Ok I think they give a rough ride hence the name rough country? Idk

 

I've heard bad things about Rough Country's on other forums but have never seen them first hand. I haven't had any problems with Rubicon Express past or present so that's what I prefer.

 

I have a 4.5 x series lift and besides the semi rough ride (shocks) the kit is great and great customer service...also worth noting being a member here contact them after you install and they send you 10% back and the parts have a lifetime warranty. ..mo

 

Are you saying to go with a RE or Rustys instead? Lol

 

Thanks for the info. I do wonder if your rough ride is less a function of the shocks, and more a function of the front control arm angle. I've heard that just about any short-arm lift that is 4"+ will suffer badly from rough ride due to the "pogo stick" effect caused by the more severe angle. Do you have control arm drop brackets?

It would be interesting to find some kind of analysis by a lift manufacturer outlining or measure ride quality under four conditions:

• Lift with "standard" shocks
• Lift with upgraded shocks
• Lift with standard shocks and drop brackets
• Lift with upgraded shocks and drop brackets.

Of course, any kind of comparison like that will also have tire brand/type/size and heavy things like aftermarket bumpers and such also having some affect, but if we could at least get those four conditions judged with all other things being equal...


Obviously, I could be wrong, but based on my general experience and mechanical aptitude, my gut tells me that if you've got a 4"+ short-arm lift, you'll get more ride improvement from drop brackets than you will better shocks. That's not to say there aren't other very valid reasons to buy upgraded shocks, but given that the cost (4) 5100 Bilsteins is about $300-$340, and drop brackets are $189 a pair, that may be worth consideration for those weighing vehicle use against budgetary constraints.

When I put my lift in, I'll be doing the drop brackets at the same time, so I won't be able to compare. I'm going to see how it feels with the standard 2.0 shocks that came with the kit. If it rides like a short wheelbase TJ even with the drop brackets, I may plunk down some money for Doetsch shocks and see if that makes and improvement. But who knows, I may not need them.

 

Rusty springs

 

I agree that the drop brackets will probably do more for ride improvement, but you also have to consider that they sacrifice some clearance. The upgraded shocks, on the other hand, don't really have a downside. Personally I run the 2.0 shocks and no drop brackets on a 4.5" and I have no complaints about rough ride. It's a Jeep, not a caddy

 

easons, Don't know if you've bought your lift kit yet or not, but I'll tell you why you shouldn't buy any RC products.
I have a 4.5 x series lift and have had to replace the control arm bushings with JJs, and the track bar with REs bar and bracket, and the rear springs because the RC springs are not long enough.
My lift cost me about 800 and I've replaced everything but the front springs. the metal part of the control arms, and the brake lines. I don't know the exact amount that it has cost me to buy the cheaper kit, but I figure that in the 4 years I've had it installed it has cost me another 700 dollars on top of the 800 that I spent to purchase it.
RC= POS

 

If you buy rough country your gonna have a bad time, m,kay. Sorry couldnt resist I have some rc stuff too

 

I'm running some random 3" coils up front, Rubicon Express 3.5" springs in the rear (which are pretty stiff) and Bilstein 5100s. My ride is great. The shocks make the difference.

 

Sorry to hear about your bad experience. Nothing sucks worse than having to replace parts you've already replaced.

I will say that in researching lifts, I did stumble across complaints of the rear springs on the X-Series being to short. About an inch or so. This was during the earlier days of that lift hitting the market. According to a couple of detailed posts I found, RC became aware of the problem, and from what I read all of that got worked out back in 2012. There were also reports of the bushings being crap, but there's indication that was worked out as well. There do seem to be some recent reports of issues with the "X-Flex" control arm bushings, and I can't comment any further on that. But at least the rear spring bushings are a stock size, whereas RE uses a proprietary size that you have to get through them.

Lifts and other parts aren't much different from a lot of other things. Sometimes when new product is released, it takes awhile to work out the kinks. Other times a once good product goes to ****. Dell computers come to mind on that one. There was a time when Kia and Hyundai were complete garbage, but now they are some of the best vehicles made, while the quality of their former superiors, Toyota and Honda, has slipped in recent years.

I guess what I'm saying is that any company that has been around awhile has some hits and misses. GM is apparently trying to set a freaking record for number of recalls in a year. But that doesn't mean that everything GM makes is bad.

At any rate, I have the 4.5 " X-Series sitting in my garage, so I'm going to take a chance on it. Hopefully I can report back that all the kinks have been worked out. And report back a year or two later that all is still good.

 

Thank you im going with RC as its the cheapest and they have a good reputation. Nothing is perfect when it comes out!

 

For anyone that may read this thread, I want to clarify my earlier statement shown above. When I said the springs were short and inch or so, I was not referring to lift height. I was referring to the center-to-center distance between the front and rear bushings. This was causing issues with difficult installation, and very bad shackle angles once installed. Again, from what I read this was fixed back in 2012.