Drop brackets?? *pics* 96 w/ 4.5" lift

I just picked up a 96 2 door 2wd 4 cyl 5 speed as my daily driver for $1200.00 It is in immaculate condition with perfect maintenance and the P.O pretty much gave it away because the tires were out of balance so it had a bad case of the shakes and she was convinced it was a major mechanical issue and was not interested in fixing it. Picked up 5 of the rims and tires you see on it brand new off craigslist for $400.00 and installed an extra adj TB and wobble is almost gone. Just need to fix the toe in and caster and I am thinking it will be perfect. All in all $1600.00 aint bad :cheers:
Anyway, it had what i believe is a 3" rancho lift installed when I bought it and I wanted to level out the front so I threw in some spacers with the TB. I measures the center of the wheel to the flare at almost 22". Right around 4.5" of lift...I am thinking my caster is off and my LCA's are angled. Would drop brackets be a good idea here??? I liked these http://www.rocky-road.com/xjcad.html Also, should I wait to do the alignment until after I install or will it matter? As you will see the whole front end seems to be pushing forward...(spring and spacer pic) will the drop brackets help my axle caster? I know the frame is absorbing a lot of the impact because of the angle of the arms and want to improve ride quality as well. Suggestions? Thanks...

Drop brackets will defenitly make it ride better and put your control arms at about the right length, you might still need to shim them to get the right caster. I have rough country drop brackets and they have worked very well. Search Go jeep on google and you will find corect castor angle for amount of lift on his website.

unless you plan on getting adjustable control arms upper and lower OR sticking with the stock control arms I wouldnt go for drop brackets. They DO make it ride a lot nicer. But at the same-ish height even a little more, my caster is F-d. The drop brackets bring the axle way more forward, and then you have contact of TRE's in the front, anti-sway bar is super close to the springs etc. Its just another headache IMO

I wasnt planning on getting control arms...keeping the stock ones on with the drop brackets shouldnt push it forward anymore than it already is should it?

im trying to figure out why your axle is pushed forward with 3-5" of lift on stock Control arms.. it should the the exact opposite.. the axle should be pulled back because the control arms arnt long enough!?!!?

wtf?

you should just fine with 4.5 inches and stock control arms

I meant pulled back. It is not fine...it rides like crap and just by looking at it I can tell that the geometry is off.

whitexj98 said:

you should just fine with 4.5 inches and stock control arms

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No! infact 4.5" is starting to get into Long arm territory. now with 2wd i dont see long arms a cost effective idea.. but i sure would not want 4-5" of lift with stock LCA"s. they are NOT long enough.

Im currently on 5" of lift with LCA's for a 4" lift and i still see the axle slightly pulled back, to top it off the ride is harsh, and i need to look into Drop brackets!

i would never advise someone go over 2" of lift with stock LCA's. and never over 4.5" without drop brackets or Long arms!

Well, if you do get drop brackets, do the alignment after you install the brackets (my caster angle changed when I installed mine), and go here to see how to do it:

http://go.jeep-xj.info/HowtoAlignment.htm

It shows how to do caster and toe adjustment. Pretty simple.

Dood - what's up with the front coils and 2" spacers..... Those coil springs look like they're being compressed..... badly! Almost no gap between the coils of the spring. The top of the coil in that pic isn't even seated properly -it's sitting on the outside edge of the spacer.

I suspect that someone used a coil spring compressor to install those springs in order to put that spacer in and I can't figure out why the spacer is even necessary...... They look like aftermarket lift coils..... And with the front sitting higher than the rear like it is..... I just get the feeling that your front suspension is being pushed down (lifting) to it's near limit on down-travel.

Does it ride real stiff and sharp-bouncy up front?

Something definitely ain't right......

A properly seated coils spring on a spacer should look like this:



The bumpstop should be down the center of the coil spring and the smallest coil at the top of the spring should be seated inside the spacer.

Also, note the amount of space between the coils - yours are all pinched down on each other.

the springs are Rancho and i installed the spacers myself.I used nothing but hand tools. I lowered the suspension and disconnected the control arms and just stuffed them in there. when i jacked the truck up and the springs were under no pressure they still looked the same up top....all smashed like that. Maybe its the way it is supposed to be because they dont look damaged??? The ride isnt crazy bad but def stiff. i chalked it up the the frame absorbing a lot of the impact due to the angled control arm. i have a feeling the drop brackets will line everything up and the spacer/coil will sit correctly one the axle stops pulling back. when i botled the control arms back in after adding the coils i literally had to pull as hard as i could on the axle towards the front of the truck to line it up while my buddy got the bolts through.

Looks like you are missing the coil spring isolator? Would go between the spacer and the coil. That would make it seat fine most likely.

Johnnie Walker said:

Looks like you are missing the coil spring isolator? Would go between the spacer and the coil. That would make it seat fine most likely.

Click to expand...

Where would i get me some of those?

I looked at that same jeep, and it was really clean... I would almost eat off the engine. I knew it was a good deal, just wasn't what I was looking for. I'm glad someone on the forum got it. Definitely get some lower control arms for it, drop brackets will make it ride a LOT better. Also, look into some rear springs, when I looked at it I noticed it was on some big blocks.

Johnnie Walker said:

Looks like you are missing the coil spring isolator? Would go between the spacer and the coil. That would make it seat fine most likely.

Click to expand...

All coil spacers I've seen have the one side molded to keep the spring in place like the factory isolator does - you're not supposed to use the isolator when installing the spacer...... unless you want another 1/2" of lift. ocskipper's pic shows that his actually does have the stock isolator - above the spacer.

It just looks like his coil spring shifted forward out of the pocket in the spacer.

ocskipper: Is the pass. side coil spring sitting like the driver's side?

xjclassic2000 said:

I looked at that same jeep, and it was really clean... I would almost eat off the engine. I knew it was a good deal, just wasn't what I was looking for. I'm glad someone on the forum got it. Definitely get some lower control arms for it, drop brackets will make it ride a LOT better. Also, look into some rear springs, when I looked at it I noticed it was on some big blocks.

Click to expand...

I am happy with it so far...very clean, economical for DD, and runs strong. I agree about the springs I am just not sure where to start. The blocks are big and the leafs look really flat. You have any recomendations on a replacement pack?

YELLAHEEP said:

All coil spacers I've seen have the one side molded to keep the spring in place like the factory isolator does - you're not supposed to use the isolator when installing the spacer...... unless you want another 1/2" of lift. ocskipper's pic shows that his actually does have the stock isolator - above the spacer.

It just looks like his coil spring shifted forward out of the pocket in the spacer.

ocskipper: Is the pass. side coil spring sitting like the driver's side?

Click to expand...

No, the pass side is set correctly. weird...

The drop brackets will fix all your problems. It drops the control arm mounts 4", making your arms nearly parallel with the ground (perfect geometry) and also scoots the axle forward 1" which you seem to need considering the angle of your coil springs.

I ran the drop brackets at 4" and freakin loved the ride it gave me. It was alot better than any xj i've ridden in, except one that had 3.5" and long arms.



That shows the control arm angles, nearly parallel. First I ran it with stock arms and then got adjustables later on.

Get the alignment done AFTER you get the drop brackets on. You'll need to dial in the caster/pinion angle so it's better to wait, unless you can do this yourself.

I would reconsider buying from them and instead get them from Jason at Rough Country. Send him a PM on this forum.

YELLAHEEP said:

Dood - what's up with the front coils and 2" spacers..... Those coil springs look like they're being compressed..... badly! Almost no gap between the coils of the spring. The top of the coil in that pic isn't even seated properly -it's sitting on the outside edge of the spacer.

I suspect that someone used a coil spring compressor to install those springs in order to put that spacer in and I can't figure out why the spacer is even necessary...... They look like aftermarket lift coils..... And with the front sitting higher than the rear like it is..... I just get the feeling that your front suspension is being pushed down (lifting) to it's near limit on down-travel.

Does it ride real stiff and sharp-bouncy up front?

Something definitely ain't right......

A properly seated coils spring on a spacer should look like this:

The bumpstop should be down the center of the coil spring and the smallest coil at the top of the spring should be seated inside the spacer.

Also, note the amount of space between the coils - yours are all pinched down on each other.

Click to expand...

looks like the spring isnt sitting right because the arms are too short which pulls the axle back and screws up the caster. the spring perch on the axle is not sitting below the coil tower seat on the frame. only way for it to work would be for the spring to be slightly bent or slightly u shaped.

89xj said:

looks like the spring isnt sitting right because the arms are too short which pulls the axle back and screws up the caster. the spring perch on the axle is not sitting below the coil tower seat on the frame. only way for it to work would be for the spring to be slightly bent or slightly u shaped.

Click to expand...

That's what's happening. Coil buckets are not lined up so the coil has an arch to it. It's not a major issue though except that your bumpstops will hit the coil when flexing.

Been there, fixed it.