Help me choose a 4" lift: MetalCloak, Currie, Clayton?

DonnieWallhanger

DonnieWallhanger

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My 06 Rubi will be going under surgery late next week, still a little undecided which route to go. Narrowing down to between a Currie, Metalcloak, Clayton 4 inch lift, something of that caliber... Anyone with personal experience with one or more of these kits wanna throw out some personal likes/dislikes, pros/cons, satisfactions/regrets etc... would be greatly appreciated. Not going to be hitting trails every day of my life lol the Rubicon IS my daily driver, but it will see a nice amount of offroading. What im looking for mainly above anything else is when i use the truck majority of the time, on road quality of ride, comfortable drive, having the least amount to have to worry about, longterm durability, things of that nature. Theres no such thing as getting too much feedback or input, so please dont hold back. Cant hurt for me to find out as much personal experience from others that i possibly can get! Thanks guys looking forward to hearing from yal! OIIIIIO
 
The lift isn't going to affect the ride quality, that's a myth. Ride quality is going to be largely determined by shocks, tire psi, and tire load rating.

Given the choice of those three lifts, I would hands down go Currie (or Savvy would be even better). Currie / Savvy have one of the best off-road reputations in the off-road Jeep community, and having run both of their lifts, I would never run anything but on a TJ.

Definitely not necessary if it's only going to be a street driven vehicle, but if you want a lift that will perform exceptionally both on-road and off-road, and last longer than you'll probably own your TJ, then I can't recommend Currie / Savvy highly enough.
 
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For quality of ride, they will all ride and drive well, just depends on your shock package that you choose. For longevity, get something with Currie Johnny Joints, those are my preference.

For maximum offroad performance, the Savvy midarm would be the only one I would get. Or else I would build my own midarm. I would rather have the Clayton longarm than any of the short arm kits at 4 inches of lift.
 
Chris said:
The lift isn't going to affect the ride quality, that's a myth. Ride quality is going to be largely determined by shocks, tire psi, and tire load rating.

Given the choice of those three lifts, I would hands down go Currie (or Savvy would be even better). Currie / Savvy have one of the best off-road reputations in the off-road Jeep community, and having run both of their lifts, I would never run anything but on a TJ.

Definitely not necessary if it's only going to be a street driven vehicle, but if you want a lift that will perform exceptionally both on-road and off-road, and last longer than you'll probably own your TJ, then I can't recommend Currie / Savvy highly enough.
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Yeah i know mainly ride quality comes from shocks, and im looking at going with either bilsteins most likely, if not possibly will go with a set of Ranchos. Ive also heard quite a few awesome things about Fox, but not nearly as much high praise as i find with bilsteins. Purpose of my post is really looking for any advantages/disadvantages of picking one of these higher end kits over the others. Ive been leaning towards a currie 4 inch for the most part, but honestly cant ever have too much feedback from others with personal experiences. Appreciate your input alot!
 
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DonnieWallhanger said:
... Ive also heard quite a few awesome things about Fox, but not nearly as much high praise as i find with bilsteins. ...
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More people have Bilsteins because they cost less and don't require the same effort to setup as a good set of Fox (or any tuned shock) do. This is comparing to very different worlds. However, the criticisms of Bilsteins are worth investigating. Despite their popularity, they may not necessarily be an appropriate choice with reports of small event harshness from those who have actually made comparisons to other shocks. It is difficult to find a decent off the shelf shock for our lighter weight TJs. That is one of the reasons the Rancho 5000x has been popular in recent years.
 
The issue here is that you're going to find people who have run one lift, but not the other (myself included) and because of that are brand biased. Not that there is anything wrong with that, I'm just saying that you aren't going to find anyone who can likely say, "Yes, I've run Metalcloak, Clayton, and Currie, and I prefer _".

That being said, I am biased towards Savvy, but this is because the guy who designs and engineers most of their products (Blaine) is right here on this forum and actively participates in discussions. I can't say the same for other manufacturers, and to me that says something. One of the things you'll get with Blaine is cold hard honesty, no marketing bullshit or gimmicks (which can't be said for some of the others). He'll tell you why he designed it the way he did, why it works, and why something else might not work so well.

Another thing I look at with lifts is what kind of joints they're using. Johnny Joints are so widely used in the off-road community (they're also copied and knocked off as well), which is a big testament to how good of a joint they are. There's many people who have said they have run them for years and years without every having to rebuild them.

Anyways, this is just food for thought. Blaine is right here on the forum, and while I know he doesn't want to get into pissing matches of Savvy vs __, I know he is a straight shooter and won't bullshit you like some manufacturers will.

This is one of the things I like about Savvy. They're selling a lift that works, and the smart folks know it works. They don't need marketing catch phrases, fancy words, and mumbo jumbo to convince you that it's what you need.
 
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jjvw said:
More people have Bilsteins because they cost less and don't require the same effort to setup as a good set of Fox (or any tuned shock) do. This is comparing to very different worlds. However, the criticisms of Bilsteins are worth investigating. Despite their popularity, they may not necessarily be an appropriate choice with reports of small event harshness from those who have actually made comparisons to other shocks. It is difficult to find a decent off the shelf shock for our lighter weight TJs. That is one of the reasons the Rancho 5000x has been popular in recent years.
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Ive read sooo many mixed reviews of ranchos, some people love em, some people cant stand em, some wanna replace them as fast as they first installed them. Knowing im going to be on road majority of the time thats really where my concern for ride quality and comfortability is. And so far from all people ive spoken to through the past few weeks it seems to me the bilsteins are looking the most practical way for me to go. But again theres soo many brands, so many ways i can go, no matter which way i decide to go i just wanna know i did as much research as i possibly could to end up making the right choice in the end. This project im about to undergo has been stressful to say the least lol too much to think about haha
 
DonnieWallhanger said:
Ive read sooo many mixed reviews of ranchos, some people love em, some people cant stand em, some wanna replace them as fast as they first installed them. Knowing im going to be on road majority of the time thats really where my concern for ride quality and comfortability is. And so far from all people ive spoken to through the past few weeks it seems to me the bilsteins are looking the most practical way for me to go. But again theres soo many brands, so many ways i can go, no matter which way i decide to go i just wanna know i did as much research as i possibly could to end up making the right choice in the end. This project im about to undergo has been stressful to say the least lol too much to think about haha
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Are these people complaining about the 5000 or the 5000x? They are not the same shock. What specifically do they not like?

While I am not an unconditional fan of the mushy 5000x, I have a hard time imagining someone who needs to change them out as fast as they can thinking that the harsh 5100 is the better option for daily livability.
 
My father has Clayton long arms on his '99 TJ paired with 4" Currie springs and Bilstein 5100 shocks.
I have Metalcloak short arms paired with 4" Currie springs and had Bilstein 5100 shocks on my '01 TJ.

There was really no noticeable difference on the street.

I recently swapped to Rocksport shocks, and that's when I noticed the on-road ride get much better. My father has recently swapped his shocks out to the Rocksports as well, and is happy with the change.

Note that the Clayton long arm kit uses a front radius arm setup. I'll let you come to your own conclusions on that.
 
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