ZJ Rock Krawler 2" Budget Boost
	Category:	Suspension
	Author:	Eric
	Date:	March 16th, 2004

We were seeking out a budget boost for Jer’s ZJ and we looked through the gamut and found that the kits were all very similar except for Rock Krawler’s offering. A standard budget boost (BB) includes polyurethane spacers and taller shocks. The Rock Krawler BB also includes front sway bar quick disconnects. It costs $299 as compared to $229, the cheapest price of other coparible BB. You’re basically paying $80 for quick disconnects which is about a $20 savings buying them separate.

We ordered them over the phone and the salesman was very knowledgeable and friendly. The package arrived in a timely manner as promised. First impressions, the parts were all top quality looked great. The website said it included detailed instructions and I felt they were vague and inadequate for first timers like us.

The contents of the kit.

Starting in the front, we started dismantling the front end. We disconnected the sway bar end links and ran into a problem right off the bat. The end link has a ball joint at the top with a threaded bolt going through the sway bar. After removing the bolt that holds the ball joint, it didn’t come out of the sway bar. We didn’t know if the bolt was threaded into the sway bar so we were reluctant to start hammering to dislodge the ball joint. As it turns out, the bolt is tapered and thus wedged very tightly into the sway bar and it required a lot of hammering. It eventually popped out to our relief. The new quick disconnects were easy to adjust and self explanatory to install.

Next was the shocks and they quickly came off after removing three nuts. Next in the instructions, we were just supposed remove the springs and that’s all it said about that. We were left to decide how to do this. We ended up jacking up the opposite side of the axle thus dropping the side we were working on. After removing the retaining clip, the spring came right off.

Feeling good, we proceeded to keep working and install the spacers and reinstall the new springs. We couldn’t get the axle low enough to fit the springs with the spacers installed. We ran down to the parts store to get a spring compressor and found that was totally useless because it wouldn’t fit because the bump stops were too low to clear the compressor tool. Taking a closer look, we could not get the axle low enough to fit the spring because the lower control arm (LCA) was binding. Disconnecting the LCA, we were able to get the axle down just low enough to fit the spring back on. The new shocks bolted right up without any trouble. Looking back at this, I realized we could have saved a lot of trouble by using a strap of sorts to hold the spring compressed before we removed it. We also could have used a ratcheting strap to compress the spring.

The front fully assembled.

After lunch we tackled the rear and it took only a fraction of the time required for the front. The rear end is much more flexible and we were able to install the new spacers and springs with out disconnecting the LCAs. The ride looks great and it’s a true two inches of lift with this kit.

The amount of flex with the swaybar disconnected is amazing!

We took a short drive to a close river crossing and tested out the flex on some rocks with the sway bar disconnected and we were very impressed. The vehicle stayed very level. Later that week Jer put on 31x10.5 BFG All Terrains that really accentuated the size of the lift. With the bigger tires we did experience a little bit of rubbing. On the front passenger side under full flex, the top of the wheel well was hit and with the steering wheel locked fully to the right, it hits the LCA slightly. On both sides we trimmed a small triangle shape piece of plastic that rubbed during normal turning. He did experience a mild case of death wobble that was solved with an alignment. The sway bar quick disconnects rattle a little bit during normal driving because it uses metal ball joints. When discounted, you will need to fabricate a mechanism to hold the sway bar and disconnect up out of the way of the suspension because the sway bar will actually swing down when disconnected. We plan on using some sort of eye bold that we can hold a strap.

31s are a nice fit for this lift.

I would recommend this lift to anyone looking for a mild lift to fit 31” tires. The overall look is aggressive yet not over the top. The tire size fits this vehicle well and looks great the performance gained from the sway bar disconnects is great!

For ordering information, check out RockKrawler.com. You can call them here: 518-270-9822.