Jeep Enthusiast Forums banner

Identify this lift....

1K views 17 replies 11 participants last post by  bgredjeep 
#1 · (Edited)
Can you identify this lift. I think it's just a shackle lift as the body doughnuts seem to be stock. They are for the most part about 1-1 1/2 inches thick, what appears to be original, though in good condition and intact.
My concern is this:
With a simple shackle 'lift' I believe it has effectively lost some Caster for the steering. The symptoms are touchy steering at road speed. I live out in the Rural part of southern North Carolina and while our roads tend to be narrow and not exactly flat high speed through fares, their better than some places I'v lived, like So Cal and Anchorage Alaska. The purpose of the question involves caster shims for the front axle to return the steering more towards self centering. I don't believe my 95 YJ 4.0 has seen much dirt, at least on a regular basis, maybe dirt roads or double tracks in the woods, but still the steering could be better. The toe in seems pretty close is what I'm getting to.
As you can see, I have these American Racing Pythons with 31's on them, with some + offset ...unknown at what inches they are outwardy.
And lastly, if I add shims to the axle, say 2 degree or 4 degree, would I be able to loosen the 'U' bolts and plate and insert the shims and sinch it all back up without monkieing up something else? Anything to pay close attention to? I mean, this seems simple to me, and I'd consider myself an 8 out of 10 as a motorhead. Simple fix?
The rear dogleg shackle is measured from top edge to bottom edge...
 

Attachments

See less See more
3
#2 ·
Can you identify this lift. I think it's just a shackle lift as the body doughnuts seem to be stock. They are for the most part about 1-1 1/2 inches thick, what appears to be original, though in good condition and intact.
My concern is this:
With a simple shackle 'lift' I believe it has effectively lost some Caster for the steering. The symptoms are touchy steering at road speed. I live out in the Rural part of southern North Carolina and while our roads tend to be narrow and not exactly flat high speed through fares, their better than some places I'v lived, like So Cal and Anchorage Alaska. The purpose of the question involves caster shims for the front axle to return the steering more towards self centering. I don't believe my 95 YJ 4.0 has seen much dirt, at least on a regular basis, maybe dirt roads or double tracks in the woods, but still the steering could be better. The toe in seems pretty close is what I'm getting to.
As you can see, I have these American Racing Pythons with 31's on them, with some + offset ...unknown...what inches they are outward.
And lastly, if I add shims to the axle, say 2 degree or 4 degree, would I be able to loosen the 'U' bolts and plate and insert the shims and sinch it all back up without monkieing up something else? Anything to pay close attention to? I mean, this seems simple to me, and I'd consider myself an 8 out of 10 as a motorhead. Simple fix?
The rear dogleg shackle is measured from top edge to bottom edge...
You could put some shackles on (4" bolt centers) and it should help with any wandering. You may want to consider having a shop do an alignment just to see though. As far as shims, I don't think you would need them for your setup if everything is properly torqued and the front wheels had the proper toe in. Something else to consider is the unit hub hearings, ball joints, and tie rod ends. Are they in good shape?

Lastly, are there any part numbers on the springs to help us identify the lift?

Also, ditch the track bar in the front and rear. Your jeep will ride much better.
 
#3 ·
The sprigs are not stock, you can see how One of leafs in the pack wraps around the eye. it's called a military wrap, if you happen to snap a main leaf there's still something to support your vehicle, although the support from the frame end and the other spring is generally enough to keep it from dropping to the ground. As for identity, not many companies offer military wrap, so you can defiantly narrow it down. Also, the trAnsfer case drop uses pucks which are also mfg specific.

The shackles are measured eye to eye, if that's the case it looks like you have shackles an in inch longer than stock which gives you ~1/2" lift.

I'd say you're probably around 4-5" over stock. First jeep??
 
#5 ·
Booms not needed in the front. You will have to stick with extended shackles with double wrap springs. You won't have any room for movement other wise. Might be able to drop the shackle length to somewhere around 5 to 6 inches center to center eye. Which they might already be siZed at.

Sent from my iPhone using JeepForum
 
#6 ·
Yep, first jeep, ans a trade from a previous owner who didn't know any specifics beyond it had a 'cool' sterio and sound bar'...lol. I'v come to expect a lack of knowledge as to the components, especially as it changed hands from the installer to the next owner then to me leaving the 'next owner' ignorant of the componentry. It's what is to be expected. At this point, I'm just trying to figure out what it is that has been done. I'm content with the configuration as is, it suits me as I seldom would use the Jeep for gnarley roads or crawling. I'm more likely to go offroad to a creek or river and go panning for gold and set up a camp kind of thing. But the bottom line is that I know the steering self centering lacks just a scoush, and could be better at 'return to center'.
 
#8 ·
^^^^^^^^^^^^ looks like rubicon express springs to me too. check the suspension out real good, steering parts, also toe in, shouldn't have a problem with your setup.
 
#10 ·
took another look at your pics, you also need to either install the extension bracket on the track bar or just take it off, its pulling your axle over alittle.
 
#12 ·
Track bar to go................as soon as it's not raining here. I got'a do everything outdoors, and this time of year its rainy or sprinkly all the time. I think Caster wedges are my answer. Yea the track bars are...... uh, I don't know what.... but seem to be a factory necesity for some reason unknown to most??? I don't like the way they shift the chassis when accelerating or decelerating. My problem on the rear will be cutting the weld where the PO welded/tacked the through bolt to the axle mount. I can get the nut off, but the bolt is welded. '''Some peoples kids''' ???
 
#13 ·
Ok a couple months have passed. The usual 145K mileage point necessities, ie. a new clutch kit and master and slave clutch kit. The clutch is all new now as well as hydraulic system.

Now back to the problem.... It does wander, or rather it doesn't self center much at all. As roadyrob pointed out in his assessment of the spring type, I'm not certain, but the Letter prefix would lead me to believe they were 'Rubicon Express Springs' Here's a shot of the stencil/letters on the rear of the drivers side. Both front springs have these numbers, honestly the rears I didn't check other than to note they have Wedges installed as well as a transfer case drop of 1.5" it appears, made with what almost look like Hockey pucks. They are about 2.5" and round, of some very hard non-metallic material. I'v sent off to Harbor Freight for a caster degree measuring gauge just a few minutes ago, so I know I'll need to measure caster before the determination of which degree wedges I will need.

Yea this is my first Jeep, and I'm finding it suits me well and my lifestyle of a retired old duff living on a farm in the country.
 

Attachments

#16 ·
Yep, the track bar was removed a couple months ago, right after I initially wrote this thread. Boy what a difference, I felt a much better suspension movement. The rear still has to come out, but the PO welded the through bolt head to the axle tower mount about a quarter of the way around. Of course he fried the bushing doing so and it clanks on acceleration and deceleration. Initially I had got a cutoff blade for my side grinder to cut the weld so that I could remove the bolt, but grinding at 35,000 rpm threw a shower of sparks. Dang, I was afraid of blowing the whole thing up so I stopped immediately. I went to tractor supply and got a drill mounted grinding stone to fit my small drill. The low rpm of it ought not to throw sparks, and ought to cut the weld out in a couple minutes time hopefully.

Thanks for IDing the springs guys. Let me ask you then..... with 2.5 Rubicon Express springs and the shackles shown in the picture, what do you think my lift system comes out to? I'm thinking the shackles are lifting maybe 1 1/2" to maybe 2" , giving a total of 4" ?? Does that sound right?
With this information i could try to compute the loss of caster and decide on what degree of wedges and only buy once instead of back and forth with them and the distributor. I did get a gauge from Harbor Freight that ought to show soon, for my exact measurements.

Other than the wandering feel, it's good to full throttle in 5th of about 70-75ish without wobble or bounce or anything, it's quite smooth. Remember, it sets on 31x10.50's.
 
#17 ·
The two inches added by the shackles only results in one inch of lift. All things being equal, you're adding two inches on one side of the spring while the other stays fixed and the axle (being in the center of these two points) will move exactly one half the distance that you lift one side.

One inch shackle lift. Stock is 4".



 
#18 ·
The wandering can be the result of the drag link angle. When the TREs wear the tie-rod will rotate when you turn left and right causing a dead spot when you transition. A drop pitman arm or a tie-rod flip might flatted it out enough to fix that and any bump steer you feel as well. You could drop to a 5" shackle (1/2" lift) and it will give some of your caster back. Have you had to alignment checked to make sure it is correct?

Based on the shackle lift only you should have lost ~2.5º of caster with the 1" lift shackles. So a shim that same amount to get it back, or drop to a 1/2" shackle and you will get ~1/2 of that back. If you go with shims, make sure you get steel shims (not aluminum) and make sure your center pins are long enough to go through into the hole in the spring perch. I don't think that will be an issue with such a small shim.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top