For anyone who has a SOA lift

[JeeperChris]

I'm still trying to learn about these Spring Over Axle lifts. For anyone how has in the past or is currently running a SOA lift, what kit did you buy or did you do it all from scratch?

I just want to learn more about the ones that are out there, and yes I'm using google too.

Thanks

 

[jp360cj]

What's your current setup and what are your goals?

I'm running SOA on my CJ7 . I didn't do a kit, just did individual parts I needed. First of all, SOA isn't going to be as cookie cutter as a bolt on lift and there are a lot of variables. Second, every SOA kit I've seen was overpriced and incomplete. It was a lot of work, took some tweaking and more money than I planned, but overall I'm very pleased with my SOA. It rides much better than a spring lift and offroad performance is exceptional. I just wish I would have gone with YJ front springs. I have them in the rear and they are noticeably softer than the CJ fronts.

The rear is pretty straight forward. I swapped in an Early Bronco 9 inch and only needed to cut and rotate the perches. I reused my brake line from my 4" lift and even kept the same shocks for a little while (but I also moved the lower mount to the axle tube). I ended up needing a CV driveshaft, yoke, and antiwrap bar.

The front was more involved. I cut down and swapped in a Chevy Dana 44 front at the same time as the SOA. I made perches out of 2" 1/4 wall tubing, bought a new flat top passenger knuckle that was milled and drilled, high steer arms, DOM TR and DL, C10 brake lines from the parts store, F250 shock towers, and new shocks.

I also trimmed fenders for the 35s.




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[Torxhead]

There are a different set of springs that can be custom made for the SOA setups. You can contact a spring maker for this.

 

[jay59l]

Im SOA on YJ OME springs. Wasn’t a kit and was a lot more work then just moving the axle position. Steering was the worst part. I went with Reid racing Dana 44 flat top knuckles when I upgraded the axles. Rides well and flexes well but do all the research you can. I’ll probably change to RE SOA springs soon since my OMEs are soft and getting old.

If I remember a SOA will give about 5-6” of lift. If you go this tall you need some decent size tires and that’s a whole can of worms there

 

[Posi]

On my 79 I’m SOA.
I cut down my front D60 by 4” the Chevy 60 is factory SOA no dealing with spring perches just repositioned the left perch.
I used wagon springs that come with a 2” offset pin so I could push the axle forward by that much.
Went shackle reversal as well
I cut down the rear 60 an 1” on both sides and went with CJ rear springs
I repositioned the factory 60 perches.
Running ford explorer front DS in the rear
I also cut the Jeep in half and added 20” to the center of the frame.

My 54 is front SOA with Alcan springs
The rear is 4 linked with quarter elliptic springs

 

[JeeperChris]

"What's your current setup and what are your goals?"

Current setup is a stock '79 CJ5 with the only apparent mods being 15x10 rims and 32 inch tires... and some ugly looking radio with a lot of wires all over the place.

My goal is just about what you see here in this link. This Jeep is owned by a guy in Great Britain (don't know if he's on here). This is what I had been picturing my Jeep to look like in my head. He has a Rocky Road SOA kit, 4" spring lift, and one inch body lift on 33 inch tires. I want mine to look like that.

https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca8...nf0l-2020bc96-7285-43b2-8675-d16415d6fb1b.png

My usage will be mostly a daily driver and to get me through this miserable snow in the winters. I don't rock crawl or go on any extreme trails. It's going to be a fun truck. Might pull a single motorcycle trailer with it on occasion. And I will be putting Detroit Limited slips in both ends with 4.10 gears and 33's. Currently it has 3.54 open gears.

I want to do the SOA right so I want to know what others are using so I can learn everything I can instead of just jumping into it. I'm old enough to want it done right.

 

[jp360cj]

"What's your current setup and what are your goals?"



Current setup is a stock '79 CJ5 with the only apparent mods being 15x10 rims and 32 inch tires... and some ugly looking radio with a lot of wires all over the place.



My goal is just about what you see here in this link. This Jeep is owned by a guy in Great Britain (don't know if he's on here). This is what I had been picturing my Jeep to look like in my head. He has a Rocky Road SOA kit, 4" spring lift, and one inch body lift on 33 inch tires. I want mine to look like that.



https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca8...nf0l-2020bc96-7285-43b2-8675-d16415d6fb1b.png



My usage will be mostly a daily driver and to get me through this miserable snow in the winters. I don't rock crawl or go on any extreme trails. It's going to be a fun truck. Might pull a single motorcycle trailer with it on occasion. And I will be putting Detroit limited slips in both ends with 4.10 gears and 33's. Currently it has 3.54 open gears.



I want to do the SOA right so I want to know what others are using so I can learn everything I can instead of just jumping into it. I'm old enough to want it done right.

I don't believe that jeep has SOA + 4" springs + 1" body lift. That would be about 10" of lift total. I'd guess either 4" springs + body lift or SOA, maybe body lift.

33s are about as small as I would consider with 33s, and usually don't see many with smaller than 35s. Also, its a lot of lift for narrow track axles. I would suggest going to widetracks, especially if you regear anyway.

Honestly though, for what you want to do, you'd be better off with a quality 2.5" suspension lift (like OME) to maintain a decent with a 1" body lift and run 33s. As for the gears, if you do a lot of highway (over 55mph), then you may want to rethink the 4.10 with 33s and no Overdrive . Long term, you may be better off with a 4 speed swap like a T-176 and keep the 3.54s or go 4.10 and swap in a 5 speed




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[Posi]

Chris,


The Jeep in the photo you posted is SUA 4" lift
I would also recommend 2.5 lift with 33" for your intended use.
An 83" wheel base CJ with a 4" lift 33" tires will have control issues on emergency stops.
It won't be you that screws up rather the other driver cutting in front of you or doing some other foolish maneuver.
Happen to me last month, an old lady blew through a stop sign, I slammed on my brakes just missing a collision. As I watched her drive by the noise of my Jeep in the middle of the intersection I noticed she didn't even turn her head to look! She was totally oblivious to my bumper so close to she door, she never touched the brakes. I also notice she had those oversized dark sunglasses that wrap around her head.
Admittedly I was doing less then 5 MPH and that could have happen in any vehicle and all I needed was a good set of brakes and awareness, but those types of things happen at greater speeds where you need to have control of your Jeep.
With a road Jeep I like my chances with a stock like suspension or a 2.5 lift with good brakes.

 

[mriplaybass]

If you decide to go extreme lift, you better plan on towing with something else. Even a motorcycle trailer could have major effects on control going down the road.

 

[JeeperChris]

Hmmm... thanks for all the replies. Maybe the owner of that pic took it before completing both lifts. Maybe he lied to me. I really don't know, but that is just how I want mine to look height wise and with those tires.

A four speed tranny is on the plan sheet for sure, close ratio. I don't do a lot of freeway driving but I know it will happen from time to time so even a five speed would be nice if I could swing one, but a four is on the list for now.

I had no idea that 10 inches of lift was considered extreme. Maybe because a CJ is not a full sized truck? I'm still learning.

I will keep the SOA lift on my list because it just makes more mechanical sense to me than a SUA. The axle should push the springs up, not pull them, otherwise the u-bolts become the weak links, so I like the SOA. I might add a one inch body lift in there at some point. I plan to do all my mechanical stuff first and leave paint and body work for the very last and I'll probably put on a new tub at that point which is when the one inch lift would come in. Saving paint for last means less scratches while doing mech work.

I will also add in a link bar so the rear diff doesn't roll.

hmmmmm..... so much to think about. Glad I'm not in a hurry!!

 

[JeeperChris]

And I do love good brakes. I've already been looking at two-piston upgrade kits for the front end and rear disc conversions for the rear, with one-piece axles.

 

[jay59l]

And I do love good brakes. I've already been looking at two-piston upgrade kits for the front end and rear disc conversions for the rear, with one-piece axles.

Do 2 piston front calipers really help? I've been eyeing a Willwood set for my Dana 44 and yes they are lighter and yes they put a more even load on the pad but I've not seen any one saying its a improvement in actual stopping power.

 

[gert]

Do 2 piston front calipers really help? I've been eyeing a Willwood set for my D44 and yes they are lighter and yes they put a more even load on the pad but I've not seen any one saying its a improvement in actual stopping power.

larger diameter rotor helps slow you down as well as more pad surface area too create the friction you need and pressure on the pads, the 2 piston calipers are supposed to create more pressure by having more surface area to push on the pads with

 

[gert]

i went spring over on my CJ7 by swapping to 1/2 ton Dodge axles. I knew I wanted to do 35 inch tires and didn't want to do the maxed out spring under system and i also wanted the 1/2 ton axles because of the tire size, also the Dodge Dana 44 spring perch is cast into the housing making it very difficult to spring under.

i also wanted the flat top knuckles so that i would have the cross over steering covered, so i grabbed my old Dodge D44 front milled the passenger knuckle and bought the Barnes cross over kit on eBay as well as the tubing from the local metal supplier, i didn't want the full width so i narrowed it to 60 inches to get it tucked as much as i could

the rear i grabbed the matching Dodge 9.25 for the rear, its a huge and strong axle, it was also originally a spring over axle as well, I also narrowed it to 60 inches and bought the Moser hobby stock axles with the 45mm taper bearing kit

I kept the Dodge discs on th front and put the old Jeep front discs on the rear as well as tabbed up a track bar for the rear because i have a pretty torquey V8, last thing i did was to swap to a CV driveshaft in the rear

 

[jp360cj]

i went spring over on my CJ7 by swapping to 1/2 ton Dodge axles. I knew I wanted to do 35 inch tires and didn't want to do the maxed out spring under system and i also wanted the 1/2 ton axles because of the tire size, also the Dodge D44 spring perch is cast into the housing making it very difficult to spring under.



i also wanted the flat top knuckles so that i would have the cross over steering covered, so i grabbed my old Dodge D44 front milled the passenger knuckle and bought the Barnes cross over kit on eBay as well as the tubing from the local metal supplier, i didn't want the full width so i narrowed it to 60 inches to get it tucked as much as i could



the rear i grabbed the matching Dodge 9.25 for the rear, its a huge and strong axle, it was also originally a spring over axle as well, I also narrowed it to 60 inches and bought the Moser hobby stock axles with the 45mm taper bearing kit



I kept the Dodge discs on th front and put the old Jeep front discs on the rear as well as tabbed up a track bar for the rear because i have a pretty torquey V8, last thing i did was to swap to a CV driveshaft in the rear

I was in a similar boat when I went SOA. I blew my 2nd CJ rear (1 AMC20 , 1 Dana 44 , lost spiders gears in both). I wanted to go to 35s and a little wider. Didn't want to add lift shackles or body lift and wanted a better ride. Only regret is taking the easy way out and not getting YJ leaf springs for the front.


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[JeeperChris]

Is there any kind of chart for the axle widths that can or should be used on a CJ? This is something I really need to learn because I want to do this right, the first time. I was thinking of looking for some Dana 44 's to build.

 

[jp360cj]

Is there any kind of chart for the axle widths that can or should be used on a CJ? This is something I really need to learn because I want to do this right, the first time. I was thinking of looking for some D44's to build.

Just Google Dana 44 widths and you can find a list. GM and Dodge are already spring over and so they're the easiest to deal with if going SOA. You'll have to either outboard springs or cut down the axle to fit any D44 I can think of. Not sure how wide the dodges are, but a GM 6 lug is 67".

For the rear, I would go with something a little stronger than a D44 is fit want 35s or bigger.


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[jay59l]

Waggy Dana 44 converted to 5 on 5.5 front and a semi float D60 out of a Ford here. All alloy shafts and a 35 spline conversion in the back

 

[gert]

Just Google D44 widths and you can find a list. GM and Dodge are already spring over and so they're the easiest to deal with if going SOA. You'll have to either outboard springs or cut down the axle to fit any D44 I can think of. Not sure how wide the dodges are, but a GM 6 lug is 67".

For the rear, I would go with something a little stronger than a D44 is fit want 35s or bigger.


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My Dodge was a 67 inch as well


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[PistolDave]

My 77 CJ7 is SOA on 35x12.50x15's.

Mine is sitting on mostly stock ("0" lift) wrangler springs. Rear axle is a scout Dana 44 , about 56" WMS/WMS, CV driveshaft, antiwrap bar. Anti wrap bar is a necessity in my opinion, at least with stock perches and soft springs. Front is a narrowed GM D44 about 58.5" wide with ford f150 rotors. Front axle is about 3/4-1" forward of original location. Caster is about 6.5 degrees. Passenger side knuckle is running a high steer arm for the drag link, tie rod is under that in the original location on both knuckles. GM Turbo 400 Transmission , 4.56 gears. Geometry is just about right using a standard Wagoneer pitman arm. Body is lifted about 1/2". 4 wheel discs with GM Hydroboost. (Stops REALLY well :-). Rear calipers are 70's Cadillac with the parking brake. If you want your parking brake to actually work and the self adjuster to function properly, get the new manufacture calipers from TSMM ( https://www.tsmmfg.com/ ), the autozone remans are mostly garbage.

Have never had any problems with tires rubbing springs or getting into the fenders with this setup. Cruises nicely at 70 on the highway. HOWEVER, and this is an important point to make, I believe a jeep setup this way is a very dangerous to "daily drive". Yes, as long as you are paying strict attention and never let yourself get into "oh !!" situations its not a problem. The problem is maintaining that level of attention day in day out. There is no margin of error with a vehicle like this. If you have to swerve left or right at speed to avoid a crash, you will roll it 95% guarantee. The soft springs, 35" tires at 25 or less psi, and lack of swaybar that make it articulate and work so well offroad, combine with the high roll center to become a huge liability in a panic maneuver. I am sure plenty of folks will disagree, and this is my opinion, not gospel fact.

Sorry for the wall of text, just my opinion, YMMV, etc.

Dave

Picture in next post for reference: