lift ad tyres should always be first, depending on your driving you can start off with a set of tyres to match your current ride hieght and as time goes by, get your lift, the down side to this is, your tyres will need up grading soon. if it was me id go
step one 2-3 inch lift
step 2 set of muddies
step 3 lockers
the extra lift will give you better articulation and keep them wheels on the ground longer, the only time muddies will give you a substantial advantage over the suspension travel is in the mud, so i would be doing the lift first
lift ad tyres should always be first, depending on your driving you can start off with a set of tyres to match your current ride hieght and as time goes by, get your lift, the down side to this is, your tyres will need up grading soon. if it was me id go
step one 2-3 inch lift
step 2 set of muddies
step 3 lockers
the extra lift will give you better articulation and keep them wheels on the ground longer, the only time muddies will give you a substantial advantage over the suspension travel is in the mud, so i would be doing the lift first
Contray to popular belief, a lift will give you better articulation, the answer is no it will not, Not without major mods. All the best name brands on the market (EFS, Old Man Emu, XGS) do not offer this, yes the shocks are longer and stronger but the design of the vehicle will always limit the amount of articulation, if you look at a vehicle with std gear and give it full articulation, measure it and then do the same with a lifted vehicle, the actual distance the shock travels is the same. It is just an optical illusion that fools you into believing that there is more travel.
Contray to popular belief, a lift will give you better articulation, the answer is no it will not, Not without major mods. All the best name brands on the market (EFS, Old Man Emu, XGS) do not offer this, yes the shocks are longer and stronger but the design of the vehicle will always limit the amount of articulation, if you look at a vehicle with std gear and give it full articulation, measure it and then do the same with a lifted vehicle, the actual distance the shock travels is the same. It is just an optical illusion that fools you into believing that there is more travel.
mate i hate to say it but there arent major mods needed at all. longer springs and shocks will give you better articulation from standard as the standard shocks are what limits down travel from factory, by adding a small lift, with shocks to suit, you will gain a bit in wheel travel on the down stroke, and with the way the axle pivots on a solid axle vehicle like your jeep, you will gain a little bit of up travel on the opposite end.
if you want to further increase your articulation, simply install stabiler disconnects, or longer stabiliser connecting rods. this will allow the shock to extend to its full capablility but be warned that hard driving may cause the shocks to over extend destroying the shock (not common but possible)
your wrangler isnt a bad flexing rig from the factory as is, and a small lift and bigger tyres will help a fair bit.
the lift will not only allow better articulation, it will improve your approach and departure angles and your ramp over too. this combined with your live axle swb jeep, you should be keeping up with your mates no worries
as stated though certain vehicles with 3 link front ends, like patrols and cruisers and ifs vehicles and even your jeep, will reach its flex limitations very quickly by vehicle design, and more substantial mods will be neccessary, that said you will notice quite a substantial difference in your jeep
Can I pass this information on to all the suspension manufacturers as I beleive this needs to be settled by them, I have quoted what they all say.
if it suits your prupose go for it
good example
my mate has a jeep rubicon 4 door
by simply lifting the vehicle using an ome 50mm (i think, around 2 inches anyway) kit fitted himself, he has increased his appoach angle by 7 percent, his departure angle around 10 percent and his ramp over a bit too, we didnt know how to work out the percent.
using a 45 degree angle ramp he was able to get a further 17 inches up the ramp after fitting the suspension lift, his vehicle remained more level and felt more stable too.
the vehicle comes standard with sway bar disconnects on the front and the suspension kit used panhard rod drop brackets. he has not changed tyres at all yet, and he easily out flexs a patrol being a 5 link front and rear
another good example
my gq patrol
standard shocks were not allowing full droop on the rear end and the stabiliser release was not even needing to be disengaged and it still was not pulling tight.
after fitting a tough dog 50mm lift coils and foam cell shocks to suit my rear end flexs to the point that my sway bar is drawn tight when the sway bar disconnect is released. gaining around 3 inches extra droop on the drivers side but i only got around an inch further on the passenger side as the sway bar connector rod is limiting droop.
when removing the sway bars all together, my shocks have allowed the rear end to droop 4 inches over standard on both sides, they do rub a bit on the inside of the rear guards and extended bump stops will be needed in the future to limit this, but i would not consider them a "major mod"
So you have never watched 4wdtv then. they did a story on this and prooved that you donot get extra articulation with just changing the springs and shocks.
You need to change drop links, panhard rods, control arms (top and bottom), get special bushes that can cope with extra movement, this is for both front and rear. so this is classed as major mods. plus you need to see you insurance company to make sure they will let you.