Tim_with_the_tj

TJ Enthusiast
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Vancouver, WA
Anyone with a light TJ (4cyl, soft top, half doors) running the Metalcloak 3.5 inch coils? Very curious how much actual lift I would get.

I haven’t been here long, but it’s been long enough for me to see some of you speak up about disliking Metalcloak coils.

What I like about them on paper is the free lengths. I wouldn’t have to worry about them falling out at full droop.
 
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Do you plan on running 6" or more of down travel? If not, then the extra free length doesn't matter. All you got yourself is a spring with a built in spring spacer that can reduce up travel.
 
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Anyone with a light TJ (4cyl, soft top, half doors) running the Metalcloak 3.5 inch coils? Very curious how much actual lift I would get.

I haven’t been here long, but it’s been long enough for me to see some of you speak up about disliking Metalcloak coils.

What I like about them on paper is the free lengths. I wouldn’t have to worry about them falling out at full droop.
front sat at 3.5 for me (6cyl), even with a heavy bumper. the rear sat 3.5 loaded but jumped up to 4" when i removed all my gear.
i think they felt stiff,

where does your shock limit the droop? how much free length do you need?
 
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I got 4.25" out of them on a 6cyl. Added weight to them, 65# bumper, and 69# winch on front, 35" tire on back with cargo, and now they are completely sagged to 3.25 in front with no bumper, or winch, and 3.5 in back with nothing. I'm going to Currie next.
 
Do you plan on running 6" or more of down travel? If not, then the extra free length doesn't matter. All you got yourself is a spring with a built in spring spacer that can reduce up travel.
The OP isn't looking for more down travel, rather he wants a spring that that won't unseat like most. As far as uptravel, mine is limited by the shocks. My front bumpstops are 2". In the rear, Metalcloak requires 1" more bumpstop than Currie. With 35" tires I had to cut my wheel well to accommodate the ~5" of uptravel.

The MC springs advertised height seems to be based on a heavy rig. With a big tire carrier bumper, tuffy tool box in the back, front bumper with winch etc., It still had over 3.5" of lift.

FWIW I have Currie 4" springs in the shop waiting to go on at some point.
 
I've been running them for 8+ years. On a light TJ you can expect at least 4 inches of lift. I'm also running 12+ inches of travel and have never had my springs come unseated. As others have said, the trade for that is up travel.
 
Thanks for all the replies. Before I start throwing numbers around from all my measurements, I should ask a question. I may have misunderstood the chart from the resources section. Trying to get some clarity. Here is an example:

Capture2.JPG

metalcloak 3.5.JPG
Currie 3.JPG


When this chart says "solid" does that mean it's the actual length of the coil when it's solid?
Or does "solid" mean the measurement of up travel at which the coils goes solid?

For example, Metalcloak 3.5" coils says 6.50" solid. Does it mean the coils are an actual measured height of 6.50" tall when they go solid?

Or does this mean the coils have 6.50" of up travel before they go solid? (Would depend on ride height where you started from, I know.)
 
Thanks for all the replies. Before I start throwing numbers around from all my measurements, I should ask a question. I may have misunderstood the chart from the resources section. Trying to get some clarity. Here is an example:

View attachment 273833
View attachment 273831View attachment 273832

When this chart says "solid" does that mean it's the actual length of the coil when it's solid?
Or does "solid" mean the measurement of up travel at which the coils goes solid?

For example, Metalcloak 3.5" coils says 6.50" solid. Does it mean the coils are an actual measured height of 6.50" tall when they go solid?

Or does this mean the coils have 6.50" of up travel before they go solid? (Would depend on ride height where you started from, I know.)
Solid means the solid (compressed) height.

Also, you won't find 3" Currie coils.
 
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Quote from jjvw who supplied that spring info to Chris.

Here is a little lesson on how to use the free lengths and spring rates.

The rate is how much weight is required to compress the spring one inch.

The free length is the uncompressed length of the spring. There is no vehicle weight on it.

Ride height is the length of the spring with the vehicle's weight on it.

The solid height is when the spring is at full compression and is a solid mass. This is rarely a concern except for dumb spring designs like Metalcloak that require additional bump stop to prevent the springs from going solid.
 
Do you plan on running 6" or more of down travel? If not, then the extra free length doesn't matter. All you got yourself is a spring with a built in spring spacer that can reduce up travel.

My current setup doesn't have enough down travel at all. Here's the problem (other than I don't like rough country and these shocks are toast). The front has 2.75" of down travel and the rear has 1.75" of down travel. The shocks are the limiting factor on both.

The setup on the Jeep when I bought it is:

Front: Rough country 2.5" coils +1.75" coil spacer (no isolators on front).
Rear: Rough country 2.5" coils. Rubber oem isolator on top.
Shocks: old-style Fox shocks that I can't find anywhere online for specs. Will list measurements below in this post.

Coil measurements at ride height:
Front coils from bottom of coil to top of coil spacer ~16.25"
Rear coils from bottom coil bucket to top coil bucket (includes rubber oem isolator) ~11.5"

I believe this should mean I have 4.25" front lift and 3.5" rear lift currently. Can someone confirm that I measured the rear correctly by measuring coil bucket to coil bucket?

If you are curious what the shock measurements are currently...

Front:
Extended 22.75
Ride height 20
Collapsed 14

Rear:
Extended 20.5
Ride height 18.75
Collapsed 12.75

Now I am genuinely trying to understand why you guys say the Metalcloak coils limit up travel vs something like Curries. Solely for comparison's sake, let's assume I could get those Currie 3" springs.

CaptureCopy.JPG


In this comparison, wouldn't the Currie springs go solid before the Metalcloak? Meaning the Metalcloak had more up travel? This assumes the exact same ride height, which is tough to assume I know. Am I misunderstanding the solid lengths or am I correct?

Let's look at another example...

Capture2.JPG

metalcloak 4.5.JPG

Currie 4 inch.JPG


Wouldn't the Currie spring go into coil bind/solid a half inch sooner than the Metalcloak?

I keep seeing it mentioned that Metalcloak springs limit up travel vs other springs, but I just don't understand. I'm genuinely trying to wrap my brain around what y'all are saying.
 
My current setup doesn't have enough down travel at all. Here's the problem (other than I don't like rough country and these shocks are toast). The front has 2.75" of down travel and the rear has 1.75" of down travel. The shocks are the limiting factor on both.

The setup on the Jeep when I bought it is:

Front: Rough country 2.5" coils +1.75" coil spacer (no isolators on front).
Rear: Rough country 2.5" coils. Rubber oem isolator on top.
Shocks: old-style Fox shocks that I can't find anywhere online for specs. Will list measurements below in this post.

Coil measurements at ride height:
Front coils from bottom of coil to top of coil spacer ~16.25"
Rear coils from bottom coil bucket to top coil bucket (includes rubber oem isolator) ~11.5"

I believe this should mean I have 4.25" front lift and 3.5" rear lift currently. Can someone confirm that I measured the rear correctly by measuring coil bucket to coil bucket?

If you are curious what the shock measurements are currently...

Front:
Extended 22.75
Ride height 20
Collapsed 14

Rear:
Extended 20.5
Ride height 18.75
Collapsed 12.75

Now I am genuinely trying to understand why you guys say the Metalcloak coils limit up travel vs something like Curries. Solely for comparison's sake, let's assume I could get those Currie 3" springs.

View attachment 273837

In this comparison, wouldn't the Currie springs go solid before the Metalcloak? Meaning the Metalcloak had more up travel? This assumes the exact same ride height, which is tough to assume I know. Am I misunderstanding the solid lengths or am I correct?

Let's look at another example...

View attachment 273838
View attachment 273839
View attachment 273840

Wouldn't the Currie spring go into coil bind/solid a half inch sooner than the Metalcloak?

I keep seeing it mentioned that Metalcloak springs limit up travel vs other springs, but I just don't understand. I'm genuinely trying to wrap my brain around what y'all are saying.
Your shocks are too short.

Figure out the appropriate size shock for the desired ride height. You are looking for roughly half travel up, half travel down. I would argue that given a choice, a little more up is better than a little more down.

Take the extended length of that shock and hang the axle until the shock mounts match the extended length of the shock.

What are are the springs doing?
 
Your shocks are too short.

Figure out the appropriate size shock for the desired ride height. You are looking for roughly half travel up, half travel down. I would argue that given a choice, a little more up is better than a little more down.

Take the extended length of that shock and hang the axle until the shock mounts match the extended length of the shock.

What are are the springs doing?

Yes, I do realize the shocks are too short and I'm working to get that setup more appropriately near 50/50. I want to remove the Rough Country springs because I don't like low quality parts. I'd like to replace them with a similar lift height coil. I explained everything with the exact numbers above just so my current situation was really clear, but the real question I have is this:

How do Metalcloak coil springs limit up travel vs other springs? I just don't understand the idea like I said above.
 
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Yes, I do realize the shocks are too short and I'm working to get that setup more appropriately near 50/50. I want to remove the Rough Country springs because I don't like low quality parts. I'd like to replace them with a similar lift height coil. I explained everything with the exact numbers above just so my current situation was really clear, but the real question I have is this:

How do Metalcloak coil springs limit up travel vs other springs? I just don't understand the idea like I said above.
If the coil reaches bind before the shock reaches full compression, then the coil is limiting up travel.
 
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I had 4.25" of lift, and 5" up and 5" down for travel with mine until I put the 65# bumper, and 69# winch. Then my springs up front sagged to 3" I don't consider that exactly a heavy rig. Now with no bumper or winch, it's 3.25" I just added 1" spacers to get my shocks back to 50/50. I also have a 1"body lift. I only need 2" of bump stop. The jounce cup and extension above it, are 5" so 1.5 of bump for 6.5"
 
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How do Metalcloak coil springs limit up travel vs other springs? I just don't understand the idea like I said above.
The MC springs are dual rate, not progressive rate. This means the top of the spring is one rate and the lower is another rate, but in MC case, the top rate is so low that the spring is already compressed under the weight of the rig into a solid coil (like a spacer). The only time it opens up is when the weight of the rig is less than the spring rate and allows it too (as you mention, under droop). Big deal, who cares. Because it’s a solid coil normally it’s only the lower spring that can compress. There’s not as much coil spring as linear or progressive rate springs, so it compresses sooner, thus requiring more bumpstop. Not sure that’s perfectly clear, but I tried. It’s a dumb idea for sure.