Modding a Rubicon to ride like a Mojave

[SoK66]

No it won't. That's because a spacer doesn't change the spring rate. It is simply raising the vehicle height. The spring remains the exact same spring and the spring is compressed exactly the same. The spacers only lift - nothing more, nothing less. They can't change the ride one bit (unless you raise it to the point of needing geometry correcting brackets - but then taller springs will do that, too!)

edit:
(I see someone already said all of that, ok, I missed that post!)

To make the spacer lift work properly you need to do the same mods as if you installed taller springs. That is, longer control arms, l lengthened track bars with raised mounts, raised shock mounts, etc. By the time you do all that you might as well add taller springs and longer travel shocks.

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[ShadowsPapa]

To make the spacer lift work properly you need to do the same mods as if you installed taller springs. That is, longer control arms, l lengthened track bars with raised mounts, raised shock mounts, etc. By the time you do all that you might as well add taller springs and longer travel shocks.

Depends on the height.

 

[Zachanadandy]

Spacers pre-load the coils….. more tension…. Less suspension ‘movement’.
You won’t necessarily feel it on flat areas…..but you’ll feel the difference over bumps, etc.

Not really, especially on a solid axle rig. You're effectively lowering the top of the coil bucket by the size of the spacer. The coils will have the the exact same load on them. If the spring had a 150lb/inch rate and that corner had 1200lbs of weight on it (round numbers but close enough for a stock JT) the spring would compress 8" from its free length. Adding a 1" spacer only moves the top of the spring down and therefore increases the ride height by the same 1". The load didn't change, the spring still compressed by 8". With the mojave shocks staying in the ride zone is critical as the internal bypass makes them super stiff at both the top and bottom of tire travel. Being that the mojave sits an inch taller, the 1" spacer just puts the front shocks right in the middle of the ride zone. Unless you're compressing the spring to the point of coil bond that spacer didn't cost any suspension movement. The stock coils won't get into coil bind with stock bump stops even running a 2.5" spacer. Now a 2.5" spacer would cost downtravel running stock shocks and the mojave shocks would not be in their ride zone. That's why the AEV mojave specific 2" kit has 2" bump stop spacers, 2" coils spacers, and shock extensions to keep everything in its optimal ride zone and therefore doesn't affect ride quality or suspension movement.

 

[chr15m]

Just going to add to the consensus here, but I threw a .75" spacer on the rear axle after adding a GFC to my JTM. That put the ride height back to stock, shocks back into their intended ride zone and the coils measured the same before and after (compressed). I have a set of Eibach rear coils that are 1" longer than stock and slightly higher spring rate that I plan to put on at some point but still haven't because the spacers actually brought the ride quality back to the way it was originally. So far I haven't needed anything more than that to deal with the extra 300lbs on the bed.

*Forgot I had already posted this here

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Just going to add to the consensus here, but I threw a .75" spacer on the rear axle after adding a GFC to my JTM. That put the ride height back to stock, shocks back into their intended ride zone and the coils measured the same before and after (compressed). I have a set of Eibach rear coils that are 1" longer than stock and slightly higher spring rate that I plan to put on at some point but still haven't because the spacers actually brought the ride quality back to the way it was originally. So far I haven't needed anything more than that to deal with the extra 300lbs on the bed.

That's a point I like - you can do something like that with zero change to ride because the spring rate is unchanged.

 

[chr15m]

That's a point I like - you can do something like that with zero change to ride because the spring rate is unchanged.

Yeah I bought the Eibach coils preemptively, and since I resolved the issue with spacers I've hesitated to do the work to swap them. I already know itll be a bit harsher with the increased rate, I havent encountered any bottoming out in the rear yet either. So for now they just sit, at least I got them on sale.

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