Cost to remove a lift kit?

armaunr

Member
Joined
Jul 3, 2021
Messages
48
Location
United States
I just bought a TJ, and the previous owner did a 2.5 inch RC lift, however they didn’t do a SYE or drop, so there is a lot of vibrations. An SYE is honestly at the higher end of my budget, so I was wondering what would be the cost of just removing the lift and bringing it back to stock? I want to do a 4 inch lift a year or two down the line for an overland build, but I’m completely fine right now as anything I’m gonna do off road wise will be fine doing it stock
 
Cheapest and quickest route would be adding washers between the frame and transfer case skid until the vibes go away, or are at least greatly reduced. Making simple spacers is easy enough as well. Shouldn’t take a whole lot to get it livable with your 2.5” lift….
 
  • Like
Reactions: L J and rasband
Like mentioned, use washers to drop the skid and get rid of the vibes for now. You can buy a bag of thick washers at Lowe's for $8. Add a BL and MML when you want a 4" lift. Get some better shocks asap.:)
p.s. Removing the kit would cost hundreds.
rOCKER GUARDS (2017_11_20 00_38_12 UTC) (2).jpg
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Lax22, D M and L J
Like mentioned, use washers to drop the skid and get rid of the vibes for now. You can buy a bag of thick washers at Lowe's for $8. Add a BL and MML when you want a 4" lift. Get some better shocks asap.:)
p.s. Removing the kit would cost hundreds.
View attachment 266361
I've been thinking about getting some rancho 5000x shocks all around. Can I just buy those and replace my RC ones? Will it make much of a difference just changing shocks and nothing else?
 
Cheapest and quickest route would be adding washers between the frame and transfer case skid until the vibes go away, or are at least greatly reduced. Making simple spacers is easy enough as well. Shouldn’t take a whole lot to get it livable with your 2.5” lift….
Is this something I can do myself? I have basically 0 experience working on cars. I got a jeep with the intention to learn, and I've learned a bit but I have not actually done anything major to the car myself.
 
Is this something I can do myself? I have basically 0 experience working on cars. I got a jeep with the intention to learn, and I've learned a bit but I have not actually done anything major to the car myself.
Yes. Adding spacers to lower the transfer case is very straight forward. Especially if you don't have to battle a rusty frame.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MichaelGH
Is this something I can do myself? I have basically 0 experience working on cars. I got a jeep with the intention to learn, and I've learned a bit but I have not actually done anything major to the car myself.
Absolutely. A couple precautions. It’s a good idea to put a secondary stop in place, under the transmission, just in case you accidentally let the jack down too quickly. Also, I never remove all the transfer case skid plate bolts at once so that should never be a concern…

Support the transfer case skid with a floor jack and large piece of wood. Loosen all 6 skid plate bolts enough to get it to drop just a smidge. Just an 1/8”-1/4” or so. Further loosen 3 bolts on the same side. A 1/2” gap should easily be enough room. Pull one bolt at a time and add one or two thick washers. Snug those 3 bolts back up, but not tight yet. Go to the other side and loosen those 3 bolts up so it gives you just enough room to add the washers like the first side. Add washers to one bolt at a time there as well. Now snug all 6 bolts up tight and drive it. See how it acts and adjust more if needed…
 
  • Like
Reactions: SvtLdr
I’ll probably need to use a jack or something to lift the car up?
The Jeep can sit on all 4 tires as you do this. Just make sure the parking brake is applied, or chock the tires…

A jack is only needed to slightly drop the skid plate…
 
Just playing devils advocate here.

I know you said an sye is at the top of your budget, but then you follow up with “I want to do a 4 inch lift a year or two down the line for an overland build...”.
Begs the question. If an sye is inevitable and you’ve got the budget (even on top end), why not do it now? Even if you have to save for a short while. The cost of removing a lift will just eat at the budget of your future plans.
 
  • Like
Reactions: SvtLdr and JMT
Is this something I can do myself?
Yes, if you have access to basic hand tools and a floor jack.

I have basically 0 experience working on cars. I got a jeep with the intention to learn, and I've learned a bit but I have not actually done anything major to the car myself.
Someone here can walk you through just about anything you can think of TJ related.
 
Just playing devils advocate here.

I know you said an sye is at the top of your budget, but then you follow up with “I want to do a 4 inch lift a year or two down the line for an overland build...”.
Begs the question. If an sye is inevitable and you’ve got the budget (even on top end), why not do it now? Even if you have to save for a short while. The cost of removing a lift will just eat at the budget of your future plans.
An SYE will require a new driveshaft...I was going to ask if the driveshaft length needed to change but I went ahead and did the math....technically yes, but by about 0.2", so he should be fine, especially if you tell Adams or Tom Woods or whoever what your plans are.

That said, and I'm looking for somebody with more expertise than me to correct any misinformation, going to a DC driveshaft will likely require a different pinion angle than the slip yoke driveshaft. Maybe he's currently in a good range, maybe not. It could require adjustable arms, too. This is one of those things where it can be hard to do it piecemeal; every new component requires another new component to compensate. But it's really worth it.

For the skid plate drop, if you don't have a transmission jack it can be a bit of a balancing act, and if you go so far as to remove it getting it back in I found to be a pain to align & for getting at least 2 of the bolts back in. This is what I think I would do, with the caveat of I've never actually done this so YMMV:

* loosen all 6 bolts so that there is a 1/2" daylight between the skid and the frame.
** if you want to drop it further than that, you may end up needing longer bolts
** if you do need longer bolts, change ONE bolt at a time, and you won't have any struggles aligning the thing
* take one bolt out, add your spacer washers, put the bolt back in
* repeat for all 6 bolts
* tighten everything up

I don't think you'll need to loosen the 4 nuts for the transmission mount, but it might not hurt.
 
Agree with previous posts, but I would add to put some never seize on the bolts when putting them back on.

Also, have you thought about a combo lift? 3" suspension, 1" body and 1" motor mount lift? I have a Zone 4.25" combo. 3" is border line needing to add a SYE. I just added a couple of washers to my skid, and no vibes.