Orbital Machine Works 3.5" Lift Kit and 14" wheel upgrade for 13 RDB

[LivinLite AZ]

Steve,

No problem, great to see another off roader loving their 13er like I do. I was curious to see how different your off road height was from my stock height. I unfortunately I didn't check the down angle before the mod. I think I might have a lighter axle than yours, for some reason I thought I saw couple of sets of different numbers for the early 13ers. I will try to find the specs that came from the dealer. I'm not sure about the 9" lift as that would change the centre of gravity quite a bit. The 3" gained from the down angle wouldn't change the centre of mass the same way a 3"+3.5" body lift would, (thats how I consider the blue box tube, even though it's not above the frame). You could always start out with the BFG's you have and see if it's enough. I was a lot lower with the original 13" wheels, and gained the 6" of height on my mod. I find the wider tire and the stiffer sidewalls on the BFG AT tire hold up well, even with the higher load. Your point about axle clearance is also a valid one, I agree a taller tire would help, however I would think at some point the bigger wheels may change the torsion and axle camber and therefore cause unwanted wear. I looked at a 15" wheel as well, but thought the webs in the wheel well would make contact over hard bumps and uneven terrain , so no go for me. One could always go new axle and outside fender wells on a 15" tire...more $$$ though. The bearcats seem to look like they are set up that way.

Back on the original post point...I really like the one piece skid plate... thats gotta be tough to clean though.

P.S. Wish you well on the hillbilly deck mod...have you considered mounting it on a hinge? If you could get a nice clean cut, it might mount well with some whizzy hardware, maybe even detachable?

Also looking forward to the jack quick release, I'm not entirely happy leaving mine out in the salt and snow during hunting season. I will likely look for a solution. I was thinking a u channel slide with pins on each end.

Happy Camping

KC

Hey KC. Not sure if you saw my note on the 31" tire idea: After doing some measurements...

"I can see that this 31" tire idea is a non starter. Way too much cutting and refabbing (and new fenders) to make a case for it. I'll go with the Orbital lift for now. Thanks again to Scout for cluing me in on it."

After figuring that I could go up maybe 2 more inches max in tire size on the 14" wheels, yielding only 1" more inch of lift, plus KOs are not available in that size, and I would probably munch my 'webs in the wheel wells', so I ordered my OMW kit from Perfect Casita today. Super excited about it!

I have attached pics at the bottom of this post from the front and behind my axle as delivered from the factory, plus a shot of my wheel/tire/wheel well situation as it sits now. Love the KOs - I have the KO 33s on my Jeep too coincidentally.







: ) S

[Scout]

From the last PM, thought it would help out someone down the road(s)...

"Cool. good plan. just a few days and you will be basking in 3.5" of blue box tube heaven...

When I did mine, I blocked all 4 corners of the trailer with 3' 4x4 box cribs and just used jack stands on the hanger with my 3 1/2 floor jack under the axle. I remember the brake line drop being the tricky part as I lowered the brake drum assembly, I think I had to cut one or two of the zip ties holding the line to the frame before drop time... . I also tried to match up the existing washer and bolt stains to maintain the same alignment, (although I don't think that matters as much on a single axle trailer).

For my drop sequence, I dropped the driver's side then the passenger side, however I also loosened all the bolts on both the driver's and passenger side axle hangers in order to get enough play in the axle for the opposite end to square up onto the box tube. On the first try I remember the axle acting like a giant lever while still bolted tight on the opposite side and it didn't have enough play, duh. I guess you could drop both sides at same time if you had enough cribbing and jacks on each end . Happy modding !!

I also resprayed my hangers and brake assemblies with a couple of coats of good high heat brake caliper paint while the assembly was all exposed".

Below is my first winter trip with it...it was one of those trips you stay too long and 4 days later had to push bumper deep snow on the way out...I did have my buddy break trail with his diesel, however this was one of the times the lift kit paid for itself...That was also the same trip my transfer case gave up the ghost...luckily it was covered under warranty.

[LivinLite AZ]

From the last PM, thought it would help out someone down the road(s)...

Below is my first winter trip with it...it was one of those trips you stay too long and 4 days later had to push bumper deep snow on the way out...I did have my buddy break trail with his diesel, however this was one of the times the lift kit paid for itself...That was also the same trip my transfer case gave up the ghost...luckily it was covered under warranty.

Sounds like a cool trip (literally). Lucky you had some one blaze the trail so your TC fail didn't leave your CL in igloo mode! Glad your warranty covered it.

: ) S