Best lift for 32”-33” tire for TJ?

Ol’ Blue

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Salem, OR
I’m looking to get a lift for my new toy. It’s a 2000 TJ with 160,000 miles. It would be just for weekend fun driving. Not a daily driver. Since it is higher miles I don’t wanna spend a ton on it, but I also don’t want to get a pile of junk. This is what I am considering:

- OME Ultimate 2”
- 1” body lift (savvy?)

From my research this made me about 3 1/2 inches of lift without having to mess with the driveline and other components. What are your thoughts?
 
OME is well respected. If you wanted 3.5" minus the body lift I'd recommend Rubicon Express. I've had mine for many many years and beat the living hell out of it early on and it's still going strong. Plus, you're likely to find a kit second hand for cheap.
 
I went with a JKS 3 in suspension lift with a JKS 1.25 body lift and 33s. I think they are a great company. This allows for full articulation.

MVIMG_20200208_094506.jpg
 
OME is well respected. If you wanted 3.5" minus the body lift I'd recommend Rubicon Express. I've had mine for many many years and beat the living hell out of it early on and it's still going strong. Plus, you're likely to find a kit second hand for cheap.
Thx. I will look into that one
 
OME is well respected. If you wanted 3.5" minus the body lift I'd recommend Rubicon Express. I've had mine for many many years and beat the living hell out of it early on and it's still going strong. Plus, you're likely to find a kit second hand for cheap.

I have a RE lift that came with the Jeep. It is entirely adequate for my use. I did swap out the shocks for Rancho 5000X's.
 
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Thanks for the advice. I really like the stance of your jeep. What 3” kit did you get? And were you able to install it yourself or did you have a shop do it?

Thanks! Here's a link:

https://jksmfg.com/n-12825-jspec-3in-tj.html
I did it myself with my buddy. Took 17 hours. I also combined it with a 1.25 body lift from them for a total of 4.25 inches of lift. I installed this as well in about 8 hours.

There's lots of good lifts. This one is a little pricey but I feel like the quality of workmanship is superb.

Best of luck. Whatever you do it'll be the right choice because it's your jeep!
 
Can't speak to the JKS lift but I have the Zone 3" lift and wish I had got the 4.25 instead, only because I'm looking at getting a body lift now and could have taken care of it all at once. No complaints about it, ride is a little rougher than stock but that could be fixed with different shocks. I didn't do the install myself but I was brand new to the Jeep world when I had it installed, would probably be something I would tackle now.

Here is the lift I would recommend:
https://zoneoffroad.com/product.php...in-suspension-lift-kit-jeep-wrangler/j25-j26?
 
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Can't speak to the JKS lift but I have the Zone 3" lift and wish I had got the 4.25 instead, only because I'm looking at getting a body lift now and could have taken care of it all at once. No complaints about it, ride is a little rougher than stock but that could be fixed with different shocks. I didn't do the install myself but I was brand new to the Jeep world when I had it installed, would probably be something I would tackle now.

Here is the lift I would recommend:
https://zoneoffroad.com/product.php...in-suspension-lift-kit-jeep-wrangler/j25-j26?

They are both made by Sport Truck along with BDS. The zone kit is also excellent. If budget is a large concern I would highly recommend the zone kit.
 
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I have a RE lift that came with the Jeep. It is entirely adequate for my use. I did swap out the shocks for Rancho 5000X's.

I have ProComp MX6 that have been going equally as strong. One day I'll swap those out for OME (if they make them that size. I've never looked)
 
Thanks! Here's a link:

https://jksmfg.com/n-12825-jspec-3in-tj.html
I did it myself with my buddy. Took 17 hours. I also combined it with a 1.25 body lift from them for a total of 4.25 inches of lift. I installed this as well in about 8 hours.

There's lots of good lifts. This one is a little pricey but I feel like the quality of workmanship is superb.

Best of luck. Whatever you do it'll be the right choice because it's your jeep!
Did you have to mess with your driveline or add a sye?
 
Did you have to mess with your driveline or add a sye?

It comes with a 1 inch transfer case drop to maintain proper drive line angles. I did install an sye so I could remove the transfer case drop (actually did it today). You can actually see the drop spacer in the pic above the skid plate.
 
I run a 4” lift with 33,s on both of mine, and it works excellent...:but I will add this -
It can take some dialing in and adjustable track bars .... a 4” lifted TJ won’t drive good by accident . I finally got my 03 to feel very close to stock...and it was low miles ....but it took all the following to get there -

adjustable track bars front and rear

jKS sway bar links

Energy Suspension polyurethane track bar bushings and an oversized bolt at the axle end then I finally found better clevites

26 psi in the tires

Rancho 5000x shocks

a balanced front drive shaft

a new steering shaft bushing

all terrain KO2 tires

Toe at 1/8” in

new rear sway bar links

new axle u joints and new hub bearings

everything greased and tight

This was a very low mileage TJ that had been wheeled hard and pressure washed repeatedly , and sat up a lot as well.

It’s rare anyone would need to do all this , but you can not underestimate one component on these .

Also, at 160K, if non rusted , it’s got a ton of fun left in it ...so don’t be afraid to spend a little . Take it slow ...I took a year and half , learned a lot .

My second TJ took me about a week because by then I knew what to look for .
 
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So I'm really leaning towards this kit:

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

It looks to run about $1500.00 (might want a few upgrades)

Anyone have experience with it? Only negative I find online is that the new OME shocks seem to be stiffer than they used to be.

There is this 4 1/4" lift from ZONE:

https://zoneoffroad.com/product.php...in-suspension-lift-kit-jeep-wrangler/j25-j26?
Its considerably cheaper (around $600.00) but that almost seems too cheap.

What are your thoughts?
 
So I'm really leaning towards this kit:

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

It looks to run about $1500.00 (might want a few upgrades)

Anyone have experience with it? Only negative I find online is that the new OME shocks seem to be stiffer than they used to be.

There is this 4 1/4" lift from ZONE:

https://zoneoffroad.com/product.php...in-suspension-lift-kit-jeep-wrangler/j25-j26?
Its considerably cheaper (around $600.00) but that almost seems too cheap.

What are your thoughts?
So I’ve been running that zone kit for 2 years. Yes it’s cheap.
It works really good though. You get all the components that you need to have the Jeep on 33’inch tires with full articulation and no rubbing.
The only complaints with the zone lift are
1. The bumpstop extension on the front axle. You will probably want to get ones that mount on the axle spring purch rather than extend the bump up top. The cup will bind on the spring because of this
2. The front track bar with the kit to relocate it they have you drill a new hole and insert a bolt in the new home. You may want to get a adjustable track bar from jks. This is what i did.
3. Not as important but my transfer case linkage was rusty so I just replaced the entire thing with a savvy cable kit

don’t look at the price of the zone kit as a disadvantage. It really is a good kit. If u look at my build I’m still using all the parts from the kit besides what I just listed. The money saved on this kit can be used for other upgrades in the future such as nice fully adjustable controls arms, lockers and regear, as well as a tummy tuck down the road.
Also check eBay.
I got the kit cheaper than that
 
With what I just said though the zone kit is great because it has all the parts in one kit. Some people piece this together by getting a 2.5-3 inch lift.
Getting moar bombproof motor mounts and a savvy body lift. More expensive this way but it’s a option
Not that I have any issues with these parts in the zone kit it’s just that there’s tons of options available. The body lift on the zone kit is plastic, and the mml is a spacer. None of this has broken on me but some people are picky about that stuff