Rear suspension bottoming out

[Rubiland916]

Stock Rubicon w/Fox shocks. I recently installed a Rebel Offroad bed rack and a Decked drawer system. The rack weighs roughly 180 lbs. and the drawer system comes in at 200. Have not adding any other additional items. So this brings the total added weight to just under 400 pounds. Jeep claims the gladiator can handle up to 1700 pounds payload. Since the install the rear suspension has gotten so bad that it bottoms out with every bump and is unstable at freeway speeds. Any ideas on what this might be or your own experience?

UPDATE: The weight capacity is 1178 pounds. Far from what I thought it was. But still half of it's full capacity including me in it. So I checked everything out you guys told me to check and found the shocks are blown out. Oil is all over the bottom of shock mount. Everything else seems fine. The bump stops are pretty well used also but ok. Future plans are to install a 3 1/2" rubicon lift with heavy duty springs. This should help tremendously. ? I'm not planning on putting to much weight back there other than a couple kayaks and minimal camping essentials. Built a jk this way and worked great minus the storage issue. This truck should solve that and still give me that offroad experience. Next step is off to the dealer for hopefully warranty work. And have them address the steering issue, which isn't to bad but there and its not lifted yet. Thanks everyone and I'll update once back from dealer. Wheel safe.

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[MrZappo]

1700 includes passengers.

 

[kevman65]

Rubicon is worth 1200 pounds with manual and 1160 pounds with automatic.

Sport S Max Tow is worth 1600 pounds with manual.

Those are the payload numbers. If you're full of passengers, that number goes down for the box.

 

[Rubiland916]

1700 includes passengers.

Yes I understand that. But even at half capacity load normal driving this shouldn't make the truck bottom out with the smallest bumps.

 

[Rubiland916]

Rubicon is worth 1200 pounds with manual and 1160 pounds with automatic.

Sport S Max Tow is worth 1600 pounds with manual.

Those are the payload numbers. If you're full of passengers, that number goes down for the box.

Where'd you get those numbers? Those aren't any of the numbers I've read.

 

[Riccochet]

Looks like they lowered the numbers on the 2021 model year Rubicon. Info straight off Jeep's website.


Weights
SpecificationDimension
Gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) (lbs.)
6,250
Payload (lbs.)
1,200
Towing capacity (lbs.)
4,500
Gross combined weight rating (GCWR) (lbs.)
10,000

 

[KurtP]

Stock Rubicon w/Fox shocks. I recently installed a Rebel Offroad bed rack and a Decked drawer system. The rack weighs roughly 180 lbs. and the drawer system comes in at 200. Have not adding any other additional items. So this brings the total added weight to just under 400 pounds. Jeep claims the gladiator can handle up to 1700 pounds payload. Since the install the rear suspension has gotten so bad that it bottoms out with every bump and is unstable at freeway speeds. Any ideas on what this might be or your own experience?

lift with stiffer spring and shock or add an airbag helper. Although im really surprised you are bottoming and having stability issues with only 400lb. I had a full pallet crate box of firewood and was fine.

 

[kevman65]

Where'd you get those numbers? Those aren't any of the numbers I've read.

Right from Jeep's website. Numbers change almost daily with them. Open driver door and read sticker. Whatever it says is what you are rated for. But remember, on payload you have to subtract the weight of each passenger to determine what your true payload is.
Gone are the days of a fixed number.


Go this page, scroll down to PAYLOAD, read the small note 3

https://www.jeep.com/gladiator/utility.html

Go this page, scroll down to PAYLOAD tables
https://tfltruck.com/2019/03/2020-jeep-gladiator-towing-specs/

You can't read the BIG BOLD PRINT and assume it covers everything. It's the hook covered with the sweet looking bait.

 

[Deleted member 24880]

Well I will try to actually answer your question. No that weight should not make your supension bottom out. I put 500lbs in the bed every winter and never have issue as the truck barely sags. I’m guessing there is another issue Check your shocks and springs to make sure something hasn’t failed.

 

[kevman65]

Do yourself a favor, go to rear bumper on either corner, do a hard push down on bumper and release. It should bounce right back up and hold. Check both corners. If they don't rebound and hold, you probably have blown shocks.
It happens, seals can be faulty out of the box.

 

[Rubiland916]

Well I will try to actually answer your question. No that weight should not make your supension bottom out. I put 500lbs in the bed every winter and never have issue as the truck barely sags. I’m guessing there is another issue Check your shocks and springs to make sure something hasn’t failed.

Thanks. I did and didn't find anything obvious. The only other thing would be taking it apart to further inspect.

 

[gpwrang33]

Look at the sticker with YOUR load capacity.

 

[12BNNT]

You’re gonna have to get under the back of your truck and look closely at a few things. Look closely at the rear coil springs. Follow the coil from top to bottom as it spirals down. Make sure it looks seated in the perches correctly and neither are broke anywhere along the spiral (rare but I’ve seen it once years ago on a car’s front spring) and then grab hold of them and try to wiggle them. They shouldn’t move with the truck sitting on the tires. Another thing would be grab the shocks and try to wiggle them making sure they are bolted on top and bottom. The sleeve might move a little but the shock itself should not (busted rod possible). Look for oil leaking from the shock (blown shock as mentioned above). Also check your rear sway bar links. I actually lost a bolt from the right rear link where it bolts to the frame while off-roading. I’m guessing it never got torqued down properly and backed itself out. I don’t remember it allowing the rear end to bottom out before I bought a new $2 bolt but I didn’t have any load in the bed either.
If all of that ”looks” good, have someone lift up and push down on the rear bumper while you’re looking at the rear suspension through its travel. Look to see if you can tell what’s hitting. Do you have a lift installed or larger tires? Is the spare not in place and getting in the way of the travel or is it loose and thumping around?
If you can’t tell or see what it is, take it to the dealer and ask them to look at it. Bad or broken suspension is nothing to hemhaw about. You said it acts squirrelly. How safe do you think it would be if you added a sudden lane change on the highway to the equation trying to avoid an accident? Loss of control?
If you figure out what it is, let us know. If it’s a defective part, someone else might end up with the same problem and this thread could help them find it faster. Good luck.

 

[XJADDICTION]

My max tow is doing the same thing with about the same amount of weight that you have out back. My JT has 26,000 miles on the clock. The shocks on the max tow are too soft IMOP and I’ve taken this truck off road a bunch and flexed it up. I’ve had coils on rigs before that really got soft after flexing a bunch.

I’ve had a Rubicon JKUHR and I noticed from new that the suspension was very soft. Maybe Rubicon JT’s are similar to make it more flexible off road.

My remedy is going to be an Overland lift that will change out the coils and shocks (CA’s as well) to handle more weight in the back. I did this on my Toyota FZJ land cruiser with OME heavies in the rear, OME medium up front . The ride was much better for the weight I carried in that rig. My daughter’s GC WJ 5.7 has an OME medium 3” lift. That thing has a great ride with normal driving, loaded it is a little too soft in the rear. I’ll do the same thing for that rig as well.

 

[Rubiland916]

Look at the sticker with YOUR load capacity.

This is something I know very well in my industry and dropped the ball for not looking from the get-go. Brain fart. Thanks.?

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