This past weekend I was amazed by my suspension.
Here's a picture from the bottom. You can see the birch tree at the top to visualize the line taken.
(Photo credit dwhike.com)
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Continuing my series of fixes and improvements that anyone can do, I previously talked about:
1) How to make your MML work amazingly in 1 evening https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/how-to-make-your-mml-work-amazingly-in-1-evening.19856/
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If you don't know me, you should probably know that I enjoy being amazed by my Jeeps. I don't enjoy the "it's a Jeep" excuse for doing something poorly; I want my Jeeps to be a showcase of quality work.
The Jeep I'm talking about is a plain jane looking TJ. Not much more than a winch on the front to draw attention to itself.
"I left my offroad Jeep at home because my wife didn't want a rough ride on the way here. How bad is yours on the road?" was a question I was given after my debadged Rubicon completed the most difficult line on a rock ledge climb. In the moment, I was disappointed in the climb because the locker pump stopped working coming up to the hill after the 3rd climb due to ingesting water earlier in the day. My wife responded to him, "this weekend's felt like a sunday drive." Looking back on video footage, I actually had completed the difficult rock climb line 4x faster than anyone was completing the easy line. Whether I was driving 75mph down the highway to get there, or on bumpy "cobblestone" and pot holes at 25mph down forested paths, or climbing rock ledges, my TJ felt equally comfortable and it equally attracted attention and questions similar to the above throughout the weekend.
So how does a Jeep feel like a sunday cruise no matter what you're driving over?
1) Up travel, up travel, up travel! Having 6" or more of up travel in the front and rear allows for the tires and axle to move up over bumps before pushing the body of the Jeep up. Too little and you'll get a jarring "THUD!". Tuning is going to make little difference here. The shocks NEED to be placed correctly during the install.
2) Just the right amount of flutter stack. When the right amount of flutter is in the shocks, the Jeep is firm on the road and plush enough that the cracks in the road are heard more than they are felt. Too much flutter and you can start getting a bouncy house or slinky effect. Too little flutter and small bumps become fatiguing.
3) A healthy amount of total travel. Having a healthy amount of travel (the combination of up and down) will allow you to achieve the points above and allow for enough flex that your body isn't being "pushed over" by your axle. This allows the body to stay relatively flat for passenger comfort and the tires to stay on the ground.
Ride quality all comes down to shocks and shock tuning. This is the #1 determining factor. If you don't get this dialed in, nothing else is going to improve your ride quality significantly enough to matter.
The beautiful thing about this is that when your shocks are setup properly, the rest of your suspension setup will also begin to shine.
Here's a picture from the bottom. You can see the birch tree at the top to visualize the line taken.
(Photo credit dwhike.com)
—-
Continuing my series of fixes and improvements that anyone can do, I previously talked about:
1) How to make your MML work amazingly in 1 evening https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/how-to-make-your-mml-work-amazingly-in-1-evening.19856/
—-
If you don't know me, you should probably know that I enjoy being amazed by my Jeeps. I don't enjoy the "it's a Jeep" excuse for doing something poorly; I want my Jeeps to be a showcase of quality work.
The Jeep I'm talking about is a plain jane looking TJ. Not much more than a winch on the front to draw attention to itself.
"I left my offroad Jeep at home because my wife didn't want a rough ride on the way here. How bad is yours on the road?" was a question I was given after my debadged Rubicon completed the most difficult line on a rock ledge climb. In the moment, I was disappointed in the climb because the locker pump stopped working coming up to the hill after the 3rd climb due to ingesting water earlier in the day. My wife responded to him, "this weekend's felt like a sunday drive." Looking back on video footage, I actually had completed the difficult rock climb line 4x faster than anyone was completing the easy line. Whether I was driving 75mph down the highway to get there, or on bumpy "cobblestone" and pot holes at 25mph down forested paths, or climbing rock ledges, my TJ felt equally comfortable and it equally attracted attention and questions similar to the above throughout the weekend.
So how does a Jeep feel like a sunday cruise no matter what you're driving over?
1) Up travel, up travel, up travel! Having 6" or more of up travel in the front and rear allows for the tires and axle to move up over bumps before pushing the body of the Jeep up. Too little and you'll get a jarring "THUD!". Tuning is going to make little difference here. The shocks NEED to be placed correctly during the install.
2) Just the right amount of flutter stack. When the right amount of flutter is in the shocks, the Jeep is firm on the road and plush enough that the cracks in the road are heard more than they are felt. Too much flutter and you can start getting a bouncy house or slinky effect. Too little flutter and small bumps become fatiguing.
3) A healthy amount of total travel. Having a healthy amount of travel (the combination of up and down) will allow you to achieve the points above and allow for enough flex that your body isn't being "pushed over" by your axle. This allows the body to stay relatively flat for passenger comfort and the tires to stay on the ground.
Ride quality all comes down to shocks and shock tuning. This is the #1 determining factor. If you don't get this dialed in, nothing else is going to improve your ride quality significantly enough to matter.
The beautiful thing about this is that when your shocks are setup properly, the rest of your suspension setup will also begin to shine.
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