Are you saying here that currently your LJ rides stiff?
Suspension setup for Expedition travel in a 2005 Jeep Rubicon Unlimited
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Are you saying here that currently your LJ rides stiff?
RedRocker
Adventurer
I'm running OME on my 06 LJ with a 1.25 body lift on 33 10.50 BFG TA's.
I drove it from Texas to Green River UT and wheeled in the Swell
for a week. Comfortable on the highway and never needed a locker due to
all wheels staying on the ground. The other things I've done with this setup
is Gold Bar Rim and PS Mesa in Moab, no lockers there either. Coming from a
CJ 7 I have to say this setup works really well with a lot more comfort in my
old age. :ylsmoke:
I drove it from Texas to Green River UT and wheeled in the Swell
for a week. Comfortable on the highway and never needed a locker due to
all wheels staying on the ground. The other things I've done with this setup
is Gold Bar Rim and PS Mesa in Moab, no lockers there either. Coming from a
CJ 7 I have to say this setup works really well with a lot more comfort in my
old age. :ylsmoke:
mmmlafayette
New member
Full Traction 6" long arms with 35" BFG AT gives a good/comfortable highway ride and a vehicle capable of the tough trails and longer expeditions.
http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=60348&d=1296260058
Only problem I have had on the highways in Colorado is a lack of power going over passes, etc. Just put in a 6.0L Vortec.
http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=60348&d=1296260058
Only problem I have had on the highways in Colorado is a lack of power going over passes, etc. Just put in a 6.0L Vortec.
KMET
Adventurer
here's my setup
REAR
AEV's Rear Spring Relocator Kit & Old Man EMU 2" coils.
Total height, 3.625. RE fixed lowers, AEV adjustable uppers.
FRONT
RE 3.5" springs, Currie Adj TB, RE fixed lowers, stock uppers. & Crown steering.
bilstein 5100 shocks all around.
BrownDog 1" MML
No wobble, or vibration of any kind. I've run both 285's & 315's without issue, over rocks or highway.
REAR
AEV's Rear Spring Relocator Kit & Old Man EMU 2" coils.
Total height, 3.625. RE fixed lowers, AEV adjustable uppers.
FRONT
RE 3.5" springs, Currie Adj TB, RE fixed lowers, stock uppers. & Crown steering.
bilstein 5100 shocks all around.
BrownDog 1" MML
No wobble, or vibration of any kind. I've run both 285's & 315's without issue, over rocks or highway.
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I've spent a lot of time over several jeeps analyzing what leads to a good ride and I've come to the following conclusions which isn't a parts list so much as a build philosophy.
1) Ride Height. Lower = Better from a comfort standpoint for two primary reasons. First, flatter control arm angles which have been discussed to death on every forum. Second, picture your jeep from the side with a triangle superimposed on it. The two lower corners of the triangle are your front and rear hubs and the top corner is your butt. Now, imagine your jeep going through an endless series of whoops and pitching back and forth. The higher your butt is the longer the legs of the triangle are and the more exagerrated the fore/aft pitching you are going to experience. This theory also works from side to side.
2) Unsprung/Sprung weight ratio. Heavy axles, tires, and wheels are going to make your jeep ride worse than lighter ones if the rest of the jeep weighs the same. So spend a few extra $$ on aluminum wheels and either beef up your existing axles or spring for a custom 609/9" set before you throw those heavy 60s under there. You could also make your jeep ride better by increasing sprung weight, but I still try to keep my jeep as light as possible because lower overall weight will make it stop/go/turn better and they seem to get heavy all on their own anyway.
3) Triangulated three/four link out back. Get rid of the rear panhard with this suspension setup. Ever pulled up a curb and had your head do the side to side head swing? That's the rear panhard which runs opposite of the front panhard. Unless your going full hydro you can't get rid of the front, so triangulate the rear and get rid of the panhard back there. A panhard is sometimes also called a track bar by jeep guys.
4) Wheelbase. As long as you are getting rid of the rear panhard and triangulating, stretch the rear. On an LJ, just drop the tank, cut out that rear brace, and bolt the tank in the stock tj location 5" further back. Then move your axle. You're basically putting the rear tires and tank in the same spot as a tj in relation to the rear of the jeep. Increasing the wheelbase has an effect similar to lowering the jeep as far as the hub/butt triangle we discussed earlier goes (again, increasing tract width also helps similarly). It will decrease your break over angle, but your departure angle will be better. And it's a big job, but doing that and getting rid of the panhard back there will yield ride comfort
dividends.
5) Up Travel. The more up travel you have jn your suspension before you encounter bump stops, the more your suspension can soak up the bumps before they get to your butt. Ideally you want to keep your ride height low, but have a bunch of uptravel. The more of a fabricator you are, the more you can get. I think 4" is minimum and 6" is better.
Other than this it's a matter of tuning your spring shock combo. If you are willing to go the extra mile, run a suspension frequency calculation to determine ideal spring rates at each corner for your particular jeep. Coil overs are awesome from a tune ability standpoint. I may try ORIs is spring which have a packaging advantage because they are shock/spring/swaybar/bump all built into one.
Hope this isn't too overwhelming, but the geometry I talked about makes way more difference than which off the shelf spring/shock to use all of which are compromises of varying degrees.
1) Ride Height. Lower = Better from a comfort standpoint for two primary reasons. First, flatter control arm angles which have been discussed to death on every forum. Second, picture your jeep from the side with a triangle superimposed on it. The two lower corners of the triangle are your front and rear hubs and the top corner is your butt. Now, imagine your jeep going through an endless series of whoops and pitching back and forth. The higher your butt is the longer the legs of the triangle are and the more exagerrated the fore/aft pitching you are going to experience. This theory also works from side to side.
2) Unsprung/Sprung weight ratio. Heavy axles, tires, and wheels are going to make your jeep ride worse than lighter ones if the rest of the jeep weighs the same. So spend a few extra $$ on aluminum wheels and either beef up your existing axles or spring for a custom 609/9" set before you throw those heavy 60s under there. You could also make your jeep ride better by increasing sprung weight, but I still try to keep my jeep as light as possible because lower overall weight will make it stop/go/turn better and they seem to get heavy all on their own anyway.
3) Triangulated three/four link out back. Get rid of the rear panhard with this suspension setup. Ever pulled up a curb and had your head do the side to side head swing? That's the rear panhard which runs opposite of the front panhard. Unless your going full hydro you can't get rid of the front, so triangulate the rear and get rid of the panhard back there. A panhard is sometimes also called a track bar by jeep guys.
4) Wheelbase. As long as you are getting rid of the rear panhard and triangulating, stretch the rear. On an LJ, just drop the tank, cut out that rear brace, and bolt the tank in the stock tj location 5" further back. Then move your axle. You're basically putting the rear tires and tank in the same spot as a tj in relation to the rear of the jeep. Increasing the wheelbase has an effect similar to lowering the jeep as far as the hub/butt triangle we discussed earlier goes (again, increasing tract width also helps similarly). It will decrease your break over angle, but your departure angle will be better. And it's a big job, but doing that and getting rid of the panhard back there will yield ride comfort
dividends.
5) Up Travel. The more up travel you have jn your suspension before you encounter bump stops, the more your suspension can soak up the bumps before they get to your butt. Ideally you want to keep your ride height low, but have a bunch of uptravel. The more of a fabricator you are, the more you can get. I think 4" is minimum and 6" is better.
Other than this it's a matter of tuning your spring shock combo. If you are willing to go the extra mile, run a suspension frequency calculation to determine ideal spring rates at each corner for your particular jeep. Coil overs are awesome from a tune ability standpoint. I may try ORIs is spring which have a packaging advantage because they are shock/spring/swaybar/bump all built into one.
Hope this isn't too overwhelming, but the geometry I talked about makes way more difference than which off the shelf spring/shock to use all of which are compromises of varying degrees.
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kevinofcamelot
Observer
AEV Nth degree suspension all the way, you cannot get a better suspension for 05
hollaback55
Explorer
it really depends on your wallet and what you plan to do with the vehicle.
if you have the $$$ then the best option is to go with a tunable shock and get your vehicle weighed at all 4 corners for proper valving and spring rate choice. also if you are more into desert racing (going fast) then you will need to run a hydraulic or air bump of some sort to get the extra benefit from those shocks and to lessen the load on the vehicle as it travels over bumps.
my setup that works well for washboard and for crawling is this:
AEV B rate LJ springs rear, TJ springs front
Custom valved Bilstein 5160's all corners
custom spring relocation rear with light racing jounces 1.5's
light racing jounces front
AEV stinger slider combo rear
i have about 3 1/4" of lift and run a AEV hyline kit (allows me to fit 37's)
i'm planning on stretching the rear, just have to work around the stinger issue first. the front has a 3" stretch built into it and runs all jk steering.
the jeep handles rocks like its made for them and then can run down washboard at 50-70 no problem. the issue for me was always the cost of the parts and having them fabricated properly into the vehicle. overlanding requires a spring that is progressive in my opinion as when you add 300-500 lbs of weight in the rear performance will really suffer unless you can adjust the rate (coilovers). they are a great option imo for that reason plus packaging is must cleaner and neater.
if you have the $$$ then the best option is to go with a tunable shock and get your vehicle weighed at all 4 corners for proper valving and spring rate choice. also if you are more into desert racing (going fast) then you will need to run a hydraulic or air bump of some sort to get the extra benefit from those shocks and to lessen the load on the vehicle as it travels over bumps.
my setup that works well for washboard and for crawling is this:
AEV B rate LJ springs rear, TJ springs front
Custom valved Bilstein 5160's all corners
custom spring relocation rear with light racing jounces 1.5's
light racing jounces front
AEV stinger slider combo rear
i have about 3 1/4" of lift and run a AEV hyline kit (allows me to fit 37's)
i'm planning on stretching the rear, just have to work around the stinger issue first. the front has a 3" stretch built into it and runs all jk steering.
the jeep handles rocks like its made for them and then can run down washboard at 50-70 no problem. the issue for me was always the cost of the parts and having them fabricated properly into the vehicle. overlanding requires a spring that is progressive in my opinion as when you add 300-500 lbs of weight in the rear performance will really suffer unless you can adjust the rate (coilovers). they are a great option imo for that reason plus packaging is must cleaner and neater.
Attachments
This is good advice!
BTW, I had the OME springs and shocks on my LJ. The HD rear springs are too soft, the fronts too stiff. The OME shocks are good, but too stiff as well, imo, I would try Bilsteins instead. I found about 3.5" of lift and 33's about right for all around use, not too tall, not too short.
I was ready to switch to AEV's Nth set up, but decided I needed the room of a JKU.
JPK
tommym
Observer
sounds like you have a pretty good setup as it sits, why do you need to change anything for expedition. runs. You can come across tough sections on an expedition where that good articulation from rock crawling can come in real handy. I have an LJ Rubi 4.5 LA kit with Bilsteins, on 35's and it does really well if I do a run like the Mojave Rd or down to Mexico, and yet I have run the Hammers, and the Rubicon, I would not change a thing.
Maybe you can enlighten me.
Maybe you can enlighten me.
socaljeeper
Adventurer
I have been looking into changing my suspension in my TJ and I am leaning towards the full Currie set up. They are progressive springs and the Johnny Joint's in the control arms from what I have read are top notch. Everyone seems to say that relocating the upper rear spring perches and running out boarded fox shocks which gains 5 inches of upward travel provides a significant change in the ride. Savvy Off Road just developed a Currie/Savvy 3" lift kit that your may want to look into. Look for Gerald and Mrblaine, they are with Savvy, on www.JeepForum.com and there is a wealth of information from them.
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Bigjerm
SE Expedition Society
You are good. Rubicons dont need the SYE because its a different set-up than the non Rubi (like I have). This is a great thread. I have an LJ as well but not as well done as yours, yet. Current suspension is a cheap 2" ProComp lift installed by the previous owner, then a 1" BL, some Metalcloak fenders, 35's and an Antirock up front set 1 notch away from the softest setting... no comfort in my set up!
socaljeeper
Adventurer
Rubicons already have a fixed yoke, so yes a SYE is not needed. I would however not use the transfer case drop that comes with most lifts and get a double cardan drive shaft with some adjustable control arms in the back to adjust the pinion angle.
nwoods
Expedition Leader
I had Currie 4" short arm kit, 1" body lift (for Nth degree tummy tuck), Rancho 9000 adjustable shocks, and AEV progressive rate coils. It was fantastic.
I did break one once, but AEV shipped me another:
