Does this look right?
- Thread starter ApexOffRoad
- Start date
OP
Made it to 5 pages ...holy crap. I'm on it with my 3D printer, Effin MC springs, and upgrade to 54" tires..ha. I'll post some more pics when its all corrected and we can start all over. All kidding aside, thanks for the input.
not unheard of to have a rear spring rated for more lift, some will run a +3" up from and a +4" in the back to level heavier rears. the Acos looks like a gimmick, a fancy do-dad to take the place of a solid puck spacer, don't see any reason for it and maybe they'd be better advertised on a different rig.
It's nothing more than an adjustable spacer. And anyone who thinks it can be quickly and easily adjusted to account for changes in ride height is an optimistic person.
This set in question has air bumps, which could be interesting, except that they are attached to the ACOS.
OP
Agreed and the different spring ratios is basically what I have decided to try next at a lower ride height. Going to leave the Acos for now just because it's easier to adjust when I hook up the trailer. The desparity in ride height from the front to the back isn't a perfect spacer measurement either so they do kinda come in handy there. Just put it on the lift and adjust the spacer nut. Probably harder now with the MC springs if they actually keep pressure on at full droop like they advertise. The Acos won't however be getting any positive press from me to my customers....too many issues, they cost too much, can't buy them single (only in pairs at $900) and I have actually broken one of them on the trail. Not exactly sure how I broke it but the pressurized portion sat in the spring cavity all the way home, threads were shot, couldn't get it back in the cylinder.
OP
I did eventually break one of them and I totally get and share in the skepticism but all said and done they did hold up the abuse of dragging a trailer across the Rubicon. Fully loaded, food, gas, water, batteries etc... with a 40" spare from another rig on the roof rack. Trailer is pretty balanced on level ground but the tongue weight had to be significant at times. Rear bumps took their fair share of abuse under all that weight without issue but for all I know that could have been the beginning of the end for the one that broke. Sorry about the advertisement flag, it was a client sponsored trip and car guys never miss an opportunity...ha.
As long as the context isn’t a spelling B…..
I went with the perfectly acceptable silent O in my spelling.
OP
Added home made spring buckets in the back, replaced 4.5" lift springs in the front with 3.5" lift. Adjusted the spacers back up to a reasonable setting. Lowered the overall ride height by 2" (unloaded) after driving it around. Still a bit tall but settled to a much more acceptable stance and thats without gear or the trailer.
Metal Cloak got back to me after I sent them previous pics. They had to run it by their engineers who in turn came back after a couple days with a response that "with the Acos, I should probably go back to conventional springs"....not exactly what I wanted to hear. I told them I was going to fab a rear spring bucket and give them a try for a while anyway...they offered to send me the 3.5" lift springs overnight and at 40% off for the trouble...If it was my company, I would have sent them overnight for free...just sayin.
I gotta say the ride quality and taking corners at lower speeds on road is marginally better. Anything more than 30mph I can't tell the difference.
Metal Cloak got back to me after I sent them previous pics. They had to run it by their engineers who in turn came back after a couple days with a response that "with the Acos, I should probably go back to conventional springs"....not exactly what I wanted to hear. I told them I was going to fab a rear spring bucket and give them a try for a while anyway...they offered to send me the 3.5" lift springs overnight and at 40% off for the trouble...If it was my company, I would have sent them overnight for free...just sayin.
I gotta say the ride quality and taking corners at lower speeds on road is marginally better. Anything more than 30mph I can't tell the difference.
never been a spring problem, been an Acos problem.
it's causing an odd fit for the spring,, it's causing excessive height, it does not need to be there.
overcomplicated hardware is all it is.
that limit straps never gonna let those coils loose.
it's causing an odd fit for the spring,, it's causing excessive height, it does not need to be there.
overcomplicated hardware is all it is.
that limit straps never gonna let those coils loose.
OP
I agree to a certain extent. If it was used for specific types of just crawling makes total sense. It's not used for just crawling but often used to tow a trailer, it regularly gets overloaded with gear in addition to the trailer. Remember, this is a promotional jeep that represents a dealership that sells older jeeps. I'm not claiming it's going to outperform and just because I have the Acos on this rig doesn't mean I'm promoting it to customers or to you ...just means I'm experimenting in search of a resolve to a problem and again the input here has been very helpful. Throughout this thread the criticism has been good. If you read it, I'm the one who broke one of the Acos mounts and initiated the complaints in search of better options here. Guess I was hoping somebody else had them and could chime in...seems like in the TJ community, I'm the only one who fell for it.
It's been suggested that the Acos is not easy to adjust and that the springs are the sole reason for lift height...not true. Its way easier than a conventional spacer. Most other comments, criticisms and suggestions have been spot on. For instance, those limiting straps as you suggested should probably be longer...and as pointed out earlier in this post the length of the sway bar links was also a potential problem. I'm taking it one step and one problem at a time. Ride height can be adjusted in 15 minutes on a lift (I've done it several times now) to account for weight issues or trailer hookup and the result is a better overall stance with less of the articulation limits introduced by an air bag system. Air bag is great for heading down the freeway...sucks off road. The added height of the Acos is actually ok with the larger tires, it was worse when I ran 35"s and as you point out it caused excessive height for that setup. Going to a lower height spring in the front, keeping the higher spring in the back and adjusting the heavy ass end down helped bring the whole thing to a better place.
The MC springs were an experiment to achieve a better on road ride and as pointed out by many I was probably a victim of good advertising...lesson learned (Jerry, I'm saving the MC springs I took off for you
). Again, the trailer is a factor and does kinda make it a spring problem cause the conventional Rubicon Express springs just couldn't handle or perform very good under the extra weight. Not a manufacturer problem, just my problem. Not sure if these will be any better, I have not taken it out yet to put it through the motions under load or with a trailer. Like most of you guessed, the unloaded ride quality differences are barely noticeable so far, hopefully anybody considering the change reads this.Metal Cloak by their own admission said they didn't engineer the DR springs to be mounted on the Acos which is why I added the spring buckets. If nothing else, maybe MC will add that disclosure to their advertising so some other schmuck like me doesn't waste the money. Adding the buckets was my own hangup and as somebody pointed out, probably vanity cause I didn't like the way they looked. I'll probably end up changing it all unless by some chance the off road experience or on road towing with them turns out to be better than what I had before. I'll wait and see.