Breaking the Ice

[AJeepZJ]

Smells new in here, Love the new forum smell. Fresh paint, excellent crown molding, carpets not even dirty yet, and nice wood finish - very nice!

Anyway - I own and wheel a modestly modified WK - the inside is done, for now, with Pionner touch screen nav, blue tooth and Ipod sync, aftermarket sunroof, leather, heated seats, power everything, and replaced the carpet rugs with mopar rubber. I started working on the exterior last year. It's a 3.7L WK with 3" OME lift, and 255/75/17's GoodYear Wrangler Silent Armors, pinchweld, and fender mods have been done, Load Warrior cargo basket with spare thrown up top, some aftermarket headlights which i'm pulling out and putting back in the stocks when I get some free time. At one point I had 3 sets of lights on the Jeep, a westin chrome bull guard with a set of lights the entire I think I removed to increase approach angle. set of KC Hilites on top bolted to the cargobasket which I still have, and reverse lights which get banked up all the time (they currently act as my sliders lol, and I will be relocating these up top on the cargo basket as well). Back when I installed the reverse lights, I was pulling my friends Jet Ski's around a lot, and I lived out in the farm where it was pitch dark - So i needed them.) Now they are just in the way and I hit'm once in a while. My WK mods have slowed down a lot because I've been putting more emphasis on my XJ. But the future of my WK will probably see CAI, and some skids, and probably upgrade to some of those sexy bighorn tires that Sal's been wielding.

aj

[Sal-XK]

Hey man you made over cool. I didn't even k ow it was you untill I started reading about your mods then saw you sig:)

[LWM]

Welcome to the family.

[Matt]

Welcome aboard man! Post up some pics. I'm sure you'll like it here..... no wrangler owners to tell us how inferior we are. :p

[IamJEEP]

Ah man, the party's over!











LOL, welcome AJ.

[cico7]

Hang out the pin up's of your ride.......tell Sal to quit weilding.....

[AJeepZJ]

Ah man, the party's over!






LOL, welcome AJ.

lol - you don't mean that!

I tried to register as Carolina WK - But I couldn't seem to post for some reason. I thought I jacked up the registration or something, lol.

[Matt]

Don't lie man... we know you changed your name so you wouldn't be recognized as a defector on the other forum!

[AJeepZJ]

That is a SERIOUS accusation, sir!

[Matt]

Lmao!

Just calling it like it see it. :p

[AJeepZJ]

Here are pics of the WK. First is the last pic from PreRun Uwharrie this year (Sal parked next to me). Second is the last pic I took on the farm before I moved, (miss that place), last one is at Maryland with Dan and Jager.
https://theultimatejeep.com/images/imported/2011/07/DSC02939-1.jpg
https://theultimatejeep.com/images/imported/2011/07/teamome-1.jpg
https://theultimatejeep.com/images/imported/2011/07/DSC03115-1.jpg

[CmmdrDan]

God Damnit! Who let him in the special club! And how come the lastpicture isnt working!?

[AJeepZJ]

I'm exceptional - Last pic is working for me - And if your at work - it takes a while for dial-up to load the pictures.

[IamJEEP]

Finally, JEEP PORN!!!!!!

[IamJEEP]

Is it me or is your front higher than your rear?

Btw, im talking about your wk.... for the record.

[Sal-XK]

AJ you can post all your WK stuff in the main forum since were trying to combine the XK\WK together. Your XJ build can go in the my other jeep section under the proper section. I would post in the new member section and AKA you other screen name so everyone knows who you are. Oh and if you get bored I'll be at Carolina beach all weekend bro. How's it going

[Holaday07 4.7]

God Damnit! Who let him in the special club! And how come the lastpicture isnt working!?

My posts get edited for saying sh*t lol? hahah who are these WK guys, do any of them wheel in the Midwest? I need somebody to have a different Jeep than a Rubicon around St. Louis.

[AJeepZJ]

Is it me or is your front higher than your rear?

Btw, im talking about your wk.... for the record.

It's pretty leveled, actually. But if you are talking about the general space within the wheel well... I know what you mean. The OME gave me about 3.5" in the front... 2.5 in the back. So it may 'appear' as though there is more lift in the front, which there is about an extra 1" in the front. But the body itself isnt any higher in the back than it is in the front. I think this is particularly more noticeable on the 3.7's since they weigh a lot less than the larger and heavier 4.7 and 5.7 engines.


AJ you can post all your WK stuff in the main forum since were trying to combine the XK\WK together. Your XJ build can go in the my other jeep section under the proper section. I would post in the new member section and AKA you other screen name so everyone knows who you are. Oh and if you get bored I'll be at Carolina beach all weekend bro. How's it going

ok - if you guys want to move it, thats cool with me.

aj

[IamJEEP]

Are you having any issues with your axles or balljoint being that high?

Yes i was looking at the wheel well space. I wonder if you use the rear shocks Sal has, if it will raise the rear an inch or so?

[AJeepZJ]

BJ's no... at least not yet - I'm waiting for them to go bad so I can replace them. I don't feel like fronting 400 bucks just to replace something that ain't broke yet, lol. So when they start to crap out, I will replace them then. My Axles and driveshafts are fine. The lift is still within a comfortable angle of operation as to not stress out the xcase or cv joint too much - by the time they would have gone bad - I would have probably already popped in some aftermarket. What I won't be doing is stacking any spacers or anything - I know there are a lot of WK's moving in the direction - But I will wait to see how the WK handles that first before I step in that direction.

[IamJEEP]

Well, 3.5" and 4"s are not that far apart and if you are rocking it without paying $1500 for a SL 4"er, more power to you. I'm strongly considering the OME lift for sometime in the future.

[Matt]

Probably for another threads discussion, but real suspension lifts like the 4" superlift has a lot more benefit than just 1/2" more at normal ride height than an OME + spacer 3.5" setup.

To keep this short, sweet and to the point... imagine suspending the vehicle in the air so that all of the tires are hanging at full drop. With a 3.5" spacer type setup, the distance from fender to hub is only as much as the stock control arms, tie rods and CVs will allow. This may be only 1-2" further than where the hub sits at your normal ride height (so say 3.5"+2"... you're looking at the wheel dropping a total of 5.5" from the position of a stock jeep). Now, a 4" suspension lift retains all stock geometry... so from the start you're already 4" further down than the position of the hub for a stock jeep. Add in the suspension travel of 5.5", and you're looking at a hub position change of 9.5" beyond a stock jeep.

In terms of clearance, this means that the belly of your jeep will keep tire contact for 4" higher belly clearance than a spacer lifted jeep would.

If you're just cruising around the streets, yeah there's really not much difference other than increased wear & tear due to the angles of 3.5" VS. OEM angles with the 4" suspension lift.

[AJeepZJ]

I'm familiar with the the benefits of the SL and I'm also aware of the realized lift actually acquired from a SL, which happens to be greater than 4". I don't know if my last post was misread, but I chose the OME and I've had it for almost a year now in September. I have not stacked, and do not plan on stacking any spacers on it. I chose OME because it is truely the maximum lift you should apply to the WK before you really start changing the geometry of the front. Even so, with the SL, i've heard of failures within the drivetrain. So, I don't feel the SL is as reliable as it should be. I wont be stacking spacers on my OME, I don't believe the benefits of this approach outweight the risks of several components failing - it's too much stress. Just thought I'd clarify.

[Matt]

I hear ya. My post about the benefits of the suspension lift were in response to IamJEEP's post.

I personally like the OME kits as well... and will probably be running that by next summer if SL doesn't come out with their "improved" kit soon. My point was just that people may get 'close' to the same ride height increase as the superlift, but there's a bit more to it than that. And it just seems like a lot of people only focus on the height of the vehicle for riding on the street, not how much clearance there is with the suspension at full drop.

Regardless of what kit anyone runs, if you're running bigger tires and/or offroading on occasion, you're going to wear and break parts. Just the way it is https://theultimatejeep.com/notfound.png

[AJeepZJ]

I hear ya. My post about the benefits of the suspension lift were in response to IamJEEP's post.

I personally like the OME kits as well... and will probably be running that by next summer if SL doesn't come out with their "improved" kit soon. My point was just that people may get 'close' to the same ride height increase as the superlift, but there's a bit more to it than that. And it just seems like a lot of people only focus on the height of the vehicle for riding on the street, not how much clearance there is with the suspension at full drop.

Regardless of what kit anyone runs, if you're running bigger tires and/or offroading on occasion, you're going to wear and break parts. Just the way it is https://theultimatejeep.com/notfound.png

Oh I see, lol. Yeah, I see a lot of people moving in the direction of the 'customized OME' lift.. And I can see there justification for it. They are trying to compensate for the sag of the bumpers, skids, winches, and settling of the suspension in the first place, and you are essentially attempting to restore that original height that you had + an inch, which really puts you at about 4.5" of lift all the way around. Conceptually, it makes perfect sense... But I'm going to wait to see how these components hold up and let the 'guinea pigs' try this set up out before I say "no, thats a disaster waiting to happen."

And yeah, I love my OME lift. If I get a ZJ, I've been looking at a 5.2L 98 Orvis and 5.9L 97 Orvis for under 3500... An OME lift is the first thing I want to slap under it. with some 32x11.5 anway - thats another topic for another day, lol.

[pjmjr508]

I might of missed this & if so Sorry, but am I to understand this correctly if I go with the Full EMU lift setup with their shocks & struts along with the EMU HD springs that I could get about 3 1/2 " lift and not break the drivetrain other than me being me doing what I shouldn't with the XK?

[Matt]

You're still increasing all of the angles (tie rods, balljoints, CVs, etc). Increasing angles = increasing wear... period... dot. Generally, with most of the budget lifts like RC spacers, and even the OME setups, you're not too extreme with the angles. So the increased wear and chances of things breaking is there, but not really an imminent issue. When you go further you get to a point where the angles get to the point of causing failures at a much more accelerated rate. What is that exact angle? It doesn't exist, depends on a lot of other factors.

So the short answer is yes/no. Rock the OME HD setup and don't lose any sleep... but just remember to keep an eye on the front end components so you can identify and correct and wear&tear items early.

[pjmjr508]

Cool thanks. Right now I using the Rough Country but is maybe a 2 " lift, if I can go with the OMU setup & get 3 1/2 and still be safe (within reason) I might do the plunge for the kit which is about 800 by next year