Hypothetical spring rate question(s)?

Relative to the front and rear of a vehicle, is there supposed to be a ratio of the spring rates? If so, could you justify this?

With stock rate rear springs, should the front also be the stock rate? Or, should we choose a higher front rate for 'stability'? How would a higher front rate make the vehicle more stable?

What is the stock front coil rate? 120LB/in? Are all aftermarket springs either 150LB/in or 180LB/in?

What is the stock rear rate for an XJ? Or MJ? Aftermarket springs again appear to be 150-180LB/in.

Or, do we pick magical numbers for both the front and rear and act like we're smart?



The reason I ask this is my old setup really irked me; as it didn't perform how I wanted it to. The front coils were 180LB/in, and the rear were stock MJ with an extra main leaf (4-leaf pack). There was little weight in the rear (no bed), yet the front refused to stuff. It would droop, as the coils fell out of there buckets... I checked the suspension without the springs in, and there was NO binding. Off-camber instead of the front stuffing, the truck would jsut be pushed over.


This is a quest to know why.

Im new to the jeep world, but as far as suspension setups for racing, I have a pretty good idea. With the higher front spring rates, you decrease the amount of body roll in a turn (which would lead to understeer). As far as what is good on a trail, I have no clue.

Hmmm... This is still bothering me. Other than I just found out that my front coils were actually 150LB/in.