Increasing up travel questions.

Wethy

Wethy

Member
Hey all, couple questions about increasing up travel and coil compression. currently thinking about cutting my front bump stops/ getting smaller ones to increase up travel in the wheel well. So here are my questions.

1. Is there a sure fire way to know how
Much you can compress your coil before it's over compressed? I.e. All the coils touching, or say 1/8" apart? Is that too much?

2. What is the minimum spacing I should leave between coils to prevent over compressing, if there is a "safe amount"?

3. What would be the best way to go about finding the max amount of up travel I should try to gain?

Thanks in advance!
 
Wethy

Wethy

Member
WJCO said:
Why are you concerned with up travel? Do you mean down travel on the other side?
Click to expand...

Ha ha no. I'm only running 33's right now. The up travel concern is so I can stuff the wheel up more. I know my down travel is limited by shock length and the shocks came as part of kit and I'm happy with the amount of down travel I have. I would like more up travel so I can get the wheel up higher so that my jeep would be less likely to have a wheel lift upon crawling onto/over an obstacle. Atleast that's my theory anyways. Maybe I've got it all wrong lol
 
Wethy

Wethy

Member
WJCO said:
Usually the wheel that would stay off the ground is your down travel side. I dont know the exact asnswer regarding the coil compression, but you also want to watch your fenders. Sway bar disconnects would help.

See this thread that Eddie did with the renegade:

http://wayalife.com/showthread.php?34028-Jeep-Renegade-Sway-Bar-Disconnect-Write-Up-amp-Testing
Click to expand...

I do have away at Disco's and have actually read that thread a few times because it's neat to see the renegades actually being used for offroad purposes and seeing the testing stuff Eddie does.

Being that I have. 2.5" lift on my jk with only 33's I still have a good 2" to the edge of my fender even when disconnected. I figured if I could shorten the front bumps a bit it would help keep the back tire on the ground just a bit more. I do also plan to install EVO rockstars which relocate the rear shock mount up 1-1.5" up(allowing more downtravel in the rear) so my thinking is that getting the wheel to stuff up a bit more into the wheel well as well as more downtravel from the Rockstars would "maximize" my ability to keep all 4 wheels on the ground as long as possible and get the most
Out of my setup. But like I said in my first reply to you, maybe I'm crazy ha ha
 
WJCO

WJCO

Meme King
Wethy said:
I do have away at Disco's and have actually read that thread a few times because it's neat to see the renegades actually being used for offroad purposes and seeing the testing stuff Eddie does.

Being that I have. 2.5" lift on my jk with only 33's I still have a good 2" to the edge of my fender even when disconnected. I figured if I could shorten the front bumps a bit it would help keep the back tire on the ground just a bit more. I do also plan to install EVO rockstars which relocate the rear shock mount up 1-1.5" up(allowing more downtravel in the rear) so my thinking is that getting the wheel to stuff up a bit more into the wheel well as well as more downtravel from the Rockstars would "maximize" my ability to keep all 4 wheels on the ground as long as possible and get the most
Out of my setup. But like I said in my first reply to you, maybe I'm crazy ha ha
Click to expand...

I see what you're saying now. I truthfully don't know the safe zone for the coils though.
 
Journeyman

Journeyman

New member
I'm honestly not sure about the springs. But your other limiting factors in the front would be fenders, shocks, drag link and track bar. To little bump stop could result in the drag link or track bar hitting the frame on the passenger side. Disconnecting the front sway bar will also improve articulation. The rear would probably be the same minus the drag link. There is also a possibility of the rear sway bar contacting the rear brake lines next the frame if allowed to much upstroke (unless you re-route them on top of the frame.
Best method would be to use it Offroad, twist it up and pay attention to what you've got when your against your bumps.
I'm sure some one else will chime in with more info 👍🏼
 
Benito

Benito

Caught the Bug
Wethy said:
Hey all, couple questions about increasing up travel and coil compression. currently thinking about cutting my front bump stops/ getting smaller ones to increase up travel in the wheel well. So here are my questions.

1. Is there a sure fire way to know how
Much you can compress your coil before it's over compressed? I.e. All the coils touching, or say 1/8" apart? Is that too much?

2. What is the minimum spacing I should leave between coils to prevent over compressing, if there is a "safe amount"?

3. What would be the best way to go about finding the max amount of up travel I should try to gain?

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

don't forget that you shock is going to limit your up travel as well. you don't want to let the shock bottom out either, so you need to set your bumpstops with the compression length of your shock in mind. for my set up in the front i am running Evo 3" springs, 3.5" bumpstop extensions on the axle and the stock upper bumpstops, and fox performance 2.0 shock for JK's with 4"-6" of lift, flat fenders. so if you keep all of that in mind when fully compressed on one side i only have about 1/4" of shock shaft showing, about 1/2" of clearance between my 37" tire and my fender, and if we follow the general rule of thumb for selecting bumpstops - bumpstop extension the size of the spring lift - my spring should be safe from being over compressed. it is quite a bit of things that factor into maximizing travel.
 
Wethy

Wethy

Member
WJCO said:
I see what you're saying now. I truthfully don't know the safe zone for the coils though.
Click to expand...

Ha ha me neither. I'm thinking it may come down to trial and error. Maybe take the bumpstop out and compress the coil till each wrap is 1/4-3/8ths of an inch apart and measure or something like that. Who knows though!

Journeyman said:
I'm honestly not sure about the springs. But your other limiting factors in the front would be fenders, shocks, drag link and track bar. To little bump stop could result in the drag link or track bar hitting the frame on the passenger side. Disconnecting the front sway bar will also improve articulation. The rear would probably be the same minus the drag link. There is also a possibility of the rear sway bar contacting the rear brake lines next the frame if allowed to much upstroke (unless you re-route them on top of the frame.
Best method would be to use it Offroad, twist it up and pay attention to what you've got when your against your bumps.
I'm sure some one else will chime in with more info [emoji106]🏼
Click to expand...

As it stands I'm running full front fenders but even disconnected I still have what I feel is a lot of room between the tire and fender.(see earlier post for more detail) And as far as the rest of the stuff at full compression is seems like I have tons of room between all components so I should be able to compress the front more.
 
Heavyhaul07

Heavyhaul07

New member
Don't forget as u play with the front u can play with the rear bump stops to allow the opposite side in rear to tuck up a bit more. I don't run a rear sway bar at all. Just my front. Feels good to me. Driving. I do have fox 2.0. All 4 corners. And I push it hard through corners on the street
 
Wethy

Wethy

Member
Benito said:
don't forget that you shock is going to limit your up travel as well. you don't want to let the shock bottom out either, so you need to set your bumpstops with the compression length of your shock in mind. for my set up in the front i am running Evo 3" springs, 3.5" bumpstop extensions on the axle and the stock upper bumpstops, and fox performance 2.0 shock for JK's with 4"-6" of lift, flat fenders. so if you keep all of that in mind when fully compressed on one side i only have about 1/4" of shock shaft showing, about 1/2" of clearance between my 37" tire and my fender, and if we follow the general rule of thumb for selecting bumpstops - bumpstop extension the size of the spring lift - my spring should be safe from being over compressed. it is quite a bit of things that factor into maximizing travel.
Click to expand...

I had thought about shock length as well. But hasn't thought about it in that sense. One thing I read in my instructions for my lift was " if installing 35's bumpstop a are required, but if installing 33's they could be omitted(left out)" so that to me either means they intended that the coils would go solid and act as a the limiting factor to not ruin the shocks, or they intended to use the shock as the limiting factor either way. It's weird. I think at most I would probly only change my front bump stops from 2.5" to 1.25" or that's my goal, without actually trying anything. But I don't know if that is achievable as I haven't tried ha ha
 
Wethy

Wethy

Member
Heavyhaul07 said:
Don't forget as u play with the front u can play with the rear bump stops to allow the opposite side in rear to tuck up a bit more. I don't run a rear sway bar at all. Just my front. Feels good to me. Driving. I do have fox 2.0. All 4 corners. And I push it hard through corners on the street
Click to expand...

I don't see a point in not running a rear sway bar. If it's soft enough to be used on an EVO lever setup then it's plenty enough to leave connected on a small 2.5" lift, but that's just me. And the rear stuffs up fine currently with my full fenders. I probly wouldn't adjust anything there until I get bigger tires/get EVO rockstars
 
Heavyhaul07

Heavyhaul07

New member
Wethy said:
I don't see a point in not running a rear sway bar. If it's soft enough to be used on an EVO lever setup then it's plenty enough to leave connected on a small 2.5" lift, but that's just me. And the rear stuffs up fine currently with my full fenders. I probly wouldn't adjust anything there until I get bigger tires/get EVO rockstars
Click to expand...

When I bought mine used the previous owner had removed the rear sway bar. You just have to be careful not to allow the rear sway bar to grab the rear brake lines at the frame. When adjusting things. Was just pointing out that a little less bump in the rear can also increase the better chance of all 4 tires staying on the ground
 
Wethy

Wethy

Member
Heavyhaul07 said:
When I bought mine used the previous owner had removed the rear sway bar. You just have to be careful not to allow the rear sway bar to grab the rear brake lines at the frame. When adjusting things. Was just pointing out that a little less bump in the rear can also increase the better chance of all 4 tires staying on the ground
Click to expand...

I definitely get where your coming from. my kit had 2" rear bumps and with my full fenders I probly couldn't go up anymore without rubbing, that's the only reason I said I wouldn't change it. Without adding more downtravel I most likely can't adjust the rear much if at all.
 
2nd.gunman

2nd.gunman

Caught the Bug
Wethy said:
Hey all, couple questions about increasing up travel and coil compression. currently thinking about cutting my front bump stops/ getting smaller ones to increase up travel in the wheel well. So here are my questions.

1. Is there a sure fire way to know how
Much you can compress your coil before it's over compressed? I.e. All the coils touching, or say 1/8" apart? Is that too much?

2. What is the minimum spacing I should leave between coils to prevent over compressing, if there is a "safe amount"?

3. What would be the best way to go about finding the max amount of up travel I should try to gain?

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

Maximum compressed coil length is a function of wire thickness, wrap angle and material properties so it's different for every coil design. My rule of thumb for aftermarket coils which generally have a fairly flat wrap angle is measure the wire thickness multiply by the number of coils and add a 1/16" for each gap. That will give you a compressed spring length.

The you need to remove your springs, bump stop extensions and bump stops cycle the suspension and measure the required bump stop height with the shock compressed so that only about a 1/4" of shaft is showing.

These 2 numbers will tell you the bumpstop extension length. Of course at the same time you can check all your clearances at full bump.
 
2nd.gunman

2nd.gunman

Caught the Bug
I should also say this is just my method I'm sure there is a better way of doing it but it works for me.

Also if you don't fit the rock stars skids you should be able to Gain a heap of up travel. But with them maybe only 1/2" due to the raised mounting position
 
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