sportrider

ok, I'm getting some money back from uncle sam. I'm getting a RC 4.5" lift kit. if I go AAL, the difference is the price of soft 8's. is it worth the extra cash for full spring stacks? I plan on running 33's on soft 8's, trimming up fenders. any thoughts on it?

stockli

If you can afford it, go full leaf. Just get ready for a battle when you put them on.

SeriousOffroad

Rubicon Express FTW.

mud-dog27

go with the full packs unless you have recently replaced packs, or else you will end up like the rest of the haters who cheap out and then cry that rough country sucks.

ive got the 4.5"RC kit and went with full packs and its still goin strong more than 5yrs of abuse later.

, to OP rubicon express is over rated, when i did my lift my buddy went with the RE equivalent and my lift was bigger when it was all put in and my packs outlasted his, my kit was also less than half what his cost.

Rough country is a great brand to go with, it lasts and doesnt cost an arm and a leg. There are massive amounts of haters out there, most of which blame RC for the fact that they thought AAL with bring bagged packs back to life....or a friend of a friend said RC sucked cause it was half the price or othe rkits but they have no first hand experience to back up the hate.Then there are the massive amount of RC fans out there that will back up what i have said with regards to RC being a good brand and a decent company to deal with.

In the end regardless of what brand you buy unless you have strong packs to begin with AAL is a waste of time/money and always will be.

As for 33s with this kit, im currently running 32x11.5R15s with plenty of room to spare, i do however rub the LCA at full turn, id say you shouldnt have an issue with 33s, at most you might need minimal trimming.

and no offense to SeriousOffroad but IMO your view is a little biased considering you sell RE which would mean going that way would mean potentially buying from you....which doesnt happen if the op goes with an RC kit, but hey what kind of salesmen would you be if you supported the competition.

02edge

I just finished my install and wow was it a pain compared to aal lift installs also with the fully adjustable cas made it a little difficult I would have gone a different route over rc if I could do it again due to the leafs and crappy shackle angle im stuck w now til I feel like buying relocation brackets and messing with matching the lift

SeriousOffroad

No offense taken.
There's a reason why I sell RE, personal experience with the product. I've installed RE products on my rig, and quite a few others. I've removed a number of leser brands in favor of RE as well.

Over rated? Hardly.
RE has always been a leader in the industry, even through the troubles the previous owners experienced. They are back in business and the demand for their outstanding line-up is as strong as it ever was....and RC is still sitting Second Chair IMHO.

To the OP,
Do a search and read as much as you can about can about both, then decide. Don't limit yourself to just these 2 choices though, there are other options.

mud-dog27

My question for the people who say its a ***** to install leaf packs and seem to blame the brand, have you ever installed leaf packs before?

I honestly didnt find installing the RC packs any worse than any other brand of leaf packs.

My shackle angle isnt terrible either.

This is what pisses me off is when people bad mouth a brand...when its usually nothing to do with the brand but more to do with their ability of wrenching.

No **** AAL is easier its a completely different job, it also provides completely different end results.

The fully adjustable controls arms i dont see that as brand problem lots of companies run adjustable arms, its sounds more like you getting into something that is over your head and blaming a brand.

and as SeriousOffroad said do your research cause there are a ton of brands and styles of kits out there and in the end its your rig and your budget. All that said i cant say i hate RE or any other brand for that matter, i just run what works for me and gets me best bang for my buck.

sportrider

thanks for the input. I installed an RC kit on my ZJ, My only complaint was how fast the LCA bushings wore out, and the fact they're not replacable. I was looking at the X-flex LCA's & UCA's, I've called RC directly and was told they are rebuildable once they wear out, but because they are greaseable they last alot longer.

aside from holding ride height better, do the full stacks flex better, or is that a wash?

mud-dog27

do they flex better than bagged springs with an AAL? i guess so, gunna be stiffer that stock springs as there is usually more leafs in the pack, i can flex mine out till i run out of wheel well and they stiff have flex to go.

and it always gets me how so many people say they have LCA bushings wear out so quick, like the rest of the kit mine are still going strong only thing i can think of that i might have done that has made em last is grease all the hardware with quality water resistant chassis grease when i built it......but thats something you should do anyway.

stockli

My reference to having a battle was about taking your old junk off, not about putting the new stuff on.

mud-dog27

yea rust and years of road crap make it a ***** to get off thats for sure mine involved a lot of WD40 and a BFH, that i understand my comment was directed at those that say its so much harder to put them in then other brands and obviously its not going to go in the same as a stock pack cause its arched more and usually has more springs in the pack, thats just the way it goes, doesnt matter what brand you run.

DrShaggford

Full leaf pack is definitely the way to go if you can afford it. And a note on kits from different companies....springs are like car batteries, there are really only a few companies that actually produce them so the people saying so and so's kit sucks and this kit is much better...I hate to break it to you but there is a very good chance you're running the EXACT same kit as far as the springs go and you probably paid a couple hundred more for the same product with a different brand name on it.

mud-dog27

the man raises a good point.