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Rear suspension sagging woes

1

1911Shooter

NAXJA Forum User
Location
San Diego, CA
I'm having some troubles with the rear suspension on my XJ. It has a lift and the rear is setup with Rubicon Express 5.5" heavy duty leaf springs and Rocky Road 1.5" lift shackles. When unloaded it's fine but with a full cargo area the back end starts to sag. Throw in two people in the back seat and it's even worse. It's bad enough that the rear tires rub the fenders (which are cut as far as they can go) when the suspension compresses off-road.

It seems like Rubicon's HD springs aren't that heavy duty.

Does anyone have a suggestion for solving this? I could use some lift blocks but I'm concerned about axle wrap. I was also thinking of a load helper spring that only comes into contact when the suspension is compressed but that will probably mess with the flexibility and also might be hard to find for leafs with this much arch.

Thanks in advance!
 
you could go to the yard and grab some Dakota leafs cut the main leaf to fit and toss it in your pack. Just one of many options to fix the sag, im sure others will chime in.
 
Thanks for the suggestions so far. I'd really rather not replace the whole spring packs. They have less than 1,500 miles on them and weren't cheap. Adding some leafs sounds promising. I was also thinking about air bags but that might be tough with the lift.

The whole situation is very disappointing.
 
i just bought a skyjacker long add a leaf kit from summit racing equipment last saturday for something like $89 and a pro comp short add a leaf kit as well for $39. i'm having the same problem. i'm hoping these two will stiffen the hell out of my leaf pack. i'll let you know how it turns out. i'm adding them tomorrow if it doesn't rain here in pa.
 
To just stop the ribbing. Bump stops will do that and should be installed no mater what else you do (IMO).
Very stiff spring suck for flex and ride like poop. Then your running empty. If that important to you.
Air shocks work well under heavy load as well as light ones. Plus if you do add a tall bump stop. A ((GOOD)) shock extension will return the drop lost. Many air shocks tend to be shot. Just don't let any shock completely collapse when compressed.
 
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I'm not sure I follow you badron. The bump stops will prevent rubbing but they won't help the overloaded suspension. I don't run empty when off-roading. I usually have a full load of people in addition to recovery gear and spares or camping and exploring supplies. We even had a full roof rack for the trip we took last weekend.

I'm wondering if I can get an air shock or an air bag with enough extension to allow the suspension to droop. All the setups I've seen so far are for stock ride heights.

Any suggestions on brands?
 
Well how much are you carrying? Even the best leaf packs are gonna sag with gear in the back and 2 people in the back seat unless of course you like it riding like a tank!!
 
Well, figure four people and a couple of hundred pounds of gear. I've never weighed it all but it's not light. With three people and our gear, I could feel that the vehicle wanted to wallow more than when unloaded. That tells me that I'm using up a lot of my rear spring rate with just the weight alone (and that my shocks are soft).

That's why I was thinking about air bags but I'm not sure if they'll extend enough on a lifted vehicle.
 
I had the exact same issue, my 4.5" leaves were sagging when loaded for the trail. I didn't want to spend the money on new leaf packs, and I didn't need the extra lift all the time anyway.

So... I've been running Gabriel HiJackers for two months now:

http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?p=244272709&highlight=air*+shocks#post244272709

I'm thrilled with them.

They do add a little body roll in high speed turns, but it's not unmanageable.

I'm thinking of splicing into one of the airlines with a block valve. That would stop the air transfer from one to the other, until I open it for offroading, when I would want it for the flex.

Flame away.

Robert
 
Interesting thought on the air shocks. I've been avoiding them due to the loading on the mounts and lack of backup if one fails. I was considering air bags but I'm worried about suspension travel.

I did talk to Rubicon again and they felt adding leafs to the existing spring pack wouldn't help unless they were specially curved. They also said I could have the existing leafs in the pack recurved. I'll have to look into that.

I'm surprised this is turning into such a hassle. You'd think no one ever puts any cargo or people in the Cherokee!
 
The leaf pack donors i mentioned earlier are curved/ arched. there from spring under leaf packs.adding a longer one from one of them would help out a lot..easy to do and inexpensive also..
 
Builder, I don't see any other posts you've made in this topic. Can you tell me which leaf packs you're talking about?

I spoke to National Spring (who is local to me). For $325 (if I bring them the springs) they'll take the packs apart, recurve them and add an additional long leaf to increase the weight rating. It's not too bad of a deal. Getting the springs on and off isn't a big deal although I don't think any of my jack stands are tall enough to support the body and my lift is very occupied.
 
Was a post i made earlier in this thread, pretty much just any spring under longer leaf " IE" explorer,mj,dakota.. pretty much what national is going to do. rearching your springs won't last long. and doing leafs yourself is easy. jack stands are cheap.. up to you which way to go, in the end..
 
I wouldnt spend $329.00 for reworked leafs, with 1 new one.. look at Bigoffroad a naxja sponsors, heavy duty leaf packs for$429 and all new leafs..according to everyone that uses them, they can handle a lot of weight and won't sag, military wrapped eye.. $ 429.00 and all new leafs.. sell yours and go from there.. my .02
 
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