Lift and tires?? please help

seandon · **Joined:** Fri Sep 23, 2011 4:37 am **Posts:** 12

Hello all, this is my first time posting to the site as i am sort of a noob with the whole forum thing and im hoping to get some help! I recently bought a 2011 liberty and it just looks too... stock, for my taste (used to whip a 97 wrangler 3 inch suspension lift with 33's onit... miss it

but i needed something newer). I want to lift it, and get some nice meaty tires. not sure about a body or suspension lift, but i saw the Rock Krawler 3.5 Inch X Factor System Lift, i cant tell if its a body or suspension lift, call me stupid but whatever. what caught my eye was the price and and the amount of lift, usually in this price range i saw at most 2" lift budget boosters (is this a budget booster??). anybody know if shock replacements are recommended with this? if so, any suggestions on shocks and sizes? also, if anybody has pictures of their kk's with one of these x factor lifts on it posting would be greatly appreciated!

-any other recommendations on lifts are welcome, i just wanted to fit some 265/70R16 mickey thompson tires on there while keeping the price down.

thanks for reading!

tommudd · **Posted:** Fri Sep 23, 2011 8:18 am

Can't do a body lift
look underneath

Cheap priced lift is a cheap lift
may work for a while but in the end most swap over to a full spring lift
much better ride, handling, last longer and overall worth the money in doing it right
Plus to run that size tire you want a good lift
Look at the various posts on here of what people are using when it comes to a full coil lift
Personally I would not install a Rock Krawler on my neighbors kids little red wagon you get what you pay for and then also advertised lift and what you get are not always the same

seandon · **Joined:** Fri Sep 23, 2011 4:37 am **Posts:** 12

most of the people that have posted about RK lift seemed to like them, people say the ride is very close to stock handling and i dont do very much off-roading anymore as i am up at school and its hard to find the time. also I dont have serious money for a full spring lift and the only ones i have found are JBA and RRO and both are really expensive and although RRO has a cheaper option apparently service sucks with RRO... but thanks for the "advice". if you know of any full spring lifts that arent 1200 let me know, but otherwise id prefer advice on the RK, daystar or any other spacing kits. any preferences? thanks..

cgass · **Posted:** Fri Sep 23, 2011 6:24 pm

You can do an OME lift, JBA sells a kit for $750 +shipping. Take a look at jdizzle's set up

At The Helm · **Posted:** Fri Sep 23, 2011 6:57 pm

If the parts are ordered separately, you could do:
Old man emu 927s/731s @ JBA- $320 + shipping ~$40
Front bilsteins @ shock warehouse- 182 free shipping
Rear skyjacker Nitro ~$90
front bumpstops $50 shipped
Rear bumpstops- hockey pucks $?

= about $680 shipped for everything plus alignment.

Note: you still need to buy longer rear shocks and front extended bumpstops with all kits mentioned above. Even with hollow spacers in the rear (daystar), in my opinion, need to be filled in, kind of like extra bumpstops.

At The Helm · **Posted:** Fri Sep 23, 2011 7:03 pm

Another note: as you can see in my sig i am running the daystar kit. I will be changing out of it sometime soon because i want a better ride. If you go with a spacer kit you may end up doing it twice like me

seandon · **Joined:** Fri Sep 23, 2011 4:37 am **Posts:** 12

Atthehelm wrote:

Another note: as you can see in my sig i am running the daystar kit. I will be changing out of it sometime soon because i want a better ride. If you go with a spacer kit you may end up doing it twice like me

how does the ride suffer from a spacer kit?

tommudd · **Posted:** Fri Sep 23, 2011 11:30 pm

Using stock weak springs and shocks for one
If you use a real lift ( full spring) ride is 100 times better
plus like a few have already said, you end up doing it twice and lots more money than if you would just do it right the first time
best to save up and buy the full spring
If you look at it, you have to replace the rear shocks anyways, fronts should be upgraded, so then add the price of the "spacer kit" and you almost have the purchase price of a full spring
Old Swahili saying "Bure aghali" translates to cheap is expensive

and thats my "advice" after over 20 KJ lifts and playing with 4WDs for over 35 years take it or leave it :wink:

seandon · **Joined:** Fri Sep 23, 2011 4:37 am **Posts:** 12

tommudd wrote:

and thats my "advice" after over 20 KJ lifts and playing with 4WDs for over 35 years take it or leave it :wink:

haha why thank you for your advice, i think i will buy springs and shocks instead of the RK kit. now im just wondering what parts i would need to buy to build a complete lift from scratch... would i only have to buy 2 sets of shocks and springs?? and if so should i buy larger springs and shocks for the front to level out the stance?

At The Helm · **Posted:** Sat Sep 24, 2011 2:02 am

seandon wrote:

now im just wondering what parts i would need to buy to build a complete lift from scratch... would i only have to buy 2 sets of shocks and springs?

Thought i already listed it
You need 2 front springs (ome 927)
2 rear springs (ome 731)
2 front shocks- stock length but upgraded (bilstein part # F4-BE5-D916-H0)- shock warehouse.
2 longer rear shocks (cheapest ones being skyjacker n088)
2 front terraflex bumpstops (jeepinbyal.com)
Hockey puck rear bumpstops.

seandon · **Joined:** Fri Sep 23, 2011 4:37 am **Posts:** 12

now when you say hockey puck bumpstops is that a brand?? or are you suggesting i put actual hockey pucks?

At The Helm · **Posted:** Sat Sep 24, 2011 3:55 pm

Actual hockey pucks. 2 per side, drill a hole through both of them and the lower spring perch and bolt them down. Just use the search tool and you should be able to find a write up somewhere.

seandon · **Joined:** Fri Sep 23, 2011 4:37 am **Posts:** 12

how much of a lift would that give me?

black and blue · **Posted:** Mon Sep 26, 2011 4:45 pm

so, although the OME-N132L are longer than the stock rear shocks, it sounds like they also compress to a shorter length than the stock shocks for greater "travel"...

it does not make this distinction for the KK, but in the ARB selection guide for the KJ it says to use the OME-N132 and to not use bump stops, but is it safe to assume that the shorter N132 allows for a safe full spring compression without stacking, but it does not allow the springs to achieve full extension? it does mention that if you use the N132L that you should use bump stops

tommudd · **Posted:** Mon Sep 26, 2011 8:37 pm

As mentioned several times the 132s are stock length shocks, they are not long enough to run on a lifted KJ or KK
The 132Ls are 2.5 inches longer

black and blue · **Posted:** Mon Sep 26, 2011 9:35 pm

no need to get hasty Tommudd, I'm just trying to understand how the shocks work in conjunction with the bump stops

I'm obviously no expert, but I've done a good amount of research, and Ive looked at many peoples setups. I've seen a handful of people that have run the 132s on a lifted KJ, and ARB even recommends it.

i think this post shows a good reason not the run the short ones: http://www.jeepkj.com/forum/showpost.ph ... ostcount=7

At The Helm · **Posted:** Mon Sep 26, 2011 11:31 pm

black and blue wrote:

no need to get hasty Tommudd, I'm just trying to understand how the shocks work in conjunction with the bump stops. The bumpstops keep your larger tires from rubbing and prevent the springs from over compression.

I'm obviously no expert, but I've done a good amount of research, and Ive looked at many peoples setups. I've seen a handful of people that have run the 132s on a lifted KJ, and ARB even recommends it. I can't picture ARB recommending it if the 132s are at stock length. If you even go over a speed bump too fast, let alone full flex, the stock length shocks will def max out.

i think this post shows a good reason not the run the short ones: http://www.jeepkj.com/forum/showpost.ph ... ostcount=7

tommudd · **Posted:** Tue Sep 27, 2011 8:06 am

black and blue wrote:

no need to get hasty Tommudd, I'm just trying to understand how the shocks work in conjunction with the bump stops

I'm obviously no expert, but I've done a good amount of research, and Ive looked at many peoples setups. I've seen a handful of people that have run the 132s on a lifted KJ, and ARB even recommends it.

i think this post shows a good reason not the run the short ones: http://www.jeepkj.com/forum/showpost.ph ... ostcount=7

hasty?
Just saying is all jeez
ARB recommends the 132s on KJ as well but as many found out they are too short so thats why AllJs had them start making the 132Ls
I just state facts is all there is nothing HASTY in my remarks just been there done that several times now on KJs

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

I had originally bought the N132L shocks with my OME lift that I ordered a couple weeks ago. Marlin, however, was out of stock (backordered for 2 months), and advised me that if I was just doing the OME lift I would only need the N132 (which is what ARB recommends).

Am I going to be in trouble with this set-up? I had mentioned the thought of adding spacers as well later down the road and he had said the N132L would only be able to support an additional 1.125" compared to the N132's (ex: if I were to add a terraflex/daystar/(any) budget boost onto the OME set-up , it would be too long for the N132L's). Basically the only thing it would support extra would be something smaller (boilers front shims/clevis lift).

tommudd · **Posted:** Tue Sep 27, 2011 10:46 am

Now you're talking about front and rear mixing them up. 132s / 132Ls are for the rear
Front you have no choice really on shock length
and JBA has great top plates and cheaper

Lift and tires?? please help

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