help me flex

Please help! I have 4.5" rough country springs in the front and home made springs in the rear, My problem is that it rides rough and i dont have much flex. What kind of springs should i run and should i get new front springs or can i get away with just replacing the rear springs? Mostly i'm hoping to get a good amount of flexible travel but keep a decent ride as the rig is a daily driver. Will attach photos so you can see how much it flexes now. Thanks <br>

is your sway bar disconnected?

yes the front is disconnected and i did away with the rear when i lifted it.

Did you replace the stock shocks with long travel shocks? Brake lines?

if your planning on homemade springs, i would go to the wrecking yard and get a variety of springs and just mix and match till you get what your looking for in flex and ride quality.

i would highly reccomend RE super flex. if you can find then used, they hold there arch well and flex like crazy. i am running the 4.5 superflex kit and i love it. i have absolutley NO urge to go long arm or get more flex.

Yes i have shocks for a 4-6" lift, and extended brake lines. If buying a new reaer leaf pack is the way to go, i dont mind putting in a little but of money. Do you think i should also get new front springs or are my front springs ok?

I would agree with mojojojo, also you could just add an extended shackle. While this would probably give you another 1 - 1.5" of lift, it puts extra leverage on the springs to and allows for more travel, which = more flex.

more info on the lift would help us.

control arms? trackbar?

i have rustys greasable non adjustable lower control arms, stock uppers, I put a track bar drop bracket on and i also have an adjustable track bar.

Unless your front springs are extremely stiff, buying new front springs is a waste of money. Putting good leaf sping liners or friction pads will go a long way in allowing your home made leaf springs flex and be a much cheaper solution than getting some pre-made packs. You probably could use some upper and lower control arms with good flex joints and it would hep out considerably.
You may want to make sure your track bar isn't binding on you under droop on the passenger side as that what mine is currently doing. My track bar is an adjustable pro-comp and its rated for 3" of lift but I'm running closer to 4.5-5" of lift so it actually hits the track bar mount on the axle when it starts drooping not allowing me to flex on that side and its keeping me from adding my coil spacers I just made to level out my rig.

Heres my buddies 4.5" rough country

Another thing I discovered; Be sure the rear spring and shackle bolts are torqued properly (You search, I'm lazy). I replaced my springs, torqued the bolts down nice and tight with the axle hanging, because it was easier than putting the Jeep down first.
When I was done I had my lift, a miserable ride and not much flex.
Retorqued the bolts properly and the ride is much smoother, better flex and I don't see any less lift.

I just looked up Rustys arm and may have found something.

The stock arms are designed in a way that they can twist a certain amount with out causing any problem. The new Rustys arms are extremely stiff in that sense, the only flex you will get out of the arms is the deflection of the bushing itself. It appears that Rusty is using rubber bushings which is good. If your arms have urethane bushings then that plus the stiff design will kill a lot of travel.

My advise? TEMPORARLY put the stock arms back on and remeasure your travel. See if it improves. My guess is it will, slightly. Then order a set of Good aftermarket Arms and lose the rustys junk. I prefer the design of the Teraflex arm, but RE makes a very good arm too, as does JKS. Either one should get you started.

as for the rear you can build a set of rear leafs that do just about anything you want to do, but it's a lot of trial and error. I just built a set that holds up ALOT of weight and still gives me about 8" of lift. So you should have no problem building a 4-5" leaf pack.

Also in the rear, get a longer shackle the boomerang style is popular, i have a straight design and have not had any drawbacks.

Another thing to check for in the rear is the E-brake cable. usually at around 4" the cable becomes too short. a YJ passenger side (IIRC) e-brake cable is a lot longer and will eliminate the problem.

The rough country are not the softest on the market but you should be fine with them so don't worry about getting new coils.

BTW how long has this suspension been on? They will settle over time and break in, so to speak, and start to ride better and give more travel.

Hope this gives you some help.

Dingo

Here is my OME 4". I'm running the OME HD rear with TeraFlex 1.5 shacks. Front is OME MD with ACOS. I also have Nitrocharger extended's, Currie adj LCA's(Johnny jointed), Currie HD adj trac bar, Currie chassis stiffeners, Goodridge SS brake lines. Still on stock steering an UCA's.

I'm not at full flex in the photos, just checking my bumpstops. I'm 1" from the front and 3" from the rear and the left rear spring is not level yet. all 4 tires are touching and are aired to 35 psi.

As I mentioned with the rear pack, it was too stiff and built poorly. Disassemble your stock pack. Disassemble your built pack. Cut the eyeleaf from the built pack leaving it as long as possible. Take your old eyeleaf and put it on your built pack. Now, what was previously your longest spring should now be right below your longest spring. Also, remove the two bottom leafs from the built pack as well. Now get yourself some 1.5" shackles and that thing will flex much better in the back. The front I can't help ya with. You saw mine flexed with the same fronts.

Before anyone goes crazy, I built the packs and informed him of the problems I had with their stiffness and how I'd fix it. (see above x2)

Also keep in mind with more flex comes major trimming.

What does your shackle angle look like, if its straight up and down, it will ride stiff and flex like poo. They should point backwards at about a 45 degree angle.

Rough Country front coils will be stiff when new, wheel it a few times and they'll soften up. Also if you're using their front control arms with poly bushings, those things flex like poop.

I have a pro crap 3" with 2.5" aal in the rear.


That is all I've done to the suspension...


31" tires and no sway bars... and no fender trimming

yours looks a little stiff

Your RC 4.5 should flex decent. Mine scored a 720 front and back on an RTI.

scariest lookin RTI ...ever! lol

RTI=Real Timber In-use
or
Really Treacherous Idea
or
Ready To Invert

:dunno: