Lifting Guidance For A Newbie

[Neon_Lemon]

Hey all,

I tired searching for the information I'm about to post here but figured it might be quicker to have someone either answer my question directly or link a thread where this is already covered.

My Bronco is my first experience with a 4WD, off-road purposed vehicle and as such I have no clue when it comes to what is and isn't necessary when lifting the vehicle. For clarification, I have 23 OBX 4-DR, NON-SAS that currently has 35x12.50's on it. I'd like to lift my Bronco for the following purposes:

- Light to moderate trail-riding and occasional overlanding
- Clearance for my current 35" tires, which I may increase to 37"s in the future
- Overall aesthetic appearance of a lifted Bronco

I have no intention of mudding or rock-climbing and plan to stay away from any of the more difficult/technical trails as this is my daily with no backup if I screw up. I'm aware that it's necessary to replace the front UCA's at the 3" lift height due to the angle increase, but is it also necessary to replace the rear UCA's as well based on the above?

Thanks for any help.

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[userdude]

For what you're after, a body lift w/max tire kit should suffice. Get into the geometry/stages of the suspension, that gets tricky quick. And you really only need the room for the tires at full stuff.

 

[andersman02]

With non SaSq- you have some wiggle room with how you lift. You can get by with a 1-2" spacer lift without causing too much excessive droop. General rule i believe is 2" space for non SasQ, 1" w/ Sasq before binding. 2" over sAsq before UCAs are needed. (im at about 1.5" and that's getting close for UCAs

Or you can get a preload/top hat kit (not sure if they make one for nonSAS) that has 1" preload and 1" tophat.

That's going to be the easiest/quickest

As far as 37's, that's a rabit hole. You'll want the JKS kit, a 0 offset or close, and you'll probably be good with rubbing at driveheight, but you'll most likely hit your fenders if yourflexing hard

 

[Muffin Top]

- Light to moderate trail-riding and occasional overlanding
- Clearance for my current 35" tires, which I may increase to 37"s in the future
- Overall aesthetic appearance of a lifted Bronco

I have no intention of mudding or rock-climbing and plan to stay away from any of the more difficult/technical trails as this is my daily with no backup if I screw up. I'm aware that it's necessary to replace the front UCA's at the 32" lift height due to the angle increase

Lifting IFS is tricky and places added strain on the front driveline. Could your aesthetic objective be achieved by adding 1" of front lift and 2" of rear lift ?

 

[MNBigfoot]

The Badlands lift height, that will allow you to run 35's (with proper off-set rims), is .6" of lift. Sasquatch lift is 1.1"s, either will get you to moderate trail/overlanding height.

 

[GroovyGeek]

With non SaSq- you have some wiggle room with how you lift. You can get by with a 1-2" spacer lift without causing too much excessive droop. General rule i believe is 2" space for non SasQ, 1" w/ Sasq before binding. 2" over sAsq before UCAs are needed. (im at about 1.5" and that's getting close for UCAs

Or you can get a preload/top hat kit (not sure if they make one for nonSAS) that has 1" preload and 1" tophat.

That's going to be the easiest/quickest

As far as 37's, that's a rabit hole. You'll want the JKS kit, a 0 offset or close, and you'll probably be good with rubbing at driveheight, but you'll most likely hit your fenders if yourflexing hard

The max numbers seem too low. Some months ago I loaned my Bronco to Bilstein for a week of test fitting 8112s (don't know when/if they are releasing them so don't ask) the tech told me that the vehicle aligned with the stock UCAs and nearly 4 inches of lift. I am currently running 2.4 inches of lift with stock UCAs with 6112s on 33 inch KO2s.

To the OP - I don't think you need 35s for overlanding. And with 37s you will have to think about a rack upgrade if you will do anything but mall crawling. 2 inch lift on 34s does not look weird (to me), the wheel wells don't look empty. You keep the gas mileage reasonable too. You. Like of course do 35s with the Territories and get both. But I see absolutely no reason to do 37s for your use case, particularly on a DD where you will take a large hit on mileage for mostly road use.

 

[andersman02]

The max numbers seem too low. Some months ago I loaned my Bronco to Bilstein for a week of test fitting 8112s (don't know when/if they are releasing them so don't ask) the tech told me that the vehicle aligned with the stock UCAs and nearly 4 inches of lift. I am currently running 2.4 inches of lift with stock UCAs with 6112s on 33 inch KO2s.

To the OP - I don't think you need 35s for overlanding. And with 37s you will have to think about a rack upgrade if you will do anything but mall crawling. 2 inch lift on 34s does not look weird (to me), the wheel wells don't look empty. You keep the gas mileage reasonable too. You. Like of course do 35s with the Territories and get both. But I see absolutely no reason to do 37s for your use case, particularly on a DD where you will take a large hit on mileage for mostly road use.

Actually, I think you are more correct and I am a little wrong. I believe it was around 3", not 2" that stock UCAs become hit or miss. I can tell you though my alignment is dead on, and looking at the alignment washers, there is not alot left, they are basically almost on the last dash. Im guessing each bronco is will be slightly different.

I will say, changing UCAs to one meant for a lift will change the angle and allow the CV axel to stay more seated. When you start lifting, to get into alignment you essentially are pulling the tire out from the bottom, this also pulls the CV out ever so slightly.

And OP as groovy said, you definately dont "need" 37's for overlanding, 33-35 will do absolutely just fine. The goodyears are a decent tire for overlanding and you will not take a hit on MPG cause they're so light. 37's and heavier 35's are really "needed", and I say "needed cause they still really arent, when your finding you drag your belly/diff when crawling or running over very sharp rocks.

Or there needed because you want them cause they look cool. which is absolutely fine but then your openning a can of worms

 

[BlueBronco]

Since you have a non-Squatch with the Hitachi coilovers, I would suggest upgrading the coilovers to get the desired lift and a better ride. For the budget mindful you go can find Squatch take-offs for fairly cheap or go with the Bilstien 6100's. However, if you are considering a larger tire in the future, consider an adjustable coilover that you can crank up to accommodate the bigger tires. As the old saying goes, buy once, cry once. The 4WP's are probably the least expensive adjustable coilover on the market and can fit 37's. I would skip any spacer or body lifts. Do upgrade the UCA's with whichever coilover you choose but I wouldn't bother with new rear links or track bars until you go up to those 37's. And there is nothing wrong with running 37's simply for looks or because you want too. It's your money, you only live once, spend it wisely and how you see fit.

For the type of off-roading you described you don't need to upgrade the steering rack. Lots of fear mongering here with regards to that. I have aftermarket coilovers (Dirt-logic) and 37's on my '21 BL with the factory steering rack and do plenty of rock crawling. Wheel smart and carry a spare inner tie-rod in with your gear for cheap insurance. I would be more concerned about the smaller front axle than the rack, but again, you should be fine with the wheeling you described.

 

[Brian_B]

The rear end - mostly it's all in how the track bar sits, which is to get the rear wheels re-centered with the body when the geometry gets funky. So you may need a track bar offset bracket, or an adjustable track bar. There is the angle of the rear drive shaft, but I haven't heard of that being too much of an issue with these rear ends and setup - at least until you get to some extremes.

You have multiple considerations up front - not only the UCAs for tire alignment, but also the angle for your front axle and tie rods -- the greater the angle those sit at, the more stress and wear they get, and pretty much every type of lift (apart from portals and body lifts) are going to negatively affect those. You get into things like diff drops and such and it gets complicated, and expensive, in a hurry.

I was running a RC 2.5" lift kit for a while - it came with the front and rear spacers, a new UCA and a rear track bar bracket. The rear alignment wasn't perfect, but it was close. I've since replaced the spacers with the 4WP adjustable coil overs - and the coil overs at their ~minimum~ setting is 0.5" higher than the RC 2.5" kit was. But the UCAs and the track bar bracket work just fine with that.

I've always heard 2" was where you needed to start looking at upgrading stuff (SAS is what, 1.2" over base, I think?). You might get away with 3, but there was a big jump from 2.5" to 3" for me.

This may also be one of those "Captain Obvious" things to point out, but lifts have a major effect on your mileage. I lost 1 mpg in that 0.5" of additional lift, and with my 7MT, 6th gear was already more or less useless, but it's started to marginalize 5th gear as well (due to excessive turbo needed to maintain speed)

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