I'm Ryan from ExtremeTerrain.com, and this is my review of the Rough Country three and
a quarter inch Lift Kit with Shocks, fitting all 2007 to 2016 JKs. This kit is available
for both two-door and four-door JKs, so make sure you get the right one for your Jeep.
This lift is a good way to inexpensively fit 35-inch tires under your Jeep. It includes
the minimum number of components that you need to lift the Jeep, put larger tires under
it, and get it back on the road, all at a minimum price. The components that are included
are quality, and it'll get the job done, but there's definitely some room for growth. So
as you use your Jeep and you find the limitations of the suspension, you can modify it and customize
it to work exactly the way you need it to. Like I said, the kit does include everything
you need to get back on the road and rolling again.
Part of the lift kit are these two and a half inch lift coil springs, and three quarter
inch coil spring spacers that make up your total three and a quarter inches of lift.
You have shocks front and rear, extended rear sway bar and links, brake line brackets, and
a rear track bar bracket. Now there are some parts that you can always add to this lift
kit as you see fit. One of those parts are bump stop extensions. Anytime you're doing
suspension work, you want to fully flex the suspension and make sure you don't have any
clearance issues. You also want to make sure that you're not going to fully compress the
shock, which can damage it. Fully compress a spring, or put into coil bind, which again
can damage it. Or put a tire up into the body, which can damage the fender flare or pop one
off.
This kit does include some rubber isolators on the shocks, which will help to keep them
from fully compressing and damaging a shock. But I still recommend having traditional bump
stop extensions added to the Jeep. Another component that isn't included in this kit,
that I always recommend for a lift kit of this height, would be some sort of geometry
and pinion correction, especially for the front of the Jeep. Anytime you're lifting
the suspension, you're rolling the axle, which will get your caster out of spec, which can
cause a bit of a flighty feel going down the highway because the steering wheel doesn't
quite want to re-center. And it can also change your pinion angle, which can cause driveline
vibrations and excessive wear of U joints and other driveshaft components. If that is
a concern of yours, once you have this lift kit installed, you can always go ahead and
add geometry correction brackets or different control arms.
The springs that are included in this lift kit provide two and a half inches of lift,
and they're going to be stiffer, which means they're going to hold up to extra weight from
bumpers, armor, winches, and large spare tires a little bit better than those factory springs
will. The shocks that are included in this kit are going to be sized properly for the
new lifted suspension, so you're still going to get the maximum up and down travel. As
you can see, the shocks don't have any sort of band or anything that's limiting them from
extending on them right now, and they're not extending automatically.
And that's because these are a hydraulic shock, and not a nitrogen-charged shock. A nitrogen-charged
shock has a few benefits over hydraulic. The nitrogen in the shock will keep the liquid
in the shock from foaming up and cavitating when it's worked really, really hard. That
cavitation can cause shock failure. The downside to a nitrogen-charged shock is they can ride
a little bit stiffer. So the hydraulic shocks are included in this kit are going to ride
a little bit softer, and be a little bit more comfortable, but you're not going to have
the added benefit of the nitrogen in the shock to keep the shock from foaming and fading
over time. For most of us that go off road, a hydraulic shock is perfectly fine, and it's
actually a more comfortable ride than a nitrogen shock. However, if you're somebody who's doing
high speed desert racing, over washboards, that type of thing, you might be more interested
in the nitrogen shock to keep it from fading.
Like everything else in this lift kit, the rear track bar bracket that's included will
get the job done. It's not going to be quite as beefy as some of the track bar brackets
that are included in other Rough Country kits or in other kits on the market. So if you
find you have a little bit of sway in the back of the Jeep, it could be from this bracket
flexing. However, it'll definitely get the job done. It'll allow you to use that factory
rear track bar, and it'll get you back on the road again. And it has an adjustment for
roll center, which is a nice feature.
Keeping with the theme of getting the job done, but leaving a little room for improvement,
are the brake line relocation brackets. As you can see, they're really simple relocation
brackets. And in the back of the Jeep, they'll definitely get the job done without a problem.
Even some of the higher end kits include a bracket really similar to this, and there's
no problem in the back. But in order to use these brackets up front, you actually have
to straighten out the factory hard brake lines, which I'm not really a fan of doing. I personally
would recommend adding a new, longer brake line to the front of the Jeep, which will
keep you from having to straighten out the hard lines, and make sure that the brake lines
aren't going to go taut under full droop.
Finally, along with all the hardware you need to get this bolted into the Jeep, the kit
does include new longer rear sway bar end links. From the factory, the rear sway bar
end links are longer than the ones in the front of the Jeep. So Rough Country includes
new, longer rear links, allowing you to move the factory rears to the front, giving you
that little bit of additional length that you need for this lift. If you're somebody
who plans on going off road a lot, you'll probably end up upgrading the front sway bar
end links to some sort of quick disconnect down the line, but these'll work for now.
Getting the lift kit installed on this Jeep was pretty straightforward, because it installs
much like any other lift kit would. The first step is to support the Jeep from the frame,
and then remove or loosen all the components that keep the axle from completely drooping.
On this Jeep, that's going to be the front and rear sway bar links, the track bars, front
driveshaft, brake line brackets, emergency brakes, and the breathers for both front and
rear differentials. And of course the shocks, because you're replacing the shocks with this
lift kit. Once you have all of those components loosened or removed, you'll be able to lower
the axles down, and the old springs will fall right out.
In fact, you'll have enough room to re-install the new springs with the coil spring spacers,
all without the need for a coil spring compressor. I always like to try and avoid using a coil
spring compressor whenever possible, because they can get a little cumbersome when you're
in the tight space in a wheel well, and they always make me a little bit nervous when they're
under load. Now that you have the longer coil springs and coil spring spacers installed,
you can move on to installing the supplied sway bar end links. Again, the kit supplies
end links for the rear of the vehicle, and you're going to take the factory rear sway
bar end links, and move those to the front.
As you continue putting on new components, you'll install the brake line relocation brackets.
In the rear of the vehicle they'll bolt right up, but in the front, like we mentioned before,
you will have to do a little bit of work straightening out the factory hard lines. At this point,
you can re-install the new longer shocks that come with the lift kit. The bolt that fights
me the most when doing one of these installs, especially on an older Jeep that has some
rust, is the front upper shock mount bolt. So I definitely suggest spraying that liberally
with a good penetrating oil a few days before you start the install, if at all possible.
Because it is a really tight space, so if the bolt's stubborn, it's really hard to get
in there with heat or with a cutoff wheel. Nine times out of ten, when they're really
rusty, we end up just breaking them off. From there, you can re-install the front driveshaft,
and put wheels and tires on the Jeep, and get it back under its own weight.
For those of you following along at home, you might have noticed I didn't mention track
bars, and there's a reason for that. I always like to re-connect the track bars with the
weight of the vehicle on the ground, because it makes getting those bolts lined up a lot
easier. On the rear, you're going to install the supplied rear track bar bracket, that
again has three different mounting holes for a different roll center. But in the front,
there's no bracket, and if you're using your factory track bar, it can be a little bit
difficult to get it lined up. My suggestion for this is to have somebody get in the vehicle,
turn the key to the on position so the steering wheel's unlocked. Then as you turn the steering
wheel back and forth, it'll very easily move the whole body and frame on top of the axle.
That allows you to get that bolt lined up really, really easily without having to fight
it. I've tried all different things in the past, from ratchet straps to having people
stand on the bumper and bounce up and down. This is by far the easiest way to do this.
The whole install should take you about six hours, and you can do this in your driveway
with just floor jacks, and jack stands, and some regular hand tools. However, if you have
access to some other tools, it'll definitely speed the process up. Having air tools, a
lift, and an extra set of hands around will definitely smooth out the process. As with
any major suspension work, after you get everything done, you want to check your clearances. You'll
flex the suspension to make sure you're not going to have a tire contact the body, or
fully compress a shock or a spring, which can cause damage. Another area to check your
clearances on is the front driveshaft and the hot exhaust. On some of the newer Jeeps,
the driveshaft gets really close to the exhaust. And after you lift it, and especially when
you're fully drooping the front suspension, it can get really close and cause damage to
the driveshaft boot. If you do have that issue, don't worry. It's a cheap and easy fix by
installing a new exhaust spacer kit.
Like I said in the beginning, this lift kit includes the minimum number of parts that
you need to run larger tires on the Jeep, and get it rolling down the road again. But
it also does it at a really reasonable price. In my opinion, because of the quality of the
components included in this kit, it's definitely worth the cost if you're looking for an inexpensive
starter lift kit to get you going, that you can build on down the line. So if you're looking
for a lift kit that gives you a pretty comfortable ride, will completely change the look of your
Jeep, and gives you the opportunity to upgrade your suspension as you see fit down the line,
and really customize your Jeep for your needs, this is a really nice budget starter kit.
So that's my review of the Rough Country three and a quarter inch Lift Kit with Shocks, fitting
all 2007 to 2016 JKs, that you can find right here at ExtremeTerrain.com.