TJ ride quality issue – spacers, mixed shocks, and minimum lift for 33s

E

Efthimis Tj

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Jun 28, 2025
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Hi everyone,

I have a 2005 Wrangler TJ and I’m trying to sort out the suspension and ride quality before I start throwing money at it.
Current setup:
Front shocks: Rancho (older, not sure of the exact model)
Rear shocks: Teraflex 9550
Coil spacers installed (front and rear)
Stock control arms
33” tires with flat fenders

The issue I’m having is that the front suspension barely works at all. On small bumps and uneven pavement the front feels extremely harsh and doesn’t seem to move while the rear actually feels much smoother and more controlled. At slow speed over larger obstacles, I can feel the rear axle cycling nicely but the front just feels stiff and jarring.
I’m pretty sure the combination of front spacers + mismatched shocks is causing the front suspension to operate in the wrong part of its travel. My questions are:
1) Is it reasonable to remove the coil spacers only (at least up front) and see if the suspension starts working properly again?
2) With 33” tires and flat fenders, what is the minimum lift height you’d recommend to avoid excessive rubbing without getting into a complicated setup (SYE, lots of adjustable arms, etc.)?
3) My goal is a daily TJ that can handle dirt roads and light trails, not an extreme rock crawler.

Any advice from people who’ve been down this road would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
 
TheBoogieman said:
Post pictures of the front shocks. I'd replace all the shocks with better, correct length ones and go from there.
Click to expand...
Hey, thank you that’s what I am thinking about. Meanwhile I am just wandering if I can throw the spacers and have a better experience.
IMG_7887.jpeg

IMG_7886.jpeg
 
Efthimis Tj said:
1) Is it reasonable to remove the coil spacers only (at least up front) and see if the suspension starts working properly again?
2) With 33” tires and flat fenders, what is the minimum lift height you’d recommend to avoid excessive rubbing without getting into a complicated setup (SYE, lots of adjustable arms, etc.)?
3) My goal is a daily TJ that can handle dirt roads and light trails, not an extreme rock crawler.
Click to expand...

1) you need the proper length shock for your suspension lift amount. Spacers affect lift amount. Usually a small spacer to dial in your lift amount is fine. Unsure if it will help to remove the spacer. EDIT: after posting I saw your pic. That’s not a small spacer. You should get some springs that get you close to the specs below for 33’s).
2) 33’s will work with a maximum suspension lift of ~2.25” and body lift of 1.25”. Any more suspension lift and you’re getting into SYE, etc territory.
3) A stock TJ can handle dirt roads and light trails. This forum focuses on solid daily driver off-road rigs. It doesn’t make a strong dichotomy between onroad and off-road capability.
 
Last edited:
To simply answer your initial question, spacers are a cheap lift that do not effect ride quality. 99.9% of ride quality is effected by shocks. You could leave the springs and spacers as they are, measure for proper shock length, replace shocks and find that’s all you neeed.
Now what you need and what “we” would like you spend your money on could be different. 😁
 
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Manual or automatic?

Chris

Thread 'A Beginners Guide to Lifting Your Jeep Wrangler TJ'

One of the questions I see so commonly asked in the Jeep Wrangler TJ community relates to people who are new to the Wrangler TJ and have questions about what kind of lift they need, what the best lift is, what tires they can run with each lift, etc.

I'm going to try and sum it all up in one thread so that any of the new owners have a resource to help guide them in their path to building their Wrangler the way they want it.

First and foremost, in order to determine what kind of lift you want, you need to ask yourself a few questions:



First start by answering these questions:...
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-Mac
 
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Hello guys, thanks a lot for taking the time to reply — I really appreciate all the input.
I’m asking very specific questions because I’m trying to avoid wasting time and money on trial and error. Some of you may have already been through a similar setup, so your real-world experience matters to me. My goal is not to go as tall as possible, but to build a Jeep that actually works well in real conditions.
I don’t live near trails or forests, so every off-road trip starts with long highway and secondary road driving, and ride quality is important to me. I want something controlled, compliant and predictable on the road, but still capable on dirt roads and light trails — not a hardcore crawler.
One thing worth mentioning is that I’m not located in the US, and unfortunately all suspension parts cost roughly double here once shipping, taxes and import fees are added, and they also take a long time to arrive. Because of that, experimenting with multiple setups isn’t really an option for me — that’s why I’m trying to get things right the first time and asking questions before spending the money.
Right now, the front suspension barely moves up or down, even at low speeds. Based on how it behaves, I strongly suspect the front springs are already preloaded because of the spacers, which leaves almost no usable uptravel. It feels like the suspension is sitting too high in its travel and is constantly topped out, which would explain why the front end feels so harsh and unresponsive. That’s why I’m wondering if temporarily removing the front spacers would help restore some suspension movement and make the Jeep more drivable until I receive proper springs from the US (shipping usually takes 30–45 days for me).
For reference, I’m running 33” tires at about 24 psi. I’ve already experimented with tire pressure and higher PSI definitely makes things worse, so I don’t think tire pressure is the main issue here.
As for shocks, I’m seriously considering Fox 2.0 IFP shocks. From what I’ve read and from real-world feedback, they seem to be a good compromise for a Jeep that sees both highway miles and dirt roads, which fits my use case well. I’m not trying to cheap out on the final setup — this would just be a short-term solution so I can keep using the vehicle while waiting for the correct parts.
Any feedback from people who’ve dealt with spacer-induced preload issues, or who are running Fox shocks in a similar daily-driven setup, would be greatly appreciated.

PS. The photo is actually this, but I don’t want my license plate to go around in the internet haha

1767486186939.jpeg
 
I'm guessing the front shocks are the cause of your problems. Remove the front shocks and go for a short slow ride. Report back, you'll probably need to get new shocks of the proper length.
 
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