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My Jeep hates the whoops

mikedashg

NAXJA Forum User
Location
San Diego, CA
I can't take idling through the whoops anymore. The end of Boone Rd and the road back from the hammers is just brutal. I'm lucky if I can get over 12MPH. I need some help from the speed community. What should I get? I don't have a crazy budget, but I want to be able to get some speed up across the whoops.

Right now up front I have Rusty's coils (netted 5" lift with extra factory isolator), Bilstein 5125s (11 inchers I think), RE superflex adjustables upper and lowers with drop brackets.

In the rear I have 1.5" Daystar shackles, 5.5" skyjacker leafs, and Bilstein 5150s (10 inchers IIRC).


(BTW, this is in SoCal and not tech, because people in SoCal know what "THE WHOOPS" are when I refer to Boone Rd and JV)
 
ya know I have the 5100's also in the front of my reduced wieght rig, with the 6" full traction jeepspeed setup coils and long arms. I do have issues at like 5-15 also. but get it up to a little decent speed and its ok somewhat.

Have you brought the speed up to like 25? how much wieght inside did/do you carry?

I will be watching this tread for ideas though also...
 
Hey Mike dont feel left out most of us can only go so fast on major whoops also, even built for that kind of stuff. Being on a budget its kinda hard to get the things you need for going fast, but definalty dooable. Keep a eye out for deals on race dezert. I would go with air bumps first they make a world of difference instead of a big bammm against a solid bump its all nice and cushiony, makes it so much nicer. I would maybe go with 7100's with a little stiffer valving then from there you can go with stiffening the unibody etc, and lots of more $$$$$ being spent.

but I say air bumps and shocks, shocks, shocks !!!!
 
Change your rear shackle angle, and hammer down... Changing my rear shackle angle was a night and day performance difference in the rig at speed (on road and off)...

whoops are about commitment...

My junk handles well in them at ~20mph, and about 50mph... and crappy in between...

look into ditching some more weight...

5150's are good shocks (with the 'heavier' valving) - and they work great on Phil's junk and Ron's black jeep...

the drop brackets ought to make it a pretty good ride in the front...

the rusty's coils are known to be the softest coils out there, and the skyjacker's are known to be the stiffest, I had the RE's and wanted stiffer coils, and was going to buy the skyjacker 6's to try and attain that, but bought something else instead :D
 
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ya know I have the 5100's also in the front of my reduced wieght rig, with the 6" full traction jeepspeed setup coils and long arms. I do have issues at like 5-15 also. but get it up to a little decent speed and its ok somewhat.

Have you brought the speed up to like 25? how much wieght inside did/do you carry?

I will be watching this tread for ideas though also...

Yeah, I've been told "you just need to go faster" but that doesn't work. I've tried getting the speed up but it just comes crashing down and the front and rear of the vehicle starts to do a seesaw.

As far as weight is concerned, I'm guilty. I carry a lot of tools. There isn't much more I feel comftorable enough to dump.

I know it's not just me, because I'm usually last to the trail head, and I've had other people drive my Jeep over the whoops and they usually come back with "damn that sucks"
 
It's going to be harder for you Mike. You have a BIG heavy (winch?) bumper, right? The trick to go fast is keep weight down while keeping frame (haha) rigid. Once that happens you can actually feel the suspension doing its job instead of the whole vehicle twisting and creaking. I know you won't be taking your winch bumper off or quit rock crawling so my recommendation is stiff shocks and stiffer springs (given the weight hanging off the front). The rear doesn't need so much. My jeep does real good in the fast stuff and I am running 7100's up front and cheap ass Pro-Comp ES3000's out back.
 
I can't take idling through the whoops anymore. The end of Boone Rd and the road back from the hammers is just brutal. I'm lucky if I can get over 12MPH. I need some help from the speed community. What should I get? I don't have a crazy budget, but I want to be able to get some speed up across the whoops.

Right now up front I have Rusty's coils (netted 5" lift with extra factory isolator), Bilstein 5125s (11 inchers I think), RE superflex adjustables upper and lowers with drop brackets.

In the rear I have 1.5" Daystar shackles, 5.5" skyjacker leafs, and Bilstein 5150s (10 inchers IIRC).


(BTW, this is in SoCal and not tech, because people in SoCal know what "THE WHOOPS" are when I refer to Boone Rd and JV)

What others said are right. Lots of wheel travel and the right suspension setup springs/ shocks. Probably would want to ditch the 5150s for some reservoir shocks where you can play with the rebound and compression stacks. Even with 2.5" shocks JeepSpeeds are dealing with shock fade. You might also want to try deaver coil and leaf springs as well.

I know this might sound counter intuitive, but sometimes a little more speed will get ya to float through the whoops a little easier, but try it at your own risk!:D
 
Deaver springs are great both fast and crawling. Tony and I run them and I dont think Tony had any complaints, im sure he will chime in. And you have seen Tony Wheel his junk. Might want to look into them
 
Change your rear shackle angle, and hammer down... Changing my rear shackle angle was a night and day performance difference in the rig at speed (on road and off)...

whoops are about commitment...

My junk handles well in them at ~20mph, and about 50mph... and crappy in between...

look into ditching some more weight...

5150's are good shocks (with the 'heavier' valving) - and they work great on Phil's junk and Ron's black jeep...

the drop brackets ought to make it a pretty good ride in the front...

the rusty's coils are known to be the softest coils out there, and the skyjacker's are known to be the stiffest, I had the RE's and wanted stiffer coils, and was going to buy the skyjacker 6's to try and attain that, but bought something else instead :D

I would have to agree, I just relocated mine yesterday and it's amazing what the rear is soaking up now instead of just bucking in the back. Also I have crappy shocks in the back now too, I can't imagine what it would feel like with 5150's.
 
ya know I had deaver 4"ers in the back from currie at one point, they were Very soft. I swapped out to Full traction 6" and seem more to my liking thats for sure. a bit higher rate and consistant rate.
 
Change your rear shackle angle, and hammer down... Changing my rear shackle angle was a night and day performance difference in the rig at speed (on road and off)...

whoops are about commitment...

My junk handles well in them at ~20mph, and about 50mph... and crappy in between...

look into ditching some more weight...

5150's are good shocks (with the 'heavier' valving) - and they work great on Phil's junk and Ron's black jeep...

the drop brackets ought to make it a pretty good ride in the front...

the rusty's coils are known to be the softest coils out there, and the skyjacker's are known to be the stiffest, I had the RE's and wanted stiffer coils, and was going to buy the skyjacker 6's to try and attain that, but bought something else instead :D

I think that might be part of my problem, is the Rusty's coils. The drop brackets and bilsteins should be a pretty good combo. They are the closest to stock when it comes to spring rate. I'm sort of thinking about Skyjacker coils too.
 
A big issue is commitment and bottoming out.

Airbumps will make a difference.
 
>I think that might be part of my problem, is the Rusty's coils. The drop brackets and bilsteins should be a pretty good combo. They are the closest to stock when it comes to spring rate. I'm sort of thinking about Skyjacker coils too.

One thing you might want to try is taking the temperature of your shock right after going through the whoops for awhile. I bet those 5150s are already overheated/faded and you no longer have any shock. This would give you the pogo stick / see saw effect.
 
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Skyjacker coils = good
Skyjacker leafs = not so good

I run 5150s & Deavers on all four corners with a FT longarm. Handles real nice in the whoops.
 
I would use RE leafs or DPG's there not bad there not Deavers but they do the job, you can find 7100 used on race dezert for $200 or less for 2 just got to look thats under $1000 right there. Bumps you can find for anywhere from $200-$300 for 2 depending from what i have seen.
 
Just for grins I calculated deaver coils and leafs, 7100's all around, fox bumps with cans: :eek: $2,554 :eek:

Sure would be nice though :D

I've got 9100 front and 7100 rear with RE front coils and 'custom' OME leaves out back. You're damn right about being nice. ;) I've helped several customers with 7100s on TJs and XJs...and they turned out just fine. But yeah, i concur with something you can at least play with the valving on.
 
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