Soft Rusty's 3" coils

Don't want to start a "trash this company" thread, just want advice. :angel:

Last year I changed around my lift, and have settled on a nice set up for me. I'm using Rusty's standard 3" coils, 3/4" RE spacers, RC Adj track bar, and currently stock arms up front (IROs in the shed). Rear are OME HD leafs and 3/4" lift shackles, and Bilstein 5100s all around. Shackles are close to vertical but the Jeep rides great, so I'll relocate them later with HD brackets. I sit at 4" on all four corners with 30s, and I like it.

My problem is the front is very soft. I can back out of my girlfriends driveway, slowly mind you, and the gutter drop will cause me to bounce off the front bump stops. I have the Daystar 1.5" extended stops, and they do a great job keeping my tires and shocks where they should be. I just don't understand why I hit them as often as I do - I have everything set up properly for my shock length, and there is plenty of travel between stop and coil bucket.

The conclusion I have come to is that the coils' 150lb rate is too soft. I think I might try the 180lb rate and see how that ends up. What would be the advice you guys have? I don't want to have to adjust my set up too much now that I like it, and I think the 180lb might be the way to go. Swapping to another company's coils might change my leveling, but RE or BDS coils are also on the list.

Except for the PAC progressive and Metalcloak dual rate (there are others I'm sure), single rate coils are single rate coils. Just pick the spring rate and free length. Note that a heavier spring rate should have a shorter free length for the same "lift" amount. Metalcloak has a nice informative article about coil springs.

So instead of "stiffening" with a heavier spring rate, I should be looking for longer free length? or a combination of both? I read up on coils and the engineering, but still a little fuzzy. To get a the same lift height, but a "slower" compression I would need a higher rate over the same free length?

Higher rate, but the free length would be shorter. If you have a 100lb Spring that's 20" long and put 200lbs on it, it will sit at 18". If you have a 200lb Spring that's 20" long and put 200lbs on it, it would sit at 19".


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The spring rate is the weight to compress the spring 1 inch. A 150lb rate means 150 lbs to compress 1 in, another 150 to go another inch, etc. So a spring with a higher rate and the same height will sit higher since it requires more weight to compress the same distance. So ideally if you went with a higher rate you would want a shorter spring. However IMO the difference on a 30 lb different spring the change in ride height would be small.

Okay guys, that makes much more sense to me. These springs are very easy to compress, which I guess contributes to the amazing interstate ride. But dropping off curbs and speedbumps hurt hitting the bump stops.

I have the Rusty's 3" HD coils in my 98 and RE 3.5" coils in my 00. The ride quality is similar between the two brands. They both ride more like UpCountry coils than stock coils. The ride is firmer, but not objectionable. I never hit the bumps stops.

Tim what is you bump stop and tire set up? I just have the daystar extended stops, nothing else.

Sent from my VS986 using Tapatalk

31's and hockey pucks. I did have some Rancho RS-5000 shocks that were too stiff on pavement, and too soft on the 4x4 trails. They would bottom out often on the trails.

The 98 runs Bilstein 4600 shocks and the 00 runs Doetsch DT-3000 shocks.

Tim_MN said:

I have the Rusty's 3" HD coils in my 98 and RE 3.5" coils in my 00. The ride quality is similar between the two brands. They both ride more like UpCountry coils than stock coils. The ride is firmer, but not objectionable. I never hit the bumps stops.

Click to expand...

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

The quote means what jeeptec?

Here is my set up, I'm on an incline so about 1/2" more travel normally.


Sent from my LG G4 using TapaTalk