gen 3.5..

http://jeepinbyal.com/cat-Als_A_arms-3.aspx

The spacer has no lock bolt so it just 'sits' there, worst case scenario is a front shock starting to 'move' inside the spacer. You really want your family driving around with that?

You MUST fit extended terraflex bumpstops to avoid the front shocks from bottoming out.

And that's all I have to say about that. :wink:

If you have a couple of minutes:

http://www.lostjeeps.com/forum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=44037

ObiHann · **Posted:** Fri Aug 21, 2009 7:29 pm

or you could be like me lol. I ended up spending my first year on the boards asking the same dang quesiton over and over again, should I go bds, should I go daystar, should I go etc. At the end I still don't have a lift, I realized cheap is bad, in the long run, I realized that if I want it good, I have to go with OME/Franky. Now, I've talked to a lot of folks on here about BDS, and they all say the same, good for the price, but if they could do it again, would of gone Franky. I'm waiting till I get the cash, and waiting till I get the nerve to buy, and I still don't know what to buy yet. Just listen to the folks here, they know there crap. Stay away from the cheap lifts though, people here hate them because they don't want to listen to more questions and horror stories about them. They all break eventually it seems.

Good luck!

Murphyman · **Posted:** Fri Aug 21, 2009 9:13 pm

For $150, that wouldn't be bad. Just keep the rear springs and shocks it comes with it, then get rid of the other stuff. Then get the front springs and front shocks. Of course, I don't know the spring ratings for the RC springs. Hopefully it's better than OEM/Rusty's.

tumanator · **Posted:** Sun Aug 23, 2009 12:44 am

my .02

I have the frankenlift and I absolutely love it. I just got back from my first "serious" off road with it, and mind you I still have crappy tires. The suspension lifts do what I personally call "tires on target," meaning when your bouncing over rocks or over/ through mud the newer stronger springs and shocks keep the tires on the road (instead of the vehicle bouncing). Obviously when your tires maintain contact with the road over obstacles that improves your traction in difficult terrain. Spacer lifts with weaker springs will give you the height, but not the articulation or "tire on target" most full suspension upgrades will give you.

minimoto139 · **Posted:** Mon Aug 24, 2009 12:47 pm

Thanks everybody. You've saved me a lot of headache.

ohv_kj · **Posted:** Tue Aug 25, 2009 11:09 am

i went w/ the RC lift, but i did get some other items as well... new stock replacment struts, JBA uppers, and a small spacer in the rear... it was fine... better yet i was able to run 32" tires w/ some clearencing

minimoto139 · **Posted:** Tue Jun 15, 2010 5:40 pm

Well, to update my post from a year ago, I went ahead and got the Rough Country lift because it was cheap. I like the billet aluminum spacers up front (which do come with tightening nuts, they're just on the back in all the pictures) that fit into the clevis fork instead of making me take the strut apart. The only beef I have with the lift as a whole is how soft the rear springs are. The front spacers lifted me about 3.75 inches from where I was at, and the rear only lifted about 2.25 inches with a full tank of gas and my spare tire on the back. Needless to say, its annoying. I have some 4" coils coming from jeepinbyal.com and I'm hoping they will support the extra weight. Soon to come are some UCA's from jeepinbyal or rusty's off road (I haven't decided yet). All in all, I think it has been a pretty good lift so far, no noise except for my struts contacting the frame from the shorter UCA's. Hopefully this post helps someone in their future decisions on lifts.

STINGN · **Posted:** Tue Jun 15, 2010 5:46 pm

rise from the dead. lol. post some picture up here.

Rough Country Lift

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