Coilovers

What advantages if any do coilovers have over regular coils and shocks, besides adjustability, and cool factor?

coilovers can increase wheel travel as well as give u dual spring rates wich make for a nice ride

Much easier to mount, take up less space, potentially more travel, almost infinite easy adjustability, very high quality shocks. They fully rock. I've done both coil/shock and coilover suspensions, and the coilovers are so much nicer.

RockMonkey said:

Much easier to mount, take up less space, potentially more travel, almost infinite easy adjustability, very high quality shocks. They fully rock. I've done both coil/shock and coilover suspensions, and the coilovers are so much nicer.

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Oh hush you .........................

What do you know about anything,lol.Have you posted your project over here at all?

I would take coilovers to shocks and coils any day.They ride so much smoother,are easy to adjust as far as height and weight load,they take up less space,and last but not least they are COOOOOLLLLLL.

Wil Badger said:

Oh hush you .........................

what do you know about anything,lol

Have you posted your project over here at all?

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I know nothing, just look at my post count...

I posted a thread on my bumper, since I thought it might give a few people some ideas. I haven't posted anything else.
http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=961229

Aren't you going to do coil overs on your rear 4 link?

How do coilovers increase wheel travel over any other shock?

Wil Badger said:

Aren't you going to do coil overs on your rear 4 link?

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Yes, and on the front radius arms! As soon as I get my front track bar built I'll be moving on to the cage, and mounting the coilovers. Unfortunately at the rate i'm going that could still be a while...

XJ_ranger said:

How do coilovers increase wheel travel over any other shock?

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Only because they have more travel than most shocks. The most commonly used coilovers used in rockcrawling have 14" of travel. How much travel do your shocks have?

RockMonkey said:

Only because they have more travel than most shocks. The most commonly used coilovers used in rockcrawling have 14" of travel. How much travel do your shocks have?

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12", and when I go to Airshocks in the front, I'll run 12" Airshocks

I guess I was just trying to point out that coilovers dont inherantly 'add' travel...

My suspension is limited in compression by my trackbar hitting my oilpan, and in droop by the heim on the passenger side of the drag link that binds...
Limit Straps and bump stops prevent either, but 14" just wont work for my rig as it sits...

XJ_ranger said:

I guess I was just trying to point out that coilovers dont inherantly 'add' travel...

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It's all in how they are mounted.You are going to have to fabricate mounts for them ,its not like they bolt right in.
Being able to mount the coil over at angle gives you more axle articulation to actual shock travel.

Granted you can mount a standard shock at angle and get increased axle travel but then you are limited to what the actual spring can do.

XJ_ranger said:

I guess I was just trying to point out that coilovers dont inherantly 'add' travel...

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Which is why I said potentially more travel. Why does it seem like I have to defend myself every time I post anything on ? Gah...

Can anyone point me in the direction of some good setup info and general coilover knowledge? My searches have been turning up fast and the furious and high speed offroad. I want more of a crawler setup. TIA

razdrvr said:

What advantages if any do coilovers have over regular coils and shocks, besides adjustability, and cool factor?

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RockMonkey said:

Much easier to mount, take up less space, potentially more travel, almost infinite easy adjustability, very high quality shocks. They fully rock. I've done both coil/shock and coilover suspensions, and the coilovers are so much nicer.

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Yes, adjustability and cool factor. Easy to mount if you're starting from scratch, not easier to mount on a current rig, but they do take up less space than coils and shocks. You can buy the same shocks, or other shocks, the same length so I don't see more travel, maybe a little more useable travel.

Someone said very easily adjustable. That's a little misleading. If you're talking about adjusting the transition between primary and secondary rate, or changing the ride height, sure. You can change coils easily, but first you have to buy them, and they're $70 each. You can easily buy 4-5 coils before you get it right, if you're trying to get the best out of them. XJ coils are around $120 for one. Changing the valving is fairly easy, if you learn how to do it, and if you considerder completely disassembing a shock easy.

It is really nice having the dual rate, you can set the first few inches soft for a nice ride over irregular stuff than have a much higher rate for the last few inches to help control bottoming. But, you can loose some stabilty because of that initial softer spring rate so it comes with a price.

Personally, on a full bodied XJ, I think they are mostly the cool factor. Not worth the effort and expense. It's not hard, nor expensive, to get a well dialed in coil, shock and bumpstop, and it would be difficult and expensive to improve on that with coilovers. It can be improved on, but for most not worth it.

razdrvr said:

Can anyone point me in the direction of some good setup info and general coilover knowledge? My searches have been turning up fast and the furious and high speed offroad. I want more of a crawler setup. TIA

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Check out Billavista's coilover bible in the tech thread section on Pirate4x4, it's a very comprehensive (most likely too comprehensive) write up on most everything coilover. Also, if you have specific questions, post them up. There's enough of us around to answer them.

You have to be willing to mess with them, otherwise all you have is some cool looking shocks. I don't want to say how much I've spent getting my coilovers dialed in. Also, I would definitely get them with shaft bumps. You still need bump stops. I see plenty of guys with coilovers and no bumpstops, so have they really dialed them in to work right, or are they just living with a harsh bottoming and hurting the shock? If they're soft enough for trail work they can bottom out on hard hits on the way to the trail, and if they're set up firm enough to resist bottoming they'll still bottom plenty if they're run hard enough to be worth it.

unless you are doing a jeepspeed style cage I just dont see the coilovers being worth the extra hassle of mounting them just my op

RockMonkey said:

Which is why I said potentially more travel. Why does it seem like I have to defend myself every time I post anything on ? Gah...

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they just dont like us Ut guys ha ha. Your statement was a bit general and anyone that was not on the same page would have questioned it. Fwiw I got what you were saying, but I guess its just the brine in the air...

RockMonkey said:

Why does it seem like I have to defend myself every time I post anything on ? Gah...

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you dont - im just messing around...