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Lovingly caring for Dan's Crack Pipe...

Discussion in 'Flat Fender Tech' started by w3srl, Dec 16, 2006.

  1. w3srl

    w3srl All-around swell dude Staff Member

    Ok, I did some major rearranging of the garage today and managed to get the Jeep back inside. Several :beer:s later I began to reconsider the idea of doing a shackle reversal and a mild lift.

    Now, most of the guys who have gone with an "off-the-shelf" lift have reported varying degrees of harshness in the ride quality. I'm guessing that this is due to the spring rate of the "kit" springs. I want to keep my "new" stock-rate springs to keep the "nice" ride that I now have. R)

    What I'm pondering is doing a modest (1"-2" at most) lift by simply grinding the stock spring mounts off the frame and adding a short piece of rectangular tubing in between the frame and the mounts, then welding a ne set of mounts on the underside of the pieces of "lift" tubing. In the process, I figgered I might as well do a shackle reversal while I'm at it, which should correct the negative caster angle that my longer front shackles induced. :rofl:

    Whaddaya guys think?

    I'm thinking that I should be able to keep the nice ride quality, while gaining a bit of clearance in the process. Mebbe enough to go with the 34's like Billy has on Animal, but that will have to wait until I have the $$$ to do the Dauntless swap...
     
    w3srl, Dec 16, 2006
    #1
  2. Hawk62cj5

    Hawk62cj5 Captain of OldSchool

    Ummmmmmmm oh boy

    Seen it done around here some , Sheep lift . If you do it right you gain clearance but dont gain any more flex. Ive saw it done poorly around here to , in which you gain alot of headaches , but that applies to everything I guess.

    The Worst Ive saw was a ford that had cut and lowed buckets on the front and blocks on the back. The truck changed hands more times then I could keep up with.

    BTW I like my BDS lift and more shackles.
     
    Hawk62cj5, Dec 16, 2006
    #2
  3. jd7

    jd7 Sponsor

    Had a friend that had a 72 Cj5 with the suspension lifted like this. He didn't do it himself but bought it like that. From what I remember it rode as good an any with stock springs of that era. Who ever did it did a good job using square tubing to make the drops, boxed and welded and done nicely. Basically looked like the factory just did a drop for the suspension. Don't know about longevity though he sold it a while back but he never had any problems with u-joints I can remember. of course ymmv, hth, etc.:beer:
     
    jd7, Dec 16, 2006
    #3
  4. Glenn

    Glenn Kinda grumpy old man Staff Member

    I think that if shackle reversal was a good thing that once they tried it on the A1 all Jeeps would have had it from then on. And lift springs tend to soften up a bit once they're used, so the harshness does go away some. Also you get used to it.
     
    Glenn, Dec 16, 2006
    #4
  5. DanStew

    DanStew Preowned Merkin salesman Staff Member

    I debated the issue for so long before i went with my wrangler spring conversion, since i was adding new perches i had the chance to change it. As for all thepros and cons i kept the original setup. For me it seemed it was better to keep it as is. Only ral issue i saw to use it was that road driving was better. but that is about it. But that is what i saw out of it. Choose wisely young skywalker.. the power of the crack pipe is powerful. :)
     
    DanStew, Dec 16, 2006
    #5
  6. cj5 buggy

    cj5 buggy Member

    Personally Steve... i wouldn't touch it... i think it looks great as is. and if you keep getting hung on little rocks on the trail we'll be thier for that little shove you need :beer:
     
    cj5 buggy, Dec 16, 2006
    #6
  7. willysworker

    willysworker Member

    I believe that a shackle reversal is not needed for general off-roading and crawling. High speed wheeling and hi-way driving, yes it's better. And I plan on doing it on my Willys Wagon project in the future.
    Stock flatfender springs(new or old) do not ride well and nothing will fix that. Holbrook 4x4 has longer springs which greatly improve the ride. And give about 3-1/2" of lift. For my flat fender, here's what I did and got the better ride and only about 2" lift. I frenched the hangers in the frame. This gave me the ride, and lift I wanted plus corrected the pinion angles without shimms. I've also kept a lower center of gravity and helped clean up the underside of the frame with much stronger mounts.
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
    willysworker, Dec 16, 2006
    #7
  8. BlueFlu

    BlueFlu past owner of some ecj5's

    YJ springs Steve. :D
     
    BlueFlu, Dec 16, 2006
    #8
  9. speedbuggy

    speedbuggy Looking for a Jeep now

    I can't thing of 1 reason why it wouldn't work. If that's the look you're going for, I say do it ;)
     
    speedbuggy, Dec 16, 2006
    #9
  10. jpflat2a

    jpflat2a what's that noise?

    if it isn't broke
    why fix it
    leave it stock
     
    jpflat2a, Dec 16, 2006
    #10
  11. karlvin08

    karlvin08 I R SMRT

    Well i would say that if you only plan to gain a couple of inches then go for it, but one suggestion would be that instead of putting the square tubing between the frame and the spring mount, why not just fab up some new taller spring mounts with the proper gusseting. If you did this only those really in the know about jeeps would realize they weren't from the factory, and you would have less trouble on those pesky annual PA inspections. I think making them yourself would be the way to go as there would be less chance of them folding over to the side than a piece with multiple weld joints in it, and it should be easier to get them straight if you don't have several points at which they could get out of alignment
     
    karlvin08, Dec 16, 2006
    #11
  12. 63CJ5UNIVERSAL

    63CJ5UNIVERSAL Member

    I love the title of this post.

    No tech info. to contribute
     
    63CJ5UNIVERSAL, Dec 20, 2006
    #12
  13. trailcrawler

    trailcrawler Central Ohio Cj'er

    Off topic but I like that skid plate Willysworker.
     
    trailcrawler, Dec 20, 2006
    #13
  14. NoFlyZone

    NoFlyZone Member

    ditto on the skid plate


    Why? That is the big question here. Do you plan on going bigger tires? If not then what good is the lift? You shouldn't have any rubbing issues other than maybe the fronts rubbing the springs when turning but a lift isn't going to fix that.
     
    NoFlyZone, Dec 22, 2006
    #14
  15. willysworker

    willysworker Member

    thanks.
     
    willysworker, Dec 22, 2006
    #15