what added parts do i need to get best riding suspension with 4 inch lift

LIKEITHIGH

New member
ok ill start by teling you whats on my jeep now. I have a 4 inch rough country lift ( which I wouldn't buy again if I had it to do over ), it came with new coil springs , shocks, extended brake lines, all upper and lower adjustable control arms front and back, rear coil spring angle correction brackets, front adjustable track bar, rear sway bar links,front quick disconnect sway bar links. and I also added a 4 inch drop pitman arm , a rear relocation bracket for the jks adjustable rear track bar, and a rugged ridge double caradine joint front driveshaft. heres my problems im having bad suspension problems. ill number the following topics and questions so it will be easier to number your answers to match with the topic you are referring to ( I hope its not to confusing to read, im not the best with words )
1) all 4 coil springs are bending at hard angles when the truck is sitting on level ground. when I took the rerar tires off and looked at it from driver side it looks like the axle needs to roll upward counterclockwise to me ,but im hoping adjusting my control arms might make this better.

2) does anyone know about what the angle of the axle should be with a 4 inch lift, if I put my Johnson pitch & angle locator on the bumb stop pads on top of the axle?
ill try adjustments after I post this thread.

3) the passengfer side of axle might be closer to the front of the jeep than driver side.

4) the rear sway bar end links are bent where they have hit the upper control arm mounting brackets on top of the axle. I figured this would happen though, cause after the lift was installed I noticed that there was only about a 1/4 of a inch of space betrween the links and mounting brackets. don't know why, maybe they sent me the wrong length rear end links or soething. looks like the rear sway bar would have to move back to work right.

5) I keep getting death wobble because my ftont track bar axle side bolt hole as somehow got bigger thanthe bolt mounting it to the axle brfacket. and if the rear gets a relocation bracket then why wouldn't the front. I didn't get one with my lift.

6) my font coil springs are bending toward the driverside for some reason.

7) my front sway bar links also look like they are leaning to the driverside. what can I adjust to make coils sit right?

8) I guess what I really want answered is what procedure can I follow to adjust my front and rear suspension to where they sit straight while keeping the axles centered under the jeep,

9) or if I cant adjust anything to fix this , then what parts orupgrades do I need to buy and install?

10) do I need a front track bar relocation bracket or one of those flip kits ( not sure what they do )

Ill try to upload some pictures when I have the tires off of the suspension for you to see, because im only sying everything looks wrong to me but I don't know what it should look like really.

THANK EVERYONE FOR ANY HELP
WINSTON RYMER
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
1) all 4 coil springs are bending at hard angles when the truck is sitting on level ground. when I took the rerar tires off and looked at it from driver side it looks like the axle needs to roll upward counterclockwise to me ,but im hoping adjusting my control arms might make this better.

Having coils that are bowing is pretty common after installing a lift and not really a problem per se. If you have adjustable control arms, you should be able to address some of this if you don't already have them set to where they need to be.

2) does anyone know about what the angle of the axle should be with a 4 inch lift, if I put my Johnson pitch & angle locator on the bumb stop pads on top of the axle? ill try adjustments after I post this thread.

Ideally, you want your pinion positioned inline with your drive shaft. If you have adjustable rear upper arms, they will allow you to do this.

3) the passengfer side of axle might be closer to the front of the jeep than driver side.

Make your that your control arms are adjusted to the same length measured from eye to eye.


4) the rear sway bar end links are bent where they have hit the upper control arm mounting brackets on top of the axle. I figured this would happen though, cause after the lift was installed I noticed that there was only about a 1/4 of a inch of space betrween the links and mounting brackets. don't know why, maybe they sent me the wrong length rear end links or soething. looks like the rear sway bar would have to move back to work right.

You installed your sway bar links on the wrong side of the sway bar. They needed to go on the outside just like factory.

5) I keep getting death wobble because my ftont track bar axle side bolt hole as somehow got bigger thanthe bolt mounting it to the axle brfacket.

Did you make sure to tighten your track bar bolts to 125-130 ft. lbs. of torque? If so, have you been checking them on a regular basis like after wheeling like you should? If not, that's how your bolts got loose enough to wollow out your mounting holes.

and if the rear gets a relocation bracket then why wouldn't the front. I didn't get one with my lift.

Because a relocation bracket front or rear isn't really necessary. Installing one in the rear is a cheap way to help you recenter your axle. Up front, you cannot just install a relocation bracket without ALSO installing a drag link flip or dropped pitman arm and that would make your kit more expensive. You cannot do one without the other. However, a good draglink flip/relocation system is good to have with anything over 3" of lift as it will help to correct your steering geometry and provide better handling.

6) my font coil springs are bending toward the driverside for some reason.

Your axle is off center.

7) my front sway bar links also look like they are leaning to the driverside. what can I adjust to make coils sit right?

Again, your axle is off center. You will need an adjustable front track bar to address this OR, a draglink flip/track bar relocation bracket to recenter your axle.

8) I guess what I really want answered is what procedure can I follow to adjust my front and rear suspension to where they sit straight while keeping the axles centered under the jeep,

See above.

9) or if I cant adjust anything to fix this , then what parts orupgrades do I need to buy and install?

See above.

10) do I need a front track bar relocation bracket or one of those flip kits ( not sure what they do )

See above.
 

LIKEITHIGH

New member
Thanks for ur replys as far as putting the rear sway bar links on the wrong side, i guess the previous owner had them on wrong side because i installed them in the same positiion as the oners i took off, but i think i remember thinking that they were to close to axle mount and that they may need to go on the other side. I think i tried and there was not enough room. Is it common for a rear sway bar to bend in from maybe the tires hitting them or something. And as far as centering and setting caster with my control arms... I use the lcas to center each side of the axle front to back in the fenderwell, and use my ucas to roll the axle upward or downward as needed. And as far as the pinion angle goes how far out of line with the driveshaft do you think its safe to be. And sorry just one more question, to temp. Repair the front trk bar do you think i should weld a little insde bolt hole to take up some room so bolt will fit tight or should i drill a bigger hole in the bar and bracket and get a bigger bolt. At least it should stop my death wobble i figure, i have a frt adjustable trk bar and a drop pitman arm, so i dont need th e flip kit correct?
 

Army_Vet

Banned
Repair the front trk bar do you think i should weld a little insde bolt hole to take up some room so bolt will fit tight or should i drill a bigger hole in the bar and bracket and get a bigger bolt. At least it should stop my death wobble i figure, i have a frt adjustable trk bar and a drop pitman arm, so i dont need th e flip kit correct?

To temp repair this.... "I" would not drill any bigger holes... I would get a longer bolt and two thick washers. Bolt it down tight; then weld the washers in place. This is what I would do. Mke sure to use a Self locking Nut. and a grade 8 bolt
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
Thanks for ur replys as far as putting the rear sway bar links on the wrong side, i guess the previous owner had them on wrong side because i installed them in the same positiion as the oners i took off, but i think i remember thinking that they were to close to axle mount and that they may need to go on the other side. I think i tried and there was not enough room. Is it common for a rear sway bar to bend in from maybe the tires hitting them or something.

If you don't have enough space between your tires and sway bar link ends, you have wheels with too much back spacing. People often install their links on the inside to get around this problem but, the better way to go would have been to install a set of 1.5" wheel spacers or new wheels with less back spacing.

And as far as centering and setting caster with my control arms... I use the lcas to center each side of the axle front to back in the fenderwell, and use my ucas to roll the axle upward or downward as needed.

I was referring to side to side centering. You would need an adjustable track bar and/or track bar relocation bracket to do this up front. But again, you would also need a dropped pitman arm or draglink flip installed at the same time.

And as far as the pinion angle goes how far out of line with the driveshaft do you think its safe to be.

If you're still running factory drive shafts, it doesn't really matter. You NEED to have your rear pinion angle in line with your drive shaft IF you have an aftermarket u-joint style double cardan shaft.

And sorry just one more question, to temp. Repair the front trk bar do you think i should weld a little insde bolt hole to take up some room so bolt will fit tight or should i drill a bigger hole in the bar and bracket and get a bigger bolt.

You can only install a bigger bolt IF your track bar bushing crush sleeve will allow a bigger bolt to be installed. If it doesn't, I would just weld on washers to patch things up.

At least it should stop my death wobble i figure, i have a frt adjustable trk bar and a drop pitman arm, so i dont need th e flip kit correct?

If you have a dropped pitman arm installed already, you NEED to have a track bar relocation bracket installed. If you don't, a lot of your problems are coming from that. Being that you have an RC kit, you should have a drop bracket installed on the frame mount and if you do, you need to remove it and examine the welds on the factory bracket. The RC drop bracket is not reinforced and is known to tear off factory brackets. I have seen it happen on more than one occasion. The flexing of this mount is most likely where your DW is coming from as well. If it were me, I would install your factory pitman arm and install an EVO draglink flip/track bar relocation bracket. This bracket is reinforced and attached to the axle where it should be.
 

LIKEITHIGH

New member
thanks again for the answers, its taken me a while to get time to fool with jeep with my busy work schedule. but I decided to just go over the entire suspension adjusting everything how I think it works best, because I set everything to what the install instructions told me to set them at when I first installed the lift. I adjusted most of it not all of it yet, but my springs and the way it rides feel a lot better, dw not happening as easy as before. still have a lot of vibration coming from the front I think mostly at slow speeds, my best guess is that maybe my rotors are warped or that all the dw I have had lately may have wore my ball joints to the point where there is movement in the knuckles inside the c's. but I know im going to have to buy new trk bar for frt but not til I get the frt brkt also. any sugestions on a good front adj. trk bar and relocation bracket? my jks rear trk bar has seemed to hold up well I think. but as far as the vibration goes ive checked frt differet. changed gear oil, all looks good there, ive replaced both front wheel bearing assemblys. oh one other thing when I had the front tore apart I pulled the axles out a little to check them out. r they suppost to be greased or something inside the axle tube, because mine are dry. or are there any parts that I haven't spoken of that might cause the vibration?
 
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