Lift or no lift

I have a CJ5 with 33s, a 4 inch lift and side pipe headers. Although cool looking I am thinking the problems are not worth the lift look. (drop pitman arm-done, dropped rear trans-done, and drive shaft angle-not done). I am thinking of converting it back to the stock set up with 31s understanding that is the largest size without a lift and dual exhaust out the rear using the stock manifolds. I have a complete donor rig so the conversion should be easy. Anyone care to comment on their experience and if they did a lift only to think it was not such a great idea? Some of the things I read include the center of gravity changes.

Maverick

 

Hey Maverick,
sounds like a good idea. I have always thought headers are for more racy applications, high HP. Your rig will be loads quieter with stock manifolds, and dumping out the back.
As for the lift........my bet is it will handle WAYYYYYYY BETTTER! 5's are squierly enough on stock springs! I have the stock springs right now, but I am looking into
the 1" lift replacement springs from Rancho or Superlift. They should ride better than stock without the other headaches, a nice in-between solution.
Keep us posted, I for one am very interested in how it turns out.

Cheers,
Rhino

 

Hmmmmmm,,,,,
Good question. I have a 4" lift on my cj5. I use it primarily for hunting and scouting new hunting locations. I like the extra body clearance the lift provides and the larger tires to help get the diff up. I do not do that much off camber stuff but I can see where that would be a factor. I think anything more than 4" is extreme ( for my use anyway). I guess I am taking the long way to say that it depends on your application.

Dave

 

My preference has always been just barely taller than stock.
4" is too much for a CJ if you ask me.
I believe the lawyers at the factory insist that the vehicles be lowered 1-2" from optimum performance.

It seems my CJ has a mild lift from add-a-leafs.

 

Although the people who make lift kits would beg to differ, I'm against lifting unless it's for a well thought out spefic reason. I'm running 59 CJ5 with 15" military tires. Many people have drastic lifts and ginormous tires with spacers. I noticed that I can often sneak through stuff they have to fight over. I agree with lifting if you're in south Georgia or Florida and other swampy places as water can ruin your day and it can get deep quick. If the axels don't go over it, neither does anything else, well it can go if the axels don't, but, then you've got bigger troubles. Most of our country's infrastructure was laid out in old CJs without all that spiffy stuff. Army Jeeps got their go anywhere reputation without lots of gee whiz stuff. If you're not planning on going from Paris to Dakar or driving to Patagonia are you getting sucked into the buying competence game that ensnares so many in so many different venues.

 

:iagree: i am always amazed all the places mine goes on 7.50 16