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2000 XJ Front end Dives when braking

vapiper

NAXJA Forum User
Location
NOVA
Howdy, new here....this is our 5th jeep, but our first (wife and i) XJ....after buying it from an owner that appeared to have everything in check. (hell even has a binder full of receipts and notes on the work he did) it would seem something has come up after driving it for a day.

Basic stats 2000 XJ Sport (auto) rear drum with the 8.25, it has the Rubicon Express 3.5" lift with RCX lower control arm drop bracket, the upper control arms are adjustable

Lift was put on about a year ago.

So the first issue was a pull to the left when braking...I already knew it needed an alignment so we took it in for that..then had the brakes looked at..everything is fine...the front right brake line was replaced....however when braking...no matter the speed, slow or at speed...the front end will dive down until you hear the wheels rubbing...on the rebound it's controlled and I would consider slow...very odd behavior considering I know RE to be rather stiff springs (or they were on both of my TJ's)

Any ideas? Will end up taking it to a speciality off road shop if all fails as I really need this fixed.


anyways thanks for any ideas or places to look.
 
Just a few pics

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Pass or driver side dive? Probably abad front caliper on the side its diving. Same goes for the rear check wheel cylinders to be safe and properly adjust drums
 
In picture #2, where is the driver side upper control arm ?

With a 3.5 RE lift, I doubt the tires are rubbing anything. Does it have ABS, is the ABS engaging and that is what you hear ? Is the Jeep properly bump stopped ? Does it have good quality shocks ?
 
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What they said. It looks like the uppers got left on the stock location but the lowers got dropped. Looks like the uppers are fixed length but are now too long for the dropped brackets, hence the stock lowers.

Fix that first.
 
Yeah that suspension is all jacked up and most likely the source of the problem
 
In picture #2, where is the driver side upper control arm ?



With a 3.5 RE lift, I doubt the tires are rubbing anything. Does it have ABS, is the ABS engaging and that is what you hear ? Is the Jeep properly bump stopped ? Does it have good quality shocks ?


Driver side upper is in the factory location but they are adjustable.

The tires are rubbing from the extreme diving......

After taking it to a local off road shop the opinion seems to be that the axel was "over corrected" from the upper adjustable lca's in combination with the lower drop brackets causing the axel to spin just enough to cause the diving......

When i say dive i mean on the outside watching the xj brake it would appear i have an air suspension and i slammed it pullin into the car show lol

Non abs
shocks are year old bilstin 5100
 
You can't drop one and not the other. The length and angle of them are part of a design system, and the relationship is all wrong now. You need to get the uppers dropped to their new mount and get the lengths corrected, then re-evaluate.
 
calipers are dirt cheap too. usually 20$ each. you should be able to remove the pads and look at them on both sides to see if one has been dragging or not.
 
You can't drop one and not the other. The length and angle of them are part of a design system, and the relationship is all wrong now. You need to get the uppers dropped to their new mount and get the lengths corrected, then re-evaluate.



Thats what I thought....up until this point ive never heard of lca drop brackets......
 
Thats what I thought....up until this point ive never heard of lca drop brackets......

drop brackets are super common in the cherokee world. they let you get 3.5-6" lift and still have it ride smooth.

yours are just installed wrong. :)
 
Holy god i can't imagine what that thing handles like in an emergency situation. Scary.

What ever shop you had look at it clearly missed a big item. Dont go back there. Find a 4x4 shop and have them align it when you are done correcting this issue.
 
Get the upper mounted in the right place. My RE drop brackets work great.

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whats your front spring rate? whats your rear end setup like?

Super steep angle on the uppers and flat lowers might be messing with your anti dive. Try to get the upper flat by installing it in the drop bracket.

Super Short arms and steep angles are not good all around.

















... and if its pulling to one side only make sure you check/replace calipers...

edit: wouldnt you have less antidive with a slight upward angle on the upper? I would think it might help with anti dive? maybe that is negated by the extreme angle with the short arms?
 
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Thats what I thought....up until this point ive never heard of lca drop brackets......

Thats because theyre not 'lca drop brackets', theyre control arm drop brackets, ie, both lowers and uppers.

x2 about never going back to the shop that missed that. The second i started reading this thread i was hoping for a teraflex 'long arm' installed.
 
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