Front coil sagging

OK.. I just did some eyeballing as I washed my XJ (yeah... it does get a bath once every 2 to 3 months) and I realized that my front is sitting lower on one side.... so out comes the measuring tape and as I'm rolling underneath it does come out to be 1/2" ~ 3/4" lower on the driver side. I know coil springs tend to sag sometimes (or loose spring rate) but then again I'm not that heavy and primarily it's only me driving in it (I'm about 150lbs with everything I got on and my pockets full of change LOL). In any case I got the UpCOuntry springs (they came with the XJ) and spacers (the biiig thick spacers) and now I'm sagged. The XJ is 98 and I had it since day one...

I did wonder about one thing though: can the sway bar screw things up a bit? When I disconnected I seemed to be able to bounce it back to abotu 1/2" while when connected beforehand, no matter how much bounce I do I was at 3/4" lower.... Btw, it's the RE PITA disco for 3" lift, and I got the 1.5" spacer up front (and I kept the factory piece as well)

Now as I'm thinking about getting new coils (I'll put in probably new coils and remove the spacer and when I'm ready I'll put the spacer in to go higher ) I wanna make sure that I don't mess anything up in the long run again!

Kejtar

Well the factory springs come left and right,did you put them on the wrong side?

The sway bar (which is actually an anti-sway bar) can cause a tilt, if it is bent or if the end links are not the same length.

First and foremost, were all 4 wheels parked on a flat and level surface when you made your measurements? If not, all bets are off.

If so, then you may want to look at the sway bar. It connects both front wheels. The way it works is to resist letting the "inside" corner of the chassis lift when the "outside" corner compresses going around corners. If you had a stiff enough front bar, you could jack up the entire front end from one wheel.

Check your quick discos for possible damage.

well.... to answer RCP's question, they were put on the right way/side in. When I did the spacer way back I did them one at a time and it looked even then.

Hmmm .. the sway bar links are even and yes, it was parked on an even ground (my driveway). I'll try playing with it and lookign at it some more tonight...

Just a thought, maybe the sag is not caused by the front.

Perhaps a leaf is cracked in one of the rear spring packs, or one of the leaf springs is sagging. If the left is sagging on the front, it must therefore be sagging to the left in the rear. That is, unless you have one of those unibodies with a flex joint in the middle.

hmmmm I don't think I like the thought of that I'll go and remeasure the rear tonight but last time I checked rear it looked good it is possible for the front only to lean... imagine a table with one shorter leg

Yeah, but tables don't have suspension. Does your Jeep teeter back and forth like a short-legged table?

Unless the rear has 2 1/2 Ton springs or a FAT swaybar, it will give at least a little bit. But if they didn't, the front would be level too, because the rear would hold it that way.

Check your leaf spring eye bushings as well as the shackle bushings to check for rotted out rubber also. But being a '98 that isn't too likely.

Hmmmm it's poly bushings and I just picked up the rear springs: they are slightly used tomken 4" leaf packs and they looked good....

GRRRRRR tape measure.. here I come!

Actually DeadEye the reason the table would teeter is because you have sharp/squared of edges. The wheals themselves do conform to the ground so with a 1/2"~3/4" sag the XJ would not teeter

Perhaps a good way to isolate whether it is the front vs rear springs would be to jack up the rear axle right in the middle. You would have to be pretty exact as to where you jacked it to be sure that you weren't jacking one side higher than the other and forcing a coil to sag...

If the jeep still leans left, go after the front springs. If not, start lookin at the leafs more closely.

Kejtar said:

Actually DeadEye the reason the table would teeter is because you have sharp/squared of edges. The wheals themselves do conform to the ground so with a 1/2"~3/4" sag the XJ would not teeter

Click to expand...

I would say that it correct, to an extent. The tires squashing does act like a small amount of suspension. But I would hope that your springs would give a little too in the process, since to even jack a tire so it is barely touching the ground requires several hundred pounds of lifting force.

But back to the rear being level while the front is leaning scenario - if this is true then the body is twisted, period. It would have to be.

Consider this: you have a table with one short leg. Now add springs to these legs, so that all 4 legs will be on the floor, even with one leg short.
The leg on the opposite corner to the short leg would not need to compress to keep all legs touching the floor. However, the adjacent corners would have to compress somewhat to allow the short leg to reach the floor, otherwise it would just dangle in the air. The only way you could achieve this otherwise would be to bend the table.

So, unless your frame is bent (super dooper unlikely) you have a sagging spring. If you have a sagging spring, then both ends of the Jeep will sag to the side the same amount (or will be angled from horizontal by the same angle). Front or rear will really not affect this differently from one another.

The only way that tires would really play a role here is if you have a low tire causing the sag. This would be great news for you because a flat repair is MUCH easier than a new pair of springs.

Good luck, I hate working on cars....

I just checked the rear and yeah.... the left side has a bit of a lean to it..... I think the problem is the spring hanger that I messed up a bit (long story) so when it compresses up it locks itself and has a hard time rotating down

GRRR Back to the drawing board on fixing that..

Kejtar

I know, I know... really old thread, but I have a similar problem and I'm trying not to start a new thread...

I have rusty's 4" coils, and an S10 Blazer Bastard pack lift... The Heep is leaning quite a bit to the drivers' side. I took a look at all corners and found that the rear measurements are about 1/4 in lower to the driver, but the front is about an inch and a half lower to the driver. so according to these measurements, it would seem that my driver side coil is soft right?

like this:

1-1/4 " lower than ->.................................Right front














1/4in lower than -> ...................................Right rear

Dunno. Kejtar fixed his by rolling his jeep and then buying a new one.

The new one is a little off too, though.

could be that rusty's springs sit unevenly sometimes? :dunno:

check to see if the coil spun in the bucket.

Small sag in the rear will force weight transfer and make it look waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay crooked up front. My solution to the orignal problem was to get new leaf springs

How old are your coils springs?

about the rear affecting the front, if you don't have sway bars, and your springs are uneven at all, it will cause the whole jeep to be crooked. that's how i found out i had a broken leaf.

I just put a sway bar on for a long trip I just took... when the jeep was loaded with all the gear, it exaggerated the issue a TON! it was probably a full two inches lower on the driver's side. maybe I should take the bar off, and see what that does? but even before that, it was leaned over... I'm not sure how old they are... I got them used. The guy before me used his jeep mostly for mudding, so he probably took a bunch of hard hits. Maybe he softened it?I really don't think it's the rear packs at this point... the rear is only deflected a very little bit. I'll check if the coil's spun...