How much lift does my TJ have?

Zak183

New Member
Joined
May 15, 2019
Messages
2
Location
Fort Wayne
Bought my tj a couple months ago and am looking at getting new shocks but I don’t know how much lift it has. Running 33’s

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Measure the coils; 12" front and 8" rear is stock. Do not include the rubber isolator on top of the spring.

Surefire way right there.

But---Dont buy your shocks based on "X" amount of lift. Remove your coils and cycle your suspension to determine what length of shock you need.
 
Measured the coils and turns out I have a three inch lift

Zak, I also recently got a TJ, and was unsure of the amount of lift. Similar to your situation, I measured the front coils and found around a 2.5 to 3 inch lift. But take a look at my rear coil photo. It appears the rear lift on my TJ was accomplished using spring spacers (red thing) above what are possibly the stock rear springs (because the springs appear to be around 8 inches). What did you find for your rear springs, and do yours have this spacer?

To others on the forum, maybe on my TJ the previous owner went the cheap route for the back, using spacers instead of new higher lift rear springs? Is this considered acceptable? Myself and sons have been driving this TJ around and have not experienced suspension/steering related issues. In fact, when I read about all the issues some folks have with bump steer/death wobble/alignment/poor tracking ... I am surprised my TJ doesn't seem to have any of those issues. Because it doesn't have dropped pitman, adjustable track bars, etc. And 55 on the highway it seems to fly along ok without wandering or vibration (other than the mud tires singing).

TJ_Rear_Spring_Spacer.jpg
 
Zak, I also recently got a TJ, and was unsure of the amount of lift. Similar to your situation, I measured the front coils and found around a 2.5 to 3 inch lift. But take a look at my rear coil photo. It appears the rear lift on my TJ was accomplished using spring spacers (red thing) above what are possibly the stock rear springs (because the springs appear to be around 8 inches). What did you find for your rear springs, and do yours have this spacer?

To others on the forum, maybe on my TJ the previous owner went the cheap route for the back, using spacers instead of new higher lift rear springs? Is this considered acceptable? Myself and sons have been driving this TJ around and have not experienced suspension/steering related issues. In fact, when I read about all the issues some folks have with bump steer/death wobble/alignment/poor tracking ... I am surprised my TJ doesn't seem to have any of those issues. Because it doesn't have dropped pitman, adjustable track bars, etc. And 55 on the highway it seems to fly along ok without wandering or vibration (other than the mud tires singing).

View attachment 94230

Spacers can be used for several reasons and are generally acceptable as long as you are bump stopped appropriately so the coils don't bind on full compression. I use 3/4" spacers to level out my TJ. In your case, it looks like the PO used 2" spacers on stock springs to accomplish the lift.
 
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