How to lose an inch on my RE 4.5 ZJ coils?

My dad ordered some RE 4.5 ZJ coils for my christmas present from Dc4wd and the guy told him there was no difference between XJ springs and ZJ springs. I only want 4.5 inches of lift as I have short arms and no SYE. I think it would cost quite a bit to send them all the way back to DC. Ive heard and searched about cutting the coils and came up with no definite answer, so i was wondering is there some other way to lose an inch of lift, and if i was to cut them down how much should i cut off and would it hurt the integrity of the spring (i know it will increase spring rate thats not a problem as long is its not too awfully much).

Thanks for your help!!
Matt

I actually cut mine down. It has been no problem at all so far. If you want 4.5 inches of lift, cut off the number of inches to achieve it. If they are 6" springs, cut off 1.5 inches, pretty simple. It is a serious bitch to do, though. It took me about an hour with a sawzall and a special carbon blade from Ace Hardware. The steel in the springs is unbelieveably hard!

If you start cutting coils off, you'll also lose the tight flat curl on the ends.

Send them back, and get the right coils, you'll be better off.

Or find someone who has 3" or 4.5" coils and want to upgrade and trade them. Could also install a REALLY big/heavy winch bumper and a WARN M15000.

You can also heat them up and then literally push on them to shorten them. I've seen folks lower cars this way.

Put a big heavy bumper on the front and a winch while you're at it. Im joking. I have a set of 4.5" RE coils if you want to trade.

043500 said:

You can also heat them up and then literally push on them to shorten them. I've seen folks lower cars this way.

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I've seen friends do that to lift their rides. :laugh3:

In my opinion I would stay away from cutting, or heating and bending the coils. Get what you need by sending them back or trade out with someone who has what you need. I am sure you also realize these coils will settle some. You can also ditch the stock coil isolators to lose some height, though this will end up in a little more noise from the coils. Also if you have stock arms they will cause the coils to bend slightly, and end up being a little less lift than advertised. Hope this helps in some way.

get a heavy front bumper and or winch but don't cut them or heat them as you'll ruin them. You can also trade them with someone as there are always people interested in those coils.
Also if the sales rep told your dad that there is no difference between the two coils, then they messed up and they should make things right (as in cover shipping and so on) but you might have fun time proving what they said (you might call them up and ask a question that results in the same answer then call them on it and tell them that you'd like for them to exchange them)

never heat the coils. It will ride like shit. that was done in the 50's not today.
do it right the first time and return the coils and get the ones you want.

Some questionable advice so far here.

Heating coils is a terrible way to shorten them. Spring steel has properties that heating will change, and heating will change the shape of the coil and effect it's spring rate, plus it's just a very lousy way to get want you want.

Cutting a coil is a perfectly legitimate way to change it's length. However, since the coil compresses with the weight of the vehicle on it, it is bad advice to cut the unloaded coil length by how much you want to reduce the lift. It is trial and error at best, so cut a little less than you think and try it, then cut a little more if you need to. You will not damage the coil by cutting it, as long as you realize that the spring rate will increase somewhat, but most XJ coils could stand to be a little stiffer.

The only good way to cut through a coil is with a cutoff wheel, on either a die grinder or electric grinder. It will cut through a coil in less than a minute.

BTW, I run a set of Skyjacker coils with one coil removed. That gives me exactly the amount of lift that I want, and it gives me the stiffer spring rate that I also wanted.

Happy wheeling,

Were supposed to hear from DC4wd today and if they wont fix the problem i guess i will cut them a little bit.
Thanks for the help guys

Never go near them with a torch.... heating the coils lowers the temper of the metal... I have seen and heard of guys breaking springs after heating them... the best way to cut them is with a wiz wheel, or angle grinder. The cut is nice and clean, and the heat is localized to the cut, so it wont hurt the rest of the coil. Usually when this is done you change the spring rate though, so you may end up with a very tight spring.. I would try to get the correct ones to avoid any problems from the get-go,,,

after cutting mine, the heavy duty springs are still too soft. Don't worry about them being too stiff. Basically, you don't have to get it right down to the mm. Just be conservative, and if you go overboard, there are spacers available. If you want 2" less than the coils offer, cut off 1.5 inches of length from the spring, and so on. The most important is to cut the exact same amount off of each one. And no, they don't settle. Mine are exactly the same height 50,000 miles after the minute I got them in.

I've got some 3" Skyjacker springs, a pair of 3/4" spacers, and three pairs of 1 3/4" spacers (one red and two black). I'll trade you the springs and whatever set of spacers that gets you the lift you want for your ZJ springs. I'm just North of Austin and will be passing through DFW before/after Christmas. Let me know if you want to work something out.

Thanks,
William Crawley

Put them on and go wheel the thing hard - My RE 4.5" ZJ's are barely giving me 4" of lift as is - I run 3 isolaters and a 2" steel spacer - they will sag in nicely - I ran mine with short arms when I first got them and am now 3 linked but it was not too bad at first...

They are a nice spring once they are broken in but they have alot of static lift when new...

Just follow the consensus - no heat! - and I would not cut them since I had a friend do just that and ended up wishing he had just swapped with someone both for ease of operation and the fact that NO ONE wanted the springs after they were cut...

HTH

Matt

I ended up shipping them out today, theres no sense in having to modify coils that cost $150.