Off Road Mods For A Daily Driver

JKherbie

JKherbie

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Joined
Aug 25, 2022
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Canada
Hey all, I'm new to this forum, and a little over a year into owning a Wrangler. I'm looking for recommendations for off road capability while still having my Wrangler function as a daily driver (it's my only vehicle). I live in Ottawa, Canada which is basically a reclaimed swamp, with minor rock crawling opportunities. I was thinking about going up to a 2.5" lift with 34" tires. It's currently on 33's and stock suspension and haven't had any issues yet, but would like to be able to participate on some higher difficulty trails with the local club. Obviously I would love to go bigger, but still need to commute to work on the highway.

What do the great minds of this community suggest?

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I too daily my Jeep. Not a long commute mind you but I take it everywhere.
I believe you can make any jeep have "decent" road manners to be a daily commuter. With a known good suspension lift and the 34"s I would see no issue. Re-gearing might help get some of the power-band back with the larger tires.
My only suggestion would be to spend the money up front. Good shop, good lift, replace known wear items and good tires. With that combination your should come out the other side with a very well behaved rig that can get you places.
 
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We have two JK’s as DD with 2.5” lifts and are very happy with them. We only have 32” and 33” tires on them and of course size of tires can change the road handling a little. With a 2.5” lift that is great height as not a lot of other items need to be changed and many can handle a 35” tire. So in my opipion the 2.5” lift is the sweet spot and lets the vast majority of off-roaders do a lot of trails. We went with the AEV 2.5 Dualsport lift, overall a very complete kit and the ride is better then stock. We actually netted over 3” of ground clearance and that is with some steel skids, aftermarket bumpers, and winch etc. Their system is “designed” for overlanding but we have been very happy with the setup. Teraflex and MetalCloak also seem to be popular.
 
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FishFam JKU said:
I too daily my Jeep. Not a long commute mind you but I take it everywhere.
I believe you can make any jeep have "decent" road manners to be a daily commuter. With a known good suspension lift and the 34"s I would see no issue. Re-gearing might help get some of the power-band back with the larger tires.
My only suggestion would be to spend the money up front. Good shop, good lift, replace known wear items and good tires. With that combination your should come out the other side with a very well behaved rig that can get you places.
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There aren't many places that do lifts in my area, one well known shop where I would definitely have the service done, only installs the lifts they sell. And for Jeep, it's only Rough Country. However, I work at a Chrysler dealer, so was considering having it done at work, where the techs will do Mopar and Fox suspensions, which I get discounts on.
 
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JKherbie said:
There aren't many places that do lifts in my area, one well known shop where I would definitely have the service done, only installs the lifts they sell. And for Jeep, it's only Rough Country. However, I work at a Chrysler dealer, so was considering having it done at work, where the techs will do Mopar and Fox suspensions, which I get discounts on.
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Depending on your mechanical abilities a lift isn’t that complicated / difficult to install. I actually joked with my wife this weekend installing the lift is easier then replacing the emergency brake shoes (which I actually threw at one point).
 
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Danarch said:
Depending on your mechanical abilities a lift isn’t that complicated / difficult to install. I actually joked with my wife this weekend installing the lift is easier then replacing the emergency brake shoes (which I actually threw at one point).
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Eeehhh, I'm good with the bolt ons and most wiring, but I would be more comfortable having a professional touch my suspension. That's all the icky bits I don't want to do wrong 😖
 
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For a DD I would recumbent a tall skinny tire nothing real wide or it will affect your ride and the feel of stability.
 
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