Suspension & Body Mounts

[Drewski]

Hi guys, I had a post a few months back but it seems to have been deleted.
Anyway, I was trying to determine my suspension lift height and body lift. Being my first Jeep, I'm not sure what stock looks like etc.

I took some photos a couple months back of what I've got. I want to get rid of these super swampers and put on some nice all terrains. Probably 33x12.5. Trying to figure out if they will still fit if I remove one of the body mount spacers. Photos attached.

 

[Drewski]

Here are some of the suspension. Let me know if anything looks fishy etc. FYI the Jeep rides pretty dang rough even with fairly low psi eg. 15-20.

 

[Drewski]

Last series of shots...Not sure why I can only attach a few at a time.

Also included a shot of the back...were tailgates not common? Which way would be best to attach a spare?

 

[mriplaybass]

Really hard to tell what kind of suspension lift you have. You would have to pull a line from eye to eye on the unloaded spring, and measure the distance at the mid point. I'm not sure what the stock distance is, but that information is readily available on line. From the look of your stock pitman arm relative to the rest of the steering linkage, it looks like mine did before installing a drop pitman arm. My lift is about 2".
As for removing some of the body pucks, remember, that will affect your clutch linkage unless you are running hydraulic. There could be other things to consider too. Brake lines, throttle cable, radiator fan/shroud, etc. Removing spacers sounds simple, but it can cause a chain reaction.

 

[Torxhead]

It looks like you have a 1" body lift, which in my opinion is fine if you want to leave them on. If the 33s rub, then a larger lift will be needed.

 

[Drewski]

Thanks y'all. Yeah, I figured it was about a 1" body lift...maybe 2-ish for the suspension, but hard to tell.

mriplaybass, would you suggest getting a dropped pitman arm? I thought it looked a bit odd being angled as it is, but it drives halfway decent so I wasn't too fussed about it.

 

[Torxhead]

Drewski, another option you could do would be to reverse that drag link tie rod end so it would sit level. I have mine done as in the pic above with a heavy duty tie rod. I think those drop down pitman arms affect the geometry too much.
Edit: I have seen too many of those tie rods bend even with stock tires.

 

[Drewski]

Interesting. Do you have any other close-up photos of that setup? Not exactly sure how it's done. Just flipping them upside down?

 

[mriplaybass]

Thanks y'all. Yeah, I figured it was about a 1" body lift...maybe 2-ish for the suspension, but hard to tell.

mriplaybass, would you suggest getting a dropped pitman arm? I thought it looked a bit odd being angled as it is, but it drives halfway decent so I wasn't too fussed about it.

I put a pitman arm with a 2" drop for a 2 1/2" lift. I guess it is not all that important with such a slight lift. What you will notice is, that when driving down the road with a stock pitman arm and a lifted suspension, the higher the lift, the more susceptible the vehicle will be to bump steer.
Here is a picture of our 79 CJ7 with a 2 1/2" lift, and a 2" drop arm.

 

[Torxhead]

Not really, but since the rod ends are a taper fit, it is not a bolt in swap. I had my tapers reversed by a custom Jeep shop many years ago. Since then there have been aftermarket methods to preform this switch. The oem tie rod position is a bit close to the ground for crawling thru the rocks the way I see it. If you are interested a bit of online searching could help you find what you want, or hopefully someone could post a website for you on how it is done.

 

[tarry99]

Here are some of the suspension. Let me know if anything looks fishy etc. FYI the Jeep rides pretty dang rough even with fairly low psi eg. 15-20.

Your shackle needs to have more angle sloping away from the axle............and not be so vertical. In essence with a vertical shackle you have very little suspension other than the spring rate...........both the spring and the shackle angle work together for the effective spring rate that you feel in the seat of your pants , an angle more like 20-25 degrees starting and up to 45 when fully loaded will soften the suspension..............common problem when folks install lifted springs whereby the length of the lifted spring becomes longer and the shackle angle and ride suffers.........most times that should be engineered into the spring length or the fixed end spring hanger needs to be moved to properly compensate for that.........which can change the drive shaft length.........most folks building lift springs never tell anyone that.

 

[Drewski]

Thanks tarry, I've never heard that before. I did notice that Torxhead's shackle looks much different than mine. I will keep this in mind when I change up my suspension later on down the road.

 

[tarry99]

Thanks tarry, I've never heard that before. I did notice that Torxhead's shackle looks much different than mine. I will keep this in mind when I change up my suspension later on down the road.

Like This:

 

[gert]

Like This:

I bet they use the same spring for every lift kit and just bend them more for higher lift like they do the drop pitman arms