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Front shocks are limiting droop, here's my idea, tell me if I'm way off base...

O

OBXJ

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Raleigh, NC
OK, here's the layout. 33's on an RE 4.5" super flex kit with ACOS up front and control arm drop brackets. I'm sitting right about 6" front and rear unless fully loaded then the back squats a bit...

Im running OME N35L's (15.7" Collapsed, 26.7" extended) up front which are limiting my droop and I want more...

DSC01332.jpg


I am currently bumpstopped to provide about 5" of up travel.

So I have an 8.8 with TnT U bolt eliminators going in soon that add 1" of lift in the rear. I'll adjust my ACOS to add another 1-1.5"(to level it out) up front...

From my measurements, this should give me 23" of space between the top of my wheel well and the lower shock mount...

having said that, the Bilstein 14" Short Body shocks have a collpased length of 19.61" and an extended length of 33.34", With one additional inch of bump stoppage, I'll end up with 4" of uptravel and an additional 6.5+" of droop..

Any reason not to go this route?
 
I'm running Bilstein 7100 14" short bodys with 37" tires and about 5 inches of bump stop(over stock). My lower shock mounts are almost 2"s lower than stock and I can still bottom out the shocks in hi-speed situations.
I say don't do it.
 
If you can set it up properly go for it. Those are the shocks I will be using.
 
You would be better off addressing the rear flex first,other than "showing off "the front looks pretty good!Droop wont do a thing "except look cool" without weight on the wheel.
 
RCP Phx said:
You would be better off addressing the rear flex first,other than "showing off "the front looks pretty good!Droop wont do a thing "except look cool" without weight on the wheel.
Click to expand...

My biggest problem with the rear right now is that the RE leafs are still very stiff and need alot more breaking in. It's not a DD so I have about 2 years and 2000 miles on since I installed the lift.

here's a pic of the rear "flex".. as you can see, the tire isnt stuffing at all, it's just rolling the body.

DSC01354.jpg


About this point is where the front left tire starts coming off the ground due to the shock being fully extended...
 
Like I said work on the rear.Start with some mods to the shackles,some pics would help(of the rear springs/shackles).This is a tweaked version of that same kit on 33/10.5's.
crown%20king%2010-23-04%20019.jpg
 
Last edited:
The stock shocks are 13.25 collapsed. They're pretty close to the bump stops when everything bottoms out.
Unless you have added about 6.5" to your bump stops, the Bilstein 14" you want to run will bottom out before the bump stops hit. They seem a little long anyway. With 4.0 up and 6.5 down, you can get away with a 12" travel shock and still have a little left over.

I have to agree with RCP Phx. Look at the rear of your jeep in the photos and the rear of his. Almost all the weight of the front wheel and the rear looks like it didn't move up even 3"
 
i can tell you that the shackle angle on the rear's are basically 90* from the framerail(straight up & down) I know that the ideal angle should be about 45* and I cant for the life of me figure out why RE doesnt package a longer leaf on their kits..

I'll take some pics of the front & rear leaf mounts in the morning and post em up. thanks for the input guys.
 
OBXJ said:
My biggest problem with the rear right now is that the RE leafs are still very stiff and need alot more breaking in. It's not a DD so I have about 2 years and 2000 miles on since I installed the lift.

here's a pic of the rear "flex".. as you can see, the tire isnt stuffing at all, it's just rolling the body.

DSC01354.jpg


About this point is where the front left tire starts coming off the ground due to the shock being fully extended...
Click to expand...

looks like your control arms are almost bound up on the diff.

i have rubicon arms on mine and with no shocks in and no sway bar the axle droped to about 26" where the shock mounts too. so that tells me, that is all the down travel i will get no matter how long a shock i put in with out mods to the axle mount
 
OBXJ said:
OK, here's the layout. 33's on an RE 4.5" super flex kit with ACOS up front and control arm drop brackets. I'm sitting right about 6" front and rear unless fully loaded then the back squats a bit...

Im running OME N35L's (15.7" Collapsed, 26.7" extended) up front which are limiting my droop and I want more...

DSC01332.jpg


I am currently bumpstopped to provide about 5" of up travel.

So I have an 8.8 with TnT U bolt eliminators going in soon that add 1" of lift in the rear. I'll adjust my ACOS to add another 1-1.5"(to level it out) up front...

From my measurements, this should give me 23" of space between the top of my wheel well and the lower shock mount...

having said that, the Bilstein 14" Short Body shocks have a collpased length of 19.61" and an extended length of 33.34", With one additional inch of bump stoppage, I'll end up with 4" of uptravel and an additional 6.5+" of droop..





Any reason not to go this route?
Click to expand...

How much are ACOSs? That would definityl be soemthing i need to buy
 
RCP Phx said:
Like I said work on the rear.Start with some mods to the shackles,some pics would help(of the rear springs/shackles).This is a tweaked version of that same kit on 33/10.5's.
Click to expand...


here ya go.. The bolt for the rear bumper looks like it may be rpeventing the shackle from rotating backwards(and up) What do you think?

DSC01369.jpg


DSC01368.jpg


DSC01367.jpg


DSC01366.jpg
 
I think you are hoping for an easy fix. You would hear some nasty clunking if your shackle was wacking a bolt every time you went over a bump. Your springs are too stiff. You might be able to get them to break in a bit if you threw a few hundred pounds in the rear and went wheeling. But I think the design of your springs is such that they won't ever flex like you want. Look at how beefy those springs are compared to the nice flexy stock ones.
 
98stocker said:
I think you are hoping for an easy fix. You would hear some nasty clunking if your shackle was wacking a bolt every time you went over a bump. Your springs are too stiff. You might be able to get them to break in a bit if you threw a few hundred pounds in the rear and went wheeling. But I think the design of your springs is such that they won't ever flex like you want. Look at how beefy those springs are compared to the nice flexy stock ones.
Click to expand...

As for the clunking, its hard to say, every bump feels like someone threw a mini ramp under the rear tires so the ass end hops and bounces... The bolt is definintely limiting the travel of the shackles, I'll call RE and see if theyve seen this before...

Update: RE says that they have seen this before and the quick and easy solution is to chop the end of the bolt off at the outside of the nut....
 
Last edited:
I run the bilstein 7100's 12" short bodies, and I only have 4" of uptravel at ride height because of my trackbar...

I have my limit straps set to only use about 11" of travel, and I havent had an issue where I thought to myself - If I had more droop here, I would be doing better...

this is my rig right now...
_0749.jpg


honestly - droop is over-rated after a certain point...

img_0911.jpg


Im happy with mine and dont think id benifit from another 2" of droop... and I know that my steering would bind before I used thoes 2" anyhow...
 
^^^ that begs the question, where's the "sweet spot"? How much is too much? Where do you lose the benefit? Maybe I'm over analyzing the problem...
 
RCP Phx said:
You would be better off addressing the rear flex first,other than "showing off "the front looks pretty good! Droop wont do a thing "except look cool" without weight on the wheel.
Click to expand...

tbburg said:
The stock shocks are 13.25 collapsed. They're pretty close to the bump stops when everything bottoms out.
Unless you have added about 6.5" to your bump stops, the Bilstein 14" you want to run will bottom out before the bump stops hit. They seem a little long anyway. With 4.0 up and 6.5 down, you can get away with a 12" travel shock and still have a little left over.

I have to agree with RCP Phx. Look at the rear of your jeep in the photos and the rear of his. Almost all the weight of the front wheel and the rear looks like it didn't move up even 3"
Click to expand...

With the modified mounting points I'm fabricating my droop won't be there to look "cool". I'm redoing my upper and lower mounts so I will have 8" of compression and 6" of droop. I will be using 3" of bumpstop. When I can afford it I will use air bumps in the front also. Since mine is an MJ I will be using standard body 14-17" shocks with custom mounts straight up and down.
I'll be adding air bumps there too.

For me it's not always about going slow, speed is a blast too.

Get the rear to flex and run 12" front shocks unless you get creative and make long shocks fit properly.
 
OBXJ said:
^^^ that begs the question, where's the "sweet spot"? How much is too much? Where do you lose the benefit? Maybe I'm over analyzing the problem...
Click to expand...

once your coil unseats from the top mount, and you're no longer 'pushing' the axle into the ground, its no longer useful IMO...
 
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