Rookie Jeep dude with rookie questions

Your front sway bar links are adjusted waaay too short 😁

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Wish I saw this before I went wheeling with Hosejockey two years ago


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This is the result of running it at 0*
 
You'll need an alignment, but that's it for changing out that piece.

Not to rag on you but in the time since you last asked questions and now you could've done a good amount of work or at least research. Going down in lift is much easier than going up. You'll just have to remove/replace the parts we told you about, and then from there it's just adjustments. Pinion angle is fairly easy, but can be tedious. Track bars will need to be adjusted too to center the axle, and then the alignment like I mentioned. I agree with @tnjeepguy, take it slow and check marketplace constantly if you want parts for cheap (it's how I've built my rig so far). Everybody in here I'm sure has multiple stories of rushing through an upgrade/buying what the first guy told them and regretting it. At this point all I can recommend is to just start tearing into it and try and understand what you're doing as you do, it's the best way to learn.

Yeah, I've done absolutely zero research. Not sure why you'd assume that though. Condescending assumptions aside, thanks for the tips and ideas.
 
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Make sure everything is tightened. This looks loose.

Yes thank you, I adjusted that after I took the photo. Any ideas why the two links are installed differently? One looks upsidedown from the other. Either that's by design, which seems weird, or it's sloppy work by the dude who installed them. I would imagine they should match.
 
The jeep shop said i needed a new front track bar without telling my why (I assume worn bushings) or without telling me I'd need a stock pitman arm. So maybe I should just do the job myself for those parts? Looks simple enough. The jeep shop wanted to charge me $350 for a Rock Krawler brand track bar, but that sounds overkill for me since all I want is to just drive around the desert trails with my kids. So what front track bar brand has a good reputation with solid warranty is recommended?

If the taper in your stock bracket was drilled out for that drop bracket you'll need to run a currie or other bar that uses a bolt rather than a ball joint there.

The adjustable rough country bar that uses a ball joint and bushing is actually a decent unit if you don't bash on your jeep. I ran it for a while after ditching their drop bracket track bar that always came loose.

I've been switching over to currie/rockjock recently. They really make the best stuff for heavy use
And therein lies my problems trusting Jeep "specialty" shops. It feels like they either Jeep snobs think I should spend money on parts i'll never be able to justify the prices, or they're lazy like you said. I'd rather do the job of lowering from 4.5" to 3" springs and shocks myself, but if I screw something up, then I'd end up in the shop to fix my self-created problems in the first place.

We'll help you out if you get stuck. It really isn't too bad of a job.
 
If he can turn a wrench on a 60, he can turn a wrench on a jeep. The hardest part leaving Aviation Maintenance and going to vehicle maintenance,

"if it doesn't fit, make it fit."
As told to me by a highly respected member here
 
Here’s my advice: for your intended purposes you should go for no more than a 2.5” lift, which will restore mostly-stock geometry and improve stability on and off road, low and high speed.

Going from 35’s to 33’s helped boost power not because of tire weight but because of better gear ratios. That effect is amplified even more with smaller tires.

As @GATORB8 said, you may have other hardware underneath that wouldn’t work with a shorter lift; e.g. a custom driveshaft for a 4.5” lift is likely too long for a 2.5” lift. Post photos of the other steering components, control arms, rear driveshaft and TC yoke.

Ultimately I’d recommend the 2.5” lift with 30 or 31” tires. You’d love the handling and power gains. Since you already have 33’s, I’d do the 2.5” lift plus a body lift which can be removed later if you go with smaller tires.

I had a YJ with 2.5” lift and 30’s; it handled moderate rocks and obstacles just fine.

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This is Hidden Falls, isn't it? I had a friend come within about a half a degree of flipping his Sami in that exact spot.
 
This is Hidden Falls, isn't it? I had a friend come within about a half a degree of flipping his Sami in that exact spot.

Hidden Falls is one of those parks where every time I go out with friends I think "this will be a pretty calm trip, there are bypasses for everything" and then we end up spending hours stuck on some trail because we got overconfident.

Last time I went two of my friends were night wheeling before the rest of us got there. They had decided to do Green Mile for some reason and got stuck. Neither vehicle was running right, the other TJ having a potential fuel pump issue and the Toyota Pickup just being too low for the angle it was at and dug its axles into the dirt. Took them a few hours to get unstuck, ironically happening right as we finally arrived to the park. For whatever reason they decided to do it again the next day. At that point the only three vehicles running well enough to do it were a JK on 37's, an XJ, and the same Toyota Pickup. We let the Jk go first since he was the most likely one to make it up without issues. Half way up he turtled on a center ridge on the trail and his transmission cable broke, so he was stuck in neutral. It was a long day.
 
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This is Hidden Falls, isn't it? I had a friend come within about a half a degree of flipping his Sami in that exact spot.

Yeah Hidden Falls. I’ve only been that one time. Took my kid there for his 16th birthday and a couple friends of his. They were driving an old 2wd F-150 that couldn’t do anything so they all piled into the YJ. That thing totally exceeded my expectations. It was my street cruiser but had not problems with anything I tried there. Of course I was keeping it to the moderate trails
 
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Hidden Falls is one of those parks where every time I go out with friends I think "this will be a pretty calm trip, there are bypasses for everything" and then we end up spending hours stuck on some trail because we got overconfident.

Last time I went two of my friends were night wheeling before the rest of us got there. They had decided to do Green Mile for some reason and got stuck. Neither vehicle was running right, the other TJ having a potential fuel pump issue and the Toyota Pickup just being too low for the angle it was at and dug its axles into the dirt. Took them a few hours to get unstuck, ironically happening right as we finally arrived to the park. For whatever reason they decided to do it again the next day. At that point the only three vehicles running well enough to do it were a JK on 37's, an XJ, and the same Toyota Pickup. We let the Jk go first since he was the most likely one to make it up without issues. Half way up he turtled on a center ridge on the trail and his transmission cable broke, so he was stuck in neutral. It was a long day.

That sounds like every wheeling trip with my gang.
 
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