Jeep JK Wrangler 2.5″ Budget Boost
Installation Write-Up

January 14, 2013 wayoflife Jeep JK Write-Ups, Steering & Suspension 328


Thanks to the wide open fender design that the Jeep JK Wrangler has, you can pretty much run a 33″ tires bone stock and get up on a set of 35″ tires with very little effort. Of course, the easiest and most cost effective way to get the extra clearance you need to run them is to install a 2.5″ coil spacer lift. More commonly known as a budget boost, coil spacers are cylindrical blocks that are made of a polymer or sometimes steel and they are designed to sit on top of your factory coils to give you as much lift as they are tall. When installed with a set of shock adapters, you will effectively have a small lift that will not change the quality of your ride and do it all for about $350. This write-up will give you a general idea just how easy it is to install a budget boost on your Jeep JK Wrangler.

Jeep JK Wrangler 2.5″ Budget Boost Installation Write-Up

50 Comments

  1. Hey Eddie; How is the axle alignment.. Do you think you need adjustable track bars..?? Hows the caster..?? Do you think you need add anything to make this kit better..

  2. Hey Jay, I’d have to say, so far so good. Having driven my JK extensively after doing the lift and having taken it out on the trails, I’m actually surprised at how well my handling is and I haven’t had any issues with the ESP system to speak of. Caster is off a bit but not enough to cause any more wandering that what I had off the showroom floor. A new adjustable front track bar and relocation bracket for the rear would be nice to recenter the axle but so far, I haven’t felt the “need” for one. As far as alignment goes, because of the way the steering is designed on the JK, no toe-in adjustment was necessary and since I’m still using the stock track bar without any adjustments to it, my steering wheels stayed dead center too. Do I think I need to add anything to make this kit better? Sure, at the very least, a longer set of sway bar links (or disconnects up front if you don’t have a Rubicon) would be nice but aren’t necessary. Also, new longer shocks would be the better way to go but in all honesty, the extension brackets seem to work out great too. All in all, I have to say that I really like this budget boost and would have to recommend it to anyone interested in it. You won’t be disappointed 🙂

    Eddie

  3. Hi Eddie,

    I was wondering if you had to add any front spacers to compensate for the added weight of the powerplant and/or front bumper?

  4. Hi jeeptx,
    I don’t, but it doesn’t look too bad without them. I can tell you that the added weight of the WARN bumper and PowerPlant winch that I’m running right now has caused my front end to droop about 3/4″ and spacers is on my to do list.

    Eddie

  7. How is that warn bumper working out for you? Any problems with the skid plate that can go along with it? I have the 07 2 door rubicon with no lift and i am stuck between that bumper and the AEV bumper that just came out. Any suggestions.

  8. Hi Nick,
    I like my Warn bumper a lot but it is heavy and depending on what winch you use with it, you should expect to loose some height with it. But then, that’s a problem with any steel front bumper, AEV included. The AEV bumper is a great looking bumper but what I do like about the Warn over it is the fact that it isn’t a 100% full width bumper and it allows for better approach angles.

    Eddie

  11. Nick, I’m looking into getting a 2″ to 2.5″ Budget Boost for my first mod (JK Unlimited is less than a week old), and I’m hearing conflicting stories about whether I need new shocks or not. Yes, I can see where new shocks with the BB would be a good idea, how badly does it run without them? You said you took it trailriding, no problems? Was the swaybar disco’d when you took it out? What problems have you encountered without replacing the stock shocks?

  13. Hey 4EverLSU, using the shock extensions that you can get with the TeraFlex 2.5″ BB, you won’t have any problems on or off the pavement. At least, I didn’t and yes, I have wheeled my JK disconnected with this setup through some pretty tough terrain.

    Eddie

  14. what tires are you running offroad? with the 2.5″ can u fit 35’s? I havent put my 2 door rubicon to the test yet and was wondering if the 32″ BFG mud terrains work well offroad or should i get a diff set up

  15. I have lifted my Jeep (4dr Sahara) with this lift too. I put 35×12.5×17 Dunlop Mud Rovers on 17×9 ProComp Rims. I have had them on about a month and haven’t rubbed anywhere. It looked okay with the stock wheels and tires on it after the lift, but the new tires really set it off.

  16. Hi Eddie,

    I have been looking at doing the same to my JK (2.5 lift w/35’s). Can you tell me the height after the install. I want to know if it will fit in my parking Garage.

    Thanks

    Chris

  17. Hi Nick,
    I apologize for not responding to you sooner, I had been in Moab all week and just got back in town. Anyway, to answer your question, I was running the stock 32’s for quite some time and think it or 33’s make a great fit. I am now on 35’s and can tell you that it does rub the front fenders a bit at a full stuff. But then, I think if I had different back spacing, they may not.

    Hi Chris,
    Sorry, I haven’t had a chance to take an exact measurement but can tell you that my garage door opening stands 6′-11″ tall and I can make it in with ample room to spare… maybe a whole 5″-6″ to go.

    Eddie

  18. Eddie,
    Good stuff on the lift information and tire sizes. I’m looking to purchase a new JK Rubicon 4 Door, put a mild lift on it and take my family 4 wheeln’ with me on my local club runs. I currently have a custom built CJ with one original 1982 part in it.. maybe you can guess ! I love my CJ which was built from many CJ, YJ and FSJ parts, Dana 44’s, lockers, TeraLow, GM fuel injected AMC 360, etc. and it has served me many years of great service off road. My requirements have changed and I now have a family. I have three questions for you:

    1. Do you feel comfortable putting a family in this vehicle on/off road with this lift in it? 32, 33, 35 tire size?
    2. Have you experienced any of the “Free Flow” top issues with the hard top leaking, electrical problems of the motor shutting down while on the road moving and of course the Radio burning out?
    3. When is this vehicle getting a V8, 4.7 or 5.7 Hemi? I guess these guys forgot about the 2.8L Carb V6 in the original XJ, underpowered, slow and got lousy mileage…Also, what respectable man wants a Mini-van engine in his Jeep? I can’t understand why Jeep selected a 3.8L engine for a 4300lb vehicle..my CJ weighs 4400lbs dry without gear and I have a V8 that moves it along well but by no means is it a speed demon especially with 4.56 gears and 33 swampers.

    thanks

    bsr

  19. Chris,
    I have my top off right now, so without the top my Jeep sits 6’2″ to the top of the soft top door brackets. So I would add a few inches for the top.

    BSR,
    I have a preganant wife (5’3″) and a 18 month old daughter. With my 2.5″ lift and the 35s I am really glad I got the side steps on my Sahara Unlimited. I still had to add grab handles so my wife can get in easily, and putting my daughter in her car seat is more difficult, but I have no complaints. We go wheeling about twice a month at my local off-road park, and I can tell you, that taking my family along is part of the reason I bought the Unlimited. Trying to take all the gear and my family in my CJ5 is NO FUN AT ALL!
    I haven’t had any engine problems, but my radio has cut out probably three times in the 4 months I’ve had it.

    ALl,
    I have 17″x9″ rims (ProComp 1089)with 5″ backspacing. I don’t do much rock climbing, but I can see where they would rub at full stuff. They stick out of my fenders about three inches on the road.
    I put my spare wheel and tire (35×12.5×17 on 17×9 w/5″BS), on the factory spare mount without any problems. You can still see the third brake light and it doesn’t hit the bumper either. If it had less backspacing I think it would hit the bumper before the gate closes all the way. I don’t have a problem with it getting in the way of the hardtop back window opening either.
    My Gas Mileage hasn’t dropped off as much as thought it would. I am still getting 16-18 MPG according to the onboard. I have the 3.21 gears in still (I am stationed in Germany and need the highway gears for the Autobahn) And the AEM Brute Force intake may be helping out a little too.
    I installed my Teraflex Budget Boost about a month ago and had my first problem yesterday, I was accelerating hard and in a left hand turn and my steering wheel locked to the left. After I stopped I saw my swaybar links had inverted, and my swaybar was blocking my steering linkage. I highly suggest extended swaybar links if you go with the budget boost. It could have been a big problem if I was in traffic.
    I took delivery of my Jeep in December of 06 and had the hardtop on all winter. I had no leaking problems at all. I put the soft top on a few weeks ago and had a leak in the center of the windshield to top seal. I layed the top back and reinstalled it, and haven’t had a leak yet.

  21. Hi Brian,
    1. Absolutely and I do all the time. First with the factory 32’s and then with a set of 35’s.

    2. Nope, none what so ever.

    3. With the proper gearing, the little 3.8L isn’t so bad. I’m running 5.13’s now and have no problems with power. Granted, I’d love to have had the 2.8L diesel if they offered it.

    Eddie

  22. Hey Tim,
    The TeraFlex 2.5″ BB that I installed reused the factory shocks and so to be completely honest, my JK handled pretty much the same.

    Eddie

  23. Hey Eddie your the man…. I was thinking of getting this set up for my JK 2 door and was wondering what a 295/75/16 would be like on some MT classics 16×8. This a good tire size for a good mean stance? I live in West Virginia and I cannot have my tires sticking past my flares or the fuzz will pull me over and ticket me for sure! Any ideas on a good stance with about a 33′ tire, THANKS keep up the good work!!

  25. Hi BillyHoe, you just want to make sure that the 33″ tall tires are 11″ wide or less or that the back spacing on your wheels are about 5″. This will keep your tires under your flares and you out of trouble.

    As far as MPG goes, it won’t suffer much at all with 33’s and just a bit with 35’s.

    Eddie

  26. hey I am thinking about doing the 2.5 BB by Teraflex. Do you think it would be wise to get the shocks as well, or to just extend the stock shocks? Also will there be anything else that I will need besides what comes with the kit? And lastly I looked through your instalation steps and it doesn’t look to bad. I am no mechanic though, should I have a professional do it? Any idea what they charge? Thankyou.

  27. Hi Kyle,
    If you think you might go taller in the future, I would just stick with the shock extensions for now especially if you like how your Jeep rides now. If you plan on keeping this lift for a long time to come or want to firm up your ride, new shock would be nice to get but only if they are a good set of monotube nitro shocks.

    As far as installation goes, please, it really is as easy as it looks and I would highly recommend you doing the install yourself or have a friend give you a hand. Heck, if you’re in the SoCal area, let me know and I would be more than happy to help you out.

    Sincerely,
    Eddie

  28. Hi Eddie,
    What is the maximum lift kit that can be installed on the JK without shock adaptors?
    2.5″ seems to me a bit high, so I consider the Daystar 1 3/4″.
    This kit comes without shock adapters, and I wonder if the Factory shocks are long enough.
    Thanks
    Meir

  29. Hi Meir,
    Actually, as you can see in this write-up, I ran the 2.5″ shock adapters with this lift, wheeled it hard and didn’t have any problems.

    Eddie

  30. Hi how’s it going? Your site was a GREAT deal of help to me., thanks! We got away without disconnecting the track bar.. just lowered the entire axel very carefuly and the the front coil springs came out, BUT we had to use coil compressors. and in the rear we lowerd we did not disconnect the axel either but you have to be careful with your ESP cable. We pulled the fasteners off of the frame and that allowed us to lower the axels all the way down. Both coils came out easy and better yet they both went back on easy.. no coil compressors needed.
    But thanks for all the info on your page.

  32. Hi Eddie,
    I just finished the 2.5″ budget lift this weekend, it went smoothly (I amlost tried to track you down to assist if necessary since I think you and I live near each other in OC 🙂 ) anyways, I have the following honest feedback on the kit. First off, let me say that I am pretty mechanical, have built up a few 4×4 rigs, done some motorcycle restoration etc, but am by no means a pro mechanic so I think these comments should apply to most:
    1. This is a pretty straightforward kit and the instructions on this site are great. Terraflex did try to substitute a new front bumpstop setup on the kit I received that required a drill and tap and although I could’ve done that easily enough, I wanted the true bolt on and a quick call to them had the correct parts shipped out.
    2. Even with the front axle lowered to the point where the brake lines and sensor wires had very little slack, I still needed to use a coil compressor on the front, maybe I could’ve gone a little farther and popped them out, but I didn’t want to risk it. The rears dropped easily enough after loosening one of the sensor wire clips on each side – easy.
    3. The washers shipped by Terraflex for the rear shock extensions didn’t fit over the extension bolts, I looked at the way the upper shock mounts and the original bolts went together and decided to go ahead without the washers (the heads on the hex bolts should have no problem holding the slots), but I will be checking them soon and maybe popping some in.
    4. The rear brake line extender bothers me a little bit, it looks like the inward bend is necessary to protect the line from the sway bar but the lines now seem to rest on the black dust boot on the rear shock. Again, this doesn’t seem to be a big problem as the boot is not a moving part and the shock travel does not seem like it will cause a flex point into the line, but I found any contact unnerving – has anyone had this problem or dealt with it differently? I didn’t want to modify the bracket until I’ve had a chance to check the other moving parts around the lines.
    5. One last thing to watch out for is popping the breather on the rear axle when you lower it – easy enough to pop back on but if you don’t look out for it you’ll miss it.
    All-in-all, this is a straight forward kit, a reasonable day project and the ride is maintained since for all intensive purposes you are keeping the factory coils. It seems to steer about the same and I haven’t notices any excessive bump-steer or anything from the track bar re-centering. I haven’t had it in the dirt yet but will try to get it onto a trail this weekend.
    PS-Eddie, I also ordered the LoD winch bumper through you – hope it ships soon 🙂

  33. Hi Brian, I have seen guys run 33″ tires without any lift but depending on the make of the tires (not all 33″ tires measure the same), you may need to do a little bit of trimming of your air dam as the tire may rub there at a full turn.

    Hi Andrew, I’m glad to hear the write-up was helpful to you and yes, I do live in Laguna Niguel so if you ever need any help, by all means, please email me and I would be more than happy to offer up my services.

    Eddie 🙂

  34. I am getting ready to install 35/12.5/18 on my stock 18′ rims. do you think i will need spacers?

  36. Hey WOF, I took your write up and transfered it to a nice PDF with 1 page per step. SOmethin easy to take out to the driveway. Shoot me your e-mail and i will send it to you. You can post it here for others if you like!

  37. I have a 2 door JK Rubicon and I just finished installing the 2.5 BB. The rear axle is not centered due to the lift (repositioning of the rear track bar). Would the rear track bar bracket that Tera-flex sells, required for the their lift that is 4″ or more, would fix the centering issue with this lift?

  39. Eddie,

    Great instructions! I do have a couple of questions though.

    1.
    The instructions that come with the lift kit state that the spacer should be added to one side then do it to the other side. Your instructions weren’t specific in this area. Would you recommend removing the shocks and springs on both sides and installing the spacers on both sides at the same time? Or would you recommend installing the spacer and reinstalling the spring and shock before moving to the other side?

    2.
    I haven’t installed equipment on the front yet requiring the 3/4″ leveling spacer; would it be harmful to go ahead and install this spacer while I’m doing this install to save time and effort? After all, it seems like my stock JK Unlimited Sahara is already slightly lower in the front. If I decided to do that (or install it at a later time…) how would it be done? Where is this spacer installed? On top of the 2.5″ spacer?

    Thanks,

    Michael

  40. Hi Michael,
    1. You need to disconnect your swaybar from the axle, remove the shocks, sway bar links and coils on both sides and then install the new spacers and coils at the same time. If you have an automatic, you may find it necessary to disconnect your front drive shaft from the pinion as well.

    2. You can install the spacers now and at worst, you will be nose high. I would install them on top of the 2.5″ spacers and below the factory rubber isolator. That way they will be hidden from view under the upper spring perch.

    Eddie

  41. Great looking jeep!

    One question, does the driveline angles need to change with the 2.5 lift? Do you get any vibration from the drivelines?

  42. Thanks Adam. To answer your question, no, you will not have any driveline vibes due to the new CV style drive shaft Jeep is now using and so your drive line angles will not need to be changed.

    Eddie

  43. WOL,

    On step 19 above, you mentioned the torque for the front shock mount is 20 ft. lbs. I just wanted to make sure about this since another source mentioned 56 ft. lbs.

    thanks for your help

  44. Hi Steve, you are correct, I made a typo and it should have read 56 ft. lbs. just like step 47 states. I will correct this now, thanks for bringing this to my attention.

    Eddie

  45. thanks WOL… i just hope i can make it home from work tonight with it :D…. 20 ft. lbs should hold up for a while right?

  48. one more question WOL,

    Yesterday, i was checking everything to make sure they’re all tight. When i got to the rear shocks, when i tried to “Yank” them a little bit, there was a little “Play” on the body of the shocks (though not much, but you can feel it move around a bit). I checked all bolts, and they’re very tight (according to the torque spec).

    Is this normal? (most of the play is near the top shock mount)

  49. Steve, do you have new aftermarket shocks or are you using the extension brackets? Either way, are you talking about shifting of the shock in its bushing or within the shock can itself?

  50. I have a new shocks (but i used stock bar pin), and yes, i was referring to an ever so slightly shifting of shock in its bushing. I have to really yank the shocks to do this.

    I don’t feel anythin weird during my drive though, both in the city and highway. Maybe i’m just paranoid 😀

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