How can I fix a rough ride?
- Thread starter Bruce20
- Start date
OP
Yeah, I’ll be adding almost 160 pounds, so hopefully that helps the ride.
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I read the entire thread and it may just be that you are driving a short wheel base Jeep. I don’t care what anyone says, you cannot make a TJ ride like a Cadillac. TJ’s ride like TJ’s. The best you can do without spending many thousands of $ is correct air pressure, correctly valved shocks, progressive springs, sound dampening and stay on very smooth roads!
Jay P
TJ Enthusiast
When you installed the springs did you loosen all the control arm and track bar mounts? From what you are describing it sounds like you have the bushings bound up especially the rear track bar. You may try to loosen everything up, bounce the Jeep a few times and then re-torque everything. You also need to ditch the shock boots, very much so if you live or play in the wet or sandy environments as they hold more contaminates than they deflect.
After the lift was installed, did you or someone go back and re-check/re-torque all the hardware after 500 miles of driving? In particular, the top rear shock mount fasteners (two bolts/nuts on each side) would be a prime candidate to check. I'd re-check everything.
Good question, I was wondering this as well. Hope someone else will chime in from experience. This is what is troubling for me about trying to mix and match parts to build your own lift kit, especially for an amateur like myself. It all sounds great, but If you don't follow a known working recipe, you might not get the desired results. Another thing I found troubling during my research is that most of the real experts giving the best advice on products are not typically running a 2" lift, LOL. This is why I went with the 2" BDS kit (coils and NX2 shocks). I was able to see and ride in another local TJ with this exact combo before I decided to go for it. BDS also claims the shocks are specifically sized and valved for the vehicle (whether true or not, the marketing sounds good and I would think there would at least be some truth to this). While I was tempted by the Ranchos because of their rave reviews here, I didn't want to get into the build your own kit and tempt fate.
OP, hope you get this sorted out. Hopefully it is an easy solution for you!
Think about this, some of the kits have shocks that are too long.
Really you have to understand spring rate, uncompressed length and know your sprung weight in order to figure out how much lift a spring will give. Then you have to know the uncompressed and compressed lengths of your proposed shocks. From that you can figure out basically how much travel you'll have and what shocks you need with a certain bumpstop. So, yeah, you have to know, but just buying a kit doesn't solve all this.
Same goes for advertisements. I've seen extended rear sway bar links manufactured by different companies that suggest 8" for 4" lift and another that had a 9" for 3" lift.
The Rancho's do run long. If I had Rancho's or 2-3" of lift and my rig had 2" of TRUE lift, I'd add a 3/4" spacer up front and a 10mm spacer in the rear and be done with it.
Really you have to understand spring rate, uncompressed length and know your sprung weight in order to figure out how much lift a spring will give. Then you have to know the uncompressed and compressed lengths of your proposed shocks. From that you can figure out basically how much travel you'll have and what shocks you need with a certain bumpstop. So, yeah, you have to know, but just buying a kit doesn't solve all this.
Same goes for advertisements. I've seen extended rear sway bar links manufactured by different companies that suggest 8" for 4" lift and another that had a 9" for 3" lift.
The Rancho's do run long. If I had Rancho's or 2-3" of lift and my rig had 2" of TRUE lift, I'd add a 3/4" spacer up front and a 10mm spacer in the rear and be done with it.
I haven't paid enough attention to know if Ranchos do run long or not. What I do know is that simply choosing a shock based on lift height ignores too many other considerations and peculiarities your just might have. Choosing based on the compressed and extended lengths, and comparing that to what fits on your Jeep is the best way. But to do that, one needs to understand the bump stops and how to extend them correctly.
They definitely run long based on their chart of shock size vs. suspension lift height. Rancho sent me two different sets of shocks, RS5000x and RS9000xl, and both times they told me not to worry about giving them the dimension needed... they asked me exactly how much lift I had and said they had it all worked out. Both sets were too long and had to be sent back and exchanged for shock models I specified based on my dimensions.
Thought this was a pretty informative thread on checking bump stops. It's really important to get that right to get the most out of the suspension and give the shocks room to work.
https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/bump-stop-check-walk-thru-with-pics.12883/
https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/bump-stop-check-walk-thru-with-pics.12883/
I do know that my 55255's up front are recommended for a 3.5" lift. Mine has a 4" and I run them with 1.5" bump stop extension (for the tires) and a raised upper mount (to match the bump stops). This is giving me roughly 6.5" up and 4" down. If I was using the stock mounts and just enough bump for the shocks, that travel would be nearly 5.3" each way.
I would say that Rancho's recommendation might be a bit on the long side if the Jeep has a body lift like mine does and the goal was to favor towards up. I suspect this is where the problems with the lift recommendations come from. A body lift has an effect of the bump stop requirements and Rancho is talking about TJs closer to stock.
I would say that Rancho's recommendation might be a bit on the long side if the Jeep has a body lift like mine does and the goal was to favor towards up. I suspect this is where the problems with the lift recommendations come from. A body lift has an effect of the bump stop requirements and Rancho is talking about TJs closer to stock.
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OP
OP
Because they only had maybe 2" of uptravel remaining when I mounted the first one.
OP
So is that how much axle shaft is exposed when full weight is put on it?
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OP
Slightly less than your bump stop is permitting. The shock can't be allowed to bottom out before the bump stop stops more axle uptravel.