Do I need a leveling kit or new springs?

gbirk

gbirk

TJ Enthusiast
Supporting Member
Joined
Apr 29, 2019
Messages
495
Location
Oregon
I have a 2002 TJ (170k miles) with 31" tires on it, and I believe factory suspension. My 1st Jeep ever, so I am still learning about it.

It has an obvious forward cant. Measuring from the ground to the bottom of the factory fenders the front is about 33" and the back is 35".
Is it normal (factory) to have almost 2" difference in height front to back? I know there are "leveling kits" available so some forward rake must be normal, but 2" seems like a lot. I may go to a ~2" lift in the future to go to 33's, but for now and the life of the current tires I think I just want to fix the rake. Should I be looking for new stock height springs, or just get a leveling kit? I guess I am asking if the rake is due to old springs sagging (then I will get new springs) or if it is normal and the fix is a leveling kit.

I have seen this question brought up several times before and there always seems to be a lot of debate about the "best" way to fix it. I guess my question is how much front rake is factory/normal? (1", 2", ect...) as that never seems to get said in the other threads. I don't want to go get new springs only to find out 2" is a normal amount of rake, and then have to go buy a leveling kit. Is there a leveling spring kit instead of just the plastic blocks I should be looking at?

Thanks in advance.
 
Do you have a winch or other heavy accessories on the front end? I just installed a set of 3/4" spacers yesterday to address some of the rake on mine. It looks a lot better, but is still not completely level. This is in addition to the Zone 4.25 combo lift I have.
 
Goatman said:
Measure them. 12" front, 8" rear is stock heights.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the measurements. I will do that.
twistedlv said:
Do you have a winch or other heavy accessories on the front end? I just installed a set of 3/4" spacers yesterday to address some of the rake on mine. It looks a lot better, but is still not completely level. This is in addition to the Zone 4.25 combo lift I have.
Click to expand...

No, pretty much stock. No winch or anything like that yet, and factory front bumper (milk jugs and all).
 
I'll bet your springs are just worn out. I'd just put in some spacers up front until you decide on a lift. Even after a lift, you will want some spacers if you want to help with the factory rake.
 
Last edited:
Mine sits 2" lower in the front before and after new springs where installed. This was also before any add ons. I put the Q-tec leveling kit in it 3/4" rear, 2" front spacers and it sits level now. A set of Old Man Emu 2" springs also had it setting 2" lower in the front.
It's a 97 BTW, maybe the early ones were different?
 
Most of the time, this happens when you do something to shift the balance of weight. For example, I have the same issue because I added a bumper and winch to the front and took out my rear back seat. You could fix this with some spacers to your springs (i.e. leveling kit), but if you haven't changed much of your weight distribution, you might just be better off replacing the springs, which is another way to potentially (but not necessarily) solve the issue.

There's nothing wrong with putting spacers on your springs though. It's pretty common to do this with many lift kits, particularly when they need to account for other weight differences that other mods may cause.
 
Ideally most of the ride height would be established with the coils. Then small spacers can be used to make the final adjustments.

The concern with too thick of a spacer is coil bind, where there is not enough room between the spring seats for both the spacer and the fully compressed coil spring.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the replies, all great info. Looks like a lift may happen sooner than I planed. Whoda' thunk it?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Equilibrium31
jjvw said:
Ideally most of the ride height would be established with the coils. Then small spacers can be used to make the final adjustments.

The concern with too thick of a spacer is coil bind, where there is not enough room between the spring seats for both the spacer and the fully compressed coil spring.
Click to expand...
The spacer goes on top of the spring. The only way I can see a spacer causing coil bind is if the spacer is IN the spring. If there is enough room for the spring and spacer to fit then how would compressed spring not fit anymore? Am I missing something? This is a question not a dig.
 
davidgoodman said:
Mine sits 2" lower in the front before and after new springs where installed. This was also before any add ons. I put the Q-tec leveling kit in it 3/4" rear, 2" front spacers and it sits level now. A set of Old Man Emu 2" springs also had it setting 2" lower in the front.
It's a 97 BTW, maybe the early ones were different?
Click to expand...

Hey, I am about to level my 97. Have you come across this with any other 97 owners? Was/is it a 97 thing?
 
I know the thread is a little old, but not much comes up when searching for info on leveling a TJ.

Below is a stock photo of a 2005 Wrangler. My 2005 Rubicon sits just like this, and is about 1.5" lower in the front than the rear when measuring at the center of the wheel well. My springs measure to spec, no indication they've taken a set.

Leveling technically changes the caster and likely some other steering geometry since it's all interconnected - you can't change one thing without technically changing something else.

Adding an equal amount of lift to front and rear would visually mask the difference. In other words, the more space there is between the wheel and well, the harder it is to notice any difference.


jeep stock photo.jpg.png
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Vtx531
First if all the rake is there for a reason - it’s called passengers and cargo.

Secondly, our Leveling Board meets once every 45 days, requires pictures on level ground from both sides ( a clear back drop is requested) and needs the application complete 10 days in advance, and tell your wife not to lie about her weight.

[if] they approve the rake you will get a PDF with all parameters, then it has to be inspected. Don’t worry, our guys are certified and state trained.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
  • Haha
Reactions: MikekiM and GPK03X
Top Bottom
Back