Not too much flex. Can I do something about it? UPDATED!!!!!

[Mex in the city]

I have BJ's 6" kit. Ride isn't exactly soft, but I don't really care about that since this is not a daily driver. The problem is lack of flexing capability. As you can see in the pics below, the axles are almost paralell to the body.

Has anyone tried removing a leaf (or leaves) from the BJ's spring packs to improve flexing??? If so, which one??? Did it work??? What about ride quality and spring sag???

http://carphotos.cardomain.com/ride_images/3/2268/2781/30668890039_large.jpg



http://carphotos.cardomain.com/ride_images/3/2268/2781/30668890040_large.jpg

Thank you all in advance.

[j20brett]

Remove overload spring if you dont carry much wieght. And springs that are arched that much arent gonna flex like mad but should be a little better than shown. Possibly just the way the weight is distributed in the pic.

[duncanstives]

Sure your shock or something are not maxing out? That really doesn't seem like much flex....

[orangecherokee]

what Ranchos are you running? Part #?

[Mex in the city]

Rancho RS9000XL. They're part of the kit I got from BJ's.

what Ranchos are you running? Part #?

[Wagonslayer]

Unbolt your shocks from the bottem then flex it out then pull the shock down and see if it goes past your stock mounts or not.If not your shocks are too short. Also you could remove the rear spring clamp and/or loosen up the shackle bolts.

[Wagonslayer]

You should also move the lower shock mounts to the middle or top pf the tube (less to hang up on) plus it will give you 3-6 inches of more droop out of those shocks.

[draglink]

Off topic but I really like those doors, they turned out great!:thumbsup: How about some more pics of them and the bumper/tire carrier, that turned out nice!

[bushwood44]

Put some miles on the springs

[Tad]

Nice looking rig and especially the doors.
Sort of why I went SOA instead of a 6" kit.
It's to be expected I guess but I bet if you keep flexing it they will get a bit more limber.

Like was said above (I think):
Since it's not a DD, take the shocks off and do the same thing again, you may have very different results

[Blake]

Buy some stock springs and mount them on top of the axles.

[Casey]

You're the first person to ever say that the BJ's 6" lift rides rough.

NO, wait...that was me. :D


:hide:



Good looking rig! :cool:

[moorehouse77]

I'm pretty sure its been about a year of daily driving and a few offroad trips since I put on my 4" softride springs and they are just now starting to flex. I tried different shocks and different torque amounts on shackle bolts and leaving it flexed over night and so on and so on and these were used springs when i got them. So far the only thing that has made a noticable difference is time and bouncing around offroad. 6" springs will take longer to settle than my 4" springs so you probably have while to go but I have seen pics of that kit flexing nicely so just keep wheeling it!!!:fsj:


Dave.

[Cherokee Squeak]

How long is the shackle? If the shackle is too short, the spring wont compress all the way, or your shackle may even be hitting something and not allowing full compression.

[Stuka]

If the springs are new, they need to brake in. Also, if you have the sway bar hooked up, remove it.

I have had a 6" spring kit for ages now, and it flexes great (now). Not quite as good flat springs with an SOA, but still pretty good.

But also, have you tried flexing it on level ground? When you are off camber like that, its pretty normal to get a tire in the air like that. I think My JK with its 4 link and coils would still have a tire in the air in that position.

[TPICherokee]

Something isn't right... here is mine years ago in Ouray with our 6" lift:

http://www.bjsoffroad.com/jeeps/flex.jpg

http://www.bjsoffroad.com/jeeps/flexrear.jpg

http://www.bjsoffroad.com/jeeps/flexrfront.jpg

Looks like the only thing stopping the rear flex is the tires since I went to a J-truck axle (wider than the Chief axle)

[billyrb]

You're the first person to ever say that the BJ's 6" lift rides rough.

NO, wait...that was me. :D


:hide:


Nah Casey, you just installed them wrong :D

[CutterN55]

I had the same thing with my 6" Bj's. It's probably not your shocks. You need to beat the piss out of those springs to get them to soften up. I have removed my track bars and sway bars. THe six inch springs aren't going to allow as much flex as a spring with less lift. I wish I would have used a spring with less lift (2"?)and gone SOA and a steering setup. It's a good lift, but you just gotta watch the flop-over factor. If you pull a leaf out, let me know how it goes and how much sag you get, if any.

[FSJ Guy]

If you over torque your shackle bolts, you will have little to no flex. Check the instructions. The proper torque settings were much lower than I expected.

[Mex in the city]

Thanks everybody for your replies. Here's some more infor about this rig:

Springs are about 1.5 years old. This rig is used for wheeling only and unfortunately, I don't do that every day. In the last 18 months, it has been more like once a month in average.

It didn't came with track bars and I removed the sway bar.

Shackles are stock.

Things I plan to check based on everybody's suggestions:

1. Disconnect the shocks to see if there's an improvement.

2. Shackle (and spring's while I'm at it) bolts torque.

It would be easy to remove a leaf, but I know for sure that 3 things will hapen (I used to be a spring design engineer):

Spring rate will decrease (desirable, softer spring = more flex).

Height at design load will decrease (Not desirable but might be acceptable if not too much).

Stress level will increase (Not desirable since it can cause premature spring sag).

I still have the stock springs, so I could go SOA. But that will be a last resort. I will try to make this kit work. I'll keep you guys posted.

Thanks again.

[jeepjerry]

Remove overload spring if you dont carry much wieght. And springs that are arched that much arent gonna flex like mad but should be a little better than shown. Possibly just the way the weight is distributed in the pic.

yeah, doesnt look like there is enough pressure on the tires to flex the springs. Looks like it would easily flip over from that point though.

[coyote220]

Install a front/rear locker. That'll make up for the lack of flex!

[jeepjerry]

BTW,.....how do you like the BFG m/t KM2's?? I plan on getting a set.

[Mex in the city]

I already have lockrites front and rear, and I still think I need more articulation.

I like KM2. Quieter than BFG MT KM that I have in my daily driver.

[Mex in the city]

Well, I think I found the problem. Or part of it at least. Yesterday I tried jacking up the front right tire to see how much flex I was able to see and saw nothing. Then I took a closer look. Here's what I found:

http://carphotos.cardomain.com/ride_images/3/2268/2781/30668890046_large.jpg

I must admit that this is embarrasing. I installed the kit myself and I'm sure it was OK. I have no idea of when this happened or how long I have been wheeling like this.

I didn't have time to correct it since I spent most of the weekend working on the TBI conversion on my other Waggy. And since I can't work on them every weekend, I will probably have to wait about 2 weeks to fix it.

Thanks everybody for your recomendations.

[fireman91186]

That could very well be the problem.

[j20brett]

Lol that will do it every time :thumbsup: at least you found it

[skeletor]

your lucky it didnt bend/break the spring.

[FSJ Guy]

You can weld a tab to act as a bump stop for your shackle. Then your Jeep will find something else weird to do in order to embarrass you. :D

[ARouser]

nice shackle angle :lol:

at least you found the culprit

x2 on adding the tab to keep the inversion from happening :thumbsup:

[Casey]

x2 on adding the tab to keep the inversion from happening :thumbsup:

x3

Better than having your buddies drive two hours to pick up another spring so you can fix it in the dirt with a hi-lift and hand tools. :o

[Dirt Wag]

That would definitely reduce the flex! ........... to about ZERO!

Mine did that too --- I installed 1" lift shackles from BJ's Offroad so it wouldn't happen again.

[bigdogwaggy]

glad to see you figured it out.. now fix, flex, pic's..

[jeeping1974]

That should not take too long to fix. Nice job finding it.

[AlsChopShop]

you can replace your front shackles with chevy rear shackles (about 1" longer) to keep that from happening. it will only raise the front about 0.5".

Al