Not sure. It’s a 98 with 130k I’m sure they aren’t as tall as they once were. But no egregious sagging.
Spacer lift pros and cons
- Thread starter RyanMkTJ
- Start date
This makes more sense. That was what I was thinking would be the benefit. Thanks for the input.
I don't know about on the TJ, but on my JT I have 1 inch spacers in the front to level the rake some, and I hate them. Yeah it levels, but they are noisy... they clunk a little when the spring unloads when offroad. As soon as I find the correct springs to eliminate them, they'll be gone... and TJ will only get a spring lift
That good to know. I’ll keep that in mind. If I notice a lot of front end noise I’ll pull them. I plan on keeping all of the stock parts in case I don’t like the new spacers and struts.
Another thing to ask, is why are you wanting to lift? are you rubbing your tires on the body? Getting into obstacles that are getting close to contact your body?
You implied that you are staying with your current tire size, so if both those questions are answered with no, then there really isn't a point to a lift. You will not effectively change your ground clearance until you increase the size of the tires... I am running 31's on my TJ with stock suspension, and will only lift when I go with a larger tire.
You implied that you are staying with your current tire size, so if both those questions are answered with no, then there really isn't a point to a lift. You will not effectively change your ground clearance until you increase the size of the tires... I am running 31's on my TJ with stock suspension, and will only lift when I go with a larger tire.
I am wanting more body clearance when going over rocks specifically. I’m not increasing my tire size because I’m running the 2.5L and I don’t want to move to a 33. I feel that I could use more clearance on trails. I know that my axels won’t be affected by a lift but my frame will have better clearance.
Put the spacers in. They are dirt cheap and you'll get to see for yourself if you like them or not.
The advice against spacers is legitimate, and from peoples experience in meeting their goals. The advice in favor of spacers is from people that don't have the same goals.
If you aren't planning bigger tires
If you aren't planning a bigger build
If you just want to hit some backroads and rocky trails without scrapping as much
I don't see the harm in the spacers of a reasonable height (.75 - 1.5" range). Just needs to be clear that spacers are not a suspension upgrade - they are just re-arranging your existing suspension a bit. You will not gain any shock travel or articulation - just some frame clearance from the ground. And you are sacrificing down travel on the shock in favor of ride height.
Fantastic summation of what I’m looking for and your advice. Thanks for a really helpful comment.
At ride height, you have a certain amount of shock shaft showing - that's your uptravel. What's left inside the shock body is your downtravel. A lot of stock shocks have about 7.5-8" of total travel, and split roughly 50/50. You want this split roughly 50/50, or at least try to have close to 4" on each end so you can absorb bumps on the road or trail without bottoming out (uptravel) or dropping your axle against the full length of the shock (downtravel).
If you raise your ride height by 1.5", you take 1.5" of shaft out of the can and have 1.5" less downtravel. When you use up all your downtravel driving over a hole or a rut, the chassis tries to yank the axle off the ground, or the axle tries to yank the chassis down into the hole. It feels just as rough and is just as annoying as bottoming out.
You want to select a new shock with travel split roughly 50/50 at your new ride height.
Thanks for the explanation. That make sense to me. It sounds like I’ll be sacrificing articulation and suspension travel to only gain height. At least I know what I’ll be getting in to. Maybe I’ll wheel it for a while and want to return to the stock setup or add new shock and do a full suspension lift.
Have you thought about doing a 1-1.25" BL? This won't affect factory travel, will raise body height, and makes potential future upgrades (such as a tummy tuck) possible.
I’m not familiar with what is needed to do a tummy tuck. A BL still won’t raise my frame or any components so I’m not sure that’s the avenue that will benefit me off-road.
Ahh, well you originally said this:
so that's why I mentioned it
A tummy tuck physically raises the belly plan (aka transmission crossmember, aka t-case skid, aka the big shovel at the bottom of your Jeep). In my wheeling adventures, particularly in a TJ, the belly drags and gets caught up on lots of things long before the frame rails or body does.
Doing a tummy tuck with any of the common methods (e.g. https://undercoverfab.com/55-ultra-high-clearance-skids) allows for increased belly pan clearance without increased lift. Doing this however does require (usually) a body lift so as to give the t-case some room under the tub. There are replacement skids that give increased clearance without a body lift, but the low cost and other benefits - such as the ability to do a MML, or motor-mount lift, or ability to run a higher clearance GTS (gas tank skid) - makes it a smart choice for even those with suspension lifts.
a body lift, adjustable rear control arms, a slip yoke eliminator and CV driveshaft, a track bar relocation bracket, a new transfer case skid plate, and some very minor cutting and welding on the exhaust mount that's part of the transmission mount. It sounds like a big deal until you've done most of what's required for other reasons and then the last thing you need is the body lift and the skid.
It's a common misconception that the purpose of a lift is ground clearance. The purpose of a lift is to get more tire clearance and articulation. The tire clearance lets you run bigger tires, which gets you more ground clearance. You've already got the bigger tires, now you need the tire clearance to get the articulation back (assuming your 31s are making contact at full flex). A BL does that, while keeping a lower center of gravity which isn't a bad thing.
Noting of course that with the body lift, none of these are required until he actually wants to do the tummy tuck
(don't want to scare him off!) The BL allows future mods (if needed or warranted) while giving the already mentioned increased clearance for larger tires and wheel travel.I will admit I reas that upgrade lift and thought it sounded expensive.Noting of course that with the body lift, none of these are required until he actually wants to do the tummy tuck
A good (non-squishy) body lift is less expensive than spacers and shocks. And if you still insist on keeping the stock length shocks, you won't screw up the travel bias with the body lift the way you will with spacers.
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