WK Lift Options

My wife drives our 2007 Grand Cherokee Overland on a daily basis and loves it. She toyed with the idea of selling or trading it for a JK but I think she's pulled back from that a bit more as she asked me if we can build it into a better offroad capable jeep. She loves the comfort level.

So I'm interested in lift options for starters.

I'll be honest here - I've never been under her jeep since we owned it. I've torn my JK apart several times though, so you know where my heart lies!

That being said, I need to know what to stay away from and what/who has quality parts/customer service.

The plan:
Make her WK a capable off-road vehicle. Not doing the Rubicon with it but if she wants to play she won't be ass out, so to speak.

Need info for:
Lift kits
Good tire sizes to run
Skid plates and armor options/necessities
Winch mounts
Any recommended engine upgrades- we have the 5.7

Any and all help is greatly appreciated.
 

cozdude

Guy with a Red 2-Door
Ok so as we said in text to catch people up, Frogmech is thinking of a 3-4" lift and maybe some 32's. Thoughts?
 

cozdude

Guy with a Red 2-Door
Like some Rubicon take offs?

Yea exactly. We are both learning on the fly with this one. We have looked at the Daystar 2" bb and thinking of going that route but it says it only allows 31's. Then you get into the 3" lifts and it goes right to 2k for a lift lol.
 
So doing some research I came across this company:

http://www.rocky-road.com/wk-grand-cherokee-lift-kit.html

Their price is reasonable and the description of their product sounds ok. I know they're in the business of making money. I take their claims with a grain of salt.

That being said, I think this might be a viable solution. I'm thinking that the upgrade of their upper control arms would be good too. I'd also upgrade the shocks.

Anyone have any dealings with this place good or bad?

Again, this isn't something I'm doing tomorrow nor am I in a hurry to get this done. I want to plan this out and make a sound decision if my wife really wants to go this route (which is pretty likely).
 

jamesrw30

Active Member
I know for my WJ, I got a 3 inch IRO lift with IRO track bar, ProComp shocks, moog steering stabilizer and new spring isolators. When it was all said and done it was just under 1K and I clear 31's without trimming. I don't know if you would have to trim to clear 31's with just a 2 in BB or not. Never heard of that company but I have never looked into lifts for a WK. Finding lifts and skids for a Grand is tough and they tend to be alot more expensive than most other Jeeps unfortunately. It is a conspiracy! haha. Good luck and keep us posted what you do.

Fat Bobs and OME also makes some stuff for the WK. Didn't know if you had looked at them yet.
 
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pbujk13

New member
I had the WK rockkrawler ( replaces front fork) w/bilsteins on 245/70/17 Duratracs. I don't think they sell it anymore.

My brother had the BDS kit on with shocks ( can't remember brand. )

I've seen the OME on a few WKs.
The OME HD is the tallest of the 3.

For armor:
the RK WK had the jeepinbyal/4xguard front skid and side guards and the Mopar body skids.
the BDS WK had the rocky-road rock rail supersliders and the mopar body skids. (It got the 4xGuard from the RK later when I sold the RK WK for my JKU.)
We didn't have any problems with any of the vendors.

The only thing we hit that wasn't armored on the trail in Uwharrie was actually a muffler.
The slider held up, but the rocky-road needed some sand+paint after.
The body skids got some scrapes so I would say get some if it wasn't already on your overland.
 

CUZZIN

New member
I have a 05 WK with 5.7 put a OME HD lift and I love the ride did other mods to it and still working on adding more. I get a lot of great info from JEEP FORUM, a lot lot of great builds for the WK. IMO my 2in. lift was more like 3in. and it rides better than stock. My tire is too A/T2 265/70/17 E so it is 32in. new. I got a lot of armor from 4XGUARD great company.
It's not extreme rock crawler but I seen some members that have there Wk's with 37in. tire if that is what you are looking for.
I hope this helps my wife and I loves the ride.
good luck on your WK
 

Anon155

New member
I currently have the OME HD with a set of JK moab take offs and BFG 32" tires. The OME is honestly the best bang for your buck lift for the WK. I would avoid the spacer style lifts like the RRO and Rough Country. You will definitely be sacrificing some ride comfort even with the addition of nicer shocks. The OME costs around $750 with springs and shocks, this cost can go down some by using the OME springs in combination with bilstein 5100 shocks. I will soon be one of those people CUZZIN talked about that will use my current OME lift in combination with the 4" Superlift to fit a 37" tire. The Superlift is costly, but worth it if you want to fit larger than a 33" tire.

There are several companies that make skid plates (Mopar, 4xguard, Steel Armadillo, and Asfir). I currently have full skids using both the stock 3 skid plate system (front, transfer case, and gas tank) along with 4xguard (front, belly, and rear skid). The only exposed area is my muffler, but that is a simple fix by having a new one welded/tucked up higher to the body. As far as winch plates, you can either make one (there's a great write up if you google it), or you can buy one from Steel Armadillo. They all use a hidden winch design behind the stock front bumper. I plan to do this mod very soon after I install my new lift. The Steel Armadillo and 4xguard both make rocker guards as well, but they are pretty costly. They attach to the unibody by bolts/nutserts. There are cheaper options such as the style offered by RRO and soon to be JCR. This style attaches to the frame rather than unibody, and goes under the stock side plastic rails.

I also have a 5.7L, and wheel my rig rather often. Make sure you install a billet catch can with any hemi, its a must do in my book. You could also install a larger 85mm throttle body to add a bit more WOT power. The biggest limiting factor to the WK hemi is the stock exhaust manifolds, they are honestly the biggest choke hold to the engine. Installing an SRT or LX style manifold will help bring some low end power back. The stock air box has been tested and will out preform most CAI's on the market. Remove the large noise restrictor box that goes between the throttle body and the stock air box will let the hemi breathe a lot better. I'd suggest replace it with a straight tube from Airaid as your most cost effective option. A great power upgrade would also include the super chips tuner with advanced transmission tuning app. Being able to adjust shift points and torque % greatly helped throttle response for me. A cheaper option to help with throttle response is an inline pressure booster, these have been shown to improve throttle response with the drive by wire system by others I know.

I tend to usually go wheeling with mostly JKs that have anywhere from 32-37" tires. The QD2 system will surprise you with the proper lift. The only true limiting factor even with a 3" lift and 32-33" tires is ground clearance. I have no real issues clearing the same rock/ledge obstacles (Missouri wheeling) just like my friends with JKs. You just can't be scared to 3 wheel a bit. The only area I run into problems is deeper water obstacles (Florida wheeling) which is to be expected. I'm not saying by any means that my rig is a true rock crawler, but it is a good base for weekend style wheeler like myself. I believe both you and your wife will be happy with it.:thumb:

P.S. A deflated 32" tire will fit in the current spare tire area with modification to the rear hitch.
 
Thanks a lot for all the great responses!

There's a lot of info for me to pour over and get to know to understand the WK as much as I think I understand my JK.

What you guys provided so far gives me plenty of options.

This is going to be a slow process so feel free to keep adding opinions, suggestions and anything else you think might help out.

Thanks again!
 
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