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Author Topic: Lifting a WJ  (Read 5723 times)

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Lifting a WJ
« on: February 27, 2011, 09:39:24 PM »

I only use my wj off road now and then. But I often think I could do with just a tad more ground clearance

Ive got standard springs and shockers (mopar) , all in good working nick.

What would the effects good and bad be of adding a 2" lift and keeping the same shockers??

cheers

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scrw

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Re: Lifting a WJ
« Reply #1 on: February 27, 2011, 09:54:35 PM »

not much downward flex, may bottom out the shocks driving over bad potholes which won't do them much good. A spacer & shock set from Llama 4x4 isn't too expensive.
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isle of man

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Re: Lifting a WJ
« Reply #2 on: February 27, 2011, 09:55:19 PM »

Yeah PUK it...
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Re: Lifting a WJ
« Reply #3 on: February 27, 2011, 11:08:55 PM »

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scrw

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Re: Lifting a WJ
« Reply #4 on: February 27, 2011, 11:13:03 PM »

puk = spacer
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Re: Lifting a WJ
« Reply #5 on: February 27, 2011, 11:20:44 PM »

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Bishops Finger

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Re: Lifting a WJ
« Reply #6 on: February 27, 2011, 11:31:37 PM »

The buffoons speak sense..
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scrw

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Re: Lifting a WJ
« Reply #7 on: February 28, 2011, 08:48:07 AM »

Oh and if you have a diesel which have +1" springs over a petrol I would be careful with a 2" lift if you have a CV front shaft. My petrol WJ is lifted 3" and has eaten 2 front CV driveshafts very quickly, they don't like the new angle they are working at  :banghead:
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charger

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Re: Lifting a WJ
« Reply #8 on: February 28, 2011, 09:21:52 AM »

A +2" lift & shocks will ride great & look loads better, it will allow bigger tyres I have 255/75 which are 30.1" & next to 31" tyres look no smaller. You can get loads of puck lifts of ebay in the UK, springs are better but more expensive jimny bits sell them. I would also get muds AT's are good but on some sites ruts caused by 33" + tyres can cause a problem.
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Re: Lifting a WJ
« Reply #9 on: February 28, 2011, 08:59:09 PM »

Oh and if you have a diesel which have +1" springs over a petrol I would be careful with a 2" lift if you have a CV front shaft. My petrol WJ is lifted 3" and has eaten 2 front CV driveshafts very quickly, they don't like the new angle they are working at  :banghead:

The springs are 1" longer?

The motor factors (usually very very good) have exactly the same spring listed for the wj range?????? can i presume teyre wrong? has anyone else come across this?


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scrw

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Re: Lifting a WJ
« Reply #10 on: February 28, 2011, 09:00:39 PM »

they are wrong, diesel springs are longer
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scrw

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Re: Lifting a WJ
« Reply #11 on: February 28, 2011, 09:04:57 PM »

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daved

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Re: Lifting a WJ
« Reply #12 on: February 28, 2011, 09:17:14 PM »

they are wrong, diesel springs are longer

front and rear? its the rear ive ordered  :011:

and we are talking the UK spec 2002 wj/wg 2.7crd????
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charger

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Re: Lifting a WJ
« Reply #13 on: February 28, 2011, 09:52:46 PM »

Nice dog BTW American Bulldog??
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daved

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Re: Lifting a WJ
« Reply #14 on: February 28, 2011, 10:01:37 PM »

Nice dog BTW American Bulldog??

Thanks,no he's a staffordshire bull terrier and daft as they come  :icon_biggrin:

Good day out for him is a bit of green laning, a run around on the moors and home for tea .No soft poochs here lol
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scrw

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Re: Lifting a WJ
« Reply #15 on: February 28, 2011, 10:12:38 PM »

they are wrong, diesel springs are longer

front and rear? its the rear ive ordered  :011:

and we are talking the UK spec 2002 wj/wg 2.7crd????
Yep, diesels have the up country springs (although not called that in the UK) You may find your jeep sits lower on the rear with the new ones if the supplier doesn't say they are different
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Re: Lifting a WJ
« Reply #16 on: February 28, 2011, 10:19:59 PM »

they are wrong, diesel springs are longer

front and rear? its the rear ive ordered  :011:

and we are talking the UK spec 2002 wj/wg 2.7crd????
Yep, diesels have the up country springs (although not called that in the UK) You may find your jeep sits lower on the rear with the new ones if the supplier doesn't say they are different


Ta. Are they shorter uncompressed ? ie when i take the old ones off and stand them side by side itl be obvious or is the compression rate and compressed length different? ie i wont be able to tell until its sitting on them  :jpshakehead:
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scrw

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Re: Lifting a WJ
« Reply #17 on: March 01, 2011, 08:10:54 AM »

that I don't know, looking at WJjeeps they are different rated springs so could all be the same length, I swapped mine for OME and they were very different to 200k mile old stock springs
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williecba

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Re: Lifting a WJ
« Reply #18 on: March 03, 2011, 02:12:47 AM »

The thing about lifting old WJs is that you need to be sure where you are starting from.

Theoretically on measuring a 4x4 you measure from the axle to the frame but the WJ being a Unibody it is fairly safe to use the hub to fender measurement. Get your Jeep on the level and measure from the centre of the wheel ( or hub ) up to the start of the wheel well or 'fender'.

The stock height according to the US is 18.5" on the front and 18" on the rear. This would be for a petrol engined vehicle.

I think that the heavier diesel and the Overland have about 1" more front and rear.

The point is that our springs are old and have sagged with age. Puck lifts give you a definite amount of lift (ie a 2" puck gives you 2" more height) but it is only 2" more than you have at present. My WJ is 11 years old and has a bunch of heavy steel bits bolted to it so that when I measured it on its original springs recently I found that the hub to fender was about 17" on the front and 17.5" at the rear.
This meant that even with a 2" puck in I would only be 1/2" over stock height at the front and so my mud tyres would not clear. Now my case is extreme because of the extra weight I carry but I asked all the WJ owners I knew to go out and measure and they were all under the stock height.

You could just buy Pucks and depending on your stock springs you might, and I stress might, not need new shocks as well.

You could buy a 2" Pucks and shocks combo and as your old shocks are OLD you might well find the Jeep rides better.

You could buy new springs but then you would need to buy new shocks as well because you would be definitely riding high.

(I started with a 'Pucks and 2"-over shocks' deal which meant the shocks were still good when I put longer springs on.)

Supposedly as long as you don't go more than 2.75 to 3" over stock height you won't destroy your front driveshaft (propshaft).

Don't believe US website claims about Lifts and Drive shafts. The Americans had 3 different kinds of front drive shaft but all European WJs had the same bad one.

Find the thread, "WJ Springs on top of Shocks not a good idea" which down the bottom lists the options I have found available for lifting a WJ. Most of my posts are about WJs.
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daved

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Re: Lifting a WJ
« Reply #19 on: March 03, 2011, 07:51:19 AM »

Thanks for the info.

I need to keep the car as close as poss to std for various reasons so its new oem springs and shockers on the back this weekend . Ive established they have ordered the rights springs for a diesel.

I have no intention of putting my driveshafts on the line by lifting too much but a 1 to 2 inch (preferably nearer 1) would have squeezed just that bit more body clearance.

Lifting avoids taking the knocks so as im ot doing that to extreme everything is getting skid plated up  :icon_biggrin:
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williecba

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Re: Lifting a WJ
« Reply #20 on: March 03, 2011, 10:05:10 PM »

Do me a favour.

Before you start work on your Jeep take the hub to fender measurements and then take them again after you have finished and then post the results.

I am trying to collect as much data as possible so that when people enquire about their options I have enough information for them to make an informed choice.

Guys from another website who had fitted various lifts were all kicking themselves, as I did, for not taking this measurement before they started and so were unable to calculate exactly how much lift they had got for their dollar. I even spent a day fitting my original springs again so as to get some idea.

You talk about fitting skid plates. If you go where the Landys go and you have not fitted larger tyres then the first part of your Jeep to suffer will be the diffs because your wheels will be in deep ruts made by tall wheels. That being said I can't say I have seen any WJs in the UK with any form of diff protection. If you go green laning you will see the two deep ruts made by the wheels and in the ground between them the rut made by the diff scraping along the ground.
If you go to pay and play days and start going over the humps then you will soon find that on the summit of every rise and hillock that your belly is scraping on the ground and that is your transfer case and you don't want to damage that. If you find a breakers yard who are breaking an Overland then they will have the Genuine Jeep Transfer case Skid Plate. Not as strong as some aftermarket parts but much much better than nothing. Your Jeep probably won't have the threaded holes in the chassis for fixing it but you can buy Nutserts or Rivnuts on ebay and if you are feeling flush the fitting tool as well. This is probably the first thing you want to buy.
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Bishops Finger

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Re: Lifting a WJ
« Reply #21 on: March 03, 2011, 10:11:18 PM »

Know where there is a ZG with front  diff protection and if you speak with SCRW he may have some SOLID advice...
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daved

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Re: Lifting a WJ
« Reply #22 on: March 03, 2011, 10:50:00 PM »

I have done shed loads of heavy duty off road work in the past, was just always in "works" land rovers so a bollocking at worst but no expense for me if they broke  :icon_twisted:

Bit different in my own truck i need day to day. I am not in a position where i can modify it much beyond standard. I see the front dif as the first vulnerable bit that will ground, and in front of that theres the pretty solid mopar skid plate around the steering bits n pieces. My technique for judging the clearance is pretty straightforward and with this truck accurate to date. My mate in his Nissan patrol leads, if the bottom of his rear diff drags i will flounder so we work around it.

Not generally a problem.

Tackled some pretty claggy rutted tracks on the N york moors and got through. also made it up a rocky slope that defeated a lr 90  :icon_biggrin: :icon_biggrin: :icon_biggrin:

With just over 4/5ths of a tank of diesel (you need to factor that into the ride height measurements bearing in mind a litre of diesel is as close to 1kg to not worry about) a trolley jack and a few bits n pieces my rear height is 16 1/2 inches , the front is 19 . Not really surprised at that because i know the rear springs are knackered. I tow a 1/1/2 ton caravan and having done recent building work at home shifted literally tons of rubble, soil and sand in the back of the jeep.

The high front reading is almost certainly due to the leverage effect of the rear drooping so those readings are probably no use for a database.

New rear springs and shockers going on on Saturday. I do actually think sometimes its more fun seeing what  bog standard truck can manage  :icon_super:
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Re: Lifting a WJ
« Reply #23 on: March 03, 2011, 10:54:51 PM »

Know where there is a ZG with front  diff protection and if you speak with SCRW he may have some SOLID advice...


 :icon_winkle:
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scrw

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Re: Lifting a WJ
« Reply #24 on: March 04, 2011, 09:09:51 AM »

fit bigger tyres  :greggmo:
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