Question regarding expected issues with a 4.5 inch lift

d-cannon

d-cannon

Reformed JKUR, FJ40 80 100, 4Rnr, and Bronco owner
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Hello all:

I have ordered a 4.5” RE lift and 33s. I understand the gearing and axle shaft recommendations. I also understand that RE is not everyone’s favorite brand, but the price is right for me and the relatively tame trails in the Mid-Atlantic area.

My question is what other issues should I expect and address with such a lift… Vibrations, wear on other components, etc? I have an 04, 5-spd Rubicon that is currently stock. I was not planning a BL at this time. I will be getting upgraded axle shafts and driveshafts installed with the lift.
 
If you ordered RE's long-arm kit, I installed one years ago onto my last TJ and it was a bad decision. Plus their 4.5" is more like 5.5" in reality. Personally I'd put my $$$ into a different brand of lift.
 
You have a SYE kit and DC driveshaft on your list right? A good source for those is Tom Wood's custom driveshafts at www.4xshaft.com

P.S. I ran their Monotube shocks and they were terrible with even more terrible offroad control. I had to slow WAY WAY down on bumpy desert roads that I could haul-ass on with my Rancho RS5000x shocks. Their Monotubes road well on the street but they were terrible offroad.
 
my personal experience with Rubicon Express is , their springs yielded a higher lift than advertised. The 4.5" springs netted almost 6"
in my moderately heavy TJ that was equipted with jeeperman bumpers with a tire carrier and a winch. I rebuilt the flex joints quite a bit, and the rubber bushings were not of the best quality. Mine saw mainly light trails and daily driving.
You do what you can within your budget.
You will need a cv rear driveshaft and your going to probably want to do gears when the budget allows.
 
Jerry Bransford said:
You have a SYE kit and DC driveshaft on your list right? A good source for those is Tom Wood's custom driveshafts at www.4xshaft.com

P.S. I ran their Monotube shocks and they were terrible with even more terrible offroad control. I had to slow WAY WAY down on bumpy desert roads that I could haul-ass on with my Rancho RS5000x shocks. Their Monotubes road well on the street but they were terrible offroad.
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I definitely will have front and rear TWs to go on with the lift. Regarding the SYE, I didn’t think that applied in a Rubicon.

I am more concerned that I don’t know about angles of the drivetrain or other components that might have to be compensated for due to the lift.
 
d-cannon said:
I definitely will have front and rear TWs to go on with the lift. Regarding the SYE, I didn’t think that applied in a Rubicon.

I am more concerned that I don’t know about angles of the drivetrain or other components that might have to be compensated for due to the lift.
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You're right, no SYE needed for Rubicon, you just need a double cardan shaft of the correct length.

Are the control arms adjustable? I wouldn't spend money on upgraded control arms if they're fixed length. You'll need the adjustability to set your pinion angles and avoid driveline vibration.
 
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freedom_in_4low said:
You're right, no SYE needed for Rubicon, you just need a double cardan shaft of the correct length.

Are the control arms adjustable? I wouldn't spend money on upgraded control arms if they're fixed length. You'll need the adjustability to set your pinion angles and avoid driveline vibration.
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Exactly, and I did miss that it is a Rubicon.
 
freedom_in_4low said:
Are the control arms adjustable? I wouldn't spend money on upgraded control arms if they're fixed length. You'll need the adjustability to set your pinion angles and avoid driveline vibration.
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According to the description:
  • Adjustable upper control arms and fixed lower control arms with serviceable Super-Flex spherical ball joint
 
You could've saved a lot of money by going with a Zone 4.25" combo lift with Rancho RS5000X shocks. It would ride better and have less issues IMO.
 
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Update: I canceled the RE kit and placed an order with Dirk at DPG for one of his OME long travel kits. 2.5” suspension and 1.25” body lift. It has Core T3 CAs.
The flex on the TJs on his website running this set up looks pretty good! I’m looking forward to running that set up with the 33” KO2s already mounted and waiting in my garage.

https://dpgoffroad.com/product/old-man-emu-super-ultimate-tj-lj-wrangler-kit/
 
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@d-cannon

A little behind on this but one thing to keep note of with the DPG OME kits if you get the long travel shocks is that they are set to maintain factory up travel and their extra travel is added to the down travel. So they wont give an even 50/50 split, just for awareness. The standard travel shocks give closer to a 50/50 split.
 
imahnu17 said:
@d-cannon

A little behind on this but one thing to keep note of with the DPG OME kits if you get the long travel shocks is that they are set to maintain factory up travel and their extra travel is added to the down travel. So they wont give an even 50/50 split, just for awareness. The standard travel shocks give closer to a 50/50 split.
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I appreciate that info. I’m still learning, so what are the implications of having more down travel than up travel?
 
Only implications is making sure your brake lines are long enough, the kit will come with them if you got the long travel shocks. Stuff like that.

The recommended shock travel is to split 50/50. So if the front shocks travel 11” then ideally you’d want 5.5” up and 5.5” down. The important thing is that you don’t have extreme bias like 2” up and 9” down.

Also in my experience once you get passed a certain amount of down travel your traction on that tire starts to decrease since there is very little weight pushing that tire in the ground. It’ll be better than a tire off the ground for stability but as far as traction goes it won’t be too much better.

I don’t think it’s reason enough to not get the kit or anything, just something to be aware of. At the very least you should maintain factory up travel with that kit, which is already better than some lifted jeeps out there.

Extreme down travel looks cool but that’s about it. Uptravel will in my opinion always be beneficial (excluding real extreme examples). Up travel will help keep your Jeep level when crawling over an obstacle as it allows your tire to move up higher before it starts pushing the body of your Jeep upwards.

Hope that helps!
 
d-cannon said:
I appreciate that info. I’m still learning, so what are the implications of having more down travel than up travel?
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There's a lot of kits and even custom builds marketed as "low center of gravity" claiming big travel numbers and good stability but they have like 3" of uptravel. Not only does that ride like crap on the road but there's a good argument that it impairs offroad stability because if you think about putting one tire up on a rock, that corner of the rig is gonna be bottomed out and leaning the rig over more than it would have if that corner could stuff 6".

As long as you've got at least 4" you'll be fine.
 
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freedom_in_4low said:
You're right, no SYE needed for Rubicon, you just need a double cardan shaft of the correct length.

Are the control arms adjustable? I wouldn't spend money on upgraded control arms if they're fixed length. You'll need the adjustability to set your pinion angles and avoid driveline vibration.
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I have a Rubicon 06 with the 4.5 RE lift, I got the upper adustable control arms to correct the pinion angle and it still have a bit of vibration at 20-30 miles per hour... I haven't installed the DC driveshaft, would that be the reason for the vibration? would a MML could help with the vibration problem?
 
Do you have a TT? Swapping the DC driveshaft could help but the mml should help for sure. How’d you adjust the pinion angle?
 
Don Bulee said:
I have a Rubicon 06 with the 4.5 RE lift, I got the upper adustable control arms to correct the pinion angle and it still have a bit of vibration at 20-30 miles per hour... I haven't installed the DC driveshaft, would that be the reason for the vibration? would a MML could help with the vibration problem?
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Yes, I would expect vibes with that much lift and the stock shaft.
 
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