Ghost7
New member
Let me start by saying that I love my Witch (what can I say I'm an old school kind of old guy; every vehicle that I have ever owned had a name).
I took a trip the first few weeks that I had her to Va Beach and I loved every minute of the 7 hour drive. Cruise was set between 75 and 80 and she handled like a dream. I was pleasantly surprised by 26.2 mpg out of my little 2.0.
In all honesty I will never take her hard off-roading; she is my daily driver and hauls the boy and his bass drum to practice and football games. I will occasionally be on wood trails and have a plan to hit Daytona and New Smyrna Beaches in the near future.
That being said I want to lift her. I want a bolder stance and I absolutely hate the factory rake that they put on these things. I have talked with my local shop and also gotten feedback on the JL forums. I think I am going to go with a Teraflex 2.5" lift and 5100 Bilstein shocks with Mopar LCA's from the lift kit: https://www.allmoparparts.com/sku/68322798aa.html
The shop tech says that the Teraflex will give me a ride very similar to my factory Sahara handling with the benefit of removing the rake and giving me about 3" to 3.5" of lift when finished?
The local shop says I will need an alignment when it is all installed and the forums say I won't have anything to align? I am confused on this point. I was told I would need to adjust my drag link to re-center the steering wheel. I have looked for videos on how to do this but I haven't come up with anything.
I plan on new wheels and moving up from the 33's to 35's this winter or in the spring.
Will I need to do anything else to her? I don't think that I will need to re-gear with the 35's? I believe I have 3.45 gears based off of the copy of the original window sticker.
Is this something a newbie should tackle or should I fork up the cash and have the shop install it for me? I have a lot of auto shop work in my past and seemed to always be turning wrenches through out the 80's and early 90's. I put a hitch receiver and wiring harness on a few weekends ago; it took about 2 hours and felt good to do. I have never done any suspension work.
I took a trip the first few weeks that I had her to Va Beach and I loved every minute of the 7 hour drive. Cruise was set between 75 and 80 and she handled like a dream. I was pleasantly surprised by 26.2 mpg out of my little 2.0.
In all honesty I will never take her hard off-roading; she is my daily driver and hauls the boy and his bass drum to practice and football games. I will occasionally be on wood trails and have a plan to hit Daytona and New Smyrna Beaches in the near future.
That being said I want to lift her. I want a bolder stance and I absolutely hate the factory rake that they put on these things. I have talked with my local shop and also gotten feedback on the JL forums. I think I am going to go with a Teraflex 2.5" lift and 5100 Bilstein shocks with Mopar LCA's from the lift kit: https://www.allmoparparts.com/sku/68322798aa.html
The shop tech says that the Teraflex will give me a ride very similar to my factory Sahara handling with the benefit of removing the rake and giving me about 3" to 3.5" of lift when finished?
The local shop says I will need an alignment when it is all installed and the forums say I won't have anything to align? I am confused on this point. I was told I would need to adjust my drag link to re-center the steering wheel. I have looked for videos on how to do this but I haven't come up with anything.
I plan on new wheels and moving up from the 33's to 35's this winter or in the spring.
Will I need to do anything else to her? I don't think that I will need to re-gear with the 35's? I believe I have 3.45 gears based off of the copy of the original window sticker.
Is this something a newbie should tackle or should I fork up the cash and have the shop install it for me? I have a lot of auto shop work in my past and seemed to always be turning wrenches through out the 80's and early 90's. I put a hitch receiver and wiring harness on a few weekends ago; it took about 2 hours and felt good to do. I have never done any suspension work.