Ben

I was originally goint to send this as a private msg to Big Clint, but thought I would post here to get more thoughts on the subject. I wanted to put it here in the lonestar group cuz I know quite a few of you and like your rides...

Clint, your old suspension set up was a budget boost with rubi unltd springs correct? Did that compensate for the weight of your winch and bumper, or did you still have a rake in the front? I was going to get a set of teraflex hd springs, but I am thinking to myself if rubi unltd springs and bb are good enough for clint and his 35's, surely it will work on my 32 or 33's. The only thing i am hesitant on is with a winch will the springs keep the front from dropping too much? Thought about also just using the front rubi springs and spacers, and just the spacers on top of the regular 2 door springs in the rear.

Comments are welcomed/awaited by mud kitty.

Ben

also, I forgot to mention that I already have the unlimited rubi hardtop springs, got em cheap from a forum member and the reason that I decided maybe i didn't need the teraflex spring kit is because I thought I needed a Remington 870 marine magnum more.

Ben

yeah that is what I am thinking. My mopar bumper and skid dropped me quite a bit in the front. (I bought the mopar bumpers and skid before I was as educated as well as I am now from the forum. But now since I have them I really do like them, they look great, I just could have gotten some that were cheaper and just as good.) Anyways, I digress. I don't have a winch yet so I think I am going to try my idea of keeping the stock rear springs, putting in the front 4 door rubi springs, and the tf bb. I shall ponder this some more, but I have ample flat garage space and love turning a wrench so am willing to experiment. I will keep ya'll updated on how this turns out. If worse comes to worse, I can always get the spring lift at a later date.

Big Clint

Not sure I should respond since you mis-spelled my name in your initial post. I wonder what was on your mind at the time?

I have a 4 door Sahara...came factory with the hardtop, so whatever coils those are...

I started off with the straight Teraflex 2.5" BB. No problems. I then added the an ExpeditionOne full width front bumper, and the XRC8 winch (@180~200 lbs increase over OEM setup). This dropped the front probably 1/2~3/4" I felt nose heavy and didn't like it. I called up Northridge and he talked me into replacing the front coils and Teraflex pucks with Old Man Emu HD 2" coils. 2" coils sounded short, but he assured me because of the HD (higher load rating) that they wouldn't give much and would give me what I wanted. Once installed, I got more than the original 2.5" TF BB lift. My front to rear rake was nearly non-existent. I probably got a 3~3.5" lift from the 2" HD coils. What is interesting is that when I replaced the coils and set the weight of the vehicle and bumper on them...they did not sag at all. This is what I am driving now.

Recently, I added a steel rear bumper and tire carrier. I replaced the coils and TF pucks in the rear with the OME HD 2" rear coils. This returned my factory rake.

I have now also replaced the OEM shocks with longer ones, giving me a little more articulation and getting the shock spacers out of the setup.

It is true that I had a set of Rubicon coils and shocks. I never installed them. My plan was to replace the Sahara coils with the Rubicons, and hope that they were strong enough to offset the weight. I didn't think they were as strong as the HD ones I bought, so I never used them.

I thought about replacing the coils and leaving in the TF pucks...this would have given me over 5" of lift. Although this sounded tempting, I decided against it because at 3~3.5" of lift, a JK isn't that affected in many ways and will do most anything I desire too without fear of constant breaking. If you buy a lift kit over this size, you will note that they get expensive and contain many more components to help keep the geometry correct. If I go any taller, I would be tempting fate and increase the potential for breakage, premature wear, and other problems due to the lack of geometrical adjustments. Just wasn't worth it. AND...it is still my daily driver and would no longer fit in my garage.

When you last saw me at Gilmer a couple weeks ago, all this suspension work was complete. I didn't have my rear bumper on yet, but the suspension side was complete.

I have sold nearly every spare I have, but still have some of the OEM take off stuff. The Sahara coils and shocks are sitting in my garage, but if you have Rubi's, you are one up on these.

Big Clint

I agree with this thought. It just might work. And if it doesn't, small spacers are probably plenty to fix it, depending on how the ride feels to you. The angle of the rake (nose down, level, nose up) was the thing that felt worst to me. The weight actually sitting on the coils hasn't seemed to bother me. Just coming to a stop I sometimes feel heavy and wonder if I should look at upsizing brake calipers or pads?

Ben

[QUOTE=Big Clint;819914]Not sure I should respond since you mis-spelled my name in your initial post. I wonder what was on your mind at the time?

OOps, name edited! Don't tell maverick, I called him out on that the other day.

Eh, I will try it. LIke I said worse comes to worse, I will just buy a different pair of springs for the front.

scottrock

Here Ben, check out my spring swap. I am very pleased with the results

https://www.jk-forum.com/forums/modified-jk-tech-2/spring-upgrade-idea-x-62637/

Ben

thanks! You give me hope bc I am only going to swap the front springs before the bb install. Don't let people rib you too much about your tires! I still run my sra's most of the time. ( I got a set of rubi takeoffs that I use for most of my wheeling.) LIke you I wheeled completely stock for a long time, and my only trail mod to date is the rubi tires. There wasn't anything I couldn't get over, (although a lot more that I chickened out on.) I rly don't need a lift. Am doing it for appearances mainly. Well, and the fact that the front bumper and soon to come winch have made it severely nose heavy with the aforementioned braking/diving etc.

Thanks for the link!

maverick1701

you and clint are one of the few people on this forum who drive on M/Ts and dont complain like little girls when you actually have to drive through mud....even back when you had SRAs LMAO

maverick1701