Reviews for Quadratec 1.75in Spacer Lift Kit for 18-23 Jeep Wrangler JL
This is perfect if you want a little height and maintain the factory rake. I'm 50 years old and am not a fan of the level look. If the front wheel openings are larger than the backs, it gives it the saggy back look. This is being driven by a 5'3" mall crawl professional. This will handle any curve she purposely wants to climb on any given day.
I added this to a 2022 Rubicon Unlimited that already had 35" tires, and it came out perfect. Enough gap to space tire and body, and didn't make the 35's look small with the higher front factory flares. I added Rough Country V2 shocks so I didn't use the factory shock extensions, 2 to 3.5 for the fronts and 1.5 to 3.5 for the backs. Also added the lower control arms from the mopar 2" lift kit. I feel the ride is better than what factory ride was, although I'm sure it's just in my head because I spent the money thinking it'll be better, haha.
Thank you Quadratec for keeping the rake!!!
Affordable and fur ale for now untill I go bigger later!
Price point
All in all this was a straightforward install with hand tools. A 1/2" drive battery impact wrench made disassembly much easier, but not necessary. A rented coil spring compressor made the job much easier, as did a pair of 6-ton Jack stands if not using a lift as you will need to get the Jeep pretty high off the garage floor to get the spacers and springs back in. It is not necessary to loosen all of the control arms as stated in the directions, but I did unbolt the rear track bar from the axle to get a bit more drop. Looks and rides great, although a 2" lift will change the caster angle and may make the Jeep wander a bit. Planning to add adjustable lower front control arms to get the alignment back in spec.
As spacer kits go it appears to be a good quality kit. For this application, which won’t see severe duty, it meets the needs of the user just fine for fitting 35” tires on a 2021 Wrangler Unlimited Willys. Aside from cost, the biggest benefit of a spacer lift is maintaining the factory ride quality as it reuses factory springs and shocks. If you think this is a minor point, then you’ve probably never experienced the before and after of heavy-duty springs and shocks rattling your teeth out in your daily driver. The end result is a sharp looking rig even before the 35’s were fitted. If you’re just looking for a bigger look, you might consider installing this lift with your stock wheels and tires first to see it that’s enough for you. Total lift at the front axle center line to the bottom of the fender flare was 2 ¼” and at the rear axle center line was 2 ½”.
Installation was not without its issues, even after waiting for Quadratec to ship a replacement kit to make up for missing hardware, we still had 1 trip to the hardware store for the right diameter bolts for the sway bar links. I had confirmed length ahead of time per the hardware inventory but didn’t make sure they fit in the swaybar link bushing.
Other installation issues include:
*Having to drill a hole in the driver’s side front axle shock mount for the relocation bracket fastener. The hole which the factory puts in was about a half inch forward of where it needed to be. Oversizing the slot in the relocation bracket would not have been sufficient.
*Fighting with getting the front track-bar reinstalled to the axle. Typically, on other small lifts I’ve installed, I’ve loosened it but left it attached. In this case, jacking the passenger side of the axle up, while lowering the driver and using a heavy duty rachet strap to pull the axle towards the driver side was was necessary to reattach it. I know leaving it attached makes getting the passenger side coil spring harder to get in, but I’d suggest fighting that over the track bar. Ignore the instructions for telling you to disconnect the track bar in the rear, just loosen it, there was no issue getting the springs out or back in.
*In the rear, the shock relocation brackets use a slot for the bottom bolt. I feel this should be a hole to prevent the bracket from moving forward if it were to ever loosen up. As designed, the bracket could move. Perhaps if everything stays torqued it won’t, but I would have felt better if this were a through hole with a top-hat bushing to make up for the gigantic hole in the factory axle bracket.
*The instructions are rather sloppy. Some notable steps are skipped, others duplicated. For example, if you’re using the relocation brackets, be sure to ignore where the instructions tell you to remove the shocks completely.
*While not wrong, I preferred for the sway bar links and shock relocation hardware to be black, so I painted them before installation.
Total installation time was about 7 hours with an extra set of hands. This included a trip to the hardware store and dealing with the issues noted above.
Next up is a trip to the tire shop for 35’s on Quadratec Morphic wheels + an alignment. The instructions note re-centering the steering wheel, which for the time being was so minor, I’ve left it for the alignment shop. While the instructions don’t note this, headlight adjustment is an important final step which I will do once the 35’s are fitted. If you need directions, just search for the instructions for a MOPAR JL lift kit.
Its ok. Had more issues than I expected. They sent the JK instructions not the JL version. There were 2 wrong bolts for the front shock bracket (I think they were to the JK set) so I had to run out and buy the right size, the front and rear shock brackets are different but not explained which go where, the instructions are detailed in some areas not so much in others, and the rear bump stop mounting holes were off and required widening of the holes to get them to mount correctly. Ended up taking me WAY longer than it should have. It does look good at this height though.
My wife wanted a small lift on her Wrangler JL. Something that will not be seeing rough duty, so this kit fit what she wanted. Finally got around to installing it. I have to admit, the Jeep looks much better and the wife likes it too.
I try to review all products that I buy to help other potential buyers make their decisons. I take the review process serious and try to be as fair as possible. That being said, I am giving this lift kit a 2-star rating. First, the instructions are bad, really bad. Steps are missed and steps are included that don't need to be. There are parts of the instructions that are just out and out confusing. Being somewhat of a novice, I was depending on the instructions to guide me through. Fortunately, I have an experienced person that was able to inspect my completed work and give it an okay.
Secondly, there is no reason that any hardware should be missing when it is shipped. I had to make two trips (22 miles x 2) to get to a decent hardware store to get what was missing from hardware that was sent. That is so infuriating and there is no reason this should ever happen. I was missing two sleeves, two washers and one bolt.
I did not like the bare-metal look on some of the parts, so I had them powder-coated black, but that is personal preference.
Some other things of note for future buyers. I copied and pasted these from a previous review because they were true on my install also and I feel I should note them:
*In the rear, the shock relocation brackets use a slot for the bottom bolt. I feel this should be a hole to prevent the bracket from moving forward if it were to ever loosen up. As designed, the bracket could move. Perhaps if everything stays torqued it won’t, but I would have felt better if this were a through hole with a top-hat bushing to make up for the gigantic hole in the factory axle bracket.
*Having to drill a hole in the driver’s side front axle shock mount for the relocation bracket fastener. The hole which the factory puts in was about a half inch forward of where it needed to be. Oversizing the slot in the relocation bracket would not have been sufficient.
* The front shock brackets and the rear shock brackets are different, with no explanation of which goes where. I had to call Quadratec to get this question answered. I did get a call back from their customer service within 15 minutes and I thank the employee that did that. Do not remember his name.
Would echo Kyle here - helping a friend install this on their jeep to fit 35", same overall issues - this kit represents the 'parts in a box' issue with many kits. Giving one star because of the hardware and instruction issues...