First of all, welcome to the forum, and 3" is plenty to fit 33's. No reason to go any higher than that. I am actually lower than that on 33's on my DD. I however would rethink how you are spending your money on the lift. No reason to spend more money on the fenders (aesthetic) than on the springs and shocks (functional). I would look into a lift that at least has full leaf springs. That aal lift will ride pretty stuff, especially since you are looking at rough country. Bump stops are easy to measure for once everything is in place. Just flex it out and measure. You can measure the front and add hockey pucks to the lower spring mount until you have enough to protect your fenders. Not sure about what you will want in the rear, I use my fenders as my bump stops (cut and fold is pretty strong). You will also want to look at longer brake lines and an adjustable track bar. And if your lift doesn't come with it, then longer swaybar links. No matter what, it won't be cheap. So you might as well save up and do it right once. You will spend less in the end that way.

 

Thanks for the welcome. As for the flares, I'm not buying them immediately. Maybe a year down the road, unless it rubs too badly then I will be buying them sooner. But I mainly don't want to trim too much and not be able to get the flares to fit later on down the road.

And for the lift, I would absolutely go with full leaf packs, but sadly it's not in my budget. But I will be getting an adjustable track bar, brake line relocation brackets, and I will be making sway bar quick disconnects.

So will the wheel width/backspacing make that big of a difference on how much I have to trim? Thanks again

 

Take my advice regarding the rear springs: AAL is ****. Just ****. You will be doing it again soon, which will cost you MORE. Everyone here will tell you to do a full spring pack - because we've already done the AAL route and we ALL regret it. You can wait a couple weeks.

Uhhhh what?

 

Take it from experience, and if you can not afford full leaf packs now, wait and save up for them. I went with a Zone AAL 3" lift and the rear was so stiff it was not fun to drive

The Zone kit does not come with the lower control arms, but the kit with full leaf springs is only $510 a $220 up grade over the AAL kit. The RC kits have a $265 price difference.

My opinion is to get the Zone kit and save up for the control arms down the road. Adjustable control arms are nice but not needed at 3"

 

I bought fixed RE LCAs for $40 off of my local forum

 

It's not so much that I don't have enough money for full leaf packs, but my parents won't let me me spend over $1500 to lift this. That's including lift kit, rims, tires, and shipping for everything. Hence the kinda cheaper stuff. So I figured at least for now I would go with AAL and then in the future when my parents don't have a say over how I spend my money, I will be going with 4.5" or so of lift and 37's or so. I just need to make my jeep more off-road-able than it is now stock and on bald street tires so I can wheel with my buddy & his YJ

 

Send them here lol. Real leaf springs are way more important than LCAs at only 3" IMO.

 

If you have a $1500 budget, spend it wisely. Don't go with 33s, go with 31s. At 3" there will be no need for any real trimming and the money you save on tires would make up the difference between AAL and full packs. Tires will wear out and when they do buy the 33s. The leaf packs will last a lot longer, and going from 3" to 4.5" is just a mater of new shocks and shackles, and either coils spacers or 4.5" coils.

If it just about the looks of it then go ahead and do what you want and ignore the good advice. We are not trying to get you to go against your parents wishes or steer you wrong. We are just trying to get you to put your money in the place it will serve you best. Seriously an XJ with disconnects, decent tires and the rear sway bar removed will do a lot more than you would think

 

If you have a $1500 budget, stop looking at new parts. Craigslist and forum classifieds.

 

First off, thanks to everyone for all of the help. I really do appreciate it. That's why I came here; so I can make the best possible decision.

So since most of you are saying to go with full leaf packs, I will see if I can talk my parents into bumping the budget cap to $1700 or so. If they will, I will go with the full packs instead of the aal. I'd like to stick with RC because there's a dealer about 10 mins from my house, so that leaves me to choose between the two RC 3" full pack lift kits, one with lca's and the other without. $100 price difference.

So can I get away with 3" and 33's with the stock lca's for now until I can replace them with longer ones?

 

If you cut the **** out of your fenders for clearance, yes. You're gonna cut up your tires on the backs of your fenders with 33s.

But Rough Country is still one of the worst brands out there. They sell trash to people who only care about cost. I seriously recommend being patient and shopping used.

I lifted mine 3" on 33s with coils, less than 500-mile leaf springs, shocks, a new double shear track bar, sway bar disconnects, wheels, and five brand new 33x12.5 tires. It cost me $1000.

 

Alright. I'm going to go out on a limb here as a elder and try to give you advice.
I'll start with avoiding rc. Just because you have a dealer 10 min away doesn't make it a good choice.
Rc parts.... Well..... suck.
You want a "cheap" and "decent" lift go with zone. If you have to beg your parents for anything it should be a complete 4.5 zone lift. Online they are about $725-775 depending on where you search. The parts are very high quality due to being made by bds. It's the kit I run on my daily.
You are hell bent on running 33s? The trim job on the fenders and rear quarter Will be horrendous. I'm sure your parents won't be cool with that. I've done 3" with 35s and had to cut the **** out of my inner wheel wells. And still rubbed like no other on my inner front wells. I used a 14lb sledge just to get 75% of my steering back. The main difference between you and I on that was mine was a trailer queen.
Slow down. Calm down. And don't rush throwing garbage on your jeep just to cram some 33s under it.

 

MasonMcK please take the time to check out these guys before dropping money on an RC kit. Zone prices are lower than Rough Country and are made by BDS. I ordered my Zone lift through a local online dealer to save on duties ( I am from Canada) I have my lift kit in under a week. I am sure that ordering direct from Zone you would get yours even faster.
How bad is Rough Country? I know a couple of Authorized Dealers that will actually steer you to a different brand because they do not want to deal with the hassles associated with the poor quality product.

 

Pinch seam is strong by design and bump stops cost money. So in the rear I just let the tires bump the fenders. They only hit when flexed out and going slow so not really worried about the fenders wearing grooves in the tires.

 

The fender actually jamming the tire and preventing it from moving is also a very real possibility.