• Hello Guest, we are proud to now have our Wiki online that is completely compiled and written by our members. Feel free to browse our Jeep-CJ Wiki or click on any orange keyword when looking at posts in the forum.

Lift Kit Questions

Lift Kit Questions

81jeepswap

Jeeper
Posts
27
Thanks
0
Location
Texas
Vehicle(s)
1981 CJ7, 5.3 Liter, T-19, Dana 300 w/ twin sticks, Dana 60 Front w/ trac lock, Corp 14 w/ Detroit locker, 4 wheel disk brakes. 2007 Subaru STI, 2007 Suburban Z71.
I had originally wanted a rubicon express 4.5" lift, that I can no longer find.... Has anyone used the Old Man Emu 2.5" lift with a spring over conversion? I want to run 37" tires when project is complete and think this may get me most of the way there for clearance. The OME kit uses the YJ springs, they say more flex and better ride. I'm not sure what the pros and cons are to the spring over and if the handling on the street would suffer? Thanks for everyones help, this site is a savor!!! Lennie
 
Not sure on either kit, but stock yj springs with soa will get you between 5-6 inches of lift, some fender trimming and/or a 1" body lift and you should fit 37s easy. Yes on road handling will change significantly to the bad side, you get axle wrap, higher center of gravity, and getting your steering right can be a expensive. Now with 37s you probably going to want to ditch the factory axles, and find some stronger, then regear whatever you can come up with. A properly done soa running big tires can be expensive for sure. I see your wanting to put a small block ford in it, dana 44s will survive with 37s as long as your easy on the gas.
DROOOID2
 
Thanks for your advise, it seems that I really shoould stay away from the SOA conversion and keep hunting for a good lift. I hate to hear the easy on the throttle line, that will be hard to do and I'm getting visions of walking back to camp, haha
 
37s are a very tall order for stock jeep axles, they might survive with a 4 banger and stock gears but it wouldn't hardly have the power to pull it out of its own tracks, to put it in perspective. Dana 44s can survive if you are light on the gas.

DROOOID2
 
I agree with cheep even 44's are on the light side for 37's and a V8.
A SOA on stock height YJ springs should be good since
the only way to fit 37's is going to be cutting some sheet meatal
as 35's fill up the rear wheel wells.
Or go sky high which I don't recommend.
 
I had originally wanted a rubicon express 4.5" lift, that I can no longer find.
Rubicon Express filed for Chapter 11. I tried to buy some of their military wrap springs but couldn't. Too bad a company that made such quality products went out of business.

As for the big tires you are looking at: a CJ doesn't have wheel wells big enough for anything bigger than about 33s. Any bigger than that and they rub in the front and rear of the rear fenders. Then you either need to cut the fenders or lift it high. I run 35s and if you have seen any of my pictures you'll see I prefer to cut the fenders and keep it low (my CJ is still much higher than I'd like). The choice is yours: do you want to keep the classic CJ look or fit bigger tires without lifting it to the sky.

The next issue is the axles and I wouldn't go bigger than 35s with OEM axles.
One piece axles no matter what you get.
 

Jeep-CJ Donation Drive

Help support Jeep-CJ.com by making a contribution.

Help support Jeep-CJ.com by making a contribution.
Goal
$200.00
Earned
$0.00
This donation drive ends in
0 hours, 0 minutes, 0 seconds
  0.0%
Back
Top Bottom