Tags: Fabtech
Fabtech has long focused on being the most dependable, rugged, and complete lift kit manufacturer in the business. No other company makes Jeep lift kits as robust and strong as Fabtech, and to prove it, they provide a limited lifetime guarantee.
Fabtech believes in using the best materials in their lift kits – a great example would be the 2” DOM 5/16” thick Radius arms used in their TJ Crawler system – just another example of the attention to detail in Fabtech Jeep lift kits.
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March 13th, 2008 at 9:57 pm
Well finally got lifted…
I chose this route because I did not want to go so high that would require a SYE or get the vibes
It went on easily enough, well documented install instructions with pictures that helped…
Kind of pricey ($450) for a budget boost, and there was one issue…one of the spanner nuts was poorly machined and would not thread on the lift assembly. A call to Fabtech Customer Support put a replacement in the mail, no troubles after that.
I cannot sat that this lift is better than any other as it is the only one I have any experience with, but it rides nicely and did what I wanted it to do.
April 19th, 2008 at 9:40 pm
In 2004 I installed the 6″ long arm suspension from Fabtech on my 2003 Wrangler Rubicon with help from some friends. There are two seperate subframes for standard wheel base wranglers, one for 97-2002, and one for 2003-up. Get the right one. I have run 36″ Interco Iroks and 36″ Interco Swamper SXs on 15X10 rims. Truthfully, it needs a 1″ body lift or some fender work to run this combination properly.
I picked the suspension for its relatively low coast and ease of installation for a long arm suspension. It has worked well for me and performed as expected with three exceptions. I feel these three things should be addressed by the manufacturer and should be part of a suspension that works.
1. The rear bumpstops do NOT line up with bumpstop contact pads on the axle. The rear suspension overcompresses as the bumpstops glance off the contact pads at an agle. This chews up the bumpstops and allows the tires to contact the fenders hard enough to bend sheetmetal. The overcompression is such that I feel it would still be a serious problem with just 35″ tires. It also overcompresses the rear springs. I spoke with Fabtech about this a few times and was assured they were working on a solution. In July of 2006 I was surprised package containing a new bracket that repositions the bumpstop. Now I need to get new bumpstops (the old ones are chewed up) and see if this fixes it.
2. The rear track bar bracket does not attach to the frame of the jeep tightly. It has a little play and constantly makes little bonk bonk noises and movements that can be heard and felt in the seat of your pants when drivetrain load is shifted from acelerating to decelerating. The bracket is very long and creates alot of leverage. A better solution may be to weld it on to the original frame bracket after bolting it on. I’m not crazy about permanently attaching it though.
3. The springs have retained their ride height very poorly. I have had the suspension on the jeep for 2.5 years and put about 35,000 miles on it. The rear springs saged about an inch in relation to the front after one year. I added 3/4″ spring spacers from Rubicon Express. Problem solved. Due to drivetrain torque, the right side of the jeep now sits about 1.5 inches lower than the left side. This very noticeable when parked on level ground and just plain looks dumb. This is a problem with all TJ’s, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen one as bad as mine.
The lift offers alot of suspension travel and its components are very strong. I have broken some of the factory jeep axle brackets and hardware, but have yet to break any of the Fabtech hardware, brackets, or arms. I wish that the suspension provided for more ground clearance under the transfer case, but this is not possible with this design. The subframes used to link the front and rear suspension arm frame mounting brackets mount between the frame and transfer case skid plate, lowerering ground clearance about 1.5 inch. A flat belly skid plate would help, but still never offer as much clearance as suspensions that do not us a subframe in this manner. Also, adding limiting straps would be a good idea, so as not to use your shocks to catch the weight of your axle/tire/wheel at full droop. The Fabtech shocks worked decent. After a year and a half the seals were gone in them and I replaced them with Rubicon Express monotube shocks. These work and ride wonderfully. The powder coat finish from Fabtech is actually pretty good. My Jeep has wheeled alot in the gulf coast area of Texas, and the Fabtech parts have not rusted, unlike almost every other part of the Jeep.
I use the Jeep quit hard offroad. If I could do it again, I would have suffered the extra cost and installation labor and gone with a Rubicon Express long arm 5.5″ or Clayton Offroad hardarm 5.5″. In my opinion these lifts offer more to the hardcore offroader. They are rebuildable, offer substantially more ground clearance, and are very tough.
-beantamug
2003 Wrangler Rubicon
4.0L 5spd Manual
6″ Fabtech Long Arm
36″ SX
Currie tierod/draglink
Warn XD9000i
December 14th, 2008 at 9:43 pm
I am new to the Jeep world. I just recently had a 4″ Fabtech basic system installed. The installers done a great job so far. I have only about 50 miles on the rig since. All is good so for. The ride is good. The kit seems very well built. The support from Fabtech was a little sloppy. My installers made calls and talked to different techs. One knowing something and the other not so much. But, I guess that is just what you get anymore. I am so far very happy with the kit. More to come if I am not. Jeep on!!!!
February 3rd, 2009 at 9:53 pm
This review is for the ‘Performance’ kit installed on an ’04 Rubicon w/1 inch body lift and 33 x 12.5 MT/R’s.
From the beginning there were front track bar issues with this kit. Fabtech provides a drop down extension to be mated to the OEM bracket. Within short order we sheared the stud on the extension not once, but twice. Installed a one piece Superlift trackbar bracket to solve the problem.
Otherwise the kit is very capable.
Tony
October 8th, 2009 at 9:41 pm
Awesome kit Installed my self took 15 hours to do so. Definitely worth it though. 31″ Inches of Suspension travel. Looks great, Rides great, everything fit good. would highly recommend to anyone.
November 26th, 2009 at 9:42 pm
I had Les Schwabb do the install. Went in easy, but had shorten front driveshaft by 1.75 inches. Good road feel, stable, and I like the sway bar disconnects as good as my JKS ones. I’m still on 31s will go to 33s later.
March 27th, 2010 at 9:52 pm
This is a great lift for the money. Tons of flex and very heavy duty. I have had this kit installed for over a year and not had one problem, even though it has been to Moab, Tellico, and every where in between. I wheel this kit almost every weekend. In my opinion it rides better than factory. Fabtech makes a great lift and i definitly reconmend it. Just make sure you have a good installer so you dont have to go back and fix their mistakes!
May 11th, 2010 at 9:56 pm
I’ve had this lift for about 6 months and it’s been great. It’ll get your stock rig up and looking good. I put this on my 06′ Rubicon and left the 31″ tires on. You could also do a 32″ tire. I doubt you could put 33″s on there and have much room for flex. However man I can tell you I have some psycho flex as it is. About 5ft on an RTI ramp at 30*.
The ride didn’t change from stock. On the trail this extra 2.5 inches really helped keep me from banging down on things and gave me better angles to go over things. One problem I have is that while it comes with a spanner wrench to adjust the height it’s hard to do, near impossible really. Its hard to find a place to put the wrench to get enough leverage to move the spacers.
I’m going to a Rough Country 4″ soon and while I’ve been very happy with this lift, it’s not for someone thinking 33″s might be in the future. However if your looks for the “Jeep” look without going nuts this looks good, and performs well.
July 1st, 2010 at 9:36 pm
Installer friendly, good instructions and design. Comparable performance to all other high end kits as far as flex goes. I used a piece of 1/4″ plate as a flat belly skid which fit great over the Fabtec sub-frame. The arms are standing up great to the crawling we are doing around here and it gets pretty rough.