Hi Ya'll,

I recently bought an 03 TJ Saharah and now I want to lift it for 33x12.50's. I've been shoppin around and am finding out that I may need more than what comes in a standard lift kit. I want to do a 4" suspension lift, might as well do it right. So I have an idea, but I'm not sure of all the details. Basically it's this. I'm looking at a skyjacker, pro comp, or a rough country lift kit, but I'm not sure what else I may need. I have pretty much figured I need a rear cv style driveshaft, but what about other items? I'm hearing about adjustable front camber/caster, transfer case drop brackets and other things, too. Does anyone have a list of exactly what I need to do a 4" lift? Any help or suggestions are, as always, greatly appreciated.



Thanks,
Mike  

Four inches is more than you need for 33s.

A lower center of gravity is better. There is a thresh hold when lifting a TJ. It is fairly inexpensive to lift a TJ 2". It is significantly more expensive to correctly lift a TJ more than 2".

Almost none of the suspension MFGs sell a complete 4" short arm lift. There are many things that don't get addressed that should be. And the street manners really suffer. It is rare to talk to someone with a 4" lift that has not had to either address some of the issues or wishes they only did a 2" lift.

You'll also need 4.56 gears.

The best 2" lift is Old Man Emu. If you lower the bump stops, in order to keep the tires out of the fenders and get 8" wheels that have between 4.5" and 5" of backspacing, the 33s will work great.  

What kind of budget are you working with? Include your wheels, tires, gears and lift.  

As far as the budget goes, I can pretty much do what I want, but I don't want to spend a fortune, either.

I would like to run Super Swamper TrXus STS - All Terrain Radials size 33 x 12.50 x 16's on Pro Comp Xtreme wheels. 16x 10's were what I was hoping for. This will run around $1200 or so.

As far as the lift goes I though a suspension lift would be better than a body lift, that's what I meant buy might as well do it right.

When you start to talk about the lift is where it gets a little fuzzy. I'm not sure of all the parts needed, (gears, spacers, front-end, parts, etc.), or the best way to do it. I thought a staight suspension lift would be better than a body or suspension/body lift, maybe 2" suspension and 2" body would be better. This is the first jeep I've decided to lift, so I may be thinking wrong about how to do it, too.

As far as how it drives on the street goes, it won't be going across country often and most of the off road driving will be on sand.

Hope this info helps to get me going in the right direction.

Thanks Again,
Mike  

Some beleive all TJs should get a 1" body lift. This helps a little with tire clearance. But, it is more intended to enable you to run a flatter center skid. And a 1" motor mount lift to improve the drive line angles after tucking up the TC with the flat skid.

Most people don't notice the "ugly" of the body lift because 1" isn't that much. I'm totally neutral, and others say no never.

I would strongly recomend an 8" wheel with backspacing between 4.5" and 5". This helps in many ways. The wider the wheel the more it is negative offset. This offset increases your scrub radius which makes tire clearance even tighter when turning. It makes the vehicle handle like a wagon, and puts more force on your bearings. With an 8" wheel the tire will bulge more and help protect the rim against impacts.

Click here for more info on wheel fitment.

You can't beat OME springs and shocks. They are made for the TJ. They provide a great base when you get bit by the BIGGER tire bug.

I'm running OME 2" springs as my base. I also have about 2k in other JKS and Nth Degree stuff on top of that for the ultimate 4" lift. I'm also running a TomWoods shaft and SYE. I've got about $3500 in a lift that works really well on and offroad.

I ran the OME 2" for a couple years with 33s and a 1" bodylift. I now run 35s with the addition of JKS ACOS in front and Nth spring relocators in the rear.  

I'm running 34x12.5-16 trXus m/t's on a rancho hd 2.5" kit, initially cost me $1030.00 including shocks, I also have added a bunch of nth degree parts to mine including 1 1/2" spacers, (yeah it adds up to 4" in the front but is lower than a tj with 4" springs) to the front to level it and acomodate a nth degree solid adjustable track bar.

interco tire recomends 8" wheels for the 12.5" wide rubber. the 5" backspacing is the minimum..4.5-3.5 is best to keep from pinning the tire to the shocktower when fully atriculated.