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Uneven Suspension Height

N

nates94xj

NAXJA Forum User
Location
WA
I'm running OME HD springs with an AAL. Fully loaded for camping I'm running a 1 1/4" lower on the rear passenger side, and 3/4" lower on the front passenger side. Part of this has to do with the auxiliary battery above that wheel, (I hoped that the fully loaded beer fridge on the other side would even things out, but not the case) but it was sagging about 3/4" before that battery anyways. I think the OEM swing out tire care also makes this side sag a bit. We leave it open while camping and I think that puts a lot of extra pressure on that spring.

What to do?

Would an aftermarket swingout carrier like the JCR put less pressure on that corner than the oem carrier?

Taller shackle or block on one side with another coil spring isolator in front?
 
Just correct it with a spacer up front. I have mine setup where it leans slightly to the drivers side when sitting becuase the torque when driving leans it to the pass side. That is probably what happend over time with yours to wear the springs out on that side.
 
Swap the rear springs left to right?
 
:dunno: put more beer in that fridge?

:D

Yeah, I'd swap the springs or possibly get adjustable-length (multi hole) shackles and just pick whatever hole makes it sit even.

EDIT: you could also put air helper bags on both sides and adjust the pressure in each as needed.
 
yeah, the rules of leverage are pretty simple. Get farther out and it'll take less weight to cause compression of that spring. It used to be an old rock crawlers trick to inboard the rear leafs as far as you could, thus giving more leverage to the ends of the axle, and making the rear flex quite a bit more. Works great on a trail only rig, makes for some crazy handling on the road though. So, in short, STOP leaving your tire carrier open for ANY length of time. As for a fix, I agree switching spring left to right might be a good idea.if it's still off, but the other way, then you could continue to leave the carrier open, when camping and such, till it even's itself out. Or buy a bigger, better lift.

:greensmok
 
check to make sure the front coils are seated against the stops in the lower coil seats, if one is twisted out of the stop, it will sit lower on one side
 
Thanks for the tips. Swapping leafs, ugh, I never want to touch that front leaf bolt again. I'm leaning towards (pun intended) an airbag setup so I could also adjust the rear height relative to the load. There's a great write up on it over on Expo, maybe here too.

Would a taller shackle on one side affect the handling?
 
Seems many of us have this problem.

My right rear leaf sags, so I swapped it, now the left sags. Ha.
 
Well, the problem is inheritant for the life of cars in general. you get the sag from tourqe twist. Best example is to see a huge horsepower car take off at the line. the front end raises, and the tourqe twists the frame towards the passanger side. Racing teams and even factory has combatted this issue, quite simply. They add an additional leaf to that side of the rear spring pack, and that will help keep the side more level, and help keep the spring from sagging as severly. The other issue you run into is the fact you have bastard pack. XJ's have never been noted for having good rear leaf springs from the get go.. When youmake a bastard pack, you are technically trying to shine shit..
 
BTW I think the torque twist thing only happens with a solid axle. With IRS, the differential feels that torque but it doens't get transmitted to the wheels.
 
xjnuttier said:
Well, the problem is inheritant for the life of cars in general. you get the sag from tourqe twist. Best example is to see a huge horsepower car take off at the line. the front end raises, and the tourqe twists the frame towards the passanger side. Racing teams and even factory has combatted this issue, quite simply. They add an additional leaf to that side of the rear spring pack, and that will help keep the side more level, and help keep the spring from sagging as severly. The other issue you run into is the fact you have bastard pack. XJ's have never been noted for having good rear leaf springs from the get go.. When youmake a bastard pack, you are technically trying to shine shit..
Click to expand...
From his original post it soulds like he has OME lift leafs + AAL, if he has the OME ALL it is made to work with the OME leafs quite well, so not so much of an issue, but still there at least a bit.
 
Do you have adjustable control arms in the front? I have found that when your control arms aren't adjusted to the exact same length it can cause a "ghetto lean".
 
Just stock control arms at this point. I have been thinking about getting longer fixed length ones to maybe get rid of the rub on full turns with 31's and stock back spacing.
 
my RE lift leans to the drivers side a lot. i had to raise my ACOS just over 3/4" to level it out. there is nothing obviously wrong so i just let it go
 
winkosmosis said:
You said it's a problem with cars in general. I thought I'd post an interesting tidbit! :peace:
Click to expand...

Gotcha, we are more prone to seeing this affect than say a mustang, due to our height. But yes, race cars over the years, have battled this effect, and have used an extra leaf to the pass side to counter the effects..
 
in the long run, I think the lift block will make things worse. It may correct the static height, but it will place additional stress on the right spring and that will cause it to sag even quicker. You'll end up with the same scenario, but you'll have a block stuck in there making things less reliable long-term.

I'd swap the springs left to right and start building/looking for a better set to swap in.
 
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