Anyone paying attention knows that Jeep's 2007 Wrangler
(JK) is about the hottest thing to hit the four-wheeling market this
year. Being all-new means that every aftermarket company in
existence is scrambling to come out with goodies for it. While some
of those companies will be late arrivals, others will be early on
the scene. Of those early birds, some will have advantages over
others.
One of those
with an advantage is Superlift. Our
pals down South have some pretty good ties with the folks at
DaimlerChrysler, as well as AEV. Those relationships allowed the
Superlift gang some early access to the new JK. In fact, some of the
testing was even done at Superlift's ORV Park in Hot
Springs, Arkansas.
So it stands to
reason that Superlift's inside track would mean they'd have one of
the first suspension kits for the JK to hit the market - and they
wanted to show it to us. OK, well, not just show it to us. They flew
us out to Hot Springs to grab the wheel of a pre-production JK and
pound the snot out of it on the rocks! It's good to have
friends.
Superlift is
offering three kits for the JK. The first is a 2" spacer kit that will clear a 33" tire. This was
not yet available for our visit. The other two are essentially the
same but differ by an inch. Under the Superlift brand will be a 4"
kit, while their Black Diamond brand will get the same kit but with
3" springs. We were in Hot Springs to drive the 4" Superlift kit so
that's what we'll talk about here and show you photos of.
The 4" kit will
be available under two part numbers. K920 will fit 2 door JK's while K921
will fit 4 door JK's. The kits include springs all around, Urethane bump stops to handle compression,
shocks, an adjustable front track bar, rear track bar bracket,
alignment cams, rear extended swaybar links and assorted hardware
bits. Optional parts include swaybar disconnects for X and Sahara
models without the automatic swaybar disconnect, steering
stabilizer, extended brake lines and adjustable control
arms.
The kit we saw
was already installed on a 2 door Rubicon model. If you've followed
the JK into production, you've probably seen articles showing the
JK's in Africa. This particular Jeep belongs to Jeep's Skunkwerks
team and was one of those mules abused in Africa. Now it has come
home to live with Superlift for a while.
Looking
carefully at the parts list, you'll notice that unlike TJ kits, the
JK kits do not include any control arms. Why? Because from the
factory, the JK comes with mid-length lower control arms. They are a
good bit longer than TJ arms, though not technically "long arms."
Because of this, you can stick a 4" spring in without greatly
effecting caster. The JK does not have alignment cams from the
factory, so the kit includes them so you can make minor caster
adjustments to dial in the alignment once installed. If you feel
like you want a little more flex and more adjustability you can
order up the optional Rockrunner control arms. Our tester Jeep did
not have the Rockrunner arms. In fact, it didn't even have the
alignment cams, as they were not ready yet.
The
JK on-site was sitting on 37" x 13.50" x 17" Toyo Open Country M/T
tires. Superlift's official materials say that you can fit a 35" x
12.50" tire underneath with notes saying that you can fit a 37" with
some modifications. This Jeep had been modified. The front bumper
had been spaced forward about an inch and the rear edge of the
rocker had been trimmed - both in order to clear the tires. The
wheels, having deep stock backspacing had Spidertrax wheel spacers
(part # WHS-010) to push the wheels out a bit. These
modifications were very unobtrusive and we might not even had
noticed them if they didn't bring them to our attention. The bumper
spacers may become a production optional part. Chances are, though,
that you would not need these with an aftermarket bumper installed.
One other thing
of note is the driveshaft angles. While the Jeep was on the lift it
was apparent that the JK's fixed yoke shafts were about at their
operational limits. The style of C/V joint used is not made to take
the abuse of more severe angles found on lifted Jeeps when used
off-road. Why Jeep used them, nobody seems to know. While we didn't
notice any binding or problems during our trail testing, time will
tell whether they will hold up long-term. Tom Wood and JE Reel are
already working on JK conversion kits to use traditional C/V joints.
Understand that this angle issue is inherent to the JK and is a
problem that every suspension manufacturer will have - not just
Superlift.
Some trimming was needed to clear the 37"
tires |
Note the C/V angle at the transfer case
|
On Road
Driving
Before hitting the trails we took the JK for a ride on
the streets near the park and on the highways surrounding Hot
Springs. The suspension felt good, and was predictable at all
speeds. Even without the alignment cams, the Jeep's handling was
acceptable for the most part, and certainly better than many lifted
TJ's we've driven. Adjusting the caster could only improve it that
much more.
Ride quality was
good and much less jarring than lifted TJ's. The JK has a much
softer-feeling setup from the factory to begin with. Jeep uses 22
different spring part numbers at the factory so Superlift has had to
come up with a best-choice for their kit. At the rear, there are
different springs for two and four door models to handle the weight
difference.
One thing that
is becoming a headache with lifting all new vehicles is the advent
of traction control. The JK has a pretty stout set of controls
onboard, including hydraulic brake assist and electronic roll
mitigation. In our test drives of stock JK's we found it a bit
obtrusive. Throw larger tires on and some lift and the computers get
all confused. We needed to disable the switch on the dash in order
to drive the lifted Jeep properly. Superlift is working hard on a
black box to interface and update the system to work with the lift
kit.
During sharp
turns the Jeep did not exhibit any scary body roll and didn't
surprise as at all. At highway speeds up to around 80 mph, it
tracked straight and also didn't throw any punches.
Bring on the Trails!
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