can i cut some of my existing coil off? to lower lift?

well basically my old rig was running 8" zj lift springs my current application calls for about 5" or so lift. i was wondering if the coils would still perform well if i cut 2-3 of the coils out. only problem i can think of is the fact that the spring will not set onto the axle 100% square but if i bolt it down it wouldnt be that big of a deal would it? IIRC the stock spring doesnt exactly set all the way flat.

one of my buddys said it would effect the spring rate (smooth ride) because there arent as many coils to "give" as they were designed for.

If it matters they are skyjacker springs.

The problem is not knowing how much to cut and really cutting springs is a ghetto solution. It does effect spring rate quite a bit. Spring steel is really hard to cut too.

Why don't you just find someone who wants to go taller and swap springs? Then there's no messing with cut coils and you both get the height you want...That's what I would try to do anyway. I'm sure there's someone on here who would love to get their hands on some taller coils and send you their old ones for the price of shipping...

I'd recommend getting a different set of coils. You can shorten the coils, nothing wrong with that, but cutting 2-3 coils off will dramatically increase the spring rate.

Now, after saying that, I run 8" Skyjacker XJ coils with one coil cut off, which gives me about 5.5-6" of lift, and I really like them. I like the increased stability that the higher spring rate provides, and I like how they handle better at speed, but they do ride stiffer on the average trail.

Y'ever see those silly riceboys that bounce around for ten minutes after they run over a dime? They cut the springs. Do you want that?

Cutting coils just isn't a good idea - get proper coils, or have your modified by a spring shop who can do it properly. Bouncing around in a lowered vehicle is bad enough - you don't want to bounce around in a lifted rig...

5-90

I'm running RE 4.5" ZJ springs with about 1.5 coils cut off. I don't think it's a "ghetto" solution. It gave me the lift height I was after and stiffened up the coils a little bit (which I was also after). And it is not difficult. You can do it with a Port-a-band, but a 1/16" cut off wheel in a die grinder or on a 4.5" grinder works very good. I did find that cutting the exact same amount off of each coil spring did not yeild a level jeep, I had to trim a little more off of one side to get it right. All that said, cutting 2-3 coils off is a bit extreme and will probably give a pretty stiff ride. In your situation, I'd have to agree that it'd be better to find someone to trade with.

Cutting the coils does increase the rate, and for that reason it is difficult to figure out how much to cut. Cutting one coil probably would not affect the ride quality very much, but cutting enough to drop it three inches might make things rather stiff. It'll probably take at least three tries to get it where you want it -- obviously you don't want to cut too much on the first try because you can always make it shorter but you can never make it longer.

made a call and the kid said he would trade me for some RE 5.5" coils. guess i wont have to cut up on the coils after all, unles the RE still net to much lift.