question about a lift

[jeepman]

I want to lift my 1986 cj7 and saw a new spring over axle lift from full-traction. It offers 5.5" of lift and wanted to know if it would be a good lift to consider in running 35's. If you know or have heard of anything about this lift please let me know. THANKS!!! :)

[ontherocks]

Before you wonder if it's a good lift, you may want to ask yourself some other questions:

Will I ever expect to use this as a daily driver?

What other mods will I need after a SOA?

How will this Jeep handle afterwards?

etc...etc...etc...

You probably know what the pros and cons are already, but I couldn't tell from your post.

[Scorpion]

In doing a spring over using this kit, keep in mind that you are going to be using your original springs when doing this. That's not a huge deal but if any of your springs have started to sag a little, you will lose some of the quoted 5.5" of lift.

I am a little skeptical about installing a bolt on SOA only because I've had spring blocks rotate on me in the past and even though this kit uses a spring plate with pin (and original spring pirches) to locate the lift, I'd be concerned that it just wouldn't be strong enough to handle some abuse combined with the new twist your diffs will have in the SOA configuration.

The kit is $500 plus shipping (if not local) and it seems to me that you could pay someone less to just weld on new spring pirches and buy U-bolts. You could reuse your existing spring plates and I would recommend to buy new u-bolts. Doing it this way you'd have welded on spring pirches that can't rotate no matter what.

Either way you are going to need to get both driveshafts extended so count on spending $400 or so there.

just my thoughts...

[lynn]

To answer you question, yep it will fit the 35's. But you'll have other i$$ue$.
In addition to the responses posted above:
Steering becomes a problem with SOA. Look up Hy-Steer kits, these are sold to correct soa steering issues.
Using your stock springs will result in sag, and sooner than later. Best to get (4) rear CJ Heavy-duty springs from JC Whitney. These are reported to be holding up well for soa use , and are not that expensive.
You are going to get axle wrap. This will quickly fatigue your springs. You need to figure out how to deal with it.
Do you know the correct angle to weld on the new perches? Do you know what the operational limits are for the angle of your driveshaft ujoints?
Will your lift require a CV driveshaft?
You need to do alot more research for soa, it's not a "bolt on" kit.
Do a search on the Jeep forum on the Pirate forum (be careful here, they tend to bash newbies, but have great tech: www.pirate4x4.com
and maybe on the CJ forum on JU: www.jeepsunlimited.com

Good luck