New to forum, from Atlanta

Oldgrayfrog

New member
Hi all, I wanted to take the time to introduce myself. I’ve been back in a Jeep for about a year now. Initially I went looking for a used JK, only to find dealerships asking damn near new money for three year old jk’s with 50,000 miles on them. So I searched my local dealers for leftover 2016’s (it was January and they had a lot of 2017’s on the lot). I ultimately found a leftover black Rubicon with hardtop and a less than ideal AT. While I’d have preferred a six speed, getting $10k off list eased my pain considerably.

My initial goal was to make it a bit more user friendly, so I installed the insulated panels in the hard top, and replaced the head unit with a good Kenwood navigation unit with CarPlay. Knowing that Jeep literally takes the stock vehicle on the rubicon trail, I initially invested in mods to take advantage of some of jeep’s greatest hits, so I bought an AEV rear bumper off a Modern Warfare edition, and a Hard Rock front bumper, traded up for Hard Rock rock rails and Warn 10-S winch. Atlanta is our nation’s distracted driving capital, so I wanted a bunch of steel between me and the cell phone idiots.

I recently bought a set of AEV Pintler wheels and am trying to decide what tires to put on it and what sort of lift I might buy. I’m driving it a bunch of highway miles at the moment, so I’m not sure I want to go to 35” tires. I’ve been waffling between trying to grab a set of the JL Rubicon 285/70/17 KO2S, or going for the 285/75/17 KO2s. The biggest reason I’m looking at the 285/75 over say 315/70 is weight. Getting that extra half inch of height and inch of width adds like 8 pounds of unsprung weight. Although I have 4.10 gears, I do a lot of driving in the North Georgia mountains.

On the lift, one consideration to keep in mind is I’m 100% disabled vet. I broke my neck jumping from a helicopter and am fused from C2 to T5. I’m not going to love something rock hard. I don’t have any issue with my jeep’s stock ride (if anything it’s a little squishy). I’mconsidering the AEV 2.5” SC lift, but am also a sucker for modding my cars beyond recognition, which brings me to an Icon or similar coilover setup. I just don’t have enough experience setting up Jeep suspensions to know what I’ll need, and what’s just bs. I read the sticky post on suspensions and wheels and tires, but I know from other forums that asking the right questions can save a lot of time and money.

Finally, if anyone is from the Atlanta area and can recommend a good shop, I’dappreciate it. There’s been a lot of stuff I’ve enjoyed doing myself, but I donÂ’t think I’m up to swapping the suspension without a lift.
I apologize for not having a current picture for this thread, but I’ll see if I can’tfind one to post later.
 
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notnalc68

That dude from Mississippi
Welcome to Wayalife. If you are running that size tire, and are happy with the stock ride, a spacer lift may be right for you. A leveling kit or 2 - 2.5”. Any more than that would be way too tall. Look at an EVO leveling kit, or Rancho 2 inch Sport Lift, too.

Don’t let a shop sell you some hard springed, shit quality coil spring lift.


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ChiliDawg

New member
Hey, welcome to wayalife from a native Atlantan! Haven't lived there in 5ish years so can't recommend a shop (there were some guys in Gainesville that I knew but they had some issues and closed down recently I'm told), but if you're looking to stay with 33" tires I don't think you need a suspension lift. Some folks run 35's on their JK's without lifting them at all, just a little fender trimming as the JK wheel wells are pretty huge. I'm thinking a simple leveling kit would do for you, and you'd maintain the factory ride quality.
 

longarmwj

New member
Welcome from Cumming Georgia!! Sounds like all you need is a 2 inch spacer lift and the 33s and you’ll be fine!!

As far as shops, there’s only one guy I would trust to work on my shit and he’s up here in Cumming. It’s actually where my WJ is sitting now waiting on its driveshaft.


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MR.Ty

Token East Coast Guy
Welcome to WAL from Southeast GA! Don’t know of any shops up your way but best of luck finding one. 👍
 

Oldgrayfrog

New member
Thanks to all for the welcome, and admins for the add. I’m enjoying reading a lot of good info here on the site. I think I may stick to 33” for now, but I have a feeling hanging around here could lead somebody into a whole bunch of trouble or 37” or 40” if you’re not careful...
 

wjtstudios

Hooked
Oh yeah, this forum can inspire you to larger builds! Or just running your jeep off road and you will find the areas that you need improvement and you keep building.

Welcome to Wayalife from Detroit


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Oldgrayfrog

New member
Oh yeah, this forum can inspire you to larger builds! Or just running your jeep off road and you will find the areas that you need improvement and you keep building.

Welcome to Wayalife from Detroit


Sent from my iPhone using WAYALIFE mobile app

I’ve gone overboard building a car to be “more capable at the track” and ended up with a race car that was miserable to drive on the street. The wife was at least kind about it, saying if I’d spent the money playing golf, I wouldn’t have had anything to show for my time. At least I still had a car.

This time I think I want to formulate an actual plan, to know where I’d like to finish at. It’s very tempting to just start buying bigger tires, a taller lift, and so forth, but I’m not going to be wheeling every weekend. Most of the JK’s time will be spent around town. I think I’d like to end up with something akin to the AEV Jeeps. Somewhere between 2.5-3.5” lift on 33-35” tires, with lots of usable wheel travel.
 

Honor2afault

Caught the Bug
Welcome to WAL from Kansas city. Pretty sure your cell phone can take a new pic anytime you're ready. No need to hunt for one.
 

Oldgrayfrog

New member
61E223B8-428D-4D43-9A85-DFE0B3C8C9AA.jpeg 794B4DAF-C891-4BBE-8CF8-A5AFF13700C4.jpeg E13877A4-031B-45D4-A2CD-8EE4619ADCA2.jpeg
Welcome to WAL from Kansas city. Pretty sure your cell phone can take a new pic anytime you're ready. No need to hunt for one.

So while it’s true the phone takes pics, I never remember... here’s one from the night I brought my Jeep home, one of the AEV rear bumper and the last one is the hard rock sliders I found on EBay. I haven’t taken any pictures of the 10AE front bumper or the Warn 10S. I’ll post some pics after I mount tires on the AEV Pintler wheels I just picked up. Still trying to decide between 285/70 and 285/75 tires...
 
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