OME 2" lift with heavy duty springs rides harsh

While I may not apply as many coats of paint as mentioned above, there is one very important thing to keep in mind when applying extra coats of enamel like from Rustoleum or Krylon. READ THE DIRECTIONS where it describes how long you have to apply an additional coat or two, which is usually 30 minutes to no more than an hour. Then after that initial 30-60 minute window, you MUST wait no less than 48-72 hours for it to completely cure before adding any more coats.

If you try to add another coat of paint after 30-60 minutes but before 48-72 hours have gone by so it can finish curing, the paint WILL craze and the paint job will be ruined.

That explains a lot of different opinions people have on paint. Or things that they paint that don't seem to turn out.

I have to be honest. I read the directions and I always start with light coats. But I'm sure there's been times when I came back the next day and added another coat. I just assumed 24 hours must be enough. I'm apparently not reading the instructions clearly. As I've always thought "leaving it overnight" was always enough.

How many posts have we read about this paint or that paint? Working or not working? I don't think a lot of guys realize this 48 hour rule.
 
That explains a lot of different opinions people have on paint. Or things that they paint that don't seem to turn out.

I have to be honest. I read the directions and I always start with light coats. But I'm sure there's been times when I came back the next day and added another coat. I just assumed 24 hours must be enough. I'm apparently not reading the instructions clearly. As I've always thought "leaving it overnight" was always enough.

How many posts have we read about this paint or that paint? Working or not working? I don't think a lot of guys realize this 48 hour rule.
It all depends on the paint. Some paint states to recoat within 24 hours with average dry times, others are longer. If you recoat after the first window which is the typical cure time, you have to treat it like a new surface that gets prepped. Uncured paint can be recoated within the dry time given average conditions that don't accelerate it. Some paints I've seen have a 7 day cure time which is annoying if you get busy and miss the window.

You also have to be careful mixing something like the higher quality stuff like SEM over unknown paints. I clean, scuff, clean with Prepsall, and then coat. Between the Prepsall and SEM, I will get crazing and wrinkling of the substrate because the solvent level is too high. As soon as it happens, quit, there is nothing you can do to fix it except strip it down and start over.
 
Jerry - are you still running the 5000x or the 9000 series?

25 psi is entirely appropriate for a 33x12.5 load range C tire supporting a vehicle with the weight of a Wrangler. The current OME Nitrocharger Sport is notorious for being significantly stiffer riding than their previous Nitrocharger. My recommendation is to replace the shocks with the Rancho RS5000X which will give a significantly better ride. My previous RS5000X shocks gave both a great street ride and superb offroad control.

Your stiff ride is definitely not being caused by the springs. They're not what give a good or bad ride.
 
Jerry - are you still running the 5000x or the 9000 series?
I'm running the 9000xl shocks now but I was just as happy with how well the RS5000X worked. Maybe happier with them since the 9000xl shocks make me feel guilty if I'm not constantly adjusting them for different conditions lol.
 
I had no part in this thread, but I just read through the whole thing and learned a lot! Suspension is the one area I’m still trying to wrap my head around and understand. So thank you suspension experts!
 
One thing I've noticed about my OME LD suspension & sport shocks is the ride does feel a bit harsh over road imperfections. I wish I had kept the Rancho RS5000X I switched from, so I could swap them and compare. I don't know if it would change the shocks' characteristics by increasing the ride height with springs with a bit more lift, or just get the Ranchos...
 
I had no part in this thread, but I just read through the whole thing and learned a lot! Suspension is the one area I’m still trying to wrap my head around and understand. So thank you suspension experts!
Trying to get folks to understand how some of it works is just painful. For some reason, how much shock travel at ride exists and how that is biased towards up or down travel is very difficult to grasp. Couple that with the rarity of swapping in different springs that net the exact same ride height and the pain rises exponentially.

If you swap in a spring and the ride height changes, that can move the bias unfavorably either direction. If you don't have enough up travel in the shock shaft, the ride will be harsh and jarring. If you don't have enough down travel in the shaft, the ride will be harsh and jarring.

The vast majority of ride quality improvements attributed to spring swaps are actually related to moving the shaft travel to a more balanced bias and slowing down or eliminating the harsh and jarring ride quality from improper shock bias by adjusting the ride height with the different spring.
 
Mr Blaine, so can it be assumed that if the spring is a high rate and weight is low then the shock itself is not being able perform properly? Would the only real fix be more weight or lower rate spring? I’m lost on all this but it seems both spring and shock have a part in this. Sorry if this response sounds uninformed..
 
Mr Blaine, so can it be assumed that if the spring is a high rate and weight is low then the shock itself is not being able perform properly? Would the only real fix be more weight or lower rate spring? I’m lost on all this but it seems both spring and shock have a part in this. Sorry if this response sounds uninformed..
I hope I'm not speaking out of turn, but what he's saying is that you need the right spring - shock combination. This is not always an informed decision people make due to the fact they don't really want to take the time to understand all this. They just want to buy a kit, slap it on their TJ and have it make room for bigger tires and run like a dream. This is unrealistic at best and sheer fallaciousness at worst. No kit can tell you how much lift their kit will give your TJ.

If you really want to understand you'll have to take the time to understand spring rates, sprung and unsprung weight, shock travel (up travel, down travel), shock valving, et. al...But, as mrblaine said, "Trying to get folks to understand how some of it works is just painful." Yeah, because people don't want to take the time to research and try to understand.

I'd read his post #50 again and again if I were you and try to sort through it piece by piece.
 
For our typical purposes, we can make things easy by just using coils to set the desired ride height. Then figure out the shocks.

If you care to get fussy, then select the longest lightest coil that will provide the ride height and the cargo load support needed for your use.

The reality is that there isn't that much difference in spring rates for a given ride height to make a noticable difference. Any real difference that one might be lucky enough to find will be very quickly overshadowed by the shock fit and valving.
 
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This is good stuff. Can anyone confirm the part numbers for Rancho 5000x with OME 2.5 inch HD springs. I believe they are RS55239 and RS55241. I am going to be the test subject. Thanks!
 
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This is good stuff. Can anyone confirm the part numbers for Rancho 5000x with OME 2.5 inch HD springs. I believe they are RS55239 and RS55241. I am going to be the test subject. Thanks!

That depends on the final ride height and the bump stop requirements.
 
Lots of good information!
I choose OME because of reviews I had read that stated they were less stiff than the Bilstein's I was replacing...and they certainly feel better to me. But I'm hearing here that the OME's are stiff and the Rancho's are much more supple. Well, the ride on my '06 Rubi is actually pretty nice with it's RE shocks and I was planning on trading the fronts out with the OME's before I sell the '01, just to compare and decide which to keep.
Later, if I feel the need for different shocks, then I'll definitely keep the Rancho's in mind.
 
Lots of good information!
I choose OME because of reviews I had read that stated they were less stiff than the Bilstein's I was replacing...and they certainly feel better to me. But I'm hearing here that the OME's are stiff and the Rancho's are much more supple. Well, the ride on my '06 Rubi is actually pretty nice with it's RE shocks and I was planning on trading the fronts out with the OME's before I sell the '01, just to compare and decide which to keep.
Later, if I feel the need for different shocks, then I'll definitely keep the Rancho's in mind.
Older OME Nitros were valved more for our TJ's than the newer OME Nitros. That's why you get conflicting reports.

Newer RE's are re-branded Bilstein's.

Any differences you may feel could be due to shock length relative to lift..

As @jjvw said, get the longest uncompressed spring length for the ride height you want and then buy a shock with good valving for TJ's that will put you right in the middle of the travel.