Something to worry about or talking out thier butt?

**jeepnpr** · 06-07-2010, 03:03

So I'm at the stealership getting my oil changed and one of the service techs has a JK with a 3" lift and 33's. I tell him it looks nice and I say i am looking at the Clayton 4.5 lift with 37's and 4:88's. He says to me "Good luck with that, every single Jeep lifted over 3" has bad vibrations and constantly tearing up stuff. I see it all the time, that is why 3" is the limit without having problems with antilock & skid control coming on while going around corners"
My question is this. Is this guy just talking without knowing the product or is there problems that I will be getting into by going with this lift (or any other 4" lift) and should I avoid them. Or do as I see many JK'ers do and go for the lift and be happy with it. I see tons of JK's on here and other sites with 4-5" lifts and never really read about issues other than loss of power due to lack of gears & bigger tires. Hopefully it's just talk as i really love the look of the Jk when they are standing tall.
Oh and before I get slammed for not doing my own oil change -- I got 8 free oil changes when I bought the JK so I am using them, still have 4 left. Figure they never gave me anything else free so why not take advantage of this.

**miljeep** · 06-07-2010, 05:15

My own opinion is that anything you do to modify the jeep is going to affect it's handling in some way. It is like those people that tell you that as soon as you modify one thing, it voids the warranty. But if you find a good dealer, they will work on the vehicle under warranty.

I think the guy is talking out his arse and just basing his opinion on what he sees, not what some documented issue relating to the sizes of different lifts.

Who knows. Lift it and wheel it. You only live once.

**jeepnpr** · 06-07-2010, 05:23

Originally Posted by miljeep

My own opinion is that anything you do to modify the jeep is going to affect it's handling in some way. It is like those people that tell you that as soon as you modify one thing, it voids the warranty. But if you find a good dealer, they will work on the vehicle under warranty.

I think the guy is talking out his arse and just basing his opinion on what he sees, not what some documented issue relating to the sizes of different lifts.

Who knows. Lift it and wheel it. You only live once.

Thanks, thats what I was thinking. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't getting myself into a can of worms with what I wanted to do to it. And if my dealer don't want to work on it once lifted then there is always the dealer in Manasass.

**5JZ** · 06-07-2010, 08:13

I have only heard of 2 issues mentioned when going up; drive shaft length when you go to 4" or more, Putting in the Slip Yoke Eliminator takes care of that (saving for mine now).
Death Wobble is the other and from what I hear, that is mostly due to impatiance and a lack of attention to detail when moving and welding anchor points. Take the time to make sure everything lines up and the parts that need to be level are. Measure 10 times, cut / weld once.

I just put 4.88s in my TJ (runing 33 x 13.50s right now). I LOVE them, no problems getting to or maintaining 75 MPH. Before the upgrade I occasionally had problems staying at 65.
"Z"

**Scottie** · 06-07-2010, 08:21

Originally Posted by miljeep

Who knows. Lift it and wheel it. You only live once.

That is my new quote! HAHAHAHA!

**Ross** · 06-07-2010, 08:31

The more you modify your jeep the more issues you will run into. With enough money and time you can overcome them. On my TJ I went from 33's to 35's. I wore U joint, hubs and toe rod ends much quicker with the 35s so I went back to 33s. I have a Dana 30 up front. I could have gotten different hubs and a beefier axle and solved the problems. It all depends on how much time and money you want to put into your jeep. On a TJ once you go above about 2.5 to 3 inches you will have drive line vibes unless you adjust for them. There are different ways to deal with this. The higher the lift the more it takes. You can spend a couple hundred collars or so and get a 2” budget boost. To go 3” (suspension) you can maybe get away with doing it for maybe $700 plus. You go over that and you want to do it right it will cost you well over a grand to get it right. Start talking 5-6” of lift you can be talking thousands. Once you go real big 35” tires plus you need to start considering allot more issues with your steering geometry, steering components, bigger brakes etc.

As far as warranty: If the changes obviously won't be covered under manufactured warranty and any damage caused by the changes won't be covered either.

**SGM O** · 06-07-2010, 10:53

The bottom line is this, the more you modify your Jeep, the more potential there is for problems. CJ's and YJ's are pretty simple and easy to modify. The TJ with its coil springs changes that a little. Now the JK has all this electronics and if it is not set up properly, the electronics can cause you problems. So the mechanic is right, but that doesn't mean it can't be done, it is just harder for the shade tree mechanic do do it all over a weekend.

That being said, what are you using your Jeep for? I ran my TJ as my daily driver and when it was set up with 4" of lift I was running 33" tires it was great on the road and good on the trail. Now I have a 6" lift set up, 35" tires and it is okay on the road and great on the trail. I also tend to blow something every time I road trip it. Mostly pinion seals, axle seals, etc. So tomorrow it goes to Predator for upper control arm bushings that needed to be replaced before I drove it back from Fort Lewis, but also my right rear axle seal is leaking which is a result of the road trip. This is all do to running larger and heavier tires, pinion angles and yes I have a SYE and new rear drive shaft, more weight, etc.

**Bluegoose** · 06-07-2010, 11:24

When I got the 4" lift on my "10" JK rubicon I was told to keep an eye on the drive shafts. rubbing from the rubber boot to the exhaust on the rear and front and rear joint breakage,,,A new set of drive shafts from Tom Woods was the suggestion.

**trailsnail** · 06-07-2010, 13:27

Lift it, Love it, Wheel it. If you do everything right, you more than likely won't run into any issues. If the dealership talks about all those vibrations, find out who is doing the lifts and stay away from them. They could be simply slapping lifts on to make the JK's look cool and don't really know what they are doing. Find a good shop (unless your going to do it yourself), and make sure they warranty their work. This way if there are issues, you can bring it back.

Once a jeep is lifted, many people drive it differently from when it was stock. Why? Because they now can. From daily road driver, to trails makes a difference. Places you were able to crawl through before now become easier and you may have the tendency to fly through. Remember, the bumps, rocks, ditches haven't changed. Just because you can now fly through certain area's doesn't mean you need to. The impacts on the jeep from these will be greater because of the greater speeds. There are many factors like the one's mentioned above that need to be taken into consideration.