86manche207 Posted October 17, 2015 Share Posted October 17, 2015 so my friend has 4 bilstein shocks for a 3 or 4.5 lift for a jeep tj and he has 4.5 inch front coils and is going to sell it all to me for very cheap coil are like new and shocks are maybe a year old. I want to get hell creek leafs which of these would be better the 4.5 ones or the 3 with a shackle setup? and what other components should i be looking for track bar any brackets i know break lines will be needed but is there anything else thanks in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle Posted October 17, 2015 Share Posted October 17, 2015 Time out. The shocks AND the coils are for a TJ? TJ coils are shorter than XJ/MJ coils. Coils that are rated to give a 4-1/2" lift in a TJ will probably only generate 3 to 3-1/2" in an MJ. IMHO, you need to do an initial, temporary install of the coils up front so you can measure the actual amount of lift they provide before you start ordering any other parts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
87Warrior Posted October 17, 2015 Share Posted October 17, 2015 I think Eagle is right. You really should install the parts up front and see what happens.I put the Rubicon Express coils with 100k miles on them from my TJ on my MJ and actually got more lift than expected. These coils were 3.5" coils that originally gave my TJ 4.5" of lift then sagged to about 3". When I put them on my '86 MJ they provided me with a solid 3" of lift when I was expecting 2". I attribute the extra boost to the lightweight front end on the 2.5l MJ versus the 4.0/winch on the TJ. I assume you have a 2.5l MJ, even though it is not listed.I think you would be better off with a 3" leaf pack out back if you wanted to keep the truck lower. Most MJ leaf packs ride higher than advertised. An extended shackle could be used to fine tune ride height if it happened to ride low in the rear. On the other hand, if you wanted the truck to have more lift, you could fine tune the ride height with extra coil spring isolator pads up front with the 4.5" leaf pack.Additional parts? Don't forget the control arms, extended bumpstops and swaybar links. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
86manche207 Posted October 17, 2015 Author Share Posted October 17, 2015 i have the 2.8l..... and i want to try to be around 3-4 so i am going to install the coils and everything and see what happens and most likely going to run no sway bar for awhile its registered as an antique so really no laws haha gotta love maine thanks for the advice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle Posted October 17, 2015 Share Posted October 17, 2015 Running with no sway bar is a very big mistake. Some years ago, one of the original members of NAXJA rolled and totaled his XJ driving a couple of blocks from home one evening, because he was running without a sway bar and had to make a sudden evasive swerve and the Jeep just tipped over -- into a ditch, so it kept rolling. He posted a warning to everyone else that he blamed it entirely on not having a sway bar. Never mind the laws -- it's not safe. Don't do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
86manche207 Posted October 17, 2015 Author Share Posted October 17, 2015 That's an xj and how much lift did it have. My mj is not a dd. Its not on the tar much so I'm just not worried about it. The money can go to more important things to keep it running once the install of the lift starts it won't be on the road either until it's finished Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gogmorgo Posted October 18, 2015 Share Posted October 18, 2015 My MJ at stock height was pretty sketchy on the road with no sway bar. Crosswinds became a huge deal (why is it so windy in Saskatchewan? Because Manitoba sucks and Alberta blows! B) ), not to mention the cornering uncertainty and the increased rollover risk as Eagle pointed out. You likely know all this already, but please keep it in mind. Remember, an object in motion tends to remain in motion. All cars will tend to resist cornering, which results in the car leaning outwards. Load also transfers to the outside tires, unloading the springs on the inside, which increases the lean, more lean makes for more load transfer, more lean, and so on. The tendency to stay in motion also applies to rotation, so the car's body will want to continue rolling once it starts. If it rolls too much, it will pick up the axle, by which point you'll definitely not end up where you're trying to steer. Another issue is that as the vehicle rolls, your camber, caster, etc. change, meaning your tires will loose grip and you're more likely to under- or oversteer into whatever you're trying to avoid. Now, your truck isn't going to just go ahead and flip itself over every time you touch the steering wheel, but the sway bar, also called an "anti-roll bar" is one of the few things working to reduce the chance of that. It resists the initiation of body roll as well as the body's tendency to continue rolling once it starts. I can appreciate not wanting to shell out for fancy sway bar disconnects, but the risks associated with running without a sway bar on the road aren't justifiable by an increase in entertainment value of a hobby. You're not the only person on the road, even if you're barely ever on it. Leave the sway bar on, and spend a couple extra minutes before and after wheeling to unbolt the links and tie it up out of the way if you really can't wheel with it on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
86manche207 Posted October 18, 2015 Author Share Posted October 18, 2015 Don't get me wrong I understand why and what they are good for and I will have disconnects for IF I want to drive it on the road the sway bar links that are on it now are so shot that the bolts would probably snap if I did have to make a quick evasive turn to avoid something. So with that Driving an older vechile is a risk no matter what so when driving one I take extra caution ⚠ and drive slower just like driving a larger vehicle or a taller vechile. Speed and turning quick is for small cars my comanche isnt a race car and I know that do I don't drive it like one. Now I don't want to have an argument about why I should be running a swaybar I know it is an important part of the suspension and will have one when it's ready for one.thanks for the input Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
87Warrior Posted October 18, 2015 Share Posted October 18, 2015 In my years of shopping for stock MJs and XJs, about 1/2 of them have had a rusted through swaybar link mounting stud (thanks Midwest winters), essentially meaning those rigs have had no swaybar for who knows how long. I prefer to run with my swaybar connected, it just drives better. Although I do keep it disconnected when driving from trailhead to trailhead while on a trip. The MJ behaves much nicer than the TJ when disconnected :) Hey, at least you aren't planning on daily driving a SOA'ed MJ without the swaybar! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gogmorgo Posted October 18, 2015 Share Posted October 18, 2015 Don't want to start an argument either. It just seems every now and again someone's dismissive of the risks they're running, and I might get a little... emotional. I apologize for that I managed to break both of my rusted out end links somehow. Can't think of how both would go because you'd think once one broke the other wouldn't see any load? Maybe both at once? I don't know. But I was lucky to find a set of nearly-new ones on an '85 XJ at a yard, $10 for the pair. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now