Lift size?

[KyMadMan]

I've read you can take a measurement from your spring ends and subtract a number and that will give you your lift height. Upon looking at the huge space between the top of the tire and the wheel well I'm not sure I "calculated" the correct height. These are 31's and they do look tiny when you stand back and look at things.

So, does anyone out there have a 98 TJ with 31's and a known height? If so, what is the measurement between the top of the tire and I guess top inside of wheel well?

 

[TerryMason]

It's not normally that easy, since springs settle after a while.
Can you tell what type and model shocks you have?

 

[KyMadMan]

I can as I just put new shocks on... so that won't help much. I'm leaning towards a 4" lift as it has a BDS lift kit and from all indications it would be 4".

 

[TerryMason]

Your shocks should be paired with the amount of lift you have - you normally specify the amount of lift you have when ordering shocks.

The reason is that if you have no lift, and you order shocks that are for a 4 inch lift, these shocks would be too big. When your wheel compresses, and gets stuffed up in the wheel well, instead of hitting the bump stop and not going further, it will hit the shock first.

On the flip side, if you run stock shocks, and have 4 inches of lift, the shocks will be too small. In this scenario, when you go over a big dip / whole, and the suspension and wheel flex all the way down, the shock will hit it's max extension, and limit the wheel from moving down.


I'll measure my springs tonight. I'm not sure if that will be very exact, but we'll give it a try.

 

[TerryMason]

I'm running some Rough Country 2.5" lift springs that are a couple of years old. They seem to be about 14.5 inches in the front

 

[69jeepcj]

You will have a good chance of ripping off shock mounts offroad if you run too short or too long of a shock from bottoming the shock out or over extension. I have seen it happen on cj's and wranglers. You probably have a 4" lift, which is common on wranglers for fitting 33's

 

[69jeepcj]

ooops, just noticed you have a tj not yj so im not sure about the 4" as im not too up on the tj,s. the shock advice still applies though.