Re: I Dooo\'d it

I hear a lot about sway-bar disconnects. Don't know beans about 'em, but could that be what you need? Already planning mods, huh? Must be a Jeep Thing. I do understand.

 

Re: I Dooo\'d it

Congrats Rrich!!!
Dont worry that it doesnt climb the hill, you still got a good jeep. AC in your heat would be very very nice

 

Re: I Dooo\'d it

You'd think for 30 Grand it'd take longer than 22 miles to find a major dissapointment.

I think tomorrow I'll order the 9000 adjustable shocks with the remote control - that may dampen it enough.

My first thought about the sway bar disconnects was "Nah - that'd affect flex, but not the hop." But after thinking about it it may help. It might help isolate the wheels a little more. I'll try it tomorrow.
I took a wheeling friend back to that hill to watch what was happening. He stood by the side and verified it was the wheels hopping up and down - front - he said it looked funny. So he could get a good look, I really pushed it - got that sucker sideways enough I could feel the right side felt very light. Not too cool to roll it before I'd insured it. Punched it in reverse fully locked, came right around fine - no hop. But it just won't go up!
In 2wd in made it almost as far up. Probably could make it with a hard run at it, didn't try it.

The sway bar may be transfering the hop from one side to the other - Jason didn't notice if the wheels were hopping together or opposite.

Doesn't look like much room to double shock it - may take some major creativity. It's just a Wrangler with goodies, I'm surprised nobody's tried to climb a hill like that before and found the cure. I'm sure it's the angle of the arms and major unsprung weight.

 

Re: I Dooo\'d it

TJ's just don't climb well period. Even with a long arm kit they still unload the front axle. You can watch them climb something steep, the front suspension droops, the wheelbase gets about 4" shorter and they start chirping the tires. They don't have radius arms either, it is a 5 link front and rear setup. If you want to throw some money at it a long arm front and a true 4 link in the rear will go a long way to improve the off road performance. But that takes some guts, I would not even touch a 30k jeep with a welder and a torch.

 

Re: I Dooo\'d it

Perhaps a call to Currie might net some ideas. I'm sure they like to sell you a 9" front and 60 rear, but they might just have some less severe ideas to help you out.

 

Re: I Dooo\'d it

RRich, I've had both the YJ and the TJ and never encountered that problem on the TJ. Try it with just the rear locked or both unlocked and see what it does. It may just take a little getting used to since it is lighter that the Jeepster. I've seen times when an unlocked vehicle would go right up a hill but a locked vehicle would have problems, especially when there are no rocks to grip. Just like on icy roads the locker will push you, not where you want to go, but with open diff's you can go anywhere you want.

The shorter wheelbase will also mean you need to take a different line than the longer wheelbase of the Jeepster. We have plenty of steep hills here in TN and different ones require different things. Some need 2nd or 3rd gear, some low range -first gear. You'll make it, it will just take the time to find the right combination to conquer that hill.

 

Re: I Dooo\'d it

AC in a Jeep? That's just plain crazy! You should probably wait until you get 100 miles on it before the first roll over.

 

Re: I Dooo\'d it

try replacing the shocks with the 9000's first, before you make twin tower's. i think you will find that it will be all the shock you need.

 

Re: I Dooo\'d it

Thanks Carey - tried about all the combinations possible, locked, unlocked both ends, Lo 1st, 3rd etc. The only one that didn't cause the hop, but made it about the same height was in 2 wheel drive.
My Tracker that makes that same hill look flat is shorter wheelbase, and lighter, and my 4x4 Chevy PU is longer and heavier - it too takes that hill, but not quite so easy. My Jeepster doesn't make it though - runs out of power - needs lower gears - 225/3.73's.

He He -- I know it's not a "Jeep thing I don't understand" because my M38A1 flys over it (but it's 350/5.38's.)
Maybe it's just me getting scared and causing the shaking?

Funny though - the Chevy PU has issues going down that same hill - or steeper - brakes on or in gear holding it back - when creeping down slow the front springs wrap excessively, then traction is lost, the spring pops back causing the body to bounce up a couple inches, then the process starts all over again. So as you go on down trying to go slow - it's hopping all the way down - looks silly and will snap that spring if it continues.
It's a hop exactly the opposite of the Rubi - The Rubi goes down fine. Fortunately a traction bar on the front half of the truck's front spring will cure that.

I'll try dampening the Rubi's Ford suspension with shocks - if that doesn't solve it I'm not totally opposed to putting on a suspension that's worth having.

Supposedly the Rubicon's lifted - from a Wrangler's. That might put the radius arms pointing farther downward - if they just used a coil spacer to gain the clearance - the farther down it points the more fore and aft movement. Today I'll park side by side with one to see what they changed. It may be just a simple case of lengthening the axle brackets upward to get the arms more parallel with the ground. Something I did notice is steering's more sensitive than a normal TJ, indicating more negative caster. Could be they just used the spacer without re-engineering - sounds like what the Germans would do to the Americans.

I'm surprised that the SWB board doesn't have complaints about "the hop" on TJ's. Maybe the Rubicon's too new for it to be a recognized problem.