Rear fles not happening...

The front flexes nicely but the rear is just like not happening. Seems like the leafs might be to stiff but im not sure. I though that Rubicon Express made pretty good leaf packs. I think they are RE Part no RE1463. Did the 2000 XJ sport come with a rear sway bar? I never took one off of the rear but I have looked and I dont see where a rear sway bar would have even been located. Attached are a couple pictures. The one with the rear on the rock is showing how stiff the rear end is and the others show where I would assume a rear sway bar would be located. Does anyone have pictures of a rear sway bar hooked up still???



In this picture the front is flexing fine but the rear right tire is not compressing into the wheel well at all. Its really annoying.

Re: Rear flex not happening...

flex

my 98 had a rear sway bar. But from your pictures I can't tell much

Did you tighten the shackle bolts before you put the jeep back on the ground? I just installed shackles on my Jeep. I tightened them but not to spec. Drove around a little and then tightened them to spec.

They might be too tight and not moving.

Good luck!

If the leaf packs are still new, then yes they are going to be stiff, and it will take awhile to break them in. As for the rear sway bar, it should be pretty obvious if you have one or not. It is a bar that runs between the frame rails and is attached several inches in front of the rear bumpstops. It would also be attached to your leaf spring plate.

joecool said:

If the leaf packs are still new, then yes they are going to be stiff, and it will take awhile to break them in. As for the rear sway bar, it should be pretty obvious if you have one or not. It is a bar that runs between the frame rails and is attached several inches in front of the rear bumpstops. It would also be attached to your leaf spring plate.

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Well then I do not have a rear sway bar so that is not limiting the flex. However, the spring packs are over a year old and have been wheeled allot. Stupid RE springs must just be to stiff. Maybe the shocks are too short?

I just saw this on another thread, so I figured I would borrow it, but you can clearly see the rear sway bar in this picture.

What shackles are you running?

HAHA! my jeep! wahoo! Yeah, like the other guys said, check and see that you didn't tighten the shackles up too tight or at the wrong time. Find a lift or a jack and try to flex the rear to see what you can. A loading dock works great for this. Just back up it and see if your rear end flexes and if one tire comes off the ground or not. That's the best way in my opinion to see it if you can't find a lift.

53guy said:

HAHA! my jeep! wahoo! Yeah, like the other guys said, check and see that you didn't tighten the shackles up too tight or at the wrong time. Find a lift or a jack and try to flex the rear to see what you can. A loading dock works great for this. Just back up it and see if your rear end flexes and if one tire comes off the ground or not. That's the best way in my opinion to see it if you can't find a lift.

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While you do this, Leave your front swaybar on.

If you think it's shocks, disconnect them and test it.

joecool said:

I just saw this on another thread, so I figured I would borrow it, but you can clearly see the rear sway bar in this picture.

Click to expand...

I have to ask what is the deal with your bumpstops and rear sway bar. I would guess a pavement pounder BUT you have BFG Mud Terrians on. You can't have much flex.

Hans

Of course, you need to make sure all the other factors are right, such as shock length, bumpstops, shackle & bushing torque specs, etc, but that may not be what you're seeing.

Keep in mind that most coils on a jeep suspension kit will flex or compress easier than a leaf pack will.
That's not necessarily a bad thing. With no swaybars hooked up, the front will usually flex out more before the rear leafs get involved. Try driving through a ditch at an angle and see what happens. If the front is fully flexed and the opposite rear side is riding on the ditch wall opposite the stuffed front, you'll see some good flex. (assuming everything else is set right.)

One good thing about this is the inherent stability you get from the rear leafs. They tend to hold the jeeps body flatter much of the time, while the front suspension is doing a lot of the work. TJ guys tend to leave their rear swaybars hooked up or install an anti-rock type swaybar to get this type of effect. A lifted rig with some good travel and coils at all 4 corners can feel pretty scary if it's disco'd front & rear.

From your pics, it looks like you have a decent amount of compression travel on your shocks. I'd unbolt one from the axle and let it expand to see how much length you have for droop from ride height. If it's sufficient, you probably don't have a problem. The leafs will flex when they need to. The RE1463 is not a too-stiff leaf pack at all. If your rig rides rougher than you like, I'd blame those white painted shocks...

Depending on what your front spring rate is, an anti-rock set-up in front could help distribute the flex more evenly from front to rear. We run beefier coils up front in our stuff, so I think it would simply inhibit front flex for us. If you think your front coils are a bit on the soft side, a heavier coil rate in front can help the rear leafs flex more in relation to the front.

fdsa487 said:

The front flexes nicely but the rear is just like not happening. Seems like the leafs might be to stiff but im not sure. I though that Rubicon Express made pretty good leaf packs. I think they are RE Part no RE1463. Did the 2000 XJ sport come with a rear sway bar? I never took one off of the rear but I have looked and I dont see where a rear sway bar would have even been located. Attached are a couple pictures. The one with the rear on the rock is showing how stiff the rear end is and the others show where I would assume a rear sway bar would be located. Does anyone have pictures of a rear sway bar hooked up still???

In this picture the front is flexing fine but the rear right tire is not compressing into the wheel well at all. Its really annoying.

Click to expand...

Make sure your e-brake cables aren't your limiting factor. I had to relocate my cables further down. Now my shocks are the limiting factor!! Stupid flex!

XJourney said:

I have to ask what is the deal with your bumpstops and rear sway bar. I would guess a pavement pounder BUT you have BFG Mud Terrians on. You can't have much flex.

Hans

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No, definately not a mall crawler and I'm out every weekend just about finding new places in the George Washington National Forest. It is a pavement pounder to an extent as I commute about 75 miles a day to work and my Jeep is a DD, sooo... BUT there are other factors involved in my evolving Jeep. The origional thread is here http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?p=741564 and someone else asked the same thing...Here is my reply to the question of why I leave my rear sway bar on and why I appear to not have much flex. The reason for the small flex at the moment is because I can't run fenderless in VA, not to mention Washington D.C. Since I cannot affort flares at the moment, trimming is not an option. In about 3 or 4 months I'm getting flares and will be able to trim to my hearts content and increase my flex in the rear. Truthfully though, flex is overrated. I can droop my suspension until all the way which is more than needed. Also, look at the bumpstop that I installed. It has holes cut in the side allowing for progressive bumpstoppage instead of a hard solid hit. In all reality I have about 4-5" of up travel before my axle will not go any further. It performs quite well offroad actually. I forgot to mention that it is a daily driver as well, so I really can't have it just sitting around waiting for the flares. =) Jeepdeepfreak----you'd be surprised when the swaybar actually works for ya. I thought the same thing and took it off, but with it off, just the side wind that prevails on I-95 out here, I sway like a sailboat in the wind.

Back on toppic....fdsa487..You know, you may just have front springs that allow too much flex and not enough weight in the back to make the leaf springs compress. Try and wheel with your front sway bar connected. I'm no expert here, but by looking at your picture, the front is flexing an awfull lot and the rear none, but it doesn't appear as if anything is in your jeep. If you do get flex when you try to do the ramp thing, try wheeling with a bag of sand or two at the very back of the jeep (or tools or spare parts or your little sister or anything with weight to it). You may not have anything wrong with your Jeep at all, just that its not heavy enough for the springs. You have to realize that leaf springs for lifted vehicles are pretty much just heavy duty springs designed to be able to carry more weight and since your jeep is light, it pushes it up into the air. Just a theory.

53guy said:

Back on toppic....fdsa487..You know, you may just have front springs that allow too much flex and not enough weight in the back to make the leaf springs compress. Try and wheel with your front sway bar connected. I'm no expert here, but by looking at your picture, the front is flexing an awfull lot and the rear none, but it doesn't appear as if anything is in your jeep. If you do get flex when you try to do the ramp thing, try wheeling with a bag of sand or two at the very back of the jeep (or tools or spare parts or your little sister or anything with weight to it). You may not have anything wrong with your Jeep at all, just that its not heavy enough for the springs. You have to realize that leaf springs for lifted vehicles are pretty much just heavy duty springs designed to be able to carry more weight and since your jeep is light, it pushes it up into the air. Just a theory.

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i second that... my springs were stiff until i put my spare in the back and 150 lbs of tools n parts

LilRedRover said:

i second that... my springs were stiff until i put my spare in the back and 150 lbs of tools n parts

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I went and put 200lbs of sandbags in the back of my jeep for a while, especially when wheeling. This helped the springpacks. Also recently i have put in full length liners on my leafs.

http://www.speedwaymotors.com/xq/aspx/display_id.2079/qx/Product.htm

These really help a lot to reduce friction thus making the rear and the front flex evenly. I also painted mine using graphite slip paint fron Tractor Supply company.

They will losen up, now in the picture of you "trying" to flex, you have the rear of your jeep up in the air which is where barely any of the weight is which is why it looks so bad, try flexing the rear up by driving the front up on something " sometimes it helps to attach the front Swaybar"

Oh yeah, if you have a rear sway bar.. toss it!

I dont get much flex from my rubicon rear leafs either....they are stiff, no doubt....throw some more weight in the rear end and try to get them to have a flatter profile and youll get more flex out of them.

No Complaints about RE springs here. I run the 1462s(I think, RE5.5 kit) and love them, good ride with good flex.

fdsa487 said:

The front flexes nicely but the rear is just like not happening. Seems like the leafs might be to stiff but im not sure. I though that Rubicon Express made pretty good leaf packs. I think they are RE Part no RE1463. Did the 2000 XJ sport come with a rear sway bar? I never took one off of the rear but I have looked and I dont see where a rear sway bar would have even been located. Attached are a couple pictures. The one with the rear on the rock is showing how stiff the rear end is and the others show where I would assume a rear sway bar would be located. Does anyone have pictures of a rear sway bar hooked up still???

In this picture the front is flexing fine but the rear right tire is not compressing into the wheel well at all. Its really annoying.

Click to expand...

Are your Shackles hitting your bumper bolts??????