Help identifying current lift setup

R

Rick2004LJ

TJ Enthusiast
Joined
Jun 11, 2018
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159
Location
Texas
I have been asking a lot of questions about mods to do on my jeep, but think I have been approaching things backwards. I am new to TJ's and bought a 2004 LJ 18 months ago. It was already setup pretty well for what I wanted - dedicated trail rig for mainly rock crawling and Jeep Jamborees. It already had a 4" lift, 33"tires, winch etc. We have trailed it 6-7 time now and begun to get a handle on its capabilities and what we would like to improve based on repairs we have already had to make.

We tore up the stock front skid plate and had to replace it. This educated me on the stock skid setup, nutserts, wallowed out mount holes, and the PITA of having a 1 1/2" TC drop. Been considering SYE/Driveshaft or trying a BL and MML to get rid of the TC drop. In doing research it dawned on me I really didn't know much about the existing lift and if it was a "good" lift or even set up correctly. I have read that on the longer wheelbase LJ you can get away with more lift before needing SYE etc., but how much is still fuzzy.

Here is what I know about the Jeep - 2004 LJ, 4.0L, Auto Trans, 4" lift (confirmed based on spring measurements I found here), 1 1/2" TC Drop, stock axles except for Truetrac's I installed front & rear, and new Transfer Case Cable Shifter Kit. No Idea what brand lift I have and whether it included new control arms etc. Below are pics of springs, shocks and control arms. Anybody have any guess as to what kit it is and if control arms are stock etc.?

Front Shock Rear Shock
94924
94931

Front Control Arms - Look adjustable?
94925
94926

Rear Control Arms - Look Stock?
94927

Rear Drive Shaft
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TC Drop
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Any ideas? Can take more specific pictures if needed. Any info greatly appreciated!
 
Front arms look aftermarket and are adjustable. No clue on brand or what type of joints at each end. Rear lower arms look aftermarket and are fixed. Rear uppers are stock. Check the lower portion of the shock body for any numbers stamped in the body. That could help identify the shocks.
 
Will do. Does it look like a decent setup? We have done some serious rock crawling and climbing and it has done well.
 
It could also be an older Rough Country lift. Their base shocks were plain white.
The bushings on the rear arms look to be polyurethane which are not optimal. They don't give much flex and can potentially do bad things to the mounts. I can't tell about the front adjustables.
Definitely get rid of the transfer case drop. 4" will be pushing it even on an LJ. I tried it on mine and had some minor vibes.
Before you start replacing anything I would recommend coming up with a plan for where you want to go and start building with quality parts. Nothing sucks as much as investing in parts and then having to replace them.
 
The front arms should be ok if the joints are in good shape. Just clean them up and run em. I'd lose the rear lower fixed arms for some adjustable ones with quality flex joints and same for the rear uppers. Now let's see what the front steering linkage looks like and the front/rear track bars. Time for some new shocks me thinks.
 
Front control arms look like adjustable rough country.
Rear track bar looks rough country
I have the same control arms, the last bit of RC stuff I have left to remove.
 
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Here are pics of Steering Linkage and Front/Rear Track Bars. What do y'all think and what should be upgraded for bushings repaired/replaced?

IMG_7149.jpg
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Thoughts?
 
I bet that exhaust pipe rubs on your shock at flex, mine did too. You can get a reroute from an exhaust shop. In the mean time you can beat the shit in (the exhaust pipe, not the shock tube) with a 2lb sledge and get some clearence, as a band aid. If you beat it in then the shop will probably need to replace that section. On non OEM its just a small section. I cant imagine it's good to have that hot exhaust directly on the metal of the shock absorbing that heat.
 
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As for what lift, it may be a trailmaster lift. That's what I run. My lower control arms look like those and it came with white shocks as well. If you could show all the bolts of the rear track bar relocation iight be able to confirm. It has more bolts than the other one the previous owner of mine had on. Specifically on the sides.
 
You can often do a little bending on the exhaust hangers to get a bit of clearance around your shock. Try that first.

I'd bet your front track bar mods are not part of the original lift. Looks like a drop pitman arm but, with the considerable track bar drop shackle, the geometry might be fine if it's all solid and nothing moves around. Check this video about bump steer and front suspension geometry. It does a good job of explaining things.
The rest of your steering linkage parts look stock to me.

You should definitely consider getting some bump stops installed in the rear as yours, at least the jounce bumpers, are missing.

Your rear drive shaft alignment does not look correct for a non SYE/double-cardan drive shaft. The angle of the differential input and the t-case output should be parallel and it looks like yours is setup as though it had the SYE/DC shaft where the dif points straight at the t-case side u-joint. This will almost certainly cause harmonic vibrations on the road.

Yeah, that one bolt on the t-case mount plate looks really sketchy 😲
 
TJ Hunnicutt said:
You can often do a little bending on the exhaust hangers to get a bit of clearance around your shock. Try that first.

I'd bet your front track bar mods are not part of the original lift. Looks like a drop pitman arm but, with the considerable track bar drop shackle, the geometry might be fine if it's all solid and nothing moves around. Check this video about bump steer and front suspension geometry. It does a good job of explaining things.
The rest of your steering linkage parts look stock to me.

You should definitely consider getting some bump stops installed in the rear as yours, at least the jounce bumpers, are missing.

Your rear drive shaft alignment does not look correct for a non SYE/double-cardan drive shaft. The angle of the differential input and the t-case output should be parallel and it looks like yours is setup as though it had the SYE/DC shaft where the dif points straight at the t-case side u-joint. This will almost certainly cause harmonic vibrations on the road.

Yeah, that one bolt on the t-case mount plate looks really sketchy 😲
Click to expand...
Thanks for the input. Are you talking about the Skid Plate bolt on the far left in this picture?
95363

That is for the Transmission Skid - caught that on a rock and ripped it out. Frame mounting holes were wallowed out to the point you would never get a nutsert to hold with some welding/repair. I pulled that portion off and put in an UCF oil pan/transmission skid plate. The bolts for the TC Skid plate still look solid but I am worried that when I do try to take them out there will issues and probably spin some nutserts. Considering a BL & MML to try to get rid of the TC Drop in the short term. SYE/Drive shaft is the right answer but holding off on that until I can do a full re-gear and axel upgrade...
 
LittleTankTJ said:
As for what lift, it may be a trailmaster lift. That's what I run. My lower control arms look like those and it came with white shocks as well. If you could show all the bolts of the rear track bar relocation iight be able to confirm. It has more bolts than the other one the previous owner of mine had on. Specifically on the sides.
Click to expand...
Does this help - Pics of DS mount. PS Mount looks factory.
95366


95367


95368
 
Rick2004LJ said:
Thanks for the input. Are you talking about the Skid Plate bolt on the far left in this picture?
View attachment 95363
That is for the Transmission Skid - caught that on a rock and ripped it out. Frame mounting holes were wallowed out to the point you would never get a nutsert to hold with some welding/repair. I pulled that portion off and put in an UCF oil pan/transmission skid plate. The bolts for the TC Skid plate still look solid but I am worried that when I do try to take them out there will issues and probably spin some nutserts. Considering a BL & MML to try to get rid of the TC Drop in the short term. SYE/Drive shaft is the right answer but holding off on that until I can do a full re-gear and axel upgrade...
Click to expand...
Yeah, sorry, was still thinking about the t-case when I wrote that...that's the one. Makes sense, it had that "trail-tweaked" look to it 😧.
 
I would be concerned about clearance of that dropped track bar setup at flex. Might want to cycle the suspension and make sure stuff clears. Usually you don't see a dropped track bar setup like that on 4" or less lifts. My suggestion would be to put a Currie or JKS adjustable TB on, lose the drop pitman arm and drop frame mount and replace the steering linkage for a ZJ upgrade tie rods.
 
Rick2004LJ said:
Does this help - Pics of DS mount. PS Mount looks factory.
View attachment 95366

View attachment 95367

View attachment 95368
Click to expand...
That looks like the mount that came with my lift. I'm going to say you have a trailmaster kit. That being said. That upper bolt doesn't look right, it might be way too small. And all the rest of the bolts plus the spacer that's supposed to go on the torqs bolt is missing. I'd recommend fixing that up or getting a new track bar relocator or adjustable track bar
 
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