The ride quality and on road handling performance of my 09 Unlimited diesel is starting to make me sea sick. What options are there to improve the on road handling of the wrangler? At the moment it feels very under dampened and rolly.

I cant lift it as it just fits in my buildings car park as it is.
It is mostly drivin on road with the mothly trail run and beach driving.

My plan is:
285-70-17 BFG ATs
Spidertrax spacers
Edelbrock shocks (had a set on a ram 1500 and they transformed it)

I am also going to ask my dealer about the castor kit that is used on death wobble jeeps here.
Do track bars and other bits like that do anything on a stock height jeep?

 

I think shocks will be your best bet. In order to keep your rig flatter ideally you want to do 1 of 2 things; Stiffen your spring rate or get a thicker sway bar. Neither of these things are really beneficial to your offroad capability so I don't know if there is much support for this. Your shocks will atleast dampen the motion which will reduce the perception of your jeep swaying back and forth when in reality it will still do the same things just in a slower manner.

 

Thanks for that. I think new shocks is a must.

I dont thing there is much in the way of stiffer swaybars out ther seeing how most guys disconect them for wheeling although a thicker set would fix up the body roll easily.

Anyone have info or experiance with changing track bars or the castor kit?

 

I don't know what a "castor kit" is.

The way that most people adjust their caster angle is with adjustable control arms - either shortening the upper front arms, lengthening the lower front arms, or a combination of both. Doing this allows you to adjust the caster of a lifted Jeep back to it's stock setting of 4.6 degrees (or maybe a little higher).

If your Jeeps suspension is stock and you're not happy with it's on-road performance, please understand that most of the aftermarket parts out there are designed to improve off-road performance. They generally will not improve on-road performance. In most cases, adding these will improve off-road performance and adversely affect on-road handling. The very best engineering will allow you to retain 95% of stock on-road attributes while improving off-road performance.

Likewise aftermarket track bars are designed to re-center axles that have shifted laterally due to suspension lifts.

Aftermarket sway bars built for Jeeps are generally designed to provide less roll mitigation, and not more. Most of us just disconnect our sway bars when off-road. While a stiffer sway bar would provide better on-road handling and reduce body roll, I don't think that anyone makes one for the JK.

A JK will have more body roll and less stability than most vehicles when it's on road. That's just the nature of the beast. A JK is designed to flex freely when off-road...that's why it has two solid axles.

New shocks will improve the dampening of the suspension for sure...but they will not stiffen up the coils. If you are looking for stiff, tight suspension that will provide good on-road performance in a Jeep, here's the solution that is most likely to make you happy:

 

castor kit? I guess the only thing that comes to my mind is cam bolts...hell I've got a pair sitting in the garage that are pretty much garbage to me. I suppose for your purpose they would be adequate....but I would think that on a stock ride increasing castor isn't really going to improve anything at all, maybe even induce driveline vibration and kill your front driveshaft. Stock, the wrangler comes with +4.2 degrees caster I believe which is plenty....much more than that and it may induce driveline vibe.
anyways...I'm sorry I gotta be that guy...why did you expect a Jeep to perform or handle like a car on road? I understand your looking for ways to improve it's handling and reduce roll...but short of your already proposed shock improvement, and wider tires I can't think of much that will help

 

You could probably get coils made at your desired spring rates but it's a package deal really. Without adequate dampening from some nice new shocks you will probly just make it bouncy. Any one know if theres an aftermarket spring perch you can weld in place of the rear lower factory ones? If our JK could receive a normal set of coils there are plenty of places you can order custom wound springs as long as you know your inner/outer diameter, length and spring rate you are after.

 

Front and rear coilovers.

 

If you look passed that they are fuckin sweet and realize they're just a pair of springs and shocks that don't do any thing magical as far as onroad performance. Usually they have dual rate springs that would IMO make for more of the sway that he's experiencing now since the initial spring rate is normally softer than average.

 

Coilovers deliver "good" on-road handling because they are often paired with a long arm system, and normally include a very good quality nitrogen shock.

They are not going to improve overall on-road handling above the stock level. Simple physics mean that the attributes of a suspension system that functions well off-road are simply different than the attributes of a suspension system that functions well on-road.

The articulation that will allow you to handle nasty obstacles off-road translates into body roll when you're in a corner on-road.

This is not to say that a top quality coil-over will not deliver a stable, comfortable, well-mannered ride on the street...a good quality coil/shock combo like OME will provide a similar ride as well. The problem is that that OP is looking for less body roll and more suspension dampening than what the stock system provides. The dampening is do-able with shocks...decreasing body roll can be done to a small extent with stiffer coils - but at a price in terms of comfort.

The bottom line is that the relatively high center of gravity and long suspension travel that are needed to give the JK it's off-road performance are not conducive to handling like a sports car.

For the OP, I'll sum it up. You can spend a moderate amount of money and get a small improvement in on-road handling (better shocks). You will see better dampening. You could also spend a lot of money and get less body roll (new shocks and custom coils that are stiffer and maybe a little shorter). Understand that no matter what you do, your JK will never deliver anything that even approaches the on-road handling that your wife's Legacy has...which means that the performance you've gotten used to seeing from the WRX and Evo are way, way out of the question.

 

Thanks for the feed back guys.

Looks like shocks will be the best solution that wont lessen my off road-ability.

I dont think the SRT will doo well in deep sand

the 2007 Wrangler FSM mentions ( and shows ) Mopar cam bolts for caster adjustment. Mentions the location pressings etc on the lower control arms and the need to extend the holes.

Seems that was Jeeps idea all along so a dealer "should" know about the option - if they read their own literature.......

Its a damm sight less expensive than adjustable control arms and given its a factory part.