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Opinions on integrating suspension compression winches

WheelinJR

WheelinJR

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Portland, Oregon
I am thinking about fabbing in some ATV winches to compress my suspension.

My reason is this. I run sweep crew at high speeds during rally racing. We are the team that responds to emergencies both crash and medical during the races.

One thing I've always had a little problem with, is my suspension is just too tall and soft when at speed. I don't want to lower the Jeep, because I still do weekend wheelin, but I am searching for options.

The idea of popping in some winches to suck my suspension down came up today. I am thinking this would effectively be able to lower me as its commonly used on Rock Buggies in UROC, and I assume it would stiffen it a little as well.

Discuss... :cool:
 
Sounds like a good idea to me, just get some harbor frieght cheapo winches. I think Ashman did something like that with his XJ buggy.
 
Problem is it is the suspension will be topping out against the winch while traveling fast. The winch will not take it very well and will break. We have broken two warns in UROC competition.

Maybe having a set of shorter limiting straps that can be put on for just those occasions.
 
A friend of mine has harbor freight brand ATV winch on his tube buggy. There is a big Warn up front that connects to the axle and gets removed from the axle when needed for recovery and a small one out back thats always connected. The big winch up front helps a LOT when doing stupid high speed stuff and keeping the suspension compressed and the buggy down low. Good enough to get a full 4 wheel drift going on the street with 39" red label krawlers :D The rear winch does a decient job but the small cable it comes with sucks and breaks just about every other trip out. To solve this problem, another guy in the local club has the same size winch on his buggy but instead of cable, used a seat belt instead. Its been holding up so far.

AARON
 
So maybe if I go with a full size winch up front and use that route I won't have troubles. I don't think I would break them in the rear, the suspension back there shouldn't travel as much as the front.

The straps are a good idea too.
 
The only reason he used a full size winch up front is becasue of limited space and also its already there. The guy in the club that uses a seat belt instead of cable has a small winch up front also with a seat belt and its doing just fine. I dont think you could use a big winch with a standard XJ winch mounting since the axle is so far back from the front bumper mount. I saw a guy with a TJ that had the winch mounted to the passenger side frame rail, then the cable running down to the axle through a pully hard mounted on the tube, then the cable attaching to the driver side frame rail. The guy said it worked and is happy with it.

AARON
 
Last edited:
my idea would be as follows:

get the winches and run them as you are planning, lower when needed, but hook up some very high strenght limiting straps. then unload the winches, otherwise those things will be broken after one run.
 
rocklandxjer said:
my idea would be as follows:

get the winches and run them as you are planning, lower when needed, but hook up some very high strenght limiting straps. then unload the winches, otherwise those things will be broken after one run.
Click to expand...

;)
 
WheelinJR said:
So maybe if I go with a full size winch up front and use that route I won't have troubles. I don't think I would break them in the rear, the suspension back there shouldn't travel as much as the front.

The straps are a good idea too.
Click to expand...
Dont use your front suck down unless you run synthetic cable.

The 3000# winches will do the job, but a 2000# pounder will not suck it down to the bump stops.

the cable on the ATV winches will quickly wrap over it self and rip. I modified mine to accept 2in strap, I use a seat belt mount and a bungie to keep tension on it so it dosent get bound up.

When going fast on the drit roads, I have to loosen the winches up or they will kill the ride. Riding on a limit strap 100% sucks. I think you need a sway bar.
t_100_1555_479.jpg
 
yeah the more i think about it, Id have to agree with you, while it would be effective for height I would probably be killing my ride/handling, i think a good set of bilstein shocks is gonna be the best option. Right now I am just running some "blah" heckathorn/rough country/warrior/same as every other cheap lift kit shock.

I don't imagine that there's a ton of aftermarket support for performance swaybars on Jeep Cherokee's, but if you know of any.....
 
I'd be more worried about spring preload when running at high speeds like that. I think the suck down winch would work great when crawling, but taking corners and long stretches with preloaded springs might be kinda bouncy and all over the road in unpredictable ways.
 
53guy said:
I'd be more worried about spring preload when running at high speeds like that. I think the suck down winch would work great when crawling, but taking corners and long stretches with preloaded springs might be kinda bouncy and all over the road in unpredictable ways.
Click to expand...

Dont know how back it would be with regular coils and shocks, but the ride isnt that bad with airshocks compressed with the winch. The ride is much more stable in my friends LS1-1 powered buggy with the front sucked way down when doing stupid fast corners. The ride is a bit harsh compared to little to no preload but its by no means super bouncy out of control.

AARON
 
WheelinJR said:
I don't imagine that there's a ton of aftermarket support for performance swaybars on Jeep Cherokee's, but if you know of any.....
Click to expand...

Currie Anti-Rock..
 
XJ_ranger said:
Currie Anti-Rock..
Click to expand...

Thats more of a torsion bar, designed to flex with the suspension so you don't have to disconnect swaybars when wheeling, I dunno how that'd perform as an actual anti-sway, maybe I'm wrong about them. I was thinking more along the lines of a thicker beefier swaybar.
 
Check out Stock Car Products and look at their sway bars. Same thing as the Currie Antirock but a whole heck of a lot cheaper. Plus they have different size bars and length arms so you can really tweak and adjust the stiffness of the swaybar. Just about any stock car shop will have swaybars of different size (thickness) and length arms.

AARON
 
I used Rancho 9000's and with 7" of lift and 35's on the stiff setting, it handled like a dream. Also had the stock sway bar too, with poly bushings. Also might be a good idea to invest in some smaller A/T's that are wider, that would increase your stabbility, that you could use just for the event. Plus I love you guys I used to Rally a Ford Escort RS2000 in England SWEET I want it back :tears: .
 
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