A lot. Study up on how we outboard the rear shocks. Pay attention to what springs we use. Pay attention to how we fit longer shocks and what shocks we like to use. It will all carry over to what you are doing on a CJ.
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Help with CJ7 on coil springs
- Thread starter Desert rat
- Start date
A lot. Study up on how we outboard the rear shocks. Pay attention to what springs we use. Pay attention to how we fit longer shocks and what shocks we like to use. It will all carry over to what you are doing on a CJ.
OP
A lot, wow. I've have studied how to out board the rear shocks and I don't see what is the problem with my placement of the rear shocks. Sure you can always go more high tech with better shocks springs ect. but what you need to understand is this was to be a simple low budget build to give me a little more travel and a soft ride, which once I get the shocks sorted out I will have, that is all I went on this forum for in the first place, was to ask about shocks.
I do not think you have missed alot. 12 inch travel shocks on the front are too long, yes. Probably could have used a 9 or 10 inch shock and been fine. But, as long as so are not bottoming out the shock out and you do not loose the spring on droop, it shouldn't really matter.
Good job on the build. Props for doing something different and not doing a cookie cutter build. Did you do the work yourself?
Good job on the build. Props for doing something different and not doing a cookie cutter build. Did you do the work yourself?
OP
Thanks Paul, life would have been a lot easier if I would just go out a buy a tj but with each mod i dig myself deeper into this old jeep and I think of all the work I've done over the past 20 years and if I give up on it I feel all that work was for nothing so, I continue to mold it into the jeep of my dreams. Yes I have done all the work myself. As for the 12" of travel when it's all said and done it will probably be more like 10" depending on how much the coils compress when I hit a hard bump. ( droop will be stopped at 5" so not to bottom out the shock and the spring can not come out of the mounts) Anyway we'll see .
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haha. Well in all seriousness the fact that my wheeling takes place everywhere from 5000 to 13000' in elevation, carbs would be an issue for me. So it would have to be a coil sprung, fuel injected CJ7...which might as well be a TJ at that point.
I'm in the same boat though...with 2 growing kids I now find myself desiring more cargo space but I find myself so invested both financially and in platform-specific knowledge that I'm locked into the TJ platform. So my plan is to find an LJ and swap my entire suspension and drivetrain up to and including my SYE'd transfer case over to it and sell my TJ with all the stock stuff that came off the LJ. It'll be a stock drivetrain, stock suspension with rock sliders and MCE fenders.
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I know what your saying, my cj was the one I always wanted as it was an 81 loaded Laredo, v8 auto, power brakes, power steering and a/c and dana 300 transfer( I like auto trans for running sand dunes and all cj7s came before 81 with quadratrac cases which was chain driven and somewhat problematic) this was the last year for a v8 in a jeep. Anyway I keep is stock except for lift kit and tires for many years and always hated the carb on hills and high altitudes. Finally the 304 gave out and being a chevy man that gave me the excuse to drop in a tbi 350 with overdrive 700r trans ,pain to put in but wow, mileage went from 12 on highway to 17.5 it will run upside down and enought power to destroy all kind of stuff.
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And, yes everyone that sees my jeep thinks it's a tj, which it seems to be transforming into anway LOL.
Love it, and I want one now, Ha. The 7 is better than my 5, but I had a lot of fun with the 304 V8! Also smelled like exhaust for 4 years in college, ha .
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Up date the new shocks, Rancho 5000x, did wonders for the way it handles. There is still body roll which is somewhat unsettling but this may be a to to the fact that with leaf springs I had no body roll and I'm not use to the new setup. I had a 2" body lift on with the old setup which I will remove that should help. Offroad it feels great, I no longer fear a washboard road!
good to hear!
RE: body roll, did you fit any sway/anti-roll bars in your suspension conversion, or did the CJ have any to begin with that you might have kept?
On a TJ suspension we generally consider them mandatory for on-road driving. The rear is usually even left on and connected for offroad, and the front is either disconnected or replaced with an Anti-Rock.
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I used the sway bar in the front that came on my cj, but you mention a rear sway bar. So tj have rear sway bars ? I never checked to see if they did. A rear sway bar is something I was thinking about but I don't know exactly how to fit it under the rear I have almost no room left back there. ( any ideas ,something I could adapt, aftermarket perhaps?) I have not tried disconnecting the sway bar to try driving offroad but without the S.B. connected on the street it would be very unstable.
OP
Ok, I've looked up rear S.B.s for cj7 an I see there are several options I just need to find one that will fit with the three link suspension.
Yes. the TJ rear sway bar mounts to brackets on the front of the axle end UCA mount brackets, has a bend in it to go over the front of the pumpkin, and the links run up to the frame, so it doesn't take much real estate on the frame.