Rear suspension bottoming out

[Rubiland916]

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.

On it!

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[Rubiland916]

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.

On it! Thanks.