Getting High - Teraflex Lift Kit

October 17, 2016

12:00 AM

Getting High - Teraflex Lift Kit

Story & photos by Perry Mack

Buy three, get one free - Teraflex 3” Lift Kit

It’s only fear and loathing on the trail holding you back. Fear that you’ll tear off important bits of your under carriage and loathing your fellow man because he has already lifted his rig and is now waiting to enjoy the carnage as you follow him on your stock JK.

I had had enough of both ,and called on Teraflex to solve my insecurities (these two anyways), since it sounded like a manlier story to tell than one about seeing a therapist.

It is roughly an eight man-hour install, and does require some automotive experience. Although it’s called a three-inch lift, we ended up with four inches of lift – pay for three, get one free.

If you have to use your stock wheels you'll need spacers, as the top of the rear swaybar links will hit the tires. Wheelspacers.ca provided 1.5” thick flat spacers. We only needed an inch but we didn't want to cut down the OEM bolts. This still left the tires underneath the stock fenders (at least close enough for the heat I pass on the highway).

The Teraflex instructions are easy to understand and detailed. The challenge is that many of the parts are sold separately, so each has its own set of instructions. Which means that if (like us) you are doing a full suspension install, you spend a lot of time flipping between pages of instructions. Where you read ‘loosen’ and then ‘tighten’ parts in a particular section, you can actually remove the part, as you are about to install new.

You'll have six sets of instructions. I would suggest you read them all before you start so you know when to switch to the correct instructions to avoid extra work.

Check the parts as you pull them from the boxes as not all parts are embossed with part numbers. Stick the box labels on them until you're ready.

This is how we performed a full suspension install of the Teraflex (TF) 3” lift kit, including the new JK Alpine short control arms (CA’s). As the TF instructions are quite good (although fragmented in our case), we’ll focus on the order we performed the steps in, and elaborate on the procedures that could use some extra detail, rather than regurgitate the 74 pages of detailed instructions you will get with your kit.

A shout to my buddies and fellow wheelers at Kelowna Trucksworks for lending me their garage, tools, time, advice and sweat equity to perform a modification that has literally taken me where I have never sanely gone before.

Front Suspension

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Teraflex Lift Kit

All the parts for the front and rear installation.

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Teraflex Lift Kit

1. Lift the vehicle, pull off the tires, support the axle, remove the swaybar links, and remove the control arms.

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Teraflex Lift Kit

2. Lower the axle until the spring is free and remove the coil. Make sure the ABS, brake and breather lines aren’t over extended

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Teraflex Lift Kit

3. Disconnect lower shock bolt (hang on to this hardware). The battery box interferes with the passenger side upper shock bolt and the shock install instructions say break away a chunk of the battery box to gain access. We used a hammer and chisel to make a clean break.

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Teraflex Lift Kit

4. Set the new lower control arms to 23 1/8”. Install decal facing out. Repeat with the upper control arms set to 18 7/8”.

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Teraflex Lift Kit

5. Leave all control arm bolts loose after being installed. The control arms don't rotate on the bolts. They flex the bushing. If you tighten them now, when you drop your rig the bushings will be flexed instead of neutral. You'll get premature wear and you're rig may not ride right.

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6. You'll notice that the driveshaft is hanging on the muffler. It doesn't say it in the instruction but you'll have to disconnect the shaft to get the new longer coils in. Mark the shaft and flange so you get it back in the same spot. Keep your eye on your lines when you start to drop your axle farther to get the new coils in. Too far and you'll start tearing hoses apart – no fun, extra work.

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Teraflex Lift Kit

7. The new TF coils are taller and beefier.

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Teraflex Lift Kit

8. Install the new spring spacer, upper and lower bump stop extensions and new coil. Some lube on the upper bump stop makes removal and installation much easier.

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Teraflex Lift Kit

9. Install the new shock using the old lower hardware and new upper. Now you’ll see why you had break out a chunk of the battery box on the passenger side.

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Teraflex Lift Kit

10. Remove the old track bar keeping the hardware and reinstall the new.

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Teraflex Lift Kit

11. Install the new sway bar links. Remember to install the grease fittings and point them to the rear of the Jeep so you don't fill them with dirt while you're driving.

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Teraflex Lift Kit

12. Install the sway bar disconnect bracket to upper mount to key your sway bar out of the way when it's disconnected using the old upper sway bar bolt.

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Teraflex Lift Kit

13. We noted earlier the drive shaft hit the exhaust with the front suspension dropped. To keep the exhaust clear we need to move it to the rear using the new exhaust spacers. The longer spacer goes on the passenger side. We used a bit of Ultra Copper sealant (a high temp gasket maker) on the spacers to ensure there's no exhaust leaks.

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Teraflex Lift Kit

14. Remove the old brake lines and install the new extended brake lines and brackets. The omission here with the new bracket is there is no allowance for the ABS sensor line. We substituted black zap straps in place of proper brackets until we come up with a better idea.

Front Suspension

All the parts for the front and rear installation.

1. Lift the vehicle, pull off the tires, support the axle, remove the swaybar links, and remove the control arms.

2. Lower the axle until the spring is free and remove the coil. Make sure the ABS, brake and breather lines aren’t over extended.

4. Set the new lower control arms to 23 1/8”. Install decal facing out. Repeat with the upper control arms set to 18 7/8”.

7. The new TF coils are taller and beefier.

8. Install the new spring spacer, upper and lower bump stop extensions and new coil. Some lube on the upper bump stop makes removal and installation much easier.

9. Install the new shock using the old lower hardware and new upper. Now you’ll see why you had break out a chunk of the battery box on the passenger side.

10. Remove the old track bar keeping the hardware and reinstall the new.

11. Install the new sway bar links. Remember to install the grease fittings and point them to the rear of the Jeep so you don't fill them with dirt while you're driving.

12. Install the sway bar disconnect bracket to upper mount to key your sway bar out of the way when it's disconnected using the old upper sway bar bolt.

Back Suspension

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Teraflex Lift Kit

1. Remove the wheels, support the axle, remove the rear track bar, loosen the control arms, and remove the shocks.

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Teraflex Lift Kit

2. Remove the clips holding the ABS wiring to the upper CA mount; remove the parking brake bracket and brake line mount from the frame.

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Teraflex Lift Kit

3. Remove the CA’s one at a time and install the new TF CA’s following the instructions to set the length for your JK. Clamp the torque bolts after setting the length as you can't get to all of them once you reattach the axle end of the CA. Leave the lower CA driver side bolt off.

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4. Install the new factory spring isolators and new lower bumpstops.

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Teraflex Lift Kit

5. Lower the axle and disconnect the rear swaybar links to install the new springs. Once again watch the ABS, brake and breather lines.

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Teraflex Lift Kit

6. Lift the axle high enough to install the new shocks. Install the new sway bar links.

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Teraflex Lift Kit

7. Install the new axle track bar bracket, reinstall the lower control arm bolt and finally re-install the Trackbar.

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Teraflex Lift Kit

8. Install brake line extension bracket. The differential vent hose was too short at full droop so we grabbed a chunk of 11/32 tranny hose, cut it to 10 cm longer than the old hose and reconnected it.

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9. If you are re-mounting your OEM wheels, you’ll need wheel spacers to clear the top of the new rear sway bar links. We added 1.5” from Wheelspacers.ca.

Back suspension

Pretty straightforward if you've accomplished the front.

1. Remove the wheels, support the axle, remove the rear track bar, loosen the control arms, and remove the shocks.

2. Remove the clips holding the ABS wiring to the upper CA mount; remove the parking brake bracket and brake line mount from the frame.

4. Install the new factory spring isolators and new lower bumpstops.

5. Lower the axle and disconnect the rear swaybar links to install the new springs. Once again watch the ABS, brake and breather lines.

6. Lift the axle high enough to install the new shocks. Install the new sway bar links.

7. Install the new axle track bar bracket, reinstall the lower control arm bolt and finally re-install the Trackbar.

9. If you are re-mounting your OEM wheels, you’ll need wheel spacers to clear the top of the new rear sway bar links. We added 1.5” from Wheelspacers.ca.

Mount the wheels and tires and drop to the ground. Tighten all the control arm bolts front and back to the recommended torque, don’t forget the front aluminum CA clamps, and bleed the brake lines. Book an appointment for a four-wheel alignment and get your steering wheel centred.

Teraflex Lift Kit

Test Drive

I expected a good driving experience after the install, but I was still astounded how well the JK drove on the street. It is better than stock. I tested the suspension on the street using the stock BFG’s. Hard braking demonstrated no appreciable nosedive in the front. Cornering was solid and secure even with hard braking and sharp aggressive cranking of left and right turns. It was so good I thought I might be suffering from confirmation bias (our tendency to accept what we wish to believe). So I went to the Jeep dealership and test-drove the same model of JKU in the stock Sahara, and subsequently the stock Rubicon iterations. Our Sahara JKU with the Teraflex lift drives better than either stock units. It corners tighter and more confidently than a stock Sahara, and has less ‘float’ down the road than a Rubicon.

Hurtling at 100 kph over gravel wash board is usually not a good idea, but we did it with our 35” MT Baja MTZ P3’s aired down to 20 psi. The suspension kept the tires on the ground for good control, more than we had a right to have.

And that is what separates great off-road suspension from just ok. Our favourite rock garden was ripe with granite produce after the winter melt and spring rains. Disconnecting the front sway bar links and tucking them up out of the way, we picked our path through the garden without a spotter and never losing traction. Four wheels on the ground is what counts and that is what Teraflex delivered with enough droop to put the tires in reach for plenty of grab and go.

Our stock JKU is now a nimble trail crawler as well as head turning urban warrior.

JK 3” Lift with 8 Flexarms, Trackbar & 9550 Shocks - MSRP: $2716.99