Reviews for Rough Country 2.5in Suspension Lift Kit for 97-06 Jeep Wrangler TJ
Easy to install. Looks good.
Great suspension lift. Parts are all well made and fit perfectly.
This is a lift for my red 97 TJ, pictures above.
The lift kit contains 4 shocks, 4 springs and directions. The directions are pretty basic but so is the kit.
I can't say anything about the time to install as the Jeep was on a lift then I ripped the whole front-end steering and suspension off, scrapped and sanded off the 23 years of mid-west rust then painted the frame before installing the lift. With no steering in the way the front axle hangs low on the control arms and was easily popped in with a spring compressor and prybar. A strong ratchet strap was need to install the track-bar.
The rear required the track bar and sway bar links to be removed and the springs went in with just a prybar. The rear also needed the ratchet strap.
My install was done on a vehicle lift and made installation easy as we could put or take weight off the axle as needed. If you live in the rust-belt you will break bolts. Hit them with some kind of penetrating oil to help. We broke or cut-off nearly every shock mounting bolt during removal, (Also broke every other darn steering suspension bolt too!). Be prepared to buy bolts. My friend is a mechanic and we used grade-8 nuts/bolts from his stock-pile to replace, prob overkill but appreciated.
With the sagging springs and 29" tires removed, I put some 33" tires on this with the lift and the heights is a lot higher at +5". I'm sure it will settle as time goes on. The ride is very stiff and I also hope this will change over time.
Since installation and alignment I've had it on mild gravel road with some pot-holes and ruts. Bumpy and stiff is the ride quality but the tires were still at 33psi so deflating a few pounds will help smooth it out also while off-road.
Ordered this kit on Thursday, it arrived on Friday. Install was fairly simple. Instructions were spot on. Tried it out on trail on Saturday and it rides so much better than stock. Would recommend it to anyone with a TJ.
Looks Awesome
4 springs, painted silver which was a nice surprise. Heavy and good quality.
Had this kit installed on my Jeep before picking it up and driving it 1700 miles home. When test driving it prior to purchase the original suspension was pretty tired and bouncy, so had this put on. However more extras are needed than what's in the instructions. Needed to do front and rear cam bolts on the control arms as well as a transfer case drop to get the drive shafts back in alignment. A pretty rough ride at first, but things smoothed out after about 1500 miles. Looking back I probably would have been better off doing factory springs with the 1.5" spacers and some KYB shocks.
Still happy, but should be thinking of purchasing, just be ready for a little extra work to get things in alignment.
Great product but it did not came with a label or decal
This install was a little more involved than expected, mainly due to the fact that my Jeep is a 97. Expect rusty bolts and dirt. YOU WILL NEED A SPRING COMPRESSOR. Everything on the front went fairly smooth. The rear not so much. Once I got the coils on after dealing with a rusty upper coil spring seat, I was having issues with the shocks. The lower shock mount bracket is too small to fit the new shock. Had to wedge it in there until the bolt lined up. Once that was done I just had to tighten everything up. Overall this is a great budget lift. Time will tell on how well it holds up. Installing the steering stabilizer as well as a DIY TC drop because of a loose steering wheel and slight driveline vibrations. Very pleased with the outcome. I’m running 33s and it looks great!