AEV...pro's and con's

Ya I agree with you. Their lift kits are really not worth it, and like you said, surprised they even still sell them. You would think they would design a nice coil over system to go with their other good products. Which is why when I have the money, the EVO bolt on kit like your yellow JK is the way I eventually want to go.
 
It's funny, when AEV first came out with their original 3.5" and 4.5" kits, they included cheap cam bolts to address caster and whenever I chimed in about that, all the fanboys would come out of the woodwork, would tell me how I didn't know what I was talking about, would tell me how AEV has former Jeep engineers as if that should mean something and, accuse me of talking trash about them because they weren't a sponsor. Of course, I was right and the fanboys were wrong and AEV eventually swapped out the cam bolts in favor of drop brackets. Now, when I started to see how flimsy their drop brackets were and chimed in on that, I got the same barrage of fanboys accusing me of all the same things. If people want to be sold on the idea that AEV's lift kits are awesome, they should definitely go over to their forum as they'll hear exactly what they want to hear.



I have almost 120,000 miles on my white JK, had 50,000 on my orange JK before selling it, put on about 10,000 miles on Vengeance before selling it and have over 20,000 miles on our current dozer JK. By the way, I work from home so pretty much all those miles were put on driving to the trail (some as far as the northeastern tip of Michigan), running them and then driving back home again. I can assure you, how my Jeeps handles and performs on pavement is just as important to me as how it does off road, if not more so. Having said that, I would hope that any information that I provide would be good insight regardless of what you're into.

x2 I agree totally the cam bolts were garbage , then when they asked people to use a washer to fill the void ,i was laughing harder . Im def no FANBOY of an overpriced kit . I do believe the res shocks are nice for the guys riding hard and long enough to get actual value from having them . The RS kit alone is an extra 800$ for that upgrade . I have tried lots of other kits from my cj5 -cj 7's then 2 older jk's and my 06 which i still have & now my 12 jkur . They all have their pros and cons !!! Id lov to learn more about the functionality of the coilover evo kits, as that is what i am looking at now. What does correct the geometry in the kit ,and do i have to use the flip kit to keep everything into perspective and up higher obviously . I dont think personally that the new JK needs longer arms ( which i beleive will then cause interferance again ) but staying w/ the stock arms because of the bushings . Alot of do's and dont's . I'm looking at the front coilover & rear kit which around 4,000- 5,000 $ is alot of cake also . But ive heard nothing but good things about it . Wish i was close to evo to get a good lesson on the works of the kit . Is there any literature on the kits or catalogs with pertinent info ?? Thanx & my apologies if i came off wrong about AEV's product to some its great and some it's not . I believe in ten years we'll be talking about all the kits out now (saying they were junk) Time EVOLVES ! Love the EVO stuff or i wouldnt be askin !! thanx again DANA :thinking:
 
x2 I agree totally the cam bolts were garbage , then when they asked people to use a washer to fill the void ,i was laughing harder . Im def no FANBOY of an overpriced kit . I do believe the res shocks are nice for the guys riding hard and long enough to get actual value from having them . The RS kit alone is an extra 800$ for that upgrade . I have tried lots of other kits from my cj5 -cj 7's then 2 older jk's and my 06 which i still have & now my 12 jkur . They all have their pros and cons !!! Id lov to learn more about the functionality of the coilover evo kits, as that is what i am looking at now. What does correct the geometry in the kit ,and do i have to use the flip kit to keep everything into perspective and up higher obviously . I dont think personally that the new JK needs longer arms ( which i beleive will then cause interferance again ) but staying w/ the stock arms because of the bushings . Alot of do's and dont's . I'm looking at the front coilover & rear kit which around 4,000- 5,000 $ is alot of cake also . But ive heard nothing but good things about it . Wish i was close to evo to get a good lesson on the works of the kit . Is there any literature on the kits or catalogs with pertinent info ?? Thanx & my apologies if i came off wrong about AEV's product to some its great and some it's not . I believe in ten years we'll be talking about all the kits out now (saying they were junk) Time EVOLVES ! Love the EVO stuff or i wouldnt be askin !! thanx again DANA :thinking:

LOL!! No apologiese are needed and I didn't take it that way. If anything, I was just trying to add to what you were already saying.

Regarding the EVO bolt on coil over kit, it's only about $3800 for the kit front and rear but, you would want to make a few minimum additions to it. One would be to correct steering geometry but, your AEV kit would already have that so you wouldn't need to get it again. Aside from that, I would recommend adjustable front lower control arms to add a bit more positive caster or if you can afford it, a set of upper arms too so that you can reposition your axle and set your caster. I can almost guarantee you that with this setup alone, you would be happier with your ride and off road performance that you are now. IF you feel that more needs to be addressed, nothing corrects suspension geometry and IMPROVES the way your Jeep rides ON PAVEMENT the way a good long arm kit does.
 
Not to high jack or anything but can you upgrade if you have the bolt on coil overs to DTD? Like you could use the coil overs from the bolt on right? You'd need the bracket for DTD and the other shock. Cause I have the AEV 3.5 and looking into the bolt on for now
 
Not to high jack or anything but can you upgrade if you have the bolt on coil overs to DTD? Like you could use the coil overs from the bolt on right? You'd need the bracket for DTD and the other shock. Cause I have the AEV 3.5 and looking into the bolt on for now

You would need to get new mounts but, yes, you can reuse the front coil overs. In the rear, you unfortunately would have to start all over.
 
You would need to get new mounts but, yes, you can reuse the front coil overs. In the rear, you unfortunately would have to start all over.

OK and i forgot to say the EVO lever is what i would have for the rear but same deal with the front right?
 
The EVO lever would require you to completely ditch the bolt on kit.

So how would i do this? what would i have to get first in order to upgrade to Double Throwdown down the road? I know i'd have to have the EVO lever in the back. How could i do this without buying something twice?:thinking:
 
So how would i do this? what would i have to get first in order to upgrade to Double Throwdown down the road? I know i'd have to have the EVO lever in the back. How could i do this without buying something twice?:thinking:

If you know you want to go DTD in the future, I would just get the EVO lever now and run it with just single coil overs. That way, you can just add bypass shocks to it in the future making it a DTD. Up front, you could also run the DTD brackets with single coil overs and do the same - add bypass shocks in the future. This will cost more to do but, it will allow you to upgrade in the future.
 
If you know you want to go DTD in the future, I would just get the EVO lever now and run it with just single coil overs. That way, you can just add bypass shocks to it in the future making it a DTD. Up front, you could also run the DTD brackets with single coil overs and do the same - add bypass shocks in the future. This will cost more to do but, it will allow you to upgrade in the future.

So the EVO lever already has the necessary mounting places for the Bypass shocks, If i was to buy the single coil over lever? Or would there be some welding on of the new bracket? And i would just have to email Jake right? about getting the parts the way you said?
 
So the EVO lever already has the necessary mounting places for the Bypass shocks, If i was to buy the single coil over lever? Or would there be some welding on of the new bracket? And i would just have to email Jake right? about getting the parts the way you said?

The EVO lever already comes with what you need to run single coil overs and bypass shocks.
 
Could you run DTD on short control arms? Those would be upgraded to long arms eventually too? Which should be first?

I don't see why you couldn't. We've run the DTD front towers and EVO Lever with short arms in the past. It probably doesn't matter which you should do first but, if you do the coil overs first, you will need to get adjustable front lowers arms at the very least and rear uppers if you have a 2-door.
 
I don't see why you couldn't. We've run the DTD front towers and EVO Lever with short arms in the past. It probably doesn't matter which you should do first but, if you do the coil overs first, you will need to get adjustable front lowers arms at the very least and rear uppers if you have a 2-door.

Alright, thanks Eddie! I'd be so lost without your help. Maybe one day ill be able to wheel with you!
 
Well you're only in AZ, I would hope so :cool:

That'd be awesome! ha I think this summer maybe even March, i'm heading to LA to check out Wyotech and Off Road Evolution. If you would be free at the time, i'd love to meet you. and see moby in person! You're deffinately someone i look up to and to see what you and your wife started, it's amazing!:thumb:
 
LOL!! No apologiese are needed and I didn't take it that way. If anything, I was just trying to add to what you were already saying.

Regarding the EVO bolt on coil over kit, it's only about $3800 for the kit front and rear but, you would want to make a few minimum additions to it. One would be to correct steering geometry but, your AEV kit would already have that so you wouldn't need to get it again. Aside from that, I would recommend adjustable front lower control arms to add a bit more positive caster or if you can afford it, a set of upper arms too so that you can reposition your axle and set your caster. I can almost guarantee you that with this setup alone, you would be happier with your ride and off road performance that you are now. IF you feel that more needs to be addressed, nothing corrects suspension geometry and IMPROVES the way your Jeep rides ON PAVEMENT the way a good long arm kit does.

Sounds great thanx ! One thing is can i ditch the brackets w/ the AEV kit and go to something more rigid or higher to avoid issues later on ?? I was also thinking about the Metalcloak ACA's all the way around anyway ! Hopefully a good choice . Im looking into the 392/6.4 VVT convers. also so im trying to do this right just once !!! Thanx for all your help Eddie and everyone else ,if you wanna chime in ? Maybe i should start another thread SRYYY :thumb:
 
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