Great Lakes 4x4. The largest offroad forum in the Midwest banner

Coilover question

3K views 29 replies 11 participants last post by  moparhorse 
#1 ·
Last year I bought new coilovers for the rear of my jeep this year I would like to do the front, which is currently air shocks. I get a lot of body roll because I don't run sway bars as it is a trailer queen and never road driven.
My question is this, Would my vehicle be more stable if I ordered coil overs and ran 50% droop and 50% up travel? My rear is 80% droop 20% up travel. I think I remember a thread on hard-line crawlers that said it would be more stable at 50-50 but then again I read that on the Internet.
I'm looking for answer from somebody who has experience with this issue and not somebody who's friend of a friend new this guy that one time this thing happen to.
Any help would be great thanks.
 
#4 ·
And to be honest I've seen coilovers on extreme angles a lot lately. I came across this pic online the other day.

I defiantly like the look of mine better. And I had the room to do it so it would have been stupid not to.
 
#15 ·
notice how wide on the axle the shock mounts are, i would think this would help a little with stability. im guessing your shocks are not vary far apart on your axle. Also is there any chance your link geometry is causing some instability. or maybe your rig is just tall and you are quite top heavy. if you cant find anything i gaurantee a sway bar would help.
 
#5 ·
I have 16" Pro Fenders on the rear. I can put 16s on the front too but they would be 20%up 80%down. My bumps will stop me at 20 anyways and my straps will limit me at 55-60.
If I went with a 12 or 14" coilover I would e closer to 50-50 with a more firm spring.
 
#6 ·
there is very little difference in body sway with a coilover vs an air shock. (without a sway bar) body roll is 100% controled by valving, which air shocks and coilovers both have. The only difference is that an air shock is going to experience heat fade much faster than a coilover.
 
#8 ·
I should clarify too. When I say body roll I don't mean driving 55 and turning a corner.
I'm saying when I get in an off camper position, like the hole jeep is sideways on a hill it flops down hill. And the suspension unloads.
When I added oil to the fox air shock it helped a lot. But now they don't work properly because I had to add the max amount of oil to help stable the truck.
I'm doing coilovers and if that don't fix or help majorly, than ill be calling currie shortly after.
What makes me question everything over and over again. is that there are a lot of people that don't run sway bars and don't have the same issues do..
 
#9 ·
When I added oil to the fox air shock it helped a lot. But now they don't work properly because I had to add the max amount of oil to help stable the truck.
this confuses me. There really isn't a variable amount of oil to add to an air shock. They should have a set amount of oil in them at all times (basically the max amount that does NOT hydrolock the system at full bump). The volume of oil shouldn't be a tunable knob. The type of oil, or viscous rating of the oil, is a tunable knob, but it's not worth playing with. Valving is really what you need to focus on. Ther eis a huge different in fast vs slow valving.

In regards to "unloading". Both a coilover and air shock is going to unload.
 
#16 ·
yes, basically put the max amount of oil in them at full compression. That is how much oil everyone adds after a revalve. I just had no idea that a coilover OEM would ship coilovers/air shocks with less oil than that.
 
#14 ·
yes oil level changes dampening in a air shock just like a air bump. coil overs are different set amount of oil and adjust dampening with the piston. thats what i have been told at least. and in my air bumps i lowered amount of oil and it softened them. nitrogen charge is the intial stiffness and oil level sets at what point the dampening gets firmer in a air bump.
 
#30 ·
Having the coil-overs mounted as close to the wheel as possible is always a good thing for wheeling, unless you dont mind the bad characteristics.. The only reason i would see the person with the black jeep running at such an angle is that they bought the wrong coil-overs. "aka" wrong travel length, wrong spring rate and dident want to buy the right springs, or that they were in the budget so he could run 4-link and have true coil-overs.

On the upside to having them mounted like the black jeep. If you driving 50 miles and flexing really good alllllll the time, it wont put as much heat or wear and tear on the shocks themselves. Lots of factors to consider. Hence why manufactures mount rear shocks on a angle rather than straight up and down. Gotta love suspension builds!
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top