piece of mind...cj lift

heckyl

heckyl

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 15, 2007
Location
NW NC
hello all, FNG here; need some opinions on a cj lift for 50/50 on road off road duty. i did try the search, but i was a little overwhelmed with all the information. first and foremost i need the jeep to be stable (for a jeep) on road, because my son who is 18 months loves it. i would like it to be a little flexy too so i can take him to ure wheeling.
mostly stock widetrack cj with a 360, wanting to run 33s. i'm willing to pony up for the rubicon 4.5, but hoping not to. any suggestions would be greatly appriciated.
 
what kinda shape is the body in? are you willing to cut the fenders? I ran 33's on a narrowtrac cj-5 with only a shackle lift and some fender trimming. had a blast. currently am planning on running 34's with add-a-leaves and fender trimming.
 
i'm willing to do some trimming...well, getting someone who knows what they're doing anyway. the body isn't perfect, but is very solid. that would be great though, i could put money toward lockers.
 
The 4.5 RE kit should set you up pretty nice, its top of the line. I ran 33's with a 4" Skyjacker Softride kit, and there was plenty of room to flex, both with narrow and widetrack axles. I probably could have pulled it off with a 2" lift and a lil rubbing/trimming. I didnt want to do all that work and regret not going 4".
If your CJ has a sway bar, that should help the road feel, but you'll want some disconnects for wheeling.
I found setting my CJ up for 50/50 mall/URE was easy in the suspension dept...it was the steering that took a lot of work. My biggest problem with the suspension was when I added longer front shackles, it hosed up the steering (rotated the caster way out of spec). I replaced with HS stock length shackles and all was good again. I really tightend up the steering with an aftermarket steering box bracket and crossbrace.
 
i figured re must be at least decent, takes alot of gall to charge that much more for a lift, were you pretty happy with the skyjacker? seems much more reasonable as far as price goes.
 
heckyl said:
i figured re must be at least decent, takes alot of gall to charge that much more for a lift, were you pretty happy with the skyjacker? seems much more reasonable as far as price goes.
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I am extremely pleased with my Skyjacker lift, and have had many people comment how it rides great on the road. Offroad, it does just fine. I've seen a good amount of Skyjacker bashing on the internet, so that leads me to believe there are some different spring rates out there, maybe some are not the Softride line, if that's possible, dunno. I bought mine new around 1998. I also used new shackles with poly bushings and brand new RS9000 shocks.
My roomate at the time installed a Skyjacker 4" lift on his YJ along with the included Hecklethorn shocks and it sucked, I can see why peopel would call it Skycrapper.
 
I had a BDS 2.5 lift with 31's and no trimming (could of easily trimmed and fit 33s) and liked the ride both on road at 55 on the interstate and offroad. The jeep was a 1982 CJ7 with a inline 6/auto/d300. Did not have to change anything with the driveshafts or steering and it was a great choice for my needs, which were 50/50 onroad/offroad.
 
the shackle lift is sounding better and better, leafs on it now are beat though, so maybe 2.5 and shackle lift. really like the look of flat fenders too, i guess that would open up the wheel wells a bit.
 
heckyl said:
the shackle lift is sounding better and better, leafs on it now are beat though, so maybe 2.5 and shackle lift. really like the look of flat fenders too, i guess that would open up the wheel wells a bit.
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shackle lift sounds great, until you take it for a drive and realize you have no caster.
 
RenegadeT said:
shackle lift sounds great, until you take it for a drive and realize you have no caster.
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You have to be careful here. I lifted mine with shackles only and had no problems. but don't go more than 1-3/4" with shackles or you get the problems mentioned above. lift springs + lift shackles may not work. You can try that set of front springs that i mentioned last night and see if they work.
 
i really appriciate all the input guys, i'm going to get up with duane (big jakes fab), excellent guy by the way; and put this thing together. thanks for the link too strange1, i may use the shackles or springs; taking it all in still.
 
try converting to yj leafs aswell, they are wider and stronger.
 
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