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Hello I currently have a 99 Cherokee with the 3 inch rough country AAL kit. I’m looking to upgrade and either go to a rubicon express 3.5 or a rc/zone 4.5. From what I’ve gather the rubicon express kit gives a slightly higher lift that 3.5 overall. My questions are as followed:
1.) for the rubicon express lift. Because I already have rough country lower control arms I should be good without their lower control arms correct? Rough country states their lower control arms are good for 3-4.5 inches of lift. So I believe all I would need is the 3.5 coils, leafs (not going AAL) with u bolts, shocks, track bar, and a tc drop for the time being with leaf shims. Eventually will go sye but I have a 242 transfer case and it’s expensive to get an sye kit for them compared to the 231 and with the cost of the lift it will have to wait. Am I correct in what all I’ll need for this setup?
2.) if I go zone 4.5 I would get their kit from a local dealer for cheaper than retail. Then I believe all I’d need is an adjustable track bar. If I go rough country I’d get their 4.5” x series kit that includes the track bar and upper and lower adjustable control arms as well as everything else needed.
Which way is the best to go? Price wise I’m looking at about $900 piecing together the rubicon kit with Bilstein 5100’s. The zone kit is 750 but I think I can get it down around 650 maybe less from a local dealer then add a track bar which is about $125 On the cheap side. So all in about $775 ish for zone. Rough country kit retails for 950 but a local dealer is doing a 15% off promo which brings it closer to $800. And that has everything with adjustable arms. I’ve heard good and bad about rough country seems back in the day they were more bad but I have read much recently. Zone and rubicon have good reviews. Eventually or right away I will get control arm drop brackets as well because of the lift height. What would you guys go with and did I miss anything?
Hello I currently have a 99 Cherokee with the 3 inch rough country AAL kit. I’m looking to upgrade and either go to a rubicon express 3.5 or a rc/zone 4.5. From what I’ve gather the rubicon express kit gives a slightly higher lift that 3.5 overall. My questions are as followed:
1.) for the rubicon express lift. Because I already have rough country lower control arms I should be good without their lower control arms correct? Rough country states their lower control arms are good for 3-4.5 inches of lift. So I believe all I would need is the 3.5 coils, leafs (not going AAL) with u bolts, shocks, track bar, and a tc drop for the time being with leaf shims. Eventually will go sye but I have a 242 transfer case and it’s expensive to get an sye kit for them compared to the 231 and with the cost of the lift it will have to wait. Am I correct in what all I’ll need for this setup?
2.) if I go zone 4.5 I would get their kit from a local dealer for cheaper than retail. Then I believe all I’d need is an adjustable track bar. If I go rough country I’d get their 4.5” x series kit that includes the track bar and upper and lower adjustable control arms as well as everything else needed.
Which way is the best to go? Price wise I’m looking at about $900 piecing together the rubicon kit with Bilstein 5100’s. The zone kit is 750 but I think I can get it down around 650 maybe less from a local dealer then add a track bar which is about $125 On the cheap side. So all in about $775 ish for zone. Rough country kit retails for 950 but a local dealer is doing a 15% off promo which brings it closer to $800. And that has everything with adjustable arms. I’ve heard good and bad about rough country seems back in the day they were more bad but I have read much recently. Zone and rubicon have good reviews. Eventually or right away I will get control arm drop brackets as well because of the lift height. What would you guys go with and did I miss anything?
zone....at 4.5 inches your goimg to have vibes. You can go the havk and tap sye routebwhich is much cheaper for the 242......and no rough counteybis still bad. This coming from a guy that works at an authorized dealer and deals with theirvproducts hahah
Thanks for the response again lol. I figured rough country still isn’t the best option. I’m considering just replacing my current rough country lift with the zone 3” to hopefully get a better ride than I have now and my rear leafs are worn out anyway. Also I would have similar vibrations to what I have now which is barely any at all. If I go that route I kind of what to upgrade the shocks to Bilstein 5100’s for the best ride. But idk if it’s worth it to buy the whole zone kit and then buy the billsteins on top. Then I have zone shocks laying around. I would just buy the leafs and coils from zone but I don’t see an option to buy just coils. They sell leafs but no coils individually based on their website. I could purchase Rusty’s coils I guess if I went that route.
I think you will need a SYE at 4.5". I don't think a t-case drop is going to cut it. Like Martlor said, the hack-n-tap is a cheaper option for the 242.
If you want a better ride I would go with OME or Rusty's. Those would be my picks for ride quality.
Last edited by mikesignal; 03-03-2018 at 03:48 PM.
Thanks for the response again lol. I figured rough country still isn’t the best option. I’m considering just replacing my current rough country lift with the zone 3” to hopefully get a better ride than I have now and my rear leafs are worn out anyway. Also I would have similar vibrations to what I have now which is barely any at all. If I go that route I kind of what to upgrade the shocks to Bilstein 5100’s for the best ride. But idk if it’s worth it to buy the whole zone kit and then buy the billsteins on top. Then I have zone shocks laying around. I would just buy the leafs and coils from zone but I don’t see an option to buy just coils. They sell leafs but no coils individually based on their website. I could purchase Rusty’s coils I guess if I went that route.
trust me, its super easy to sell jeep parts. You could sell the shocks easy.
I’ve heard people say the zone lift has a good ride. Compared to the rough country anyway. Haven’t researched much about Rusty’s
I've seen posts where people say Zone rides rough, and others that say the ride is good. I think it has to do with the shackle angle, which I think might vary from vehicle to vehicle. Maybe someone else can explain that better....also the coil spring rate on the Zone lift and RE is 240lb/inch. Rusty's has a 150lb and a 180 lb. , so Zone and RE should ride much stiffer up front..... I don't think you can go wrong with Zone, just wouldn't be my choice for ride quality...I just wanted to add that if you ask on a forum what's the best lift, you'll get 5 different answers.
Last edited by mikesignal; 03-03-2018 at 07:13 PM.
Any idea what rc’s Spring rate is? Seems there’s quite a few posts of them riding bad so I’m just curious. But does a softer spring rate definite ride quality? My guess would be shocks play a bigger part? Maybe it’s a mix of spring rate and shocks?
Any idea what rc’s Spring rate is? Seems there’s quite a few posts of them riding bad so I’m just curious. But does a softer spring rate definite ride quality? My guess would be shocks play a bigger part? Maybe it’s a mix of spring rate and shocks?
I thought they were 170 or 190....and yes, it is a mix of the coils/leafs/shocks and their relationship in working together.
So from what I’ve gathered it seems some people claim the zone lift is harsh riding. Apparently their spring rates are about 240 compared to everyone else being under 200. That seems rather high and that it could potentially cause a terrible ride. My current setup isn’t horrible. It’s not the best riding but it’s a Jeep so I don’t expect it to ride amazing. I suspect my shocks aren’t in the greatest shape and if I installed some billsteins or new decent quality shocks I’d probably see quite a difference in that aspect. I definitely don’t want it to ride any worse.
So from what I’ve gathered it seems some people claim the zone lift is harsh riding. Apparently their spring rates are about 240 compared to everyone else being under 200. That seems rather high and that it could potentially cause a terrible ride. My current setup isn’t horrible. It’s not the best riding but it’s a Jeep so I don’t expect it to ride amazing. I suspect my shocks aren’t in the greatest shape and if I installed some billsteins or new decent quality shocks I’d probably see quite a difference in that aspect. I definitely don’t want it to ride any worse.
i dont think that zone would be so highly recommended here if they didnt ride good. I would say that they Are the number 1 recommended by a pretty good margin based off everyrhing i see posted here basically everyday.
My suggestion would be to decide the desired height you want to be at, then look at the different options. At 4.5 inches you will need a sye. The hack n tap sye will cost under $200, and that includes buying the SYE itself ( about $100), and the jig and drill bits. If that is not in your budget then stay at 3" and just replace the RC coils, leafs and shocks.There are other options then just buying a kit from one particular company, even if you decided to go to 4.5. Here is NKOC's reference chart.
Last edited by mikesignal; 03-04-2018 at 07:21 AM.
03-03-2018, 10:56 AM
Lift upgrade questions
