Sag

Sag
peep6543

peep6543

Jeeper
Posts
197
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Location
Yakima, WA
Vehicle(s)
1966 Jeep CJ5, 2003 BMW E46 330Xi
Hi fellas,

I'm working on an old CJ5 , and the whole thing sags an inch or two on the driver's side. We did a few tests to try and diagnose it, such as undo the shocks to see if they siezed, compare springs, look for a broken leaf, we even tried switching the back two. Starting to worry the frame might be bent? Does anyone have any tips, tricks, thoughts? Could I maybe just throw in a small body lift on the driver's side over the frame and fix it poor man style?
 
first go to a level surface, jack the vehicle up and set it on 4 jack stands to the frame that are all set at the same height, is it still sagging or rocking on the jack stands? If so you may have a bent frame, easy to fix once you pull the body off, if not then maybe the springs are aging and are different from each other
any jeep of 1971 and earlier does not do body lifts without a lot of work, the pedals go to the frame and it takes work to get them right with a body lift
 
Bring it to a body shop that has a frame Jig, they should charge around a hundred and fifty to put it on the jig and tell you what is up, and maybe that again to fix a simple bend.
 
Ok.. I'm not sure I have the capability of taking the body off. I was thinking this: it has about 4 or 5 incehs of lift, and about 2 inches of sag. What if I put 2.5 inch lift springs on the passenger side to balance it out? I'm just throwing out ideas to come up with the simplest fix.

With the body shop frame jig route, would the body have to be off also?
 
I hope you will try to avoid such ideas in the future.:D
just find 4 jack stands and a pretty level drive way, use a 4' level to level the frame and see if it sets on all four jacks. If the frame is warped it won't set on all four, at least one will be up in the air. Find out what the problem is before you throw money at it or start dismantling it.:cool:
When it is setting on the ground is the distance between the spring eyes equal end to end compared side to side? I think the springs are different length front and back but they should be the same side to side. is the distance between the top of the axle to the bottom of the bump stop or bottom of the frame the same side to side?:cool:

peep6543 said:
Ok.. I'm not sure I have the capability of taking the body off. I was thinking this: it has about 4 or 5 incehs of lift, and about 2 inches of sag. What if I put 2.5 inch lift springs on the passenger side to balance it out? I'm just throwing out ideas to come up with the simplest fix.

With the body shop frame jig route, would the body have to be off also?
Click to expand...
 
ok this helps. If you have followed my build thread you know this is a weekend project so you will have to wait for results on measuring. I'm sure hoping there is some reasonable way to fix this without taking the body off... by the way, you guys are great I'm not sure where this project would be without the expertise of the jeep gods.
 
do not in anyway try to cheap out on a bent frame, get it fixed. Cheaping out here is a way to compound problems all over and you will end up with a POS pile of junk.
Find out about the frame and if that is the problem fix it.
 
X2on this.
I do like to know what is wrong before I pay some one to fix "it", whatever it is.:cool:

BajaEdition said:
do not in anyway try to cheap out on a bent frame, get it fixed. Cheaping out here is a way to compound problems all over and you will end up with a POS pile of junk.
Find out about the frame and if that is the problem fix it.
Click to expand...
 
Agreed, that is the smart plan of action. So lastly, is there any way at all to correct a bent frame without removing the body? I only get so much time each weekend to work with this thing and my deadline is only a couple months away.. I'm afraid that whole process will take too long
 
Before that can be answered you must first know how much it needs to move and if there is anything actually broken, welds for instance.
A deadline? with a CJ? thats a good one!:laugh::laugh::laugh:

peep6543 said:
Agreed, that is the smart plan of action. So lastly, is there any way at all to correct a bent frame without removing the body? I only get so much time each weekend to work with this thing and my deadline is only a couple months away.. I'm afraid that whole process will take too long
Click to expand...
 
IOPort51 said:
just find 4 jack stands and a pretty level drive way, use a 4' level to level the frame and see if it sets on all four jacks. If the frame is warped it won't set on all four, at least one will be up in the air. Find out what the problem is before you throw money at it or start dismantling it.:cool:
When it is setting on the ground is the distance between the spring eyes equal end to end compared side to side? I think the springs are different length front and back but they should be the same side to side. is the distance between the top of the axle to the bottom of the bump stop or bottom of the frame the same side to side?:cool:
Click to expand...

Did you ever try any of this to make sure it's not the springs?
 
I took the back two springs off and laid them on their side, on on top the other and they were identical. Then we even swapped them and it didn't fix much.

As for the deadline, let me explain:

I live in Yakima, WA and the jeep is in Seattle. that is about 2 hours away. I drive home almost every weekend to put in work on it so I can have it "ready" by the summer time. I work for a minor league baseball team and our season begins June 18th. Once the season begins we have virtually no time off. That seems like plenty of time but our small staff also has to start working some weekends to prep the stadium before we open. It gets about 100 degrees over here every day so I wanted to have this over here with no top or doors to cruise in the heat. All that said, I'm afriad removing the body and sending the frame to be fixed will push it over the limit. I still have a bunch of other odds and ends left also.

I will have measurements posted sat night of how much it leans and all that so hopefully you guys have a better understanding. I will also take some update pics front and back and underneath.

Thanks again for everyone's input!
 
peep6543 said:
I took the back two springs off and laid them on their side, on on top the other and they were identical. Then we even swapped them and it didn't fix much.

As for the deadline, let me explain:

I live in Yakima, WA and the jeep is in Seattle. that is about 2 hours away. I drive home almost every weekend to put in work on it so I can have it "ready" by the summer time. I work for a minor league baseball team and our season begins June 18th. Once the season begins we have virtually no time off. That seems like plenty of time but our small staff also has to start working some weekends to prep the stadium before we open. It gets about 100 degrees over here every day so I wanted to have this over here with no top or doors to cruise in the heat. All that said, I'm afriad removing the body and sending the frame to be fixed will push it over the limit. I still have a bunch of other odds and ends left also.

I will have measurements posted sat night of how much it leans and all that so hopefully you guys have a better understanding. I will also take some update pics front and back and underneath.

Thanks again for everyone's input!
Click to expand...
Peep. Basics. you can talk for weeks but get down to basics
strait frame
forget the springs, forget the shocks
get the jack stands and find out about the frame.
being in a hurry, and having a deadline are not going to have a jeep that is SAFE TO DRIVE. we first need to know if the frame is strait, BASICS
After that we look for other reasons it sags.
 
ok Saturday I will have it on jack stands. just to clarify: the four stands should be equal height. I glanced at a CJ5 frame blueprint and it says the 4 interior spring mounts are equal height. Would this be a good place to use as a reference? The blue print is also helpful because it shows the widths between the frame rails so I could potentially narrow down the area where a bend would be. Is this accurate or am I losing my mind lol
 
good, now rest the jeep frame on the jack stands, they should all be level.
 
this is equal height from the center of the earth , not from the ground. the jack stands may very easily be of different extension and still make the frame level. If your driveway is flat and level it is the first I have ever heard of.:cool: If all the jacks are the same height all it proves is that the frame has the same contours as the driveway.

peep6543 said:
ok Saturday I will have it on jack stands. just to clarify: the four stands should be equal height. I glanced at a CJ5 frame blueprint and it says the 4 interior spring mounts are equal height. Would this be a good place to use as a reference? The blue print is also helpful because it shows the widths between the frame rails so I could potentially narrow down the area where a bend would be. Is this accurate or am I losing my mind lol
Click to expand...
 
I will be working on a warehouse floor, not a driveway. I'm betting its a pretty flat surface. so just measure the stands to try and get the 4 as equal as possible. I have two matching pairs of stands to use.
 
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