I suspect tire brand may also be a factor. I have enjoyed one model tire on multiple vehicles, but C rated were not obtainable for my LJ when I changed tires. New tires are C rated (going from E's), but I really did not notice a whole lot of difference. I also changed rims from 17" to 15" at the same time - so perhaps the new C's had a much harder sidewall than the old 17" E's did. It really did not make sense to me. I really suspected going from E's to C;s and adding sidewall would be a significant difference. I think the new tires were even louder (which again was a surprise, since I also went from 12" to 8" (iirc) tires. I figured I could gain a lot of the contact patch back by airing down anyway.
A deep dive into a better ride
- Thread starter JeeperSleeper
- Start date
This is my situation right now, my LJR has e rated tires from 2011 and old man emu shocks. The amount of roughness is just unacceptable to me when going over bumps like railroad tracks, raised indentations, and potholes. It literally feels like a c rated tire would at 38 psi, except I'm using 28. First, I'm getting c rated tires and then if that doesn't do the trick new rancho rs5000x shocks all the way around. And by new I mean the ones that have been sitting on my shelf since the summer of 2020.They are for 2.5 inches lift and the OME lift I currently have is 2.5 inches, so should be a good fit but I'll find out when I cycle everything.
If the front ranchos are rs55239's they are a very good match for 2.5" lift and emu springs with about 2" bumpstop ext to keep shock from bottoming out. I needed coil spacers to get 2.5" lift though.9.41" travel split close to even.2.75" lift would be perfect.
If the rears are rs 55241's they will be too short and limit down travel. You won't have more than an inch or two of droop at an actual 2.5" lift
It takes about 1.5" bump to keep them from bottoming out. Consider longer rear shocks and changing mounts for room or more bump. I plan on blackmax b8528 and raising the top of the shock for my 1.5" rear lift(currie 3"). Modding both mounts for a longer shock than that would be better. But its a good cheap compromise for me.
While I have heard the correct way to measure is by cycling the axles ECT. I did just end up measuring my coils to about 5.25-5.5" of lift and buying the 4-6" lift shocks. Rancho rs5000.
Thank you for the heads up and the info yes they are the 55239+55241 combo, the LJR hardly leaves the garage so travel isn't the most important thing to me but still a consideration that needs to be make... I don't know yet whether I will change the shocks or not until after I get the tires, but everything was done by the PO before the PO so I feel like I have to go back through it. All I know right now is I have ome 2933 and 2942 springs, even with hardtop the rear is too high the front is raked, front has only a quarter inch spacer on top of the factory spring isolator. My front tires have 5.5 inches between fender and tire, rear is at 7.25 inches. Shocks are OME but not sure which ones.
I think you're right on a lot of this. I believe if I lower the Jeep I'll probably go with an all terrain, maybe even a smaller sized at. I could go to factory wheels at the same time to add more sidewall.
Ok, my understanding is I purchase the 4" rockjock coils. Remove my driveshafts, jump around to settle the coils. Remeasure the driveshaft lengths. Get them resized. Order new shocks based on the ideally new 4" lift height. (Likely ranchos again). Then adjust rear track bar to meet new height. That should be it?
Measure the spring height with the jeeps weight on it. 12" and 8" are stock.
Jeeps have a rake from the factory.
This is a long story but basically my lifted LJ with hardtop measures roughly 14 inches front and 10 rear including the spring isolators and spacers if i measured correctly. The fender method comes out to the same result. The rake from the factory is about 1.5-1.75 inches, atleast that's what it was on my stock softtop TJ which I made comparison measurements of in the past and also thats what it is on my LJ now, 1.75. I was thinking of trying to level the LJ the best I can. I have two choices either drop the rear down or pick up the front or both. If I could get stock length LJ springs (which they don't make) I would bring the rear to stock springs and add a small spacer.
But since that's not really an option I was thinking about removing the .5 inch front spacer I have currently and use a 1.25 inch spacer to bring my total front lift to 2.75 in the front, leaving the rear at 2 inches. Do you think that would work well with the Ranchos I want to use? Clearly I'm going to have to do a lot of cycling and testing myself to see what works especially since now I'm going from 245s to 265s. The po added no bumpstop extension in the front but there's almost 1.25-1.5 inches rear bumpstop I'm not sure I just eyeballed it. So there's already some kind of limitation going on in my rear?
If those are the original...5000 and not 5000X....those 5000 are known for being a rough riding shock. 5000x the newer version is much improved.
You'll need about 2" of bumpstop in front to keep the 55239 from bottoming out. Rear bump is probably good for the 55241.
The rest is up to you. I'd add more spring to the front personally.
First of all thank you for your thoughtful response. I am willing to put plenty of time into this. In fact I've been reading this forum far before I bought my Jeep maybe 3 years ago. The only time concern is that it's my daily driver. I can't really be without it for max 2 weeks. As far as budget I'd be willing to spend again max around $2500. Keep in mind I can do most of the mechanical things myself aside from welding and gears. I believe outboarding shocks would be a great improvement. My current plan is to purchase shorter coils, along with C rated tires. I do understand everything that comes with that. Although what I don't understand is how much getting shocks valved and outboarding towers would be. This would likely have to be a further furture investment considering I can't do this work myself.