Rock Krawler 3.5" lift

mawlkrawler · **Posted:** Mon Oct 17, 2011 9:16 pm

I was thinking about ordering one this week. LIBERTY 3.5 X FACTOR SYSTEM
I know a few people here have put one on. How long did it take you and what was the difficulty of it? I was hoping to find a .pdf with directions for the lift. I understand you have to dissemble the strut assemble. Any tools I should get before ordering besides a ratchet wrenches and a spring compressor? Any info would be helpful. I'd rather gain the experience of doing it myself rather than pay a mechanic to do it for the same cost as the lift. I'm not exactly loaded :roll:

At The Helm · **Posted:** Mon Oct 17, 2011 11:37 pm

Good attitude. You actually dont need to disassemble the strut or even remove it unless you are replacing the front shocks too. Here is how it goes:
If they gave you anything lower than grade 8 (sae) or grade 10.9 (metric), then take your bolts to the hardware store and ask for higher grade replacements. Those bolts take a lot of weight, so better safe then sorry.
Loosen lug nuts (3/4")
Jack up front of vehicle and place on jack stands.
Remove wheels
Place floor jack under lower control arm
Remove lower sway bar link bolt (18mm)
Remove upper ball joint nut (21mm). Be sure the floor jack is still in place.
Take a heavy dead blow hammer and hit the upper part of the knuckle until the ball joint comes loose.
Now loosen the upper clevis bolt (18&21mm). Lower floor jack.
Remove lower clevis bolt (18 & 21mm)
Remove old clevis fork
Carefully install rock krawler fork. Watch the cv boots and brake lines! Your going to have push down on the lca to get them in, but you should be able to do so without stretching the lines.
Everything from here is in reverse of what you already did.
Make sure everything is torqued back to spec.

Rear:
Jack up rear put on stand from frame.
Floor jack under differential to support.
Remove shocks starting with the bottom (15 &18 mm.)
Upper shock bolt comes out (18mm)
Disconnect lower swaybar links (18mm open end wrench)
Carefully lower the axle. Watch the brake lines.
There is an axle breather tube that may pop free! No biggy if it does, just pop it back on after you are done.
The springs basically fall out at this point, now install the spacer pucks. Pretty sure rk puts them on the bottom. If so, take the lower spring isolator out and mate with the top one for a little more lift.
Reinstall everything including the longer rear shocks that you'll def need. Torque to spec.
Get alignment.

At The Helm · **Posted:** Tue Oct 18, 2011 12:29 am

Just noticed you have an 08 though. Have you considered going with old man emu springs and bilsteins? Its not that much more and you'll be happier in the end. I started with the daystar lift at 4k miles and noticed the ride quality and handling suffering at 10k miles! Just switched to the ome/bilstein front setup and wished i just did that to begin with.

mandie7312 · **Posted:** Tue Oct 18, 2011 12:12 pm

Hey im getting my Rock Krawler in soon too and i was wondering how can you tell what grade the bolts are? i dont wanna put the grade 2 ones on and have something brake

At The Helm · **Posted:** Tue Oct 18, 2011 1:11 pm

Markings will be different between metric/sae. Use grade 8 or 10.9
http://www.boltdepot.com/fastener-infor ... Chart.aspx

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Tue Oct 18, 2011 8:14 pm

Yeah you must get all new hardware with any RK lift,they got caught sending grade 2 hardware with alot of there lifts and there is a recall for all there lifts for WK/XK/KJ/KK's ordered by NHTSA.Otherwise they normally send grade 5 bolts but a grade 5 bolt will totally fail when a grade 8 bolt just starts to deform.

remdawg · **Joined:** Fri Nov 12, 2010 2:05 pm **Posts:** 204

Just out of curiosity would I be able to put in an RK lift with my OME lift or would it bring it up too much? I understand that JBA sells longer brake lines and a track bar to help out on taller lifts but would it be pushing it too much? Would I definitely need those things if it was even possible?

mawlkrawler · **Posted:** Tue Oct 18, 2011 10:54 pm

Atthehelm wrote:

Just noticed you have an 08 though. Have you considered going with old man emu springs and bilsteins? Its not that much more and you'll be happier in the end. I started with the daystar lift at 4k miles and noticed the ride quality and handling suffering at 10k miles! Just switched to the ome/bilstein front setup and wished i just did that to begin with.

Wont that add another like $400 to the lift? The bilstein shocks are $90 a peice. Even If I just replace the front 2 shocks and springs thats ~$400 right there :\

At The Helm · **Posted:** Tue Oct 18, 2011 11:31 pm

4 springs= 320
4 bilsteins= 340
Ome/bilstein lift---$680

Rk lift=300
Longer rear shocks (assuming bilstein)160
New bolts-25
Total----$485

$195 difference

With either of these lifts you'll need longer bumpstops and an alignment.

tommudd · **Posted:** Tue Oct 18, 2011 11:55 pm

Plus with a full spring lift you are upgrading the suspension so right and handling will be WAY better than stock or with some cheap spacer type lift
You paid good money for the KK, why cheap out on suspension :shock:

tommudd · **Posted:** Tue Oct 18, 2011 11:56 pm

remdawg wrote:

Just out of curiosity would I be able to put in an RK lift with my OME lift or would it bring it up too much? I understand that JBA sells longer brake lines and a track bar to help out on taller lifts but would it be pushing it too much? Would I definitely need those things if it was even possible?

No don't try to mix the two

mawlkrawler · **Posted:** Wed Oct 19, 2011 10:09 am

I completely agree that the shock lift would be better, and I wish I could do it right now, but I gotta replace my tires before the winter, and I was gonna stick 285 75 r16 duratracs on it. So I figured I could dish out the $300 to lift it 3.5" in order to put the tires on it. But I still gotta pay ~$700 for the tires. I figured I can manage with the RK lift for a while and sometime down the road upgrade to a full suspension lift. Especially when I get skids. What is the purpose of the longer springs in the rear? RK's site said the same thing. Are the OEM springs too short? Basically what I was concerned with was out of the RK 3.5" lift box, no springs, can I fit the duratracs on?

At The Helm · **Posted:** Wed Oct 19, 2011 12:19 pm

mawlkrawler wrote:

I completely agree that the shock lift would be better, and I wish I could do it right now, but I gotta replace my tires before the winter, and I was gonna stick 285 75 r16 duratracs on it. So I figured I could dish out the $300 to lift it 3.5" in order to put the tires on it. But I still gotta pay ~$700 for the tires. I figured I can manage with the RK lift for a while and sometime down the road upgrade to a full suspension lift. Especially when I get skids. What is the purpose of the longer springs in the rear? RK's site said the same thing. Are the OEM springs too short? Basically what I was concerned with was out of the RK 3.5" lift box, no springs, can I fit the duratracs on?

285/75/16s are waaaay to big. You can run 245/75/16 after lifting. It sounds like you are getting springs and shocks mixed up. You need longer rear shocks in the rear with any lift. Your stock shocks will max out and fail if you even hit a speed bump too fast.

mawlkrawler · **Posted:** Wed Oct 19, 2011 2:05 pm

IDk y I keep putting 285, r the 245 75 16's 31"? Thats wut I meant to post. So will I be ok if I order the RK lift and these? http://jeepinbyal.com/prod-OME_Rear_Shock-722.aspx

In other words...

RK lift + OME 2" rear shocks + 245 75 16 Duratracs = Success? :dizzy:

I don't want my booty end to end up on the ground cause my shocks fail lol

I came to terms with the fact that I'm going to replace the RK lift eventually with a full spring lift eventually, but for right now is that setup ok?

At The Helm · **Posted:** Wed Oct 19, 2011 6:36 pm

That shock is for a wk grand cherokee. You drive a KK.

mawlkrawler · **Posted:** Thu Oct 20, 2011 8:18 pm

Toche, will 2 rear OME 927's work with teh RK lift to prevent the shocks from failing from a speedbump?

Also I find it weird that if I lift my KK 3.5" higher, I can only put tires on that are 1.8" bigger. unless my math is wrong?

225 75 R16
225 / 25.4 = 8.85826772
8.85800 x .75 = 6.6435
6.6435 x 2 = 13.28700
13.28700 + 16 = 29.28700"
-------------------------------
245 75 R16
245 / 25.4 = 9.64566929
9.64566929 x .75 = 7.23425197
7.23425197 x 2 = 14.4685039
14.4685039 + 16 = 30.4685039"
----------------------------
30.4685039" - 29.28700" = 1.1815039" difference

At The Helm · **Posted:** Thu Oct 20, 2011 8:52 pm

927s are for the front. 731s are rear. And no don't combine the two lifts.

At The Helm · **Posted:** Thu Oct 20, 2011 8:55 pm

Its regearing that is the main problem. Also the rk is around 2" actual lift.

mawlkrawler · **Posted:** Thu Oct 20, 2011 9:07 pm

I'm so lost lol what OME shocks should I put on the rear when I put my RK lift on? and oh the 2" makes more sense now

cgass · **Posted:** Thu Oct 20, 2011 9:11 pm

mawlkrawler wrote:

I'm so lost lol what OME shocks should I put on the rear when I put my RK lift on? and oh the 2" makes more sense now

http://www.arbusa.com/uploads/PDF/acces ... ertyKK.pdf

Rock Krawler 3.5" lift

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