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[too afraid to ask] Are leveling kits the new body lift?

Bradley Thornton

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Leveling kits are 100% aesthetic to “fix” the rake… at least with a body lift you can squeeze in bigger tires.

In the Jeep world leveling kits are the gateway mod to everything else. Someone gets their first jeep… joins a forum and thumbs through old threads, and finds out they can make it look “better” for $50.00…

The next step in their evolution to to start their very first thread titled: “Whats the biggest tire I can fit on stock suspension?”

Later in that same thread, they will learn that the “315” in “315/70r17” does not refer to the diameter… but it kind of does… it’s complicated…

Then they will learn what “Load E” means.

Their maturation will conclude when they realize that a spacer lift will “get them the same thing” as a coilover and UCA replacement, at a fraction of the cost…

And their last post on the forum will be them telling everyone who spent more than $200 on their lift “idiots.”

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This is Gold. People that spend $5000 on upgraded Suspension hate on the guy that spends $200 but both at least 99.9% of them mall crawl 99.9% of the time. Unless you trailer it the the ride and then put it back on the trailer you are in that group 99.9% of your riding is done where the stock setup would have done just fine not hating its just a fact. Yes, I'm in that 99.9%. Now the guy that spent $200 is hating also on the guy for spending $5000. It also truth is its all perspective. Me I'm both I will ride on the $200 get board with it add the $3,500 setup yes thats what it cost me I will build my toy free labor lol. Then I will be pissed because now it makes more noise and can only do the same thing. From what I have seen and I maybe wrong but probably only a hand full of spots on a hand full of trails that the stock Badlands SaS can't go. How many of us can't live going around that one spot. Its all perspective. Now I'll get out my popcorn lol

So why should I spend $5,000 on sasquatch then for a mini lift and one inch of tires, instead of $50 on spacers, will it give me a larger Blinker fluid reservoir?
Because it looks cooler and already has 4.7 gears and I hate the smell of diff oil. lol
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Bradley Thornton

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People that know know you always have that guy driving the cheap ride drinking going around everything having just as much fun as you. Or at least he doesn't know the difference.
 

broncbeau

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I mean the bronco can run 35s no lift no rub so think about that all you hatin azz mofos. Bust a few fender wells. Who gives a F! Let's tears these things up!!!!!

Yihhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

Ryuk

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Unless you trailer it the the ride and then put it back on the trailer you are in that group 99.9%
Plenty of people in my area drive to and from the trails.
The % of people with a trailer and tow vehicle is much lower.
In cases where a big break occurs, most of the time, one of the people with a trailer is nice enough to help the broken vehicle get home. In other cases, people use AAA with either the 100 or 200 mile towing option and just need to get the vehicle to an area where the AAA tow truck can safely load up the vehicle.
 

nick112288

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Hell could you even do a body lift on a new vehicle? So many wires and sensors and everything being intertwined, I feel like the moment you tried something in the vehicle system would find a way to have an issue with it!
 

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So why should I spend $5,000 on sasquatch then for a mini lift and one inch of tires, instead of $50 on spacers, will it give me a larger Blinker fluid reservoir?
I thought guys put big tires on their lifted trucks to compensate for a tiny blinker fluid reservoir?
 

nick112288

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I thought guys put big tires on their lifted trucks to compensate for a tiny blinker fluid reservoir?
I'm happily married with 3 kids, so I don't have to compensate anymore.

Now it's just because it's entertaining to watch my short wife and 3 kids figure out how to climb in!
 

TRMFAM

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Interesting...IMO not a good comparison. My EB I put on wild horses springs front and rear (coil / leaf), extended the radius arms, yada, yada and walla running 37" tires but with that lift also came increased travel and the tires would eat the fenders insert 1.5" body lift and now I can use all that travel without slicing the tires on fenders or creating this wave in the sheet metal from the tire fender contact. I did not want to cut out the inner fenders nor trim the outers any further. Perfect solution and nothing wrong with it other than additional work to do it correctly in lieu of radiator fan shroud / fan alignment...yanked those off and went electric fans.
 

nautoncall

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Dealer put leveling kit on my Big Bend Sas. Ride sucks now. Going to take it off.
 

nautoncall

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So just wanting someone to confirm that a leveling kit will make the vehicle ride worse? It sure feels like it because I thought it was pretty smooth before the kit but again I’ve been out of town and haven’t driven the vehicle in about 10 days. So I could’ve forgotten but I sure feel a lot of bumps in the road that I’ve never felt before.
 

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nautoncall

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Leveling kit removed and ride is definitely better!! Just less harsh going over regular bumps.
 

cjindna

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My suspicion, one I’ll confirm in the next couple of days, is that this increased “harshness” is due to the upper control arm bushings. My assumption is that no one (including myself) is taking the extra time to back off the upper control arm bolt after level/lift to release added tension on the bushings and then re-torque the bolt at the new static ride height.

This is just a theory at this point as I installed a Zone 1” last week, noticed the same increase in NVH but was only able to get 50 miles in before we had to head out of town.
 

cjindna

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Confirming that taking the upper control arm bushings out of bind (albeit minimal) completely resolved the increased NVH with the 1” lift. This isn’t an easy task but certainly worth the effort, for ref the UCA through bolt is 122 lb/ft torque.

As an aside with regards to “leveling“ I installed a 1” lift in the front to allow for nearly 2” increase in wheel travel with a bit of bump stop trimming. I run 315 Nitto TGs that are almost an inch taller than the OE 35’s. I’ll also be installing a 3/16” top plate from a Zone leveling kit in the rear to reset the stance and focus on max wheel travel.
 

AzGoat

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I just drove the Badlands with the stock 33” tires at the TX off-rodeo, and I can assure you it was just as capable as the sas packages.
Did Moab OffRodeo and that was not my experience.
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