Short arm down-travel limits

[freedom_in_4low]

You guys are all right. I was in a mood yesterday. I've just been at this TJ thing for a little while, and I've seen this scenario play out over and over again. Cutting back the lower control arm mounts to allow the the arms to get just a liiiitle bit more vertical without enough thought to everything else that can happen, when the reality is that it just doesn't offer a whole lot of benefit aside from good photos. We were playing around with these experiments around the same time the YJ guys were experimenting with buggy springs and Revolver shackles. But this crew at least seems to be putting more thought into the work. And I need to stop and realize that, many times, we're just bench racing here, or just looking for something new to tinker with. Keep them safe. Have fun.

no worries. I reacted harshly as well. I don't think we've interacted much around here yet so you probably didn't know I've been accused at least 2-3 times in the past by mrblaine of overthinking, so I can promise I've put enough thought into this to make sure my springs can't fall out. As for my control arms folding back, haven't put much thought into that but I've never really found myself in a situation where that's likely to happen. I don't really get on stuff rated past a 6.

I care not one bit about having crazy droop for photos, I just want to get downtravel approx comparable to my uptravel because my last set of rear shocks didn't have enough and it was a very noticeable negative impact to the ride.

 

[freedom_in_4low]

so, I didn't find the limit, but with some minor clearancing of the shock brackets, I got to the end of the shock travel.

Since I haven't read about anyone doing this on this or any other forum, it makes me wonder if it's so commonplace as to not even get mentioned, or if my '89 XJ HP 30's shock brackets are shaped differently than the TJ's such that the TJ's don't need it.

I've now got full use of the RS55255's travel, except for the last inch where I'll have no spring pressure. But hey, at least they won't fall out.

Most importantly, the end goal has been reached, which was to have 5" both up and down. I've got almost 6 down, but as I said only about 5" of it is useful right now due to the spring's free length.

Currie 4" springs would still have about half an inch of compression at this extension.

 

[BuildBreakRepeat]

so, I didn't find the limit, but with some minor clearancing of the shock brackets, I got to the end of the shock travel.

View attachment 155136

Since I haven't read about anyone doing this on this or any other forum, it makes me wonder if it's so commonplace as to not even get mentioned, or if my '89 XJ HP 30's shock brackets are shaped differently than the TJ's such that the TJ's don't need it.

I've now got full use of the RS55255's travel, except for the last inch where I'll have no spring pressure. But hey, at least they won't fall out.

Most importantly, the end goal has been reached, which was to have 5" both up and down. I've got almost 6 down, but as I said only about 5" of it is useful right now due to the spring's free length.

View attachment 155137

Currie 4" springs would still have about half an inch of compression at this extension.

Have you tried pulling the springs on one side to see what articulation will do?

 

[freedom_in_4low]

Have you tried pulling the springs on one side to see what articulation will do?

Yeah. I jacked up the driver side without a spring to get the passenger side to drop down far enough to get the spring in. With both sides drooped, the passenger was still stopping around 25" shock length due to link bind, but with the driver side stuffed, the passenger side was able to out-droop the shock, which has a 26.5" extended length. I just didn't take a measurement of how far it went.

 

[bobthetj03]

MC offsets the barrel to provide a bit more clearance.

 

[strumble8]

Savvy double adjustable arms are smaller and dont need to be offset. My old metalcloak arms also blew out 4 of the 6 joints in just under 10k miles

 

[bobthetj03]

Savvy double adjustable arms are smaller and dont need to be offset. My old metalcloak arms also blew out 4 of the 6 joints in just under 10k miles

I have over 40K on mine and they look new. Guess I'm not rough enough on my junk. Good point about the Savvy's being smaller and not needing the clearance.

 

[freedom_in_4low]

MC offsets the barrel to provide a bit more clearance.
View attachment 155154

Savvy double adjustable arms are smaller and dont need to be offset. My old metalcloak arms also blew out 4 of the 6 joints in just under 10k miles

both good observations. My Rough Country arms also have bushings offset from the body of the arm like the MC, but the offset is less effective because the tube is Y-UUGE.

It's hard to tell from the photo, but that tube has to be about 2" considering the jam nut takes a 1-7/8" wrench. The thread on the joint shank is 1-1/4", which I think is the biggest thread size Currie/RockJock puts on a 2.5" Johnny Joint, and they and probably Savvy both use a 1" shank for their TJ lower control arms. Seems like Rough Country is just using an excess of material to cover a lack of engineering. My plan for a while now has been to retrofit JJ's when the x-flex joints wear out (which is imminent), and when the rubber bushings give me trouble, do the same by cutting off the barrel and welding on a JJ housing, or maybe cut the tube and weld in a bung to make them double adjustable. Or maybe just spend the money on new arms.

 

[B00mb00m]

I didnt realize this would be an issue back when i had my front short arms. The MC's never made contact due to the offset, then i made myself a set of double adjustable so i could make some angle changes to the front axle and then i had contact with the nut so did as you did and clearanced the mount.

 

[PNW_LJ]

so, I didn't find the limit, but with some minor clearancing of the shock brackets, I got to the end of the shock travel.

Since I haven't read about anyone doing this on this or any other forum, it makes me wonder if it's so commonplace as to not even get mentioned, or if my '89 XJ HP 30's shock brackets are shaped differently than the TJ's such that the TJ's don't need it.

I've now got full use of the RS55255's travel, except for the last inch where I'll have no spring pressure. But hey, at least they won't fall out.

Most importantly, the end goal has been reached, which was to have 5" both up and down. I've got almost 6 down, but as I said only about 5" of it is useful right now due to the spring's free length.

View attachment 155137

Currie 4" springs would still have about half an inch of compression at this extension.

For future reference, I had to do the same trimming of the shock brackets to achieve full downtravel with stock control arms.

That is with RS55255 shocks and Currie 4” springs.

 

[freedom_in_4low]

For future reference, I had to do the same trimming of the shock brackets to achieve full downtravel with stock control arms.

That is with RS55255 shocks and Currie 4” springs.

Good to know. I posted this thread working on my TJ which had 3" springs of unknown brand plus spacers to get it to 4". I put the same setup under the LJ and wasn't getting as much ride height so I ended up swapping to currie 4" springs. Still running the same rs55255 shocks.

 

[YellJ]

I know this is probably a dead thread, but I'm finding with my current spring setup the only shocks available will max at about 8.6" of travel, especially rear. I'd love to have 6" of up travel, let alone 4+ down. With my 4.5" lift, I'm barely at 4.5" of chrome left on the 2.0s and need to lower it slightly due to arm bind.

 

[jjvw]

I know this is probably a dead thread, but I'm finding with my current spring setup the only shocks available will max at about 8.6" of travel, especially rear. I'd love to have 6" of up travel, let alone 4+ down. With my 4.5" lift, I'm barely at 4.5" of chrome left on the 2.0s and need to lower it slightly due to arm bind.

Study up on shock outboarding.

 

[YellJ]

Study up on shock outboarding.

Oh, im familiar. I didn't realize these measurements were exclusive to outboarding. Apologies. Thanks for the help.

 

[jjvw]

Oh, im familiar. I didn't realize these measurements were exclusive to outboarding. Apologies. Thanks for the help.

You are discovering that the compressed shocks are what limit the up travel. If you want more up travel, you need to move the entire compressed shock up by moving the frame side mount higher.

 

[rasband]

You are discovering that the compressed shocks are what limit the up travel. If you want more up travel, you need to move the entire compressed shock up by moving the frame side mount higher.

Good timing for some BFH Garage videos.

 

[Brianj5600]

I know this is probably a dead thread, but I'm finding with my current spring setup the only shocks available will max at about 8.6" of travel, especially rear. I'd love to have 6" of up travel, let alone 4+ down. With my 4.5" lift, I'm barely at 4.5" of chrome left on the 2.0s and need to lower it slightly due to arm bind.

For the front a 10.5" shock bolts in and works pretty good.

Look here for the rear. https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/i-gained-1-5”-of-up-travel-for-9.36388/

​

 

[YellJ]

For the front a 10.5" shock bolts in and works pretty good.

Look here for the rear. https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/i-gained-1-5”-of-up-travel-for-9.36388/

​

That's a great idea if I ever add a BL. Thanks!

 

[freedom_in_4low]

That's a great idea if I ever add a BL. Thanks!

You don't have to go as far as he did. I gained about an inch just going on top of the mount without the socket spacers. If you're selective about the length of bolts you use and you can be patient about working blind with your hands jammed in a small space I think you could do it without a body lift.

I have 6" ish of up travel in the rear with a 4" lift.

 

[YellJ]

You don't have to go as far as he did. I gained about an inch just going on top of the mount without the socket spacers. If you're selective about the length of bolts you use and you can be patient about working blind with your hands jammed in a small space I think you could do it without a body lift.

I have 6" ish of up travel in the rear with a 4" lift.

I'll be trying this over the weekend after I get an idea how the new springs sit. Actually going for less spring now that I have some tricks.