Rough Country 3.25” lift kit questions & concerns

cangro408

cangro408

New member
Hi guys my name is John I just recently purchased a JKU and was looking into buying the lift kit. I’m on a budget and was browsing for 3” lift kits when i saw the Rough Country 3.25” lift kit with shocks it’s at a decent price and from what i’ve read up on it and seen in videos it’s the best bang for your buck lift kit, it’s sort of like a lift for beginners. The link to the kit is below check it out if you wanna see what i’m talking about and i just wanted anyone’s opinion on it preferably someone who installed it on their JK. I plan on using it as a daily driver and also for mild off roading on the weekends i live in jersey but plan to go to NY or PA to off road probably not much rock crawling though. I don’t want to buy it if it’s gonna be unsafe or brake on me while off-roading. IMG_6495.jpg



(https://www.extremeterrain.com/rough-country-325-lift-jk-perf694.html)


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I've installed and tested this kit in the past and what I can tell you is that you get what you pay for. Sure, it'll lift your Jeep but that's about it and the quality is just okay at best. If you're on a budge, I personally would recommend that you try to build within your means and stick with a 2" spacer lift or the like. At over 3" of lift or more, you really NEED more components (adjustable front lower control arms to set caster, drive shafts, etc) to do it right.
 
Welcome to Wayalife. I wouldn't buy from Extreme Terrain, that's for sure. What is your ultimate goal as far as the maximum tire size you want to run? There may be better options.
 
When I first lifted my jk I got their 4 inch lift kit. It worked decent for the first year maybe year and a half. I didn't really know what was good or bad as i hadn't owned a lifted jeep before. Then I noticed the ride was very soft and I measured and the lift had sagged two inches! I then swapped to evo springs and bilstien shocks and was amazed at how much better my jeep could ride!

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WJCO said:
Welcome to Wayalife. I wouldn't buy from Extreme Terrain, that's for sure. What is your ultimate goal as far as the maximum tire size you want to run? There may be better options.
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thanks really like this forum and honestly wasn’t too sure about extreme terrain their site looks nice but i’ve heard better things from places like quadratech and morris 4x4 anyway probably not anytime soon but for the near future i would say my goal is probably a 35” tire but i would really love to have a 37” i say 35 for now because i would have to change a lot more things to run 37s at least that’s what i’ve read up on it


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if i wasn’t gonna get this kit the. i was looking at possibly getting a teraflex 3” lift kit which is about double the price but i’ve heard a lot of good things about that company


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cangro408 said:
thanks really like this forum and honestly wasn’t too sure about extreme terrain their site looks nice but i’ve heard better things from places like quadratech and morris 4x4 anyway probably not anytime soon but for the near future i would say my goal is probably a 35” tire but i would really love to have a 37” i say 35 for now because i would have to change a lot more things to run 37s at least that’s what i’ve read up on it


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Being that you're on a budget, 35's is a good goal to shoot for a really, a budget boost is all you need to get there. That's where I would start.
 
cangro408 said:
if i wasn’t gonna get this kit the. i was looking at possibly getting a teraflex 3” lift kit which is about double the price but i’ve heard a lot of good things about that company


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The TeraFlex 3" coils will yield way over 4" of actual lift. This is crazy sky high for just 35's and the coils are stiff as hell. At that height, you really NEED to replace your front drive shaft, your rear shaft if you have a 2-door and you'll need adjustable front lowers to set caster and rear uppers to set pinion angle.
 
We just did an EVO leveling kit on my wife's JK, gained 2.5 inches in height. Didn't have to replace the driveshaft, the trackbar, nor the control arms. And love the ride quality. It sells for about 230 bucks and is an easy install. I've also heard there is good ride quality from Rancho springs.
 
wayoflife said:
The TeraFlex 3" coils will yield way over 4" of actual lift. This is crazy sky high for just 35's and the coils are stiff as hell. At that height, you really NEED to replace your front drive shaft, your rear shaft if you have a 2-door and you'll need adjustable front lowers to set caster and rear uppers to set pinion angle.
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i’m really surprised you guys are saying you need all those components as far as i thought you really don’t need front driveshaft unless it’s like a 3.5” lift and as far as lower control arms go i thought that was sort of like an optional thing basically if you really wanna do it properly you should get the control arms and also about the spaced lift does anyone know how well that can be used on an off road setting also i know it’s not much but i didn’t mention i have a willy’s package and i know that comes with rubicon performance suspension not sure if it matters and the M/Ts i have are a 32” tire


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IMG_6497.jpg

if you guys were wondering this was the kit i was also contemplating its about $1600 if not this one then the same one without control arms is about $1060


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cangro408 said:
i’m really surprised you guys are saying you need all those components as far as i thought you really don’t need front driveshaft unless it’s like a 3.5” lift and as far as lower control arms go i thought that was sort of like an optional thing basically if you really wanna do it properly you should get the control arms and also about the spaced lift does anyone know how well that can be used on an off road setting also i know it’s not much but i didn’t mention i have a willy’s package and i know that comes with rubicon performance suspension not sure if it matters and the M/Ts i have are a 32” tire


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Anything over 2.5 inches will risk needing a front driveshaft sooner than later. You get around 3.5 inches, you will need to adjust your caster and rear pinion angle to set it up properly. As well as a drag link flip in the front to correct your steering angles to reduce bump steer. Sure, you could do without those things but you probably won't enjoy the ride. It gets old real quick.
 
cangro408 said:
i’m really surprised you guys are saying you need all those components as far as i thought you really don’t need front driveshaft unless it’s like a 3.5” lift and as far as lower control arms go i thought that was sort of like an optional thing basically if you really wanna do it properly you should get the control arms and also about the spaced lift does anyone know how well that can be used on an off road setting also i know it’s not much but i didn’t mention i have a willy’s package and i know that comes with rubicon performance suspension not sure if it matters and the M/Ts i have are a 32” tire
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LOL!! You're the one who came on here asking the questions. If you already have all the answers, don't mind me.
 
WJCO said:
Anything over 2.5 inches will risk needing a front driveshaft sooner than later. You get around 3.5 inches, you will need to adjust your caster and rear pinion angle to set it up properly. As well as a drag link flip in the front to correct your steering angles to reduce bump steer. Sure, you could do without those things but you probably won't enjoy the ride. It gets old real quick.
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ok i got you now honestly i wouldn’t really mind doing the spacer kit but my only concern is off road reliability what do you guys think about using a spacer kit off road


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wayoflife said:
LOL!! You're the one who came on here asking the questions. If you already have all the answers, don't mind me.
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lmao no i’m actually glad that you told me about that issue because other friends of mine clearly don’t know and gave me the wrong info if i do a lift i would rather do it right i don’t need something braking on me


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cangro408 said:
ok i got you now honestly i wouldn’t really mind doing the spacer kit but my only concern is off road reliability what do you guys think about using a spacer kit off road
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Don't know what kind of "off road reliability" you'd be concerned being that a spacer kit is literally just spacers sitting on top of your coils. Nothing else changes, your front drive shaft won't tear it's boot on the exhaust cross over, the CV boots won't fail prematurely, your caster won't be off enough to cause wandering and if you have a 2-door, your rear drive shaft CV boots won't fail prematurely. Those are ALL problems you will encounter sooner than later with a true 3" lift or more.
 
wayoflife said:
Don't know what kind of "off road reliability" you'd be concerned being that a spacer kit is literally just spacers sitting on top of your coils. Nothing else changes, your front drive shaft won't tear it's boot on the exhaust cross over, the CV boots won't fail prematurely, your caster won't be off enough to cause wandering and if you have a 2-door, your rear drive shaft CV boots won't fail prematurely. Those are ALL problems you will encounter sooner than later with a true 3" lift or more.
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oh oh ok well idk why i guess i just thought that since it’s like a budget cheap kit that maybe you might brake something when you go off road but i’m not doing like extreme off-roading just probably like mild stuff in nj, ny and maybe PA would you have any suggestions for the kit maybe like brands to look for i honestly feel like it’s so hard to determine like what’s good and what’s shit


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