I drive a 2008 2 Door X as a DD and am currently in college. In high school and begining of college I did alot of off roading but I dont have the time anymore and put alot of highway hours on my jeep these days. One day she will be a trailer queen but until then I need to get my jeep to be more road tame, my girlfriend hates driving the Jeep long distance so we have to take her Jetta instead....SUCKS!!. So help me out!

Currently my jeep has a Teraflex 2.5 spacer lift, 4dr springs (Im guessing about 3.5" of total lift with 285/70r17's) and the Shocks are pro comp es9000's. I have a rear track bar brack and brake line extensions but my control arms,track bars, steering stabilizer, sway bars are all stock. After beating the hell out of it for 4 years it just doesnt drive as well on the road as it used to. So whats the best/cheapest solution? The steering seems alot more "loose" that it did when she was stock.

would aftermarket arms/trackbar help?

Better quality shocks?

any wrenching tips that may help perhaps? I kinda in the dark on this one and cannot afford a better lift right right.

Greatly appreciate any tips/tricks that may help me!!!

 

Most inexpensive solution - it's a jeep. Get used to it. Ditch the girlfriend. buy better mods.

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Spacer lift - ditch it. It kills ride quality big time (had 1 3/4" kit. threw it out. bought AEV 3.5)
Shocks - depends how much you abused it. maybe
trackbar/arms - it just keeps your axle aligned in place. doesn't affect much of your ride unless the bushings are toast and rotted out.
4dr springs - if you know 100% that you were lifted by using 4dr springs...that meant stiffer springs. Stiffer springs = lower ride quality.

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distribution of weight - possibly be a cause. heavy bumper, winch and engine in the front with hardly any weight in the rear compared to the front. especially since all you're doing to correct balance is a spacer kit and 4dr springs...

my .02

 

^^I don't know about that. GF are pretty fun rides. Keep her and get some better springs/shocks.

 

Yeah my girl gives wayyyyy better rides than my jeep does.....


wont aftermarket springs be pretty stiff? Stiffer than stock springs? If new springs will help the ride that would be an easy swap

 

You could always search CL for brand new Control Arms and Track bars. You can usually pick up a full set for ~$100

 

Most of the ride softness comes from the spring/shock combination.

You probably won't go for coil-overs, so the softer coils are Full Traction or ARB, which are softer than others, including stock springs.


I use Full Traction 4" lift springs & re-valveable FOX shocks. The ride is way softer than stock.
They also have lower lifts than 4".
If it's still too hard for you, you can re-valve the shocks. The valves for the up or down movement can be tuned separately.

Another thing that can make the ride much better is eliminating the rear radius arm.
It causes the rear axle to wiggle sideways and imposes constant steering corrections, especially at higher road speeds (more noticeable on a JK than on a JKU).
The Full Traction CRC replaces that arm, and eliminates the sideways movement of the rear axle.
It considerably improved the directional stability of my JKU.
A 2-door, because it's shorter, is more affected by the rear axle wiggle, and the steering improvement by the CRC would be greater.

 

Awesome response. Looks like full traction springs are in my future thanks for the advice!

 

Or............drop your tire pressure down to around 23 lbs?

I run 20-25lbs during the worst part of winter for traction. Rides like a Town car.