Over the weekend, our good friend Adam (OverlanderJK) came up to Camp WAYALIFE to get away from the hustle and bustle of SoCal living and spend a few days relaxing and wheeling with us up here in beautiful Northern Nevada. While he was up here, he agreed to let us use his 2-door JK to install a set of new Rock Krawler Triple Rate coils that had been sent out to us a while back for testing. To help understand what we would be comparing them to, Adam was running a set of TeraFlex 3" coils that yielded over 4" of lift on his 2-door JK and had paired them up with a set of new Rancho RS5000X shocks. For our purposes, we would only be swapping out the coils and keeping everything else exactly the same so that we could get an apples to apples comparison. Our goal was to get a lower ride height, one that would still offer the same amount of droop without unseating a coil and with any luck, obtain a softer ride as well. Below are some photos of the initial testing we did with the existing TeraFlex coils, the installation of the new Rock Krawler coils and then some more testing out on Prison Hill.
Here's a shot of Adam soon after showing up to Camp WAYALIFE. Trail Bud Doug also came out for the day.
Heading down to the end of the street and up into the hills to do some testing.
The support crew.
What's nice about Prison Hill is that there are tons of great lines you can take and ranging in difficulty from mild to wild. After hitting some ruts and whoops to get an idea of how the coils feel as a whole, we decided to climb up some of the cracks to see how the existing TeraFlex coils flex.
Trail Bud following close behind just in case.
After finding a good obstacle to test things out, we crossed Adam's Jeep up and put it in a full flex front and rear.
Here's a shot of the TeraFlex front coil at a full droop.
Here's a shot of the front coil at a full stuff.
Shot of the rear coil at a full droop.
And the rear coil at a full stuff.
After taking our pics, we decided to have a bit more fun before going back to the garage.
Unfortunately, without front lockers, Adam got him self in a bind and needed a little help out. Fortunately, Moby was near by.
Poser shot after the assist.
Trail Bud having some fun before heading back to turn some wrenches.
Time to head back and rack up Adam's Jeep.
Racked up and ready to go. Can you see Moby?
Removing the front track bar mount at the axle.
Wheels off up front.
Disconnecting the front sway bar links.
Pulling the bolts on the lower shock mounts.
Removing the existing TeraFlex coils.
For comparison sake, here are a couple of shots that'll help to illustrate just how much taller the Rock Krawler Triple rate front coils are compared to 3" TeraFlex coils. And, as hard as it may be for some to believe, the Rock Krawler coils will offer LESS lift - about an inch less.
Installing the new Rock Krawler coil with a new axle mounted bump stop extension in place of the TeraFlex one that was installed in the jounce cup above.
On to the rear, removing the wheels.
Removing the rear track bar mounting bolt at the axle.
Removing the lower shock bolt.
Disconnecting the rear sway bar link.
Pulling the old TeraFlex coils.
Here's a side by side shot of the old TeraFlex 3" rear coil next to the new Rock Krawler coil. As you can see, the TeraFlex coil is slightly shorter but uses a thicker wire to make the coil and has a wider diameter. If the Rock Krawler rear coil really has more than a single rate, it wasn't something you could easily see like the front coils.
In with the new Rock Krawler rear coil.
This is an initial shot of what the Rock Krawler Triple Rate front coil looks like once installed. As you will see, the top 3 winds are solid (fully compressed) at ride height as are the bottom 2 winds. If they were supposed to be designed to offer a softer ride around town, they won't be able to do much of that.
Here's an after shot of what everything looked like when all was said and done. As you will see, the front end of Adam's 2-door Jeep JK Wrangler was now sitting a full inch lower than before in spite of the Rock Krawler coils being measurably taller than the 3" TeraFlex coils. For our purposes, this was what we were hoping for. However, the rear sat about 2" lower that before and that made his Jeep look nose high. I should also note that this put the rear bump stop just about 2" away from the extension mounted on the axle.
Back out at Prison Hill, we took on the same terrain and took a few after shots with the new Rock Krawler Triple Rate coils installed. Here's Adam's Jeep all crossed up and at a full flex.
This is the front coil at a full droop. As you can see, even though the coil offers a lower stance up front, it'll still droop out as far as the shocks being run will extend and without unseating the coil from the perch.
This is what the front coil looks like at a full stuff. As you can see, with the exception of the very top winds and the couple at the bottom which were already running solid, the middle section of the coil is still open.
Here's a shot of the rear coil at a full droop. As is the case with the front coils, it is still seated within its perches.
Here's a shot of the rear coil at a full stuff. With the exception of the top winds of which are bowed a bit and making contact on one side, the coil is otherwise running open on all the other winds.
Soon after doing this test run, we headed back to the garage to install a set of TeraFlex 1/2" rear coil spacers to help restore a bit more lift there as without them, we were bottoming out way too much on the whoops and when hitting ruts hard. This helped out a lot and it's what I would recommend if you plan on running these coils.
Over the next 2 days, we also tested out these new Rock Krawler Triple Rate Coils around town, out on the highway, on dirt roads and out on two other local trails - Secret Canyon and Bronco Canyon and what I can tell you is this. The new lower stance is great and the coils stay in place nicely even at a full flex. As far as ride comfort goes, I personally couldn't tell any difference between the Rock Krawler Triple Rate Coils and the 3" TeraFlex ones we replaced. In my opinion, they rode on the firm side and I'm sure a lot of that was because we were only riding around on just one of the 3 rates the coils are supposed to have. Of course, there are a lot of people who prefer a ride like that and, as I always like to say, ride comfort is 100% subjective.
I hope this write-up and review has been helpful to you and if you have any questions, I will do what I can to answer them to the best of my ability.
Here's a shot of Adam soon after showing up to Camp WAYALIFE. Trail Bud Doug also came out for the day.
Heading down to the end of the street and up into the hills to do some testing.
The support crew.
What's nice about Prison Hill is that there are tons of great lines you can take and ranging in difficulty from mild to wild. After hitting some ruts and whoops to get an idea of how the coils feel as a whole, we decided to climb up some of the cracks to see how the existing TeraFlex coils flex.
Trail Bud following close behind just in case.
After finding a good obstacle to test things out, we crossed Adam's Jeep up and put it in a full flex front and rear.
Here's a shot of the TeraFlex front coil at a full droop.
Here's a shot of the front coil at a full stuff.
Shot of the rear coil at a full droop.
And the rear coil at a full stuff.
After taking our pics, we decided to have a bit more fun before going back to the garage.
Unfortunately, without front lockers, Adam got him self in a bind and needed a little help out. Fortunately, Moby was near by.
Poser shot after the assist.
Trail Bud having some fun before heading back to turn some wrenches.
Time to head back and rack up Adam's Jeep.
Racked up and ready to go. Can you see Moby?
Removing the front track bar mount at the axle.
Wheels off up front.
Disconnecting the front sway bar links.
Pulling the bolts on the lower shock mounts.
Removing the existing TeraFlex coils.
For comparison sake, here are a couple of shots that'll help to illustrate just how much taller the Rock Krawler Triple rate front coils are compared to 3" TeraFlex coils. And, as hard as it may be for some to believe, the Rock Krawler coils will offer LESS lift - about an inch less.
Installing the new Rock Krawler coil with a new axle mounted bump stop extension in place of the TeraFlex one that was installed in the jounce cup above.
On to the rear, removing the wheels.
Removing the rear track bar mounting bolt at the axle.
Removing the lower shock bolt.
Disconnecting the rear sway bar link.
Pulling the old TeraFlex coils.
Here's a side by side shot of the old TeraFlex 3" rear coil next to the new Rock Krawler coil. As you can see, the TeraFlex coil is slightly shorter but uses a thicker wire to make the coil and has a wider diameter. If the Rock Krawler rear coil really has more than a single rate, it wasn't something you could easily see like the front coils.
In with the new Rock Krawler rear coil.
This is an initial shot of what the Rock Krawler Triple Rate front coil looks like once installed. As you will see, the top 3 winds are solid (fully compressed) at ride height as are the bottom 2 winds. If they were supposed to be designed to offer a softer ride around town, they won't be able to do much of that.
Here's an after shot of what everything looked like when all was said and done. As you will see, the front end of Adam's 2-door Jeep JK Wrangler was now sitting a full inch lower than before in spite of the Rock Krawler coils being measurably taller than the 3" TeraFlex coils. For our purposes, this was what we were hoping for. However, the rear sat about 2" lower that before and that made his Jeep look nose high. I should also note that this put the rear bump stop just about 2" away from the extension mounted on the axle.
Back out at Prison Hill, we took on the same terrain and took a few after shots with the new Rock Krawler Triple Rate coils installed. Here's Adam's Jeep all crossed up and at a full flex.
This is the front coil at a full droop. As you can see, even though the coil offers a lower stance up front, it'll still droop out as far as the shocks being run will extend and without unseating the coil from the perch.
This is what the front coil looks like at a full stuff. As you can see, with the exception of the very top winds and the couple at the bottom which were already running solid, the middle section of the coil is still open.
Here's a shot of the rear coil at a full droop. As is the case with the front coils, it is still seated within its perches.
Here's a shot of the rear coil at a full stuff. With the exception of the top winds of which are bowed a bit and making contact on one side, the coil is otherwise running open on all the other winds.
Soon after doing this test run, we headed back to the garage to install a set of TeraFlex 1/2" rear coil spacers to help restore a bit more lift there as without them, we were bottoming out way too much on the whoops and when hitting ruts hard. This helped out a lot and it's what I would recommend if you plan on running these coils.
Over the next 2 days, we also tested out these new Rock Krawler Triple Rate Coils around town, out on the highway, on dirt roads and out on two other local trails - Secret Canyon and Bronco Canyon and what I can tell you is this. The new lower stance is great and the coils stay in place nicely even at a full flex. As far as ride comfort goes, I personally couldn't tell any difference between the Rock Krawler Triple Rate Coils and the 3" TeraFlex ones we replaced. In my opinion, they rode on the firm side and I'm sure a lot of that was because we were only riding around on just one of the 3 rates the coils are supposed to have. Of course, there are a lot of people who prefer a ride like that and, as I always like to say, ride comfort is 100% subjective.
I hope this write-up and review has been helpful to you and if you have any questions, I will do what I can to answer them to the best of my ability.
