Front Springs bowed!!

[ShadowsPapa]

My take - the thing is messed up and whoever did the install needs to do a lot of fixing.
Shock length, sway bar is way wacky, all of the aforementioned stuff.
And beware - "alignment shops" are like any other shop - there are good and there are bad.
I had one almost kill me because they couldn't follow directions, or check things before turning the car loose. I was too busy to deal with things myself, dropped the car off and told them -beware, if you turn those tie rod sleeve clamps wrong the steering will lock. And I provided them with a page out of the factory TSM and a bulletin on the topic with pictures.
Pulled out of their lot, turned into traffic and I couldn't straighten the wheel and a semi was coming at me fast. Luckily me and the power steering overcame the situation. MORONS. Doesn't matter if people rave and "oh, that shop is great, they know exactly what they are doing, 5 star ratings". OK, yeah, right.

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[2020GladRubicon]

You have an adjustable track bar AND relocation bracket?

Yes

 

[2020GladRubicon]

LOL, I thought about that, too but wanted to stay focused on the axle position. Then I saw the sway bar angle... then the shock... then....

what a mess! I am out of town until next weekend but will be looking into all of this then.

The back story on my Jeep is I purchased it used with a terrible suspension system it was a mess from the start, I had my Co-Worker who “claims” he works on jeeps all the time install a 3.5” terra flex lift (Springs, sway bar, relocation bracket etc). The truck looked fine for a while then I had a shop in town (Baldys Austin TX) do alignment about 6 months ago. Since then nothing has been right but I honestly don’t know better. I thought it just ran rough due to the lift. Fast forward to about 2 months ago. My springs were actually spinning *ish*. I bought my truck to another shop in town, they told me I needed correction pads. So I personally installed them since I was tired of spending my money with shops, that weren’t doing the right thing. I put it back together. Everything seemed fine until I got everything back together and obviously you can see the “bowing”. At the time, it was not as bad as it is now (after the most recent alignment, which was yesterday).

when I get a chance next week. I am going to focus on the following

-Confirm spring is sitting properly on bump stop
- See what spring looks like before hooking up the shock
- how can I tell if my links are to long? They came with the kit, so I would assume they would be correct?

Now another question, before I touch the truck. Should I bring it back to the alignment shop and have them make adjustments? This is also an off roading shop in town. They did not see anything wrong *go figures*.

I appreciate everyone’s help, I got into the Jeep last year and it has been a rough experience. I cannot find a shop in town that can help me. I have spent thousands trying to correct the truck. If any of you are in central texas and know of a shop, please share!

 

[rharr]

You have to much hodgepodge bs installed strip all that stuff off and just buy a full kit from Clayton offroad or rock krawler, at least then you know all the parts work together, and they come with instructions on how to set everything.

Sell the stripped off stuff used.

 

[OHJeeper]

what a mess! I am out of town until next weekend but will be looking into all of this then.

The back story on my Jeep is I purchased it used with a terrible suspension system it was a mess from the start, I had my Co-Worker who “claims” he works on jeeps all the time install a 3.5” terra flex lift (Springs, sway bar, relocation bracket etc). The truck looked fine for a while then I had a shop in town (Baldys Austin TX) do alignment about 6 months ago. Since then nothing has been right but I honestly don’t know better. I thought it just ran rough due to the lift. Fast forward to about 2 months ago. My springs were actually spinning *ish*. I bought my truck to another shop in town, they told me I needed correction pads. So I personally installed them since I was tired of spending my money with shops, that weren’t doing the right thing. I put it back together. Everything seemed fine until I got everything back together and obviously you can see the “bowing”. At the time, it was not as bad as it is now (after the most recent alignment, which was yesterday).

when I get a chance next week. I am going to focus on the following

-Confirm spring is sitting properly on bump stop
- See what spring looks like before hooking up the shock
- how can I tell if my links are to long? They came with the kit, so I would assume they would be correct?

Now another question, before I touch the truck. Should I bring it back to the alignment shop and have them make adjustments? This is also an off roading shop in town. They did not see anything wrong *go figures*.

I appreciate everyone’s help, I got into the Jeep last year and it has been a rough experience. I cannot find a shop in town that can help me. I have spent thousands trying to correct the truck. If any of you are in central texas and know of a shop, please share!

Sway bar - Did you do a full suspension upgrade, front and rear? If so, check the rear end links - you may have just swapped front to rear. As @azmojave said, at rest with the wheels on, the sway bar ends should be parallel to the ground.

If you have the time and tools, I would completely remove one of the springs and use a floor jack to push the axle up toward the bump stop - they should touch center to center (perch to bump). If not, start there with adjusting the UCA/LCA until your caster and pinion angle are correct and the axle is centered in the wheel well (which it should be if the bump stop and perch are touching in the center).

For now, forget about the shock length - get the axle position set correctly and let's go from there. If you have free time, grab the model number and find all the length specs - travel length, compressed length, etc - that will help narrow down if your shocks are incorrect. It could just be the pics/angle you sent.

Keep in mind we're all troubleshooting over the Internet and not standing there with you!

 

[2020GladRubicon]

The sway bar should be parallel with the ground. As level as possible.

Just found out that the installer installed the rear ones on the front of the truck… SMH!

 

[OHJeeper]

Just found out that the installer installed the rear ones on the front of the truck… SMH!

Easy fix! - check one thing off your list

 

[2020GladRubicon]

Sway bar - Did you do a full suspension upgrade, front and rear? If so, check the rear end links - you may have just swapped front to rear. As @azmojave said, at rest with the wheels on, the sway bar ends should be parallel to the ground.

If you have the time and tools, I would completely remove one of the springs and use a floor jack to push the axle up toward the bump stop - they should touch center to center (perch to bump). If not, start there with adjusting the UCA/LCA until your caster and pinion angle are correct and the axle is centered in the wheel well (which it should be if the bump stop and perch are touching in the center).

For now, forget about the shock length - get the axle position set correctly and let's go from there. If you have free time, grab the model number and find all the length specs - travel length, compressed length, etc - that will help narrow down if your shocks are incorrect. It could just be the pics/angle you sent.

Keep in mind we're all troubleshooting over the Internet and not standing there with you!

Sway bar - Did you do a full suspension upgrade, front and rear? If so, check the rear end links - you may have just swapped front to rear. As @azmojave said, at rest with the wheels on, the sway bar ends should be parallel to the ground.

If you have the time and tools, I would completely remove one of the springs and use a floor jack to push the axle up toward the bump stop - they should touch center to center (perch to bump). If not, start there with adjusting the UCA/LCA until your caster and pinion angle are correct and the axle is centered in the wheel well (which it should be if the bump stop and perch are touching in the center).

For now, forget about the shock length - get the axle position set correctly and let's go from there. If you have free time, grab the model number and find all the length specs - travel length, compressed length, etc - that will help narrow down if your shocks are incorrect. It could just be the pics/angle you sent.

Keep in mind we're all troubleshooting over the Internet and not standing there with you!

I went with the Terra-Flex 3.5" Coil Spring Base Lift Kit (https://teraflex.com/jt-3-5-coil-spring-base-lift-kit-no-shocks.html#)

It did include both the front & rear sway bar links. You are correct, the 13" links are in the front and the 11.50" links are well. not on my truck LOL. So looks like I will be buying 11.50" links and replace them on the front & install the 13" links are on the rear.

Now for shocks, they installed the Bilstein B8 5100 Series (Rated for 3-4.5" lift) https://www.4wheelparts.com/p/bilstein-5100-series-front-shock-absorber-24-315067/_/R-BBGL-24-315067. These should be good enough for my life.... If I didn't have the ACOS bump stops, which are obviously providing me too much of a lift in the front.

So I decided that I am going to ditch the ACOS bump stops and replace them with (Budget friendly) Dv8 off road RRBS2 2.0 Hydraulic Bump stops. (I just ordered them)... Let me know, if these are not worth it.


I have experience working on cars but since this is my daily and I have pretty much zero experience on suspension, I thought it would be a good idea to trust local shops to work on it. Turns out, this was not the case. I have been dealing with this issue for about 6 months. Not once, did anyone ever mention that my bump stops may be providing to much height (These bump stops were on the truck when I bought it) or that my sway bar link is not properly leveled..... I appreciate your guys feedback. I am finally feeling like I am finally working towards a solution.

 

[OHJeeper]

So I decided that I am going to ditch the ACOS bump stops and replace them with (Budget friendly) Dv8 off road RRBS2 2.0 Hydraulic Bump stops. (I just ordered them)... Let me know, if these are not worth it.

I have no experience with any of the hydraulic bump stops. I'll let others chime in, but IMHO unless you are doing some serious off roading, or jumping your rig over sand dunes, these are overkill. I would just put in something closer to factory and call it a day.

 

[2020GladRubicon]

I have no experience with any of the hydraulic bump stops. I'll let others chime in, but IMHO unless you are doing some serious off roading, or jumping your rig over sand dunes, these are overkill. I would just put in something closer to factory and call it a day.

I would but unfortunately the previous owner already cut the factory ones off. So I need one that can work with the previous mod.

 

[bleda2002]

I have no experience with any of the hydraulic bump stops. I'll let others chime in, but IMHO unless you are doing some serious off roading, or jumping your rig over sand dunes, these are overkill. I would just put in something closer to factory and call it a day.

He can't, the install for all these hydro bumps cuts the bump stop tube.

Personally still mostly looks like the axle is just all out of wack with it being super far forward. The shop got caster by just adjusting the lowers is my bet.

If this was my truck I'd adjust the lower and upper control arms to the Clayton 3.5" lift specifications which should be really close to teraflex 3.5 with .5 bump stop. That should get the axle very close to the correct position and then you can reevaluate. This can all be done on the ground one arm at a time so it should be fairly easy.

Edit: here is the measurements they give it will be damn close to between 5 and 6 degrees of caster.

 

[2020GladRubicon]

He can't, the install for all these hydro bumps cuts the bump stop tube.

Personally still mostly looks like the axle is just all out of wack with it being super far forward. The shop got caster by just adjusting the lowers is my bet.

If this was my truck I'd adjust the lower and upper control arms to the Clayton 3.5" lift specifications which should be really close to teraflex 3.5 with .5 bump stop. That should get the axle very close to the correct position and then you can reevaluate. This can all be done on the ground one arm at a time so it should be fairly easy.

I can adjust the control arms on the ground? Meaning all tires on the ground?? Sorry lack of experience over here.

 

[bleda2002]

I can adjust the control arms on the ground? Meaning all tires on the ground?? Sorry lack of experience over here.

Yes, unbolt one lower, adjust lengths, reinstall. Do the next lower, then do the uppers. For the uppers you will probably need to unbolt both at the same time or you won't get the tilt you need potentially.

 

[2020GladRubicon]

Yes, unbolt one lower, adjust lengths, reinstall. Do the next lower, then do the uppers. For the uppers you will probably need to unbolt both at the same time or you won't get the tilt you need potentially.

Thank you. I will give this a try.

 

[OHJeeper]

Personally still mostly looks like the axle is just all out of wack with it being super far forward. The shop got caster by just adjusting the lowers is my bet.

Absolutely agree - get the axle properly setup is #1

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