Lift kit owners, respond please!!!!!

[billyrb]

Alright, guys....done lots of searching, but still can't find any clear answers:

This is for people who HAVE INSTALLED ON THEIR RIG one of the following (all apply):
1. Rough Country lift
2. Rusty's lift
3. Sky jacker lift
4. BDS lift

What I want to know is this:
A. Which lift do you have, and what year rig is it on?
B. What is the ride like? Is it rough, soft, spongy, or comfortable?
C. What kind of problems did you have installing it? Ie: major or minor?
D. What is the customer service like? Good or bad?
E. After having the lift for 6 months or more, what are your thoughts?
F. If doing it over again, would you select the same lift kit? Why?
G. What are the pro's and con's of your specific lift?

Thanks a bunch!

~ryan

[Michael]

Billy-
I have only had mine a few weeks but here is what I have found.
Rusty's 4"

1) I do like the ride, a bit bouncy but over all stiffer than stock but still very comfortable.
2) had to grind the Rear bushings to fit the box end. I believe the bushing they put in is 3 1/4 and we need a 2 15/16 or something.
3)Emergency brake cable needed to be relocated. About an inch short
4) Rusty's Customer Service is awesome. Usually you will talk to Rusty himself.
5) Yes I would choose this lift again. I have not seen the others but it is great deal for the $$.
6) Not sure of pro's and con's... I know that with 15x8 wheels and 31x10.5 I still get rubbing in the rear under major flex.
7) I believe a lot of the bouncy and extreme rear flex is because the shocks are not very strong....they seem very soft.

Anyway that is my .02 ;) :D

[River Beast]

A. Which lift do you have, and what year rig is it on?

4" Skyjacker Softride system (no blocks) on my 78 Waggie

B. What is the ride like? Is it rough, soft, spongy, or comfortable?

Soft and flexy

C. What kind of problems did you have installing it? Ie: major or minor?

Relatively easy...go to my site

D. What is the customer service like? Good or bad?

Never had to deal with them directly

E. After having the lift for 6 months or more, what are your thoughts?

Installed in Feb 99... AWESOME and no sag


F. If doing it over again, would you select the same lift kit? Why?

HIGHLY recommend the skyjacker cuz of the ride... but cost can be an issue

G. What are the pro's and con's of your specific lift?

Pro's---AWESOME ride, massive tweakin'...no con's except having to turn around the spring clamp bolts on one side during install...any lift can amplify an existing problem.... it did for me...just more money to spend

Worth EVERY penny I paid and wouldn't want anything else... :D

[ January 25, 2002: Message edited by: River Beast ]</p>

[tito]

Here's some feedback

A. Rough Country 3" put under an '87 GW last summer.
B. Ride: like an off road truck, stiff and bouncy. The suspension absorbs pot holes just fine, but not uneven or rough roads. Drove 1200 miles for holidays and bounced the whole way, especially at joints between bridges and the pavement. Wife swore she was airborne a couple of times, but she tends to exagerate. Get to ride alone most of the time now (extra bonus from lift kit).

Need to do some more serious offroading to flex the spring packs. Noticed a big difference after the first time, cut the bouncing by half. Haven't had a chance to find a new mudhole and trail, power company blocked off our best place. Just some sissy trails lately.
C. Biggest problems:
- lack of air wrenches causing busted knuckles and sore triceps
- getting old bushings out of shackles
- learning the hard way not to take the track bars completely off, just loosen
- learning the hard way to do one spring at a time (rather than having the front axle on the garage floor and pieces hanging everywhere)
- remembering the true value of penetrating oil
- getting the old u bolts off
- the kit came with one u-bolt for the front the wrong size, Napa matched the old one in 1 day
- figuring out which way the shims on the rear springs go
Took 4 weekday evenings and 2 weekends with the problems.
D. Customer service was good.
- product arrived on time
- credit card was billed correctly
- thought a set of ubolts was missing and they shipped out immediately w/o charge, found the others buried in the boxes 3 weeks later.
E. Glad to have it done
- gained 5.5" of lift from sagging old springs
- leveled the truck out, was leaning left and front
- definite improvement for off roading the few times it's been
- better handling on streets, goes where its pointed, old springs had it wobbling all over
F. would buy the same kit again despite roughness of ride. It's a 4000lb+, 4X4 Jeep, it should ride like one, not a Lexus.
G. Pros - price, quality, looks, service
Cons - roughness of ride

Do a search on the subject in this forum. There's lots of feedback and tips to make it easier. After reading everything I could here, I chose the Rough Country.

Tito :cool:

[Kimbrough]

I have Rusty's 4" lift. You get a ride this weekend!
Me think you like it!!! :D

[Iron Horse]

I like it!!!! See my post here: Rusty's 6" lift evaluation (http://www.ifsja.org/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=2&t=007833)

[Sitting Bull]

Hey Ryan...

I've got 4" skyjacker softrides in the front, and 4" RC w/ 2" blocks in the back. It rode nice for the two weeks I had it on the road. The front's a little cushier than the rear, which is a set-up I like. Come by sometime and sit in the driver's seat while I jump on the back bumper if you want to test it out. :D

[billyrb]

Sure, Bull.....can ya make the vroom vroom noise while I pretend I'm offroading??!!!! j/k!

Man, I can't WAIT for tomorrow! This is gonna be an awesome riding weekend!

~ryan

[ZZ-2000]

Check out my link for my Rusty's install http://www.ifsja.org/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=9&t=000029

[billyj7175]

I have the Rusty's 4", with rear add-a-leaves and blocks.
The Ride?
Pretty stiff, but it's a truck...
The Install?
I started spraying all the fasteners with WD-40 one week prior to install. Still had to use a 1" impact (yes I said one inch) to get one of the u-bolt nuts off...used almost a whole can of WD-40 during the entire install.
The front spring centering bolt is too large to fit in the pilot hole in the axle spring pads. I realized this after I had already hung both front springs...what makes this worse, is that the centering bolts are cut to length, with what looked like a set of bolt cutters, so therefore, you damage the threads removing the nut... After I removed the centering bolts, and ground the head of them down, and finally got a nut threaded back on them, they fit fine.
The shocks came with one end of them having the pressed through rod, for a two bolt upper shock mount. The shocks came with the currect rubber bushing, but these all had to be pressed out and the correct ones pressed back in... The left, rear, lower shock mount angle didn't provide enough clearence between the shock and the axle tube...a little banging, and a small dent in the shock (there went the warranty probably) and it fit fine. But upon axle droop on that side that shock/axle angle will tighten and probably dent it further...we'll see.
The kit mentions nothing about the emergency brake cable, but mine was strung tight. I removed one of the brackets for some slack, but now they hang down a little bit...I'm worried that stick, log or rock is going to rip them off someday. My J-10 is a longbed, so maybe the wagoneer/cherokee's won't have this problem...i dunno.
The rear add-a-leaves were another story. Their installation is not included in the directions, and thanks to this website (thanks guys!), I learned a few tricks getting them installed. They (ironically) weren't that bad to install.
I didn't opt to install a dropped pitman arm, but I think eventually I will. I did notice that going over bumpy roads, and you have to continually correct the steering to go straight. I haven't had mine aligned yet either, so maybe that will fix the problem...we'll see.
I managed to install the entire kit, in about 7 hrs, but we (me and my oldest son) worked pretty hard on it all day. I don't know what we would have done without the air tools, and press...
The shipping?
I live in California, and it took a good two weeks to get here...and cost me $119 in shipping.
Overall, I'm quite pleased with the kit. The truck sits level, and finally looks like a real 4WD..hahaha. I got tired of the questions "is that thing really 4wd?".
Besides the few sidesteps on the install, It went very well...I just had to get creative a few times...hahaha...I also had a few selected words to say during the install that's for sure...hahahah
Customer Service?
I got to talk to the man himself, and he was very helpful.
I can't think of anything else. I would have opted for the Skyjacker kit, but for the money, you can't beat the rusty's setup.
GOOD LUCK!

[waggin'ear]

I also have the 4" kit w/ AAL and blocks.

I'm sure that I must have put mine on wrong, but I didn't have to grind anything, it took about one day with just handtools, and I don't have a dropped pitman arm.

As for service etc., it was pretty good.

I would buy a kit from Rusty's again.

[billyrb]

Well, after riding with Kimbrough this weekend on the Rich Mountain SE FSJ ride, I have to say: Rusty, you have yourself another customer! The ride was fantastic! On the highway, it was nice and smooth....on the trail, it was perfect! As soon as I get the motors swapped in my rig, and it passes emissions, I'm buying & installing the rusty's 4" lift....oh, and I'll be adding some front swaybar disconnects too.....saw the benefit of those this weekend as well!

Thanks everyone for the advice.....now, where is the cheapest place to get a rusty's 4"?

~ryan

[jasonthomasfrance]

A. Which lift do you have, and what year rig is it on?
A.1. BDS 4" with all new leafs

B. What is the ride like? Is it rough, soft, spongy, or comfortable?
B.1. Stiffer than stock, not too harsh for me.

C. What kind of problems did you have installing it? Ie: major or minor?
C.1. Had to grind down the rear bushings(?) to get it onto the shakle. And the rear clips that hold the spring leafs together hits the frame(grind it off). And you need a dropped pitman arm, comes separate.

D. What is the customer service like? Good or bad?
D.1. Never dealt with them.

E. After having the lift for 6 months or more, what are your thoughts?
E.1. I like it. Rides all right on the road. Haven't had a chance to ride it hard off road yet.

F. If doing it over again, would you select the same lift kit? Why?
F.1. I'd do the BDS again, no second thoughts. It raised the jeep up nice. Take a look at the install pics: BDS Install Pics (http://www.jasonthomasfrance.com/photos/Jeep_FSJ_Lift_Install/)

G. What are the pro's and con's of your specific lift?]
G.1. Cons: it cost about 800-900 dollars. Pros: all new leafs, no blocks.

I like BDS, especially the name. tongue.gif