Mine handled like a boat- I quit pulling skiers after the cops got on me.
TJ handles like a boat after 3" coil spring spacer lift install
- Thread starter Mikey121
- Start date
Mine handled like a boat- I quit pulling skiers after the cops got on me.
so now you just use it to gather up ducks ?
OP, I'd look at getting rid of the trash spacers, and do the lift correctly... unless your offroading will be limited to crawling at the local mall...
Lifting with spacers will cause you nothing but grief... you cannot take advantage of the full amount of travel that a lift spring will get you, they spacers can be noisy, they will degrade and break apart over time, will cause the same amount of work a real lift would have caused...
I have a 2in. spacer lift with no problems. many will hardly ever use the full travel anyway and just want a little lift for a little bigger tires. I didn't want to mess up my ride by changing out spring so went with the spacer lift. it's all up to the wheeling you plan on doing as to if the spacer or full suspension lift will work for you !
2” of spacer lift is pretty workable- your axles stay close to center - caster is tolerable, etc. -Somewhere in the neighborhood of 2 inches is pretty much the breakpoint for a budget boost- my 06 Black Bedlined Rubi was super with 2”, at the same time lockers really compensate.
Beyond that it’s time to think more expansively.
Wow. I used a big word. May I have 10 Bonus points Chris? I’ll use them wisely.
I was thinking 3in was a little much but figured it was the same weather a spacer or springs.
Well what it does is it gives you the same complications with no great benefits - I would probably take those things off and get some 2 inch maybe.
Dustdevil
Member
There comes a point at which the job should be done the best way the owner can afford. I did mine piecemeal, and the event that convinced me it was time to get off the dime was when I needed tires. Didn't want to put the original sized small 31s back on for another several years. Nor did I want to buy tires that fit, then have to buy larger tires again after I installed a moderate lift. So, I bought the 33s and wheels around the same time I ordered the initial lift kit. Drove very carefully for about two weeks with the big tires maybe every other day, only on pavement. When the lift kit arrived, I began install right away to keep from rubbing the tires frequently. Everybody has to do it their own way. But I agree. Spacers can only be a temporary option, at best. Unless, of course, the lifetime of the Jeep will be spent only on local streets.
LONGJP2
TJ Expert
I had them on my first TJ with 31s. That lasted less than a year before the addiction set in.
Have you seen the new speed bumps at the mall that Biden put in with the infrastructure money? You need a TT to keep from scraping on them.
you say they're a temporary option at best ? why does the metal their made of disappear ? and if so how is it different than the metal your springs are made of, or the factory springs for that matter ! also why aren't the body spacers only temporary ? mine have been on for 2 years now and I'm satisfied with the ride and lift I have but how much longer can I expect it to last before it disappears ? OH AND MY JEEP STAYS OFF-ROAD, nothing extreme and I don't jump it off cliffs (so I don't need 16in of travel) and it does what I expect on 31's MT's.
Spacers are fine. I don't know what everyone is in a tizzy about. You just have to get the accompanying mods to fix the geometry you messed up, but up to 2" is fairly normal and fine for a lift as long as you get some longer shocks that work well at that lift height. Make up your mind if you want to re-center the axles, which can be done cheaply and effectively.
Agree that a 3" puck lift is just way too much. I wouldn't go over 1.5" or so. If you need to go higher than that, buy the springs you need.
I bought my Jeep with a 2" spacer lift and had no issues for 2 yrs I ran it. Although 3" seems a bit much. At that point he's changing alot of stuff
For the OP by some 2" spacers or drop the $$$ for everything needed for a 3" lift.
Good Luck!
Dustdevil
Member
Depends on what you want from your Jeep. BTW, I was in Ellijay a few years back, and fell in love with the place. Spent the weekend there, and it's a nice little town not far from where you are. Lived closer to NE Atlanta as a kid for a few years. Didn't want to leave, but my father's employment took us to California. Spent many weekends on Lake Sidney Lanier. It's a different place now than it was then, back in the dark ages.
As for the spacer issue, there are several issues. When you installed your spacers, did you cycle the axle through to determine how far to extend the bump stops? If not, you risk coil bind. It's a real thing with spring spacers. Not with either stock suspension or quality lift kits, both of which are engineered to avoid that, specifically. Did you install longer shocks, or are you actually limiting up-travel (downtravel?) with shocks that are too short? A longer distance between the axle and the frame requires an equally longer shock. But if you make the shock too long, you will end up using the shock as your bump stop. That's not good either. Did you use the original factory springs? If they are older than maybe 10-15 years, they are likely sagging and not the same spring rate as they once were. That would make bottoming more likely. And if it's the coils that limit your bottoming travel, you might likely break a spring. Did you install an adjustable track bar? Or at least relocate the factory one? At 2", you likely haven't changed the pinion or caster angle that much to worry about. But if you did, you would need at least upper adjustable control arms. If you bought and installed some of these things to correct the consequences of a 2" lift, you might as well have bought the longer springs too. Almost everyone who begins their lift by installing nothing but spring spacers on stock springs, ends up eventually with either some sort of lift kit with longer new springs, or a few actually restore to stock. Stock Wranglers actually work pretty darn well in stock form. Some replace those old stock springs with new stock springs (likely stock spec, but an aftermarket manufacturer).
I'm not commenting on the reliability of the parts themselves. You can make them out of tool steel if you had to, in order to make them last. Likely, that's not necessary. The rake in a Jeep Wrangler is somewhere around an inch or so. Some forward-thinking lift kit designers include that as extra length in the front half of their kit. Others simply add the same lift to both front and rear. In order to compensate for that rake with most lift kits, some owners do install a larger spacer on the front springs. Me included. But it's only about an inch different than stock, and will not coil bind my front springs. The greater the spacer lift amount, the more likely you could be inducing coil bind, unless you have engineered it from the ground up.
Having said that, the one additional issue is that coil springs which are flexed to near their coil bind dimension will sag and fatigue faster than coil springs which are flexed to a lesser degree. A coil which is regularly flexed to only half it's original relaxed dimension will greatly outlast one which is flexed to within millimeters of coil bind.
Sooner or later, most owners who install simply a few plastic or metal pucks to extend their spring length end up changing their setup for something better. It's your Jeep. You make the choices. Just pointing out why adding nothing but spacers can create some unintended consequences some Jeep owners haven't thought about.
So, if you plan to roll down a few country roads, and just want the Jeep as a basic transportation vehicle that isn't expected to clear much in the way of obstacles, spacers may work well for your application. If you do plan to tackle any obstacles like rocks, hills, ruts, tree roots, mud, creeks, and unknown ground, suspension becomes significantly more important.
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Dustdevil
Member
I'm in this camp. Most Wranglers with factory stock springs are sagging by now anyway. Not much wrong with a stock Wrangler if your intent is to simply navigate some backroads without many obstacles. But I've been on a run or two with you and you're dealing with way more than that casual sort of trails.
Look at what OP posted that he installed... the spacers are Delrin, not metal. They will degrade, and come apart... how much depends or the climate they are in.