Stiff Ride?

got the RE 3.5" lift and the rear (full leaf pack) seems like it is WAY harsh~
I am running 5100 Bilstien shocks front AND rear.

Now I am thinking I may have OVER tightened the shackle bolts, or something like that. it rides pretty nice on the road, but when you hit a substancial bump it is ROUGH! I mean it realy SLAMS in the rear end. I think I am going to take my wifes tack trunk which weigh's about 150 pounds and put it back there for a while to get thoes darn springs to soften up. I also noticed I only have like 1/2-3/4 of an inch Down travel in the rear. about the same as the stock shocks I think. seems odd to me, but I am a "FORD" guy comming voer to the Jeeps for space and price reasons.


just wondering if ya'll have got any ideas?


L.R.

My Rusty's spring pack was pretty bad as well, I just took the bottom leaf out and my ride improved dramatically. It's worth a try.

assuming you recently installed this lift?

give it a lil while, it'll settle out. Load some weight in there.. drive around.

It sounds like you have the wrong shocks in the back, and they are bottoming out when you hit bumps with a load on board.

Not to worry -- they'll destroy themselves pretty quick if that's what's happening, and you'll then be forced to buy shorter ones.

Seriously, do you remember from installing them if they were open to about the midpoint of their travel when you put them in place? If you don't remember, crawl underneath while the truck is on the ground or jacked up by the axle, and measure the overall length of the shocks. Then disconnect one and see how far you can compress it. If the compression is less than the distance from your axle tubes to the bump stops, your shocks are too long. Stock shocks, IIRC, have a total travel of around 8" and should allow for about 4" of compression travel from static height.

they are the right shocks, they were shipped straight from Bilstien on special order, the PN's match the shocks, the shocks compress PLENTY, it is the droop I was talking about, only about 3/4" or LESS (more like 1/4 inch).


I may take out the bottom leaf eventualy but I am worn from wrenching on the truck as of late, so I'll load the tack trunk in there and let it ride.

any ideas? Is it possible that I "over tightened" the shackle's? they were TIGHT as hell when I took em off! lol



L.R.

LoneRanger said:

compress PLENTY, it is the droop I was talking about, only about 3/4" or LESS (more like 1/4 inch).
L.R.

Click to expand...

Your shocks are too short. They should droop as much as they compress or at least be close to the same.

I think I am going to take my wifes tack trunk which weigh's about 150 pounds and put it back there for a while to get thoes darn springs to soften up.

seems odd to me, but I am a "FORD" guy comming voer to the Jeeps for space and price reasons.


I'm a Ford guy too... just recently came to the dark side, or at least what I thought was the dark side before...but I'm loving my Jeep so far! Anyway, after installing my Rusty's 4.5" lift about a month ago, I've been having the same problem you describe with super stiff rear springs, and also the rear sitting higher than the front. I reccomend you go ahead and throw the extra poundage in the rear. It makes a huge difference. I've been rolling around with 2, 75 pound bags of mortar mix in the back of my jeep for about a week now, and it's making a world of difference. HTH

LoneRanger said:

got the RE 3.5" lift and the rear (full leaf pack) seems like it is WAY harsh~

Now I am thinking I may have OVER tightened the shackle bolts, or something like that. it rides pretty nice on the road, but when you hit a substancial bump it is ROUGH!...

L.R.

Click to expand...

I have the RE 4.5" springs and they were ok until I replaced the dana 35 with an 8.8. Now it is back-breaking. I don't know, but man do I hate it. I suppose you also have a terrible shackle angle?

LoneRanger said:

they are the right shocks, they were shipped straight from Bilstien on special order, the PN's match the shocks, the shocks compress PLENTY, it is the droop I was talking about, only about 3/4" or LESS (more like 1/4 inch).

Click to expand...

Yup, a shock that is too short will feel just like you've descrived. Why did you get such short shocks? You need some droop on it even for street driving. Anyways if you have the stock mounting points on the axle, I'd cut them and either reweld them or get jks shock lower mounts or get an axle pad, cut it in half and use the two pieces for 2 (1 piece each) shock mounts. You'll get two things out of it: 1. you'll tuck the shock mount up higher. 2. You'll say your shock and your back from further suffering.