Squished Max Tow rear springs, any better aftermarket options?

[madesicc88]

The spacers would be a great place to really check, also the Max Tow springs on my Mojave are compressed a bit on the top from the cap and fridge in bed I guess, but plastic spacers could have bulged out or compressed. You would think
The springs would come back up
Since as you were driving you were on the bump stops so they compressed all the way down then the load was on the bump stops. I would really look at the spacers good. That is way too much weight , if you have to do that a lot get a small HD trailer, I did…Jack

Haha well I don’t do this usually, I was just trying to rush a project and didn’t want to take the time to go get my work truck and trailer. Just laziness on my part.

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[Rokon]

Your 22.5” height to the bottom of the hitch seems awfully high result from a 1/2” spacer lift.
My OEM Rubicon with about 375 lbs in the bed is no where near that high.

 

[Sandevino]

The only before measurement that I had was from measuring the bottom of the hitch receiver when I was seeing what kind of drop I needed for a trailer. Definitely not the most accurate but that’s the only number I could go off from before so that’s were I re-measured.
You are correct, this is the internet, and people are nuts.

For what it's worth, this is 140 pieces (364 sq. ft. - 1 1/4 pallets) of St. Augustine sod in the back of my Overland diesel. The pallets weigh about 1700 pounds and doing the math this weighed 2069 pounds. Add myself and my wife (300 pounds total) and the 6-pack of beer, we were like 12oz overloaded.

However, I had two inches to the bump stop and still had plenty of clearance over the rear wheels.

Are you POSITIVE, you had 2200 pounds or are you greatly underestimating the load weight?

 

[madesicc88]

Your 22.5” height to the bottom of the hitch seems awfully high result from a 1/2” spacer lift.
My OEM Rubicon with about 375 lbs in the bed is no where near that high.

Your 22.5” height to the bottom of the hitch seems awfully high result from a 1/2” spacer lift.
My OEM Rubicon with about 375 lbs in the bed is no where near that high.

To the best of my memory, that was what it was, I have no idea what it was before the lift and tires or anything.

 

[madesicc88]

For what it's worth, this is 140 pieces (364 sq. ft. - 1 1/4 pallets) of St. Augustine sod in the back of my Overland diesel. The pallets weigh about 1700 pounds and doing the math this weighed 2069 pounds. Add myself and my wife (300 pounds total) and the 6-pack of beer, we were like 12oz overloaded.

However, I had two inches to the bump stop and still had plenty of clearance over the rear wheels.

Are you POSITIVE, you had 2200 pounds or are you greatly underestimating the load weight?

I could be off on the weight for sure, I didn’t weight each block, but going off the Home Depot website, and how many we had, it’s right around that. I was definitely on the bumpstops if only just slightly.

 

[Wheelin98TJ]

I'd suspect your measurements are wrong before the coils are sagging.

 

[madesicc88]

I'd suspect your measurements are wrong before the coils are sagging.

That is always possible too. Maybe I’ll go to the dealership and do some measurements in specific spots and compare that to mine.

 

[Gren71]

Replacement rear max tow springs aren’t terrible expensive. You could always just order a set and put them in.

you may also want to loosen your control arm bolts and re tighten them. They have a metal sleeve inside the rubber bushing and if you were riding on the bump stops, especially after a lift, they MAY be part of the restriction keeping you from returning to pre lunacy height.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Replacement rear max tow springs aren’t terrible expensive. You could always just order a set and put them in.

you may also want to loosen your control arm bolts and re tighten them. They have a metal sleeve inside the rubber bushing and if you were riding on the bump stops, especially after a lift, they MAY be part of the restriction keeping you from returning to pre lunacy height.

No kidding. After that type of abuse, things could be moved that could not normally move.
Loosen up both ends of all control arms, the track bar, jounce the truck to let it settle back where it tries to go, and torque properly. If anything was loose that type of force easily have turned something that would never normally turn in there.

Could have even sheared the rubber bushings besides turning sleeves.

After I put 3/4" Daystar spacers under my rear springs, with factory diameter tires at 32.2" diameter, the floor to bottom of the receiver hole measurement is 19.6"
Right now, after raising the front 1.5" with new springs and everything settled in, Overland with Daystar 3/4" spacers in rear the floor to bottom of the 2" square hole in the receiver is 18.5" floor to ball mount measurement.
Part of that drop is due to time, part is due to the front sitting a bit higher which obviously lowers the rear a bit. Every 1" change at the very rear is a smaller change at the axle, and lifting only the front lowers the tail of the truck (not at the rear axle, but at the rear bumper- it's a lever)

Hard to believe a Sport S max tow would sit higher than an Overland by 3" without much bigger tires on it as even going to 33s is only less than a 1" change in height of the truck.
(and I think the rear of mine sits high)

This truck sits with receiver hole 18.5" off the floor - 22" off the floor would be a lot higher than this:

Right about payload capacity for my truck - the bulk of it ahead of the rear axle

Two trips - safe, didn't want to destroy the truck or kill anyone, so I made TWO trips. I ain't totally dingy although some may argue that point LOL
But I was over when Menards had a close-out on block. They said they'd cut me a deal if I wanted the rest. Now that I think about it, they said it was something like 40 left in their inventory after I took what I originally wanted. Oh, was their computer WRONG. I went back out and the guy said "I've got yours loaded and what they said and there's still over 50 left. Yeah, try 120 or so. Ugh. I wasn't going to make him unload it all but...... I wasn't happy with that load, either. Never again.
I try to plan and if needed, i'll make multiple trips or - use a trailer.
I don't mine making mods and changes and swapping parts if it's my choice - I don't like breaking things and then having to fix it. Admit it - that isn't nearly as much fun.

 

[drmikeq]

Air bags installed last week. Amazing difference. 120$ and easy to install. Inflated to 25lbs

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Air bags installed last week. Amazing difference. 120$ and easy to install. Inflated to 25lbs

Fine for sagging under normal loads but hopefully someone won't try that stunt again and end up hurting themselves or their truck. Never want to see anyone hurt over a rush and "I can do it" when just because you can doesn't mean you should.
Air bags work fine - for normal loads but I hope everyone is clever enough to know that's all they are intended to do, not increase capacity or make it easier to break laws or do something dangerous.

OTOH, if his truck really IS sagging- air bags are not the fix. A fix is to make it right. Airbags should only be installed under an otherwise normal truck - not as a bandaid to support a sagging suspension, or a broken suspension - in this case, it could be broken or need attention...

 

[madesicc88]

Yea I don’t have any need for airbags, I won’t be doing that with the truck again, haha. I like the idea of comparing heights to similar trucks, they have a lifted sport at the dealership that I will go compare with and the measurements received on here and through DMs I have a good feeling my memory is off and my original 22.5in height is incorrect. Thanks for all the info fellas, I will stick with Max Tow springs if I decide to swap them after getting a few things checked out.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Yea I don’t have any need for airbags, I won’t be doing that with the truck again, haha. I like the idea of comparing heights to similar trucks, they have a lifted sport at the dealership that I will go compare with and the measurements received on here and through DMs I have a good feeling my memory is off and my original 22.5in height is incorrect. Thanks for all the info fellas, I will stick with Max Tow springs if I decide to swap them after getting a few things checked out.

When I was adding things to my Overland, I measured from wheel center/hub center up to a spot on the fender flare. I then went to the dealerships and measured other Overlands on the lots. They all measured 21.5" from wheel center to a ridge on the fender flare trim. All were within 1/16" of that.
From there I could track exactly what sort of spring response I had - regardless of tire size, regardless of air pressure, air temperature and so on. And if I wanted, I could compare mine to any Gladiator Overland owned by any forum member - even if they had swapped tires because we'd be comparing spring height, not any changes made by tire size or tire inflation. A couple of pounds difference in tire inflation makes a difference because it's air that supports the truck - not the tires.

I tracked how much the front of my truck sagged with the front bumper swap, winch install and other fun stuff. Then when I swapped springs, I knew exactly how much difference the springs themselves made independent of anything else. And I could track any settling of the springs over time.

I ended up swapping front springs two times due to the weight I put on the front of my truck.

I put 3/4" spacers under the rear as I anticipated raising the front some and didn't want to lose all of the rake because I tow and haul stuff and Overland has soft springs.
I DID go with air bags so I could prevent the Carolina Squat while towing. With my 2020 I found that even with only 500 pounds tongue weight it made enough squat difference my headlights blinded people and were worthless to me as they mostly showed the raccoons up in the trees. With the air bags, I measure from wheel center to fender flare, put some air in the airbags, hitch up and then add air as needed to get up closer to the original measurement. I don't go all the way back up as that would max out the air bags. The goal was to not drop a lot and be only some below my truck's personal normal height.
The Overland springs being soft is perfect for a nice cross-country ride on all sorts of roads, but not great for towing and hauling - so in my case, I needed the air bags. Max tow springs won't drop as much.

Max tow springs are a lot shorter than overland springs and yet when I put max tow springs under the rear of my Overland, it didn't drop the truck. There's proof they are a higher spring rate.

 

[Rokon]

Another issue with measuring to the ground from the hitch is any crown to the driveway or road. Asphalt is rarely very flat.
Air bags are a great suspension tuning tool for dealing with variable loads. If plumbed individually they help with wallowing with soft springs.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Prevents air from "migrating" on corners and such................

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