Another lift question thread

young gunna

New member
Hey guys i have been looking up a lot of stuff about lifts over the past year and have a decent idea of what i want to get into but i am wondering what areas i should save some money on and where i should allocate more. I have a 2014 jk 2dr which i wheel occasionally, nothing too crazy since it's my daily, and I'm looking to do about a 2.5-3" lift. My plan is to run 35's eventually which is most likely where i will stay for quite awhile. I have looked a lot into metal cloak as they seem to have pretty sound engineering behind their equipment and i really want to go with a complete mid arm kit when i upgrade to do it right the first time. But i would like to save a little bit of money so i can get a new front drive shaft to help prevent the untimely death of my stocker. I'm not doing any crazy crawling with my rig just some smaller rock crawls, sand, mud, and a hell of a lot of pavement since its a daily. So i guess what i'm asking is should i continue on my path towards metal cloak and just save money for the drive shaft or are there better options out there that i am missing. I have looked at a ton of companies but from what i have heard and seen from metal cloak they have just seemed to have everything where i want it at so far.
 

JakeJK

New member
RK and EVO are good choices as well depending on how much the metalcloak is you could be paying a lot for something a little unnecessary, RK has a kit i believe it's the flex kit that only comes with front lowers and rear upper control arms, unless your dead set on getting all 8 I think that would be a better option on a DD considering it save a decent amount of money.
 

plext0r

New member
I am by no means an expert, but I did a lot of research on this forum (as well as others) and I went with the EVO coils and FOX shocks when my 2008 JKU broke a coil spring. The previous owner had used a Rough Country 3.25" lift with extra budget boost spacers to get 4-5" of lift and he had already replaced the front drive shaft. It drove like crap before my son and I installed the EVO coils. Now it drives like a dream. Driving across train tracks I'm still amazed it doesn't jar my teeth like the Rough Country did. :crazyeyes:

If you stick with 2.5" of lift or lower (think EVO leveling kit), I believe you can still run 35's if you make a few small mods to the Jeep and you don't have to worry about the drive shafts.
 
Especially on the 2 door, the Evo leveling kit should work. From what ive heard tge w door guys on here say, theyve been getting closer to 4" of lift from the 3" coils. That may be too much for you.
 

BSM

New member
Yes, I have a 2 door with the 3.5" RK X-factor lift and running 35's with stock fenders. I wish I would have installed the 2.5", I could easily run 35's with even a 2" loss of height. Weight will play a role though certainly, fwiw I have poison spyder bumpers front rear and a M8000 winch out front.
 

JakeJK

New member
Yes, I have a 2 door with the 3.5" RK X-factor lift and running 35's with stock fenders. I wish I would have installed the 2.5", I could easily run 35's with even a 2" loss of height. Weight will play a role though certainly, fwiw I have poison spyder bumpers front rear and a M8000 winch out front.

Sounds like a good reason to go to 37s :D
 

young gunna

New member
Thanks for the replies guys. I don't want to do a leveling kit because i will be using the full capabilities of the lift. I know i said i don't do anything too crazy but as i was talking to the lady and she reminded me i sometimes just say why not go for it haha. How do you like the RK x factor kit? I have been tossing that one around too but I haven't seen it out on a trail. Anyone live in northern Ohio that has one of these lifts?
 

BSM

New member
Thanks for the replies guys. I don't want to do a leveling kit because i will be using the full capabilities of the lift. I know i said i don't do anything too crazy but as i was talking to the lady and she reminded me i sometimes just say why not go for it haha. How do you like the RK x factor kit? I have been tossing that one around too but I haven't seen it out on a trail. Anyone live in northern Ohio that has one of these lifts?

I'm really happy with the X-factor kit, it's certainly very well built. I did the RK steering geometry kit at the same time and it's worked out very well. Because all 8 arms are adjustable, it isn't what I would call a "plug and play" lift. RK arm length suggestions will get you close. I had to make some caster adjustments to deal with initially "flighty" steering and like a lot of other folks with RK kits, my rear track bar came in contact with the passenger spring at moderate stuff which was an easy fix with lots of info on here.
 

koko1

New member
I did a lot of research on lifts and came to the conclusion that you can not go wrong with Metal Cloak or Rock Krawler. I have yet to read anything repeatedly bad about them. On a 4 dr. I went with the 2.5" flex and added 1/2" coil spacers for a little added lift since I was adding heavy rear and front bumpers and it is the perfect height IMO. Netted 3.6" up front which I think will lower a tad once the springs are broke in. I do plan on adding more control arms as I go but for what I needed right now it was by far the best value around.
 
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