WRITE-UP : HOW TO Determine the Actual Amount of Lift on Your JL WRANGLER

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
With the exception of a budget boost or coil spacers that come in an exact size, it can be difficult to determine just how much lift, a lift kit has actually given your Jeep JL Wrangler. Certainly, just because a kit states that it offers 2" of lift, 3" of lift or more, that doesn't always mean that's what you'll ultimately get. In fact, more times than not, lift coils will end up yielding more lift than is advertised and a lot of this is because manufacturers anticipate that you'll be loading up your Jeep with heavy bumpers, rocker guards, armor and gear. Of course, there are some kit that eventually offer a lot less lift and this is caused by poor design and/or specs that lead to significant spring sag and/or the over compression of your coils.

Being Cindy and I will most likely install multiple lift kits in the years to come, we thought it would be a good idea to locate fixed points on our JL Wrangler, take measurements of them while it's still stock and then use them as a baseline for future reference. While we do have a 4-Door JL Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited and the images you see below are from it, I have been able to get measurements from a 4-Door Sahara Unlimited and I've listed them as well. I should note that the measurements you see may not be exact to what you'll find on your JL Wrangler or even when comparing your passenger side to driver side but they should all be within +/- 0.25". Being that I haven't had a chance to take measurements on a 2-Door, I can't say with any certainty that these numbers will be the same for it.

STOCK FRONT MEASUREMENT
For the front of our JL Wrangler, we decided to take our measurement from the bottom edge of the upper spring perch to the top of the steel plate on the lower spring perch. As you can see, this gave us the following measurement:

RUBICON = 10.25"
SAHARA / SPORT = 9.5"


20180313104228-d509054d-me.jpg


STOCK REAR MEASUREMENT
On the rear end of our JL Wrangler, we took our measurement from the bottom of the frame rail, just behind the bump stop cup and down to the steel bump stop plated located on the axle. As you can see, this gave us a measurement:

RUBICON 6.5"
SAHARA / SPORT = 6.25"


20180313104234-a1f43165-me.jpg


After installing a suspension lift, all you need to do is take measurements from these points and the difference you'll see will be the amount of lift your kit actually provided. It is important to note that new coils will tend to sit MUCH TALLER soon after being installed and for more accurate results, you'll want to let them settle in a bit before taking these measurements.

Hope this helps you out. Please let me know if you have any questions. :cool:
 

BillArnett

New member
Too bad you didn't do this when it was brand new. It would be interesting to know how much the springs soften up after a few hundred miles. Also, did you notice any left/right differences?

(And of course, you have to account for the extra weight of all those decals you added :)
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
Too bad you didn't do this when it was brand new. It would be interesting to know how much the springs soften up after a few hundred miles. Also, did you notice any left/right differences?

(And of course, you have to account for the extra weight of all those decals you added :)

LOL!! Honestly, I doubt the springs would be a change in measurement from zero miles and 1,000 miles but even if there was, I'd prefer to know what that measurement is once the coils have settled. Same is true of a new lift - I'd rather know what the final height is after the coils have settled instead of initial height.

Regarding left to right measurements, yes, I did see about a 1/16" plus or minus difference. But of course, a full tank of gas could account for this and so rounding out to the nearest 1/4" is what I chose to go with.
 

Jeeeep

Member
did you measure the body mount pads to see if they're taller than the JK?

don't make me go out and buy one to find out ...hahahaha
 

TrailHunter

Member
Interesting... I just measured my stock 17JKUR from the same points and here is what I got...

Front - 9”

IMG_6901.jpg

Rear - 6”

IMG_6902.jpg


I was expecting a bigger difference at the rear.... maybe the mounts/frame are different though.
 

DaRooster

New member
2" .mopar lift

We measured from the floor to the center fender opening, wasnt too concerned as I was just happy we had a kit,they are back ordered ,
Here in az,
we also had a std unlimited jl to compare too, it also measured almost 3"
 

13_gecko_rubi

New member
When doing this too know that the Sport, Sahara and Rubicon all have different suspension lift heights. These are great numbers for the Rubicon. For Sport subtract an inch and for Sahara subtract about 3/8" on what those factory heights were. So if you get a true 2.5" lift that's 2.5" over a Rubicon it will really be 3.5" over a Sport or 2 7/8" over a Sahara.

Sent via....
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
When doing this too know that the Sport, Sahara and Rubicon all have different suspension lift heights. These are great numbers for the Rubicon. For Sport subtract an inch and for Sahara subtract about 3/8" on what those factory heights were. So if you get a true 2.5" lift that's 2.5" over a Rubicon it will really be 3.5" over a Sport or 2 7/8" over a Sahara.

Sent via....

Awesome info - thanks for clarifying things with this :thumb:
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
UPDATE 07/11/18
Just wanted to give this thread a bump being that I have since updated it with Sahara / Sport coil measurements.

STOCK FRONT MEASURMENTS
RUBICON = 10.25"
SAHARA / SPORT = 9.5"


STOCK REAR MEASUREMENTS
RUBICON 6.5"
SAHARA / SPORT = 6.25"


As you can see, there is in fact a height difference between a Rubicon and Sahara/Sport but it's almost negligible.
 

13_gecko_rubi

New member
UPDATE 07/11/18
Just wanted to give this thread a bump being that I have since updated it with Sahara / Sport coil measurements.

STOCK FRONT MEASURMENTS
RUBICON = 10.25"
SAHARA / SPORT = 9.5"


STOCK REAR MEASUREMENTS
RUBICON 6.5"
SAHARA / SPORT = 6.25"


As you can see, there is in fact a height difference between a Rubicon and Sahara/Sport but it's almost negligible.
The Sport should be just under 1/2" lower than Sahara all things equal... same tops, same fuel level, same options, etc. There is a lot of variation obviously based on options etc. There are dozens of different springs and a highly complicated cross reference table based on vehicle weight. Two of the same model can vary half an inch based on options.

Sent via....
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
The Sport should be just under 1/2" lower than Sahara all things equal... same tops, same fuel level, same options, etc. There is a lot of variation obviously based on options etc. There are dozens of different springs and a highly complicated cross reference table based on vehicle weight. Two of the same model can vary half an inch based on options.

Sent via....

I had heard there are a LOT of different coils made for the JL and now understand why. Great info, thanks for sharing this.
 

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