The background-

I had my Rock Krawler 5.5 installed a couple of months ago with Fox Resi shocks. The ride was pretty rough so I took the shocks off and had Fox soften them up, which helped (Id say a 20% improvement). This is a big lift so I was thinking it probably needs a long arm to smoothen out the ride. I just spent 14k on the thing and don't have the bread to do it, so as a temporary fix, I threw on the AEV drop brackets (I know) and that helped with the initial impact quite a bit and seemed to smooth it out. Now 2k miles later the Jeep is riding rough again (About the same as before).

When your going straight and hit a series of bumps or undulations the whole thing wallows (Feels like Jello), which is weird because when I take on on/off ramp it feels very stable. I am at a loss at this point what's causing this ruff/marshmallow ride. Could it be something loose like a track bar or something? My tires are MT MTZ which are D rated and run at 25 lbs (I HAVE TRIED ALL KINDS OF PRESSURES). Any ideas? I am taking it back to the shop that did the work on Friday to have them check it out and possibly tighten anything that's lose.

 

Check the torque on the track bar and control arms. If not, could it possibly be in your head?

 

Make sure the shop tightened all bolts with full weight on the wheels and not while they were hanging on the lift. This would preload the bushings wrong. With that much lift expect a stiff ride as the farther the control arms get from level the more it transmits force to the frame vs the springs.

 

I would one at a time loosen and re-torque all the arms and trackbars with the wheels on flat level ground.

If these were torqued on a lift and not on the ground, the bushings will be binding and the suspension will have an elastic binding feel.

 

The jeep rides rough or it is to soft? You hint to both conditions... Without a doubt a loose track bar or component can cause some play in the way your rig rides/handles. It almost seems like you need to check the hardware on the drop brackets. With more leverage on them due to the added leverage things have on them now it may have loosened the hardware or even cracked a bracket. Its hard to say for sure without checking. Also just a side note but when the drop brackets were installed were the control arms readjusted? If not then the axles may very well be out of place and caster/pinion angles could have been affected.

RK

 

Thanks guys, definitely not in my head. The ride was never soft, it has always been stiff. it just got a little better after I had the shocks softened and the drop brackets put on. I did have the alignment done after the control arm brackets done and the caster was at 5 (Its the same shop that did/does Rebels jeeps), and that's where they said it should be. Do I need to tell the shop to not even put the jeep on the rack and do everything with it on the ground?

 

So the ride is very firm...Like a marshmallow you say..Got it.

 

If you didn't have ADD I would take the time to explain it for you!

 

Maybe you have your shocks too soft now. Your springs are firm, but when you hit a series of bumps, the shocks cant control them and you get your mushy feel as they continue to cycle a few times after the bumps.

CM

 

I'm pretty sure its not that because I had a one hour conversation with fox about not making them too soft as to lose their off-road ability, they were pretty adamant on that.

The ride is not mushy actually, the ride is actually still pretty firm. The problem is when you go over a series of undulations or a series of bumps in the road that are close together, the whole jeep wallows and feels unstable. As soon as that series is over it rides normal again. It doesn't act like this over every bump, just when the pavement has that series of bumps or the sunken in undulations. The body kind of sways during this time, like your sitting on a bowl of Jello and someone shakes it is the best way to describe this. So again, ride is not soft or mushy at all. I wish I could explain it better, I know it sounds a little odd.