Experience with Rock Krawler 2 inch Lift Kit

Since the body bushing need replaced too, a Jeep friend has suggested a 1 inch body lift kit and this would replace the OEM bushings.
Then I would consider the DPG guys or the Zone off road kit.

If you call the folks at DPG you will not be unimpressed. A few members here made the call and run his OME (Old Man Emu) kits.
 
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Since the body bushing need replaced too, a Jeep friend has suggested a 1 inch body lift kit and this would replace the OEM bushings.
Small body lifts are great. Whatever you end up with, keep the factory style rubber mounts and use a rigid spacer like aluminum. Don't use poly.

This is another reason to piece your own lift together.
 
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I too prefer piecing my own lift together personally.

I wouldn't bother with DPG. Anything he does, you can just as easily put together yourself. OME springs, Rancho RS5000X shocks, Savvy body lift, etc. It's easy to piece together yourself, and that way you have way more control over it.
 
Yes what Chris said. IMO what you are wanting is nothing unique in that many, if not most, of us have done this exact thing. Each kit offers some drawbacks that you can avoid if you build the kit yourself. Usually it is the kit's shocks that most take issue with as they tend to ride harsh.

But in the end its your coin.
 
Check out the Rancho 2 1/2" lift. Everyone recommends their shocks and they will work best with their springs. It's a pretty complete kit with lower control arms included. Just add the upper arms and shocks. Quadratrec has it with a Rancho rebate up to $400.
 
I'd consider parting out a kit of my own, but the choices and compatibility issues are overwhelming.
I think you're overthinking it. I don't know what compatibility issues you are concerned with. If you want 33's you should run 4" of overall lift. You can do that by suspension lift only, in which case, get the Currie lift for the money you are spending you can't go wrong. Or you can do it by a suspension lift + body lift, in which case, go with something like the 2" OME and a 1.25" body lift. If you don't load down your rig with all kinds of stuff like a winch, etc..., you'll probably get around 3.75" of overall lift. Pair it with some Rancho 5000X shocks. The cheaper route is the latter. Get some new control stock control arms on the latter, replace the jounce bumpers (I think you're confusing bumpstops with jounce bumpers, they are not at all the same thing). Get an adjustable trackbar, new tie rod ends. finito.
 
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Since the body bushing need replaced too, a Jeep friend has suggested a 1 inch body lift kit and this would replace the OEM bushings.
No, you'll still have to buy the OEM bushings. A body lift does not replace those. The good thing is that if you do the body lift, you are already there, so you can switch the OEM bushings too. I do highly recommend a small 1-1.25" body lift. Currie aluminum is 1", Savvy aluminum is 1.25". And yes, you want aluminum. Poly pucks distort giving an uneven tub and squeaking.
 
Check out the Rancho 2 1/2" lift. Everyone recommends their shocks and they will work best with their springs. It's a pretty complete kit with lower control arms included. Just add the upper arms and shocks. Quadratrec has it with a Rancho rebate up to $400.

There is nothing unique to the Rancho coils that would make them work better or worse with a given shock compared to other coils. Their rates are very similar to OME, Pro Comp, BDS, Rusty's, stock. Also, which Rancho shock is best paired with a Rancho coil?
 
I think you're overthinking it. I don't know what compatibility issues you are concerned with. ...

It seems like many of the kits are incompatible with themselves. All will be incomplete in one area or another.

Many include dropped pitman arms and may or may not also supply a dropped track bar bracket. Neither are needed in the first place.

Shocks may or may not be the right length for the specific setup. The same with bump stops.

The closer one gets to 3" of spring lift, the more likely the drive shaft will need attention.
 
There is nothing unique to the Rancho coils that would make them work better or worse with a given shock compared to other coils. Their rates are very similar to OME, Pro Comp, BDS, Rusty's, stock. Also, which Rancho shock is best paired with a Rancho coil?

Spring rates are the big difference I was thinking about. Rancho are similar to OME and I think Savvy and others, but very dissimilar to other lifts such as BDS, JKS or OME LJ springs. I tried Rancho 9000XL shocks with my BDS lift and they were terrible. They couldn't control the rebound of the BDS springs. The rear end was all over the place and would not stay planted. But that makes sense when you look at spring rates. The Rancho rear spring rate is 150lbs. The BDS is 200lbs. Thats almost 50% stiffer spring. The shocks simply were not designed to control that much rebound spring. I changed to Bilstien with no other changes and everything was controlled and good. So from my experience springs and shocks need to work together.
 
.... They couldn't control the rebound of the BDS springs. The rear end was all over the place and would not stay planted. .... So from my experience springs and shocks need to work together.

That's an interesting side discussion. Did the ride heights or the shock travel biases change at all? All of that can alter the way a suspension behaves when one variable changes.
 
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That's an interesting side discussion. Did the ride heights or the shock travel biases change at all? All of that can alter the way a suspension behaves when one variable changes.

Nothing else changed. I swapped out the Rancho 9000Xls for the Bilstein 5160s with no other changes. I think the shocks had about 25,000 miles on them. So they were not new shocks, but still have plenty of life left in them. In fact, they are in good enough condition that I just put the front Rancho shocks back on because I over extended my Bilstein and needed a quick replacement. But the spring rates in the front don't vary as much as the rear springs. So the front was never an issue. It was always the rear shocks that couldn't control the downward movement of the unsprung weight or the upward movement of the sprung weight

I suppose travel bias changed slightly. Compressed length of the shocks are nearly identical, however because the Bilstein are remote reservoir they extend an inch further in the rear and 1 1/2" further in front. But I don't think the extra extension would matter. Particularily when driving on the road. Which is where the Ranchos had the most trouble. Slow travel offroad I did not notice the issue so much.

This might be a good side discussion. I'll start a new thread.

Here it is:
https://wranglertjforum.com/forums/tj-general-discussion.6/
 
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To get back on topic here. If anyone does have experience with Rock Krawler I would also like to know. I am considering there springs and some other stuff.
 
At what point in time did Rock Krawler deem it a good idea to use a drop pitman arm and drop bracket for the TB with a 2" lift?
I'll just flat out say it. I'm a clueless noob, but i thought i understood that the dropped pitman arm wasn't needed until ar least 6" of lift. If they say you need it for 2" how good can the entire kit be?

Once again, just going by what I've read. I have no idea about the quality of this kit.
 
I got their smaller 2" kit. No shocks and no drop pitman, but it did have extended brake lines I didn't need, and straps for the discos I didn't use. I don't agree that that made it a bad kit though. Some kits come with adjustable upper and lower control arms, that at 2" most TJs don't need. I don't think that makes them bad kits either.

I like my Rock Krawler 2" kit, and it rides well with my Fox shocks. It is certainly good quality in my opinion.
 
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but i thought i understood that the dropped pitman arm wasn't needed

No, you are correct

....don't need. I don't think that makes them bad kits either.

Well you must define "bad" as it's not just a matter of the quality of the individual parts, but the buying of parts not needed must be considered too. All that is necessary to go up 2" is some type of lift (pucks or springs) and, (although not absolutely necessary) an allowance for the wheel travel. This is usually accomplished with shocks and bump stops. However, buying only springs and shocks runs ~136 per corner or ~550.00 making the other 1,500 of expense superfluous.
 
I got their smaller 2" kit. No shocks and no drop pitman, but it did have extended brake lines I didn't need, and straps for the discos I didn't use. I don't agree that that made it a bad kit though. Some kits come with adjustable upper and lower control arms, that at 2" most TJs don't need. I don't think that makes them bad kits either.

...

There is an argument that the inclusion of adjustable control arms in a 2" lift kit is different than a dropped pitman arm and TB bracket. One is still useful and arguably beneficial, while the other is not.
 
But they sell kits with just springs, all the way up to the "kitchen sink". If that's what the customer wants, why not sell it? If he wants it, he's going to get it anyway. It's no indication of quality or even nafariousness.

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