wondering what is a good, CHEAP, way to get a 2.5" suspention for my 95 wrangler, he's riding on his axle, hurts my bum

Moved . . . Nailer could prolly answer your question :8

thanks for the move, I should also add I'm not yet looking for professional equipment, however not looking for a quick fix necessarily. also, other then a few hundred bucks what is the diff between nitro and hydro shocks?

call your local four wheel parts wholesaler, and ask about their pro comp springs..
otherwise, if you just want to get a bit more room... you could do a 2" body lift, or 1" body lift, and 1" shackle lift.
i'm not to fond of the shackle lifts though.
good luck

Nailer, just the opposite here. Not fond of body lifts. 1-2" is ok, any more than that, well, had a friend who had a body shop in CO, well he said that he had seen a few 4x4's with body lifts, when they got into accidents, the whole body shifted, costing them more repair work.

I know what you're gonna say and I agree. Huge shackle lifts are a no-no. So I liked it when you said " 1" shackle, 1" body " sounds like a great way to inexpensively lift Ace's wrangler.

Do it right ! Then you only have to do it once . Spring kits are cheap and getting cheaper . My personal prefferance is for the Rancho springs and shocks ( 9000x's )

I've got to get the suspention anyhow so I'll look into the Rancho springs and shocks, thanks for the advice. I suppose a 1" body lift wouldn't hurt, I'm not to keen on body lifts, Unless I'm going for some huge swampers, I don't much see the point. Any other advice would help great.
Thanks guys!

bodylifts are not a great thing to do but they do have there advantages , when the body goes up so can the fuel tank and the transfer case and motor . alot of work but clearance is a good thing

If you are looking to make the jeep big sometime down the line, just buy a Rancho 2 1/2 kit and then if you want to get some real lift later, just do a spring over with those springs...you'll be sittin at about 8" with that set up! LOL Really though, you don't need anything more than 2 1/2 inch springs to get 33's on there....just add a longer shackle when you are ready, and be prepared for some interesting handling quirks... I have 1 3/8" lift shackles with 4" SuperLift springs, and I love this setup aside from the way screwed up castor. This can be fixed by turning the knuckles, but it's a major pain. I can live with it. I had 2 1/2" springs with the longer shackles, and my 33"x12.50 BFG's rubbed the fenders pretty hard when stuffing a tire, but I could have just added bump stop extensions to stop it without adding more lift (I have NO bump stops now :D)

Oh, and I WAS kidding when I said do a spring over with 2 1/2" springs...spring over sucks


:shades:

I won't need to get extended stearing, or drive shafts with 2.5 will I? and will I be able to fix most problems with an alinment? never put a lift on my own, did a friends, with him once, but don't know if he had any problems with it or not.

Originally posted by ace
I won't need to get extended stearing, or drive shafts with 2.5 will I? and will I be able to fix most problems with an alinment? never put a lift on my own, did a friends, with him once, but don't know if he had any problems with it or not.

at 2.5 inches you should have no problem with driveshaft length. You might have a bit of a problem with the pinion angle, but that is easily fixed with degree shims. They go between the spring and the axle, and rotate it to get the proper angle. As for the steering, after the lift an alignment is all that is needed. The installation is pretty straight forward, take old off . . . put new on. :D Good luck.

i had the rancho 2 1/2" lift for a while.. it required 2.5 degree shims, and 3/4" transfer case drop, and there were no vibes.. it was actually a nice set up, but i'll warn you in advance.... you will want to go bigger in the near future, so you may want to go right to it, and save the money for a 4" lift.
even with the 4" lift, you can get away with 6 degree shims, and a 1" transfer case drop, and be "pretty much" vibe free... at least long enough to save some money for the s.y.e.
something to concider :P

Definitely - if you have any thought in your mind whatsoever that you will want it to be bigger within the next two years, just wait till you have the coin to do it to it. You will kick yourself for spending the money on the 2 1/2's if what you really want is more lift.

Only concern I see that noone mentioned about the 4" lift, steering correction. Dukes said all that you need is an alignment at 2.5", true. I thought it was said, that at 4" or higher, you should give thought to a dropped pitman arm. Am I wrong?? My Jeep isn't that tall yet, well, 2.5" Rancho and extended shackles with 33's, don't have a pitman arm anyhow, just a bellcrank. Anyhow, would Ace need to change the pitman if he went with the 4" lift?

I'm not too sure about YJ steering, but a droped pitman arm at 4 inches probably isnt a bad idea. BUT, you might be able you get away with just having the stock one. I would d a 1" body lift and a 2-2.5 inch suspention lift, and you'll have a good looking jeep. :D and a capible one too

I agree, that would make for a good looking Jeep, and I also like Jim's reason for the body lift, to get a little more clearance for some of the important items that like to drag.

Usually a 4" kit comes with a drop pitman arm, so you would be covered anyhooo.

good point rick, forgot about that.

All this is good to know, I think though that I am going to go witht the 2 1/2", I've still got three years left in school, and I plan to get a cj just after that, the cj will be the one I really want to go nuts with. my YJ is, for a while, my day2day so I have to becareful, But just for a while I swear!
anyhow, what to you think total cost would be after all the parts? I mean how much difference between the 2.5 and 4? If its like a hundred bucks then I might go 4, but I think its a few hundred isn't it? I hate to sound like a cheap skate, but unfortunatly, for now, I have to be. At least till I get a job that pays money instead of peanuts.

Ace, took a quick look for you in Petersen's. I looked at the National Tire and Wheel ad. For a YJ, the 2.5" lift would cost $510, the 4" would cost $543. That is for the Skyjacker suspension system. Just one example. Now for just one piece of advice, do whatever you feel comfortable doing, don't let any of us Jeep freaks influence you, too much for now.

or Pro-Comp, Nailer has the 4 inch kit on his YJ and seems to be happy with it.

it really depends what oyur future plans are for THIS jeep. if you are just going to drive to and from school, and a bit of wheeling on the weekwnds.. then, go for the 2.5".
if you plan to build this thing up, then go for the 4"... the reason i say this is because there are a lot of other conciderations when you go to the 4" lift. your tires will no longer"look" adequate on the jeep. you WILL want to get the s.y.e. on there down the road. and that is just the beginning :)

No offense Ace, but Nailer, you might want to leave out some of the acronyms for now, for Ace's sake. You and I both know what an s.y.e. is, but, I don't know if Ace does. Talked with him a bit this morning. He is looking for all of the advice and help he can get. So, I'll let you do the write up about Slip Yoke Eliminators. Later

Slip Yoke Eliminators, got it!
No offense taken at all. I know somethings about jeeps, but not enough by any means, my other jeep was put together before I got it, and my only experiance otherwise is working on other peoples junk, mainly looseing and tightening bolts and stuff. I picked up a little info and learned what goes where but thats about it.
however feel free to use any acronyms you want, if I don't know what it is I'll look it up. I've done it about six times since joining this board. but thanks for lookin out for me trailbst, I don't know if I ever would have got Slip Yoke Eliminators from s.y.e... haha

If you don't know some of the acronyms, look in the FAQ's. The moderators for this forum have spent some time putting them in there for everyone. Some of them I had never seen. That's part of why I love these guys, so much to learn and share with them, and well, the personalities are great.

no joke, thanks a bunch guys! in the short time I've been a mjr member, I've learned a ton, hope no one minds my silly questions about how to pump the gas or whatever... haha

just so long s you know which hole the oil goes in, and which one the radiator fluid goes in. LOL