Lift kit handling performance?

[Tim_MN]

Just before Christmas we had 14 inches of snow in 2 days. My Lifted XJ handles the same in snow as it did when it was stock. A light rear wheel drive vehicle with lots of low end torque will spin the tires.

Use your Shift on the Fly 4x4 to start off from a stop, when you reach a reasonable speed for the road conditions, switch to 2wd. If road conditions are really bad, stay in 4x4. If you are scared to drive in the snow, stay home.

Your TIRES have the greatest effect on your winter traction. Choose an A/T type tire that has lots of tread blocks and sipes. BFG T/A All Terrains are the best snow/all season tire I have ever owned or used on my 9 different 4x4 trucks I have owned and driven in Mn winters. All Mud tires will be more slippery than an A/T in snow and rain. I have a set of winter tires and a set BFG Mud tires for the rest of the year.

No suspension part has any effect on straight-line handling.

 

[CherBear]

You have a rear wheel drive small SUV with a heck of a lot of torque for its weight. What did you expect?

Sounds as if the problem lies in the vehicle, not the lift kit.

You could try putting some weight in the back like a pick up truck?

 

[knuckleuppunk]

No suspension part has any effect on straight-line handling.

This isn't true and to say that a sway bar will not effect spring rates is incorrect as well. In fact, that is what a sway bar does while in a turn. It "adds rate" to one side as the bar flexes. What happens when a sway bar isn't positioned correctly and now loads the axle? What about having the sway bar arms pointed up or down in relationship to the ground? Will this add and/or reduce rate of the bar? Very much so and it's called leverage. Now, think about a bar that is under-extended because of poor sway bar arm alignment and is loading the axle - will this effect mech grip during accel and braking?

First things first - you start with a roll axis, a CG, and tire contact patches for any vehicle out there - custom or not - each vehicle will have its own specific set of numbers. Once the car is built, none of these change, thus you have a BASE LEVEL of weight transfer built in. It does not matter what springs or sway bars you have, that weight is GOING to transfer.

The sticky question, especially in this thread, is HOW the weight is going to transfer.

With a forward CG vehicle like the XJ , more weight will transfer in front than the back. So you need to counteract that somewhat with spring rates.

Then you get into the more interesting affects of roll stiffness that are affected by spring rates and sway bars. Here is where you can move the weight transfer around between the front and rear of the XJ or any other vehicle out there. Increase roll stiffness on one end versus the other and you effect weight transfer on that end as well. That is rather critical to ensure both ends achieve maximum traction, not to mention equivalent slip angles.

So, if you have too much bar rate, you tend to lose independence between the suspension members on BOTH sides of the car. When one wheel hits a bump, the stabilizer bar transmits the bump to the other side of the car as well, which is not what you want. This will hurt the independence of the tires on the same axle - causing a loss of traction.

Leaving from a stop and/or braking will cause weight transfer in the vehicle...nothing you can do about it. Too stiff or too lose of a bar CAN and WILL effect traction during those times.

Again, I am not trying to say this is the problem, but it is worth disconnecting the sway bars to see how the vehicle reacts. If it's not the bar, I would check the shackle angle (harsh angle will increase rate) and also the rear spring installed rates as well.

Just my .02 on the subject..........