Im wanting to upgrade my lift a bit so I have a few questions. First off, I have 3 in coils now, and wanna go to 4.5 or 5. How much difference in flex will there be in using my coils plus a spacer or just buying new coils

 

The best way to go is with the longer springs , but I did add spacers , longer rear shakles , shocks and extended brake lines .It works your axle drop is better because of the longer components but compression wouldn't be as good. You can always add the longer coils later.

 

Im still on the fence, obviously spacer is cheaper...need more expert advice guys!

 

Coils are cheap enough do it right and get the pair of coils !

You'll need these parts to goto 4.5" form 3"

Longer Coils
Double Shear Tracbar
Longer Shocks
Longer Brakelines
Longer Shackles
SYE/ CV Driveshaft

I'd look into a Long arm upgrade ( I am not a fan of Drop Brackets)

 

Ive seen stock trackbars at 4.5, and ive seen 4.5 inches of lift with just a tc drop, not a sye. I will more than likely go straight to 4.5 inch coils like your saying. But also Im not using drop brackets, im using relocaters, which dont necessarily just lower the shackle, they provide a better angle on the shackle, also increasing flex.

 

He was talking about lower control arm drop brackets I think. I'm in a similar situation, I am at 3" and currently have collected 4.5" shocks and coils but still need to get shackles and a trac bar (already have re lcas and brake lines). I would recommend at least re-drilling your trac bar mount at 4.5", but an adjustable trac bar really is necessary for it to drive right and to prevent drastic ware on your steering parts.

 

I think you will need longer lower control arms also..

 

And also, something I've learned, don't cheap out or do things half way (not saying that you or anyone else would, but I have and want to pass on my experiences). It's best to do it right the first time and not twice. Looking back on things, I would have done a lot differently and ended up wasting money in the end. Good luck.

 

I was talking about control arm drop brackets, Running a stock track bar with anything over 3" is just plain stupid spend the extra $180-300 depending on Brand and do it right ! I can not count the amount of Jeeps I have come across at work with 3-4" lifts with a stock track bar, An the Tie rod end at the frame mount is trashed because it was not designed to run at the angle that it is on. Have you ever had a stock trac bar fail on you ? I have it is not fun and I was only going 20mph thank god I was not on the hi-way going 70mph ! The re-locators are a good investment I intend to buy them if I go to 4.5" of lift . At 4.5" of lift the reason I said run a Sye wait until you see the little amount of the slip yoke in the back of the tail shaft . I've seen them pop out on the trail and crack the tail shaft housing on the t-case I'm at 3" an I will have a SYE sometime this year.

To properly run with 4.5" of lift will run a decent bit of money! Which is why most jeeps on this site are built half-assed. Majority of the posters on this site seem to be young and new to wheeling and buy cheap **** and half *** their lifts because they do not know any better an Keep getting bad advice. If you really want 4.5" of lift start looking at NAXJA.Org there is tons of info on that site and they will point you in the right direction .

 

Dude im not sure where I thought a stock track bar would work, that's actually my next purchase is an adj one from rustys. I must have thought I read tie rod or something. Ill go full 4.5 in coils soon with a relocater in the rear. Also im getting a deal in some used, upper and lower arms that are coming from a 5 inch lift.

 

I did a similar thing, went from 3.5" to 4.5-5" and gave my 3.5" lift to my gf. It was rather simple and I liked the results. I simply found some 4.5" coils, shocks and LCA's used somewhere for cheap. For the rear I used s10 leafs with shackle relocation box's and some autozone lift/lowing shackles which gave me alittle over 5" in the rear. YJ brake lines all around and I also dropped $200 on a IRO track bar cause I was always fighting my stock one anyways. I didnt need a SYE but ended up swapping one in due to tcase issues and found a deal

 

I knew I liked you.

 

Landed a set of 4.5 inch packs, 4.5 inch coils, and shocks for 250.

 

Hell of a deal. 1 RE 4.5" leaf pack and bushings cost me more than that.

 

Get the JKS ACOS and you'll have adjustable spacers and a built in 1.25" lift.