Jeep Wranglers are great for many reasons. One of these reasons is that the aftermarket industry is stacked with great options to modify your Jeep and make it just the way you want it.
One of the most popular modifications that's out there is to install a lift. But lifts aren't all the same. There are different types from mild to wild, and a lot of the decision making on which style to go with is based on your budget. The more in-depth you go with the lift, the number of parts included, and the materials those parts are made of is what makes the difference in what the lift will cost.
Another thing you want to keep in mind when looking at lift kits and deciding on what to go with is what exactly you are wanting to get out of your lift. Lifts can either be done for aesthetic reasons or done to upgrade the suspension to increase its capabilities.
Now, trying to keep budget and intended purpose in mind, what would be a good lift to install to keep the budget low, clear some bigger tires, and be done properly? One of the answers to that question is a coil spacer lift. A coil spacer lift is a budget-friendly way to lift your Jeep and if you pick one that has the proper parts included, can be a good way to put a lift on your Jeep.
A good coil spacer lift to look at if you're interested in a lift like this for your Jeep is the Rough Country 2.5 inches Series II Coil Spring Spacer Lift. This specific lift will allow you to clear up to 35" tires, increase your ground clearance, utilize a lot of stock parts to keep the costs down, and is on the easier end of the installation difficulty spectrum due to the fact it is a bolt-on installation. Another thing I want to point out about this lift is that it gives you the option of adding shocks. It's very important that when you lift any vehicle or lower any vehicle that you swap your shocks out with shocks that can handle the change of ride height. The reason is that the stock shock was designed with a range of movement for the stock ride height. When the ride height changes, the range of movement that the shock is capable of must be adjusted to match. What you don't want is to change your ride height, keep your stock shock, and then have it bottoming out or topping out. If that ends up happening, it will make your vehicle ride horribly and make you wish you never installed the lift.
Figure 1. Rough Country 2.5 inches Series II coil spring spacer lift.
Materials Needed
Step 1 – Remove all four wheels
This lift will be installed on all four corners, so all four wheels will need to be removed. You will also be working on the front and rear at the same time, so you will need to take all four wheels at once. Raise the vehicle off the ground so that you have enough room to reinstall the wheels and compensate for the added length of the suspension and bigger tires you will probably be installing after the lift.
Figure 2. Jack the car up and remove the wheels.
Step 2 – Remove front sway bar links
After removing the wheels, the first suspension component that you are going to remove is going to be the front sway bar links. Keep in mind that throughout this installation you are going to be removing and installing parts that are on both sides of the vehicle. So when you get to these parts, such as the sway bar links and the removal of them, you want to remove them from both sides. The sway bar links have a bolt on the bottom and a threaded end that is sort of like a ball joint that threads into the sway bar. Once you have removed the sway bar links, you can put them aside because they will not be long enough after the lift is installed and the rear sway bar links will be used in their place.
Figure 3. Left side.
Figure 4. Right side.
Step 3 – Remove front brake line bracket
Next, you will remove the front brake line bracket. The front brake line bracket is attached to the frame with one bolt. You are going to be removing it because you will be installing a bracket extension to help give you more slack when the lift is installed.
Figure 5. Removing brake line bracket.
Step 4 – Remove front shocks
The front shocks will need to be removed next. The shocks are attached at the bottom by a bolt and nut, and at the top have a stem mount that goes through the top shock mount with a nut that secures it by the stem to the mount. If you ordered the lift kit with the optional shocks, which is highly recommended, you will setting the shocks aside as you won't be using them.
Figure 6. Lower shock bolts.
Figure 7. Upper shock bolts.
Step 5 – Remove coil springs
After the sway bar links and the front shocks are removed, it will allow the front axle to be moved far enough out of the way to get the coil springs out, which will be the next thing you are going to want to do. The coil springs are not secured by any fasteners, so once you have the axle moved down far enough, you can just pull them out with your hand.
Figure 8. Pull the spring out.
Step 6 – Remove factory spring isolator
The top of the coil spring sits in the top of the spring perch against an isolator that keeps any crazy vibrations from being transferred through the vehicle's frame and provides a sort of bushing for the spring to sit against. You will need to remove this factory spring isolator and will be reusing it after you install the coil spring spacer provided with the lift kit. It just slides over the bump stop, so in order to remove it, you just need to slide it down.
Figure 9. Spring isolator.
Step 7 – Install coil spring spacer
Now everything has been removed and you can start with the lift kit install. The first thing you will be installing will be the actual coil spring spacer provided in the kit that will be the actual part that will be adding the lift by adding space in between the coil spring and the spring perch. The coil spring spacer just slides over the bump stop just as the isolator was installed.
Figure 10. Coil spring spacer installed.
Step 8 – Reinstall factory isolator
Remember that factory spring isolator that you removed just two steps ago? Well now you will be reinstalling it over the new coil spring spacer. Just as it was removed by sliding it over the bump stop, you will be doing the opposite to reinstall it. Pretty simple.
Figure 11. Rubber isoator installed.
Step 9 – Reinstall coil spring
You've got the coil spring spacer installed and you just reinstalled the spring isolator. Now you are ready to reinstall the coil spring itself. You might need to push down on the axle assembly with a pry bar to help give yourself a bit more space in order to get the coil spring back in place. Make sure that the top of the spring is seated against the spring isolator, and that the bottom is seated in its place on the axle assembly.
Figure 12. Spring reinstalled.
Step 10 – Reinstall brake line bracket with brake line bracket extension
The next thing to put back in place will be the brake line bracket. There is a brake line bracket extension that is provided in the kit with a bolt. The new bolt will attach the brake line bracket extension to the frame, and then you will attach the brake line bracket to the brake line extension with the old bolt.
Figure 13. Extended bracket installed.
Step 11 – Install new shocks
The last step before you start to move to the rear will be to install the new shocks in place. The new shocks will be installed in the reverse as the old shocks were removed. Them stem mount of the new shock goes into the top mount, and then the bolt and nut will be installed in the bottom mount.
Figure 14. New shock lined up in place.
Figure 15. Shock bolts tightened.
Rear
Step 1 – Remove factory rear shocks
Now it's time to move to the rear and the first thing you will be removing will be the factory rear shocks. The bottom of the rear shocks attaches similar to the front shocks with a bolt and nut in the bottom mount. The top is different. It attaches to the top mount with two bolts.
Figure 16. Rear shock lower bolts.
Figure 17. Rear upper shock bolt.
Step 2 – Remove brake line bracket
Next, just like the front, you will want to remove the brake line bracket. You will also be installing a brake line bracket extension here and the brake line bracket is held on just like the front one to the frame with one bolt.
Figure 18. Remove brake line bracket.
Step 3 – Remove rear sway bar links
Now, remove the rear sway bar links, but don't set them aside; you will be using them for the front sway bar, as they are longer than the front ones you removed and new rear sway bar links are provided in the lift kit for the rear sway bar. Just like with the front, the bottom is attached with a bolt, and the top is attached with a ball joint style stud threaded into the sway bar.
Figure 19. Unhook the rear sway bar.
Figure 20. Swap sway bar links, rear to front.
Figure 21. End result.
Step 4 – Remove rear coil springs
Now that the shocks and the sway bar links are removed, you have enough space to remove the rear coil springs. Just like with the front, there is no fasteners that secures them and can be removed by hand. Make sure to remove the coil spring isolator once you have removed the coil spring. You will be reusing it later.
Figure 22. Springs removed.
Step 5 – Install coil spring spacer
Now everything that was needed to be removed has been removed and you can start installing the lift kit components. The first one you are going to install is the coil spring spacer. This spacer is different than the front one because it doesn't just slide into place. It actually has a bolt and nut that secures it to the top coil spring perch.
Figure 23. Spring spacer.
Step 6 – Reinstall factory spring isolator
Now you will install the factory spring isolator. It just slides into place onto the coil spring spacer.
Figure 24. Spring isolator installed.
Step 7 – Reinstall rear coil springs
Now that the coil spring spacer and spring isolator are installed, you can reinstall the rear coil springs back in place. Again, you might need to push the rear axle down to give yourself enough space to install the coil springs back into place. Ensure that they are seated securely against the spring isolator at the top and the perch on the rear axle at the bottom.
Figure 25. Rear spring reinstalled.
Step 8 – Remove rear track bar
Now that the coil springs are installed, you can move onto the rear track bar. There is a rear track bar mount extension that needs to be installed in order to lower the mounting point of the rear track bar. The rear track bar helps to keep the rear axle assembly centered and aligned. Because of the added height, the top mount of the rear track bar must be lowered down to make it so that it can keep doing its job correctly. Essentially what it does is it allows the rear track bar to have the same amount of range of movement as it did when the ride height was stock. The top of the rear track bar is attached to the mount by a bolt and nut.
Figure 26. Rear track bar removed.
Step 9 – Install rear track bar drop bracket
After you have the rear track bar unbolted, you can then install the rear track bar drop bracket in place. Essentially what the drop bracket does is lower the mounting point of track bar mounting bracket. It just bolts into the stock track bar mount with the provided hardware.
Figure 27. Rear track bar extended bracket.
Step 10 – Reinstall rear track bar
Once you have the track bar drop bracket installed, you can reinstall the track bar into the new drop bracket. Just use the stock hardware and bolt it back into place.
Figure 28. Rear track bar reinstalled.
Step 11 – Install new rear sway bar links
After the rear track bar is reinstalled you can install the new rear sway bar links that have been provided with the lift kit. They look similar to the stock ones, but are longer to compensate for the added ride height. The attach just as the stock ones did, with a bolt and nut on the bottom and the ball joint style stud that threads into the sway bar.
Figure 29. Extended drop links.
Figure 30. Installed.
Step 12 – Install new rear shocks
Now you can install the new rear shocks. They will install the same way that the stock rear shocks were installed.
Figure 31. Upper shock bolts.
Figure 32. Rear shocks installed.
Step 13 – Reinstall brake line with brake line extension bracket
After the shocks have been installed, you can go ahead and install the brake line extension bracket just as you did with the front brake line bracket.
Figure 33. Rear brake line extension bracket.
Step 14 – Install all four wheels
Every component that is required to be installed from the lift kit is now installed. You can now install the wheels and lower the car back onto the ground and admire the new look of your Jeep. Make sure that you take it for an alignment check and adjustment, as this is definitely needed after doing something like this to your suspension.
Figure 34. You're done!
Featured Video: How to Install Rough Country 2.5" Spring Lift
One of the most popular modifications that's out there is to install a lift. But lifts aren't all the same. There are different types from mild to wild, and a lot of the decision making on which style to go with is based on your budget. The more in-depth you go with the lift, the number of parts included, and the materials those parts are made of is what makes the difference in what the lift will cost.
Another thing you want to keep in mind when looking at lift kits and deciding on what to go with is what exactly you are wanting to get out of your lift. Lifts can either be done for aesthetic reasons or done to upgrade the suspension to increase its capabilities.
Now, trying to keep budget and intended purpose in mind, what would be a good lift to install to keep the budget low, clear some bigger tires, and be done properly? One of the answers to that question is a coil spacer lift. A coil spacer lift is a budget-friendly way to lift your Jeep and if you pick one that has the proper parts included, can be a good way to put a lift on your Jeep.
A good coil spacer lift to look at if you're interested in a lift like this for your Jeep is the Rough Country 2.5 inches Series II Coil Spring Spacer Lift. This specific lift will allow you to clear up to 35" tires, increase your ground clearance, utilize a lot of stock parts to keep the costs down, and is on the easier end of the installation difficulty spectrum due to the fact it is a bolt-on installation. Another thing I want to point out about this lift is that it gives you the option of adding shocks. It's very important that when you lift any vehicle or lower any vehicle that you swap your shocks out with shocks that can handle the change of ride height. The reason is that the stock shock was designed with a range of movement for the stock ride height. When the ride height changes, the range of movement that the shock is capable of must be adjusted to match. What you don't want is to change your ride height, keep your stock shock, and then have it bottoming out or topping out. If that ends up happening, it will make your vehicle ride horribly and make you wish you never installed the lift.
Figure 1. Rough Country 2.5 inches Series II coil spring spacer lift.
Materials Needed
- Millimeter sockets sizes 10mm-22mm
- Standard sockets sizes 7/16" - 1"
- Ratchet
- Impact wrench (if available)
- Millimeter wrenches sizes 10mm-18mm
- Medium pry bar
Step 1 – Remove all four wheels
This lift will be installed on all four corners, so all four wheels will need to be removed. You will also be working on the front and rear at the same time, so you will need to take all four wheels at once. Raise the vehicle off the ground so that you have enough room to reinstall the wheels and compensate for the added length of the suspension and bigger tires you will probably be installing after the lift.
Figure 2. Jack the car up and remove the wheels.
Step 2 – Remove front sway bar links
After removing the wheels, the first suspension component that you are going to remove is going to be the front sway bar links. Keep in mind that throughout this installation you are going to be removing and installing parts that are on both sides of the vehicle. So when you get to these parts, such as the sway bar links and the removal of them, you want to remove them from both sides. The sway bar links have a bolt on the bottom and a threaded end that is sort of like a ball joint that threads into the sway bar. Once you have removed the sway bar links, you can put them aside because they will not be long enough after the lift is installed and the rear sway bar links will be used in their place.
Figure 3. Left side.
Figure 4. Right side.
Step 3 – Remove front brake line bracket
Next, you will remove the front brake line bracket. The front brake line bracket is attached to the frame with one bolt. You are going to be removing it because you will be installing a bracket extension to help give you more slack when the lift is installed.
Figure 5. Removing brake line bracket.
Step 4 – Remove front shocks
The front shocks will need to be removed next. The shocks are attached at the bottom by a bolt and nut, and at the top have a stem mount that goes through the top shock mount with a nut that secures it by the stem to the mount. If you ordered the lift kit with the optional shocks, which is highly recommended, you will setting the shocks aside as you won't be using them.
Figure 6. Lower shock bolts.
Figure 7. Upper shock bolts.
Step 5 – Remove coil springs
After the sway bar links and the front shocks are removed, it will allow the front axle to be moved far enough out of the way to get the coil springs out, which will be the next thing you are going to want to do. The coil springs are not secured by any fasteners, so once you have the axle moved down far enough, you can just pull them out with your hand.
Figure 8. Pull the spring out.
Step 6 – Remove factory spring isolator
The top of the coil spring sits in the top of the spring perch against an isolator that keeps any crazy vibrations from being transferred through the vehicle's frame and provides a sort of bushing for the spring to sit against. You will need to remove this factory spring isolator and will be reusing it after you install the coil spring spacer provided with the lift kit. It just slides over the bump stop, so in order to remove it, you just need to slide it down.
Figure 9. Spring isolator.
Step 7 – Install coil spring spacer
Now everything has been removed and you can start with the lift kit install. The first thing you will be installing will be the actual coil spring spacer provided in the kit that will be the actual part that will be adding the lift by adding space in between the coil spring and the spring perch. The coil spring spacer just slides over the bump stop just as the isolator was installed.
Figure 10. Coil spring spacer installed.
Step 8 – Reinstall factory isolator
Remember that factory spring isolator that you removed just two steps ago? Well now you will be reinstalling it over the new coil spring spacer. Just as it was removed by sliding it over the bump stop, you will be doing the opposite to reinstall it. Pretty simple.
Figure 11. Rubber isoator installed.
Step 9 – Reinstall coil spring
You've got the coil spring spacer installed and you just reinstalled the spring isolator. Now you are ready to reinstall the coil spring itself. You might need to push down on the axle assembly with a pry bar to help give yourself a bit more space in order to get the coil spring back in place. Make sure that the top of the spring is seated against the spring isolator, and that the bottom is seated in its place on the axle assembly.
Figure 12. Spring reinstalled.
Step 10 – Reinstall brake line bracket with brake line bracket extension
The next thing to put back in place will be the brake line bracket. There is a brake line bracket extension that is provided in the kit with a bolt. The new bolt will attach the brake line bracket extension to the frame, and then you will attach the brake line bracket to the brake line extension with the old bolt.
Figure 13. Extended bracket installed.
Step 11 – Install new shocks
The last step before you start to move to the rear will be to install the new shocks in place. The new shocks will be installed in the reverse as the old shocks were removed. Them stem mount of the new shock goes into the top mount, and then the bolt and nut will be installed in the bottom mount.
Figure 14. New shock lined up in place.
Figure 15. Shock bolts tightened.
Rear
Step 1 – Remove factory rear shocks
Now it's time to move to the rear and the first thing you will be removing will be the factory rear shocks. The bottom of the rear shocks attaches similar to the front shocks with a bolt and nut in the bottom mount. The top is different. It attaches to the top mount with two bolts.
Figure 16. Rear shock lower bolts.
Figure 17. Rear upper shock bolt.
Step 2 – Remove brake line bracket
Next, just like the front, you will want to remove the brake line bracket. You will also be installing a brake line bracket extension here and the brake line bracket is held on just like the front one to the frame with one bolt.
Figure 18. Remove brake line bracket.
Step 3 – Remove rear sway bar links
Now, remove the rear sway bar links, but don't set them aside; you will be using them for the front sway bar, as they are longer than the front ones you removed and new rear sway bar links are provided in the lift kit for the rear sway bar. Just like with the front, the bottom is attached with a bolt, and the top is attached with a ball joint style stud threaded into the sway bar.
Figure 19. Unhook the rear sway bar.
Figure 20. Swap sway bar links, rear to front.
Figure 21. End result.
Step 4 – Remove rear coil springs
Now that the shocks and the sway bar links are removed, you have enough space to remove the rear coil springs. Just like with the front, there is no fasteners that secures them and can be removed by hand. Make sure to remove the coil spring isolator once you have removed the coil spring. You will be reusing it later.
Figure 22. Springs removed.
Step 5 – Install coil spring spacer
Now everything that was needed to be removed has been removed and you can start installing the lift kit components. The first one you are going to install is the coil spring spacer. This spacer is different than the front one because it doesn't just slide into place. It actually has a bolt and nut that secures it to the top coil spring perch.
Figure 23. Spring spacer.
Step 6 – Reinstall factory spring isolator
Now you will install the factory spring isolator. It just slides into place onto the coil spring spacer.
Figure 24. Spring isolator installed.
Step 7 – Reinstall rear coil springs
Now that the coil spring spacer and spring isolator are installed, you can reinstall the rear coil springs back in place. Again, you might need to push the rear axle down to give yourself enough space to install the coil springs back into place. Ensure that they are seated securely against the spring isolator at the top and the perch on the rear axle at the bottom.
Figure 25. Rear spring reinstalled.
Step 8 – Remove rear track bar
Now that the coil springs are installed, you can move onto the rear track bar. There is a rear track bar mount extension that needs to be installed in order to lower the mounting point of the rear track bar. The rear track bar helps to keep the rear axle assembly centered and aligned. Because of the added height, the top mount of the rear track bar must be lowered down to make it so that it can keep doing its job correctly. Essentially what it does is it allows the rear track bar to have the same amount of range of movement as it did when the ride height was stock. The top of the rear track bar is attached to the mount by a bolt and nut.
Figure 26. Rear track bar removed.
Step 9 – Install rear track bar drop bracket
After you have the rear track bar unbolted, you can then install the rear track bar drop bracket in place. Essentially what the drop bracket does is lower the mounting point of track bar mounting bracket. It just bolts into the stock track bar mount with the provided hardware.
Figure 27. Rear track bar extended bracket.
Step 10 – Reinstall rear track bar
Once you have the track bar drop bracket installed, you can reinstall the track bar into the new drop bracket. Just use the stock hardware and bolt it back into place.
Figure 28. Rear track bar reinstalled.
Step 11 – Install new rear sway bar links
After the rear track bar is reinstalled you can install the new rear sway bar links that have been provided with the lift kit. They look similar to the stock ones, but are longer to compensate for the added ride height. The attach just as the stock ones did, with a bolt and nut on the bottom and the ball joint style stud that threads into the sway bar.
Figure 29. Extended drop links.
Figure 30. Installed.
Step 12 – Install new rear shocks
Now you can install the new rear shocks. They will install the same way that the stock rear shocks were installed.
Figure 31. Upper shock bolts.
Figure 32. Rear shocks installed.
Step 13 – Reinstall brake line with brake line extension bracket
After the shocks have been installed, you can go ahead and install the brake line extension bracket just as you did with the front brake line bracket.
Figure 33. Rear brake line extension bracket.
Step 14 – Install all four wheels
Every component that is required to be installed from the lift kit is now installed. You can now install the wheels and lower the car back onto the ground and admire the new look of your Jeep. Make sure that you take it for an alignment check and adjustment, as this is definitely needed after doing something like this to your suspension.
Figure 34. You're done!
Featured Video: How to Install Rough Country 2.5" Spring Lift