I'm guessing this may be a common problem.

When I bought the beast, I installed all new stuff on the front end. Bushings, tie rod ends. etc,etc. Everything but springs.

The only problem that doesn't seem to be resolved in the front drivers side spring.

Every time I go over any sort of bump that makes the spring flex, I can HEAR the spring flexing... sort of a rikee rikee sound. It kinda sounds like it's rubbing against something, but it clearly is not rubbing anything.

I'm talking about small bumps. Stuff like speed bumps that I go over at 1-2 mph.

The Right spring doesn't do it.

Is there such a thing as springs getting "tired"? Is it usual for them to groan and complain when they're forced to do their job?

EDIT:

OK, I just climbed under the thing again, and I see now it's hitting the torsion bar. I took a foto so you guys can see what I mean.

Isn't that a little close? The right side is maaaybe an 1/8 of an inch further away, but it's enough to not rub against the spring.

 

The fix is to take it to a shop and have the front end aligned. The drivers side is too far forward, hence the contact between the coil and the sway bar end link (no torsion bars on an XJ).

 

Unless my eyes are failing me that bar is split.

 

Yep. Should have wrote stabilizer bar. Actually, the manual calls it a Stabilizer Bar so I should stick to that.

The axle is held by the two suspension arms on each side that go from the chassis to the back of the axle housing. No adjusting there that I know of.

The stabilizer bar can only be mounted in one position.


I think your eyes are failing you. LOL, Just grime that's been scraped off.


I'm still thinking the spring is just old and bowing a slight bit towards the front.

It just seems a little odd to me.

 

The lower arms can be adjusted by adding or removing shims at the frame side mount.

 

1) Only purpose of 'Stabilizer Bar' is to reduce sway, hence the term 'Sway-bar'.

2) There are adjusting screws behind rear of lower control arms. Also notice the bracket for rear of control arm has an elongated hole for movement/adjustment.

3) Stabilizer/swaybar can be at a different angles (change link length, non-stock), provided it is within specified range.

 

oP, is your jeep lifted at all. Sway bar does look low in that pic

 

I'm gonna look at that this morning. It would only take about 1/8" of adjustment(maybe even less) to stop the rubbing. Thanks for the tip.


Yep. It's got a 2" lift in the front. You can see the cheapo lift block at the top of the spring in my picture.

It made the noise before I installed the lift. Sticking that in there actually diminished the "Rikee-Rikee" sound quite a bit.

The front was low when I bought it, which is what led me to believe I was experiencing "tired springs"

 

FYI, the adjustments we mentioned at the rear of lower control arms is to adjust the alignment (which changed when the 2" lift was installed). Not to be used to remedy the coils hitting swaybar (unless alignment parameters and pinion-angle allow it).

Rikey-rickey noise is usually related to rubber bushings, in the swaybar mounts at frame-rail, and the 8 bushings on control arms. After you added the 2" spacers, the sound improved because the load on all those bushings rests in a new position.

A new set of coil springs will be around $80, stock or 2" lift, this would greatly improve the ride if your coils are worn out.

When lifting the jeep, the swaybar becomes more horizontal and contacts the coil spring, the remedy is longer links that connect to axle. This will raise the bar back up.

 

I think I follow you.

So, any recommendations for longer links?

 

In the first picture it also appears like you are missing the rubber coil isolater on top of the coil.

 

I picked up a set of Pro Comp links that are longer to reset the sway bar geometry. They were $40 or so from 4wheelparts. They aren't disconnects though, so if you're looking for a good time to upgrade, now is that time!

 

Do you have a pic that's little farther away?

 

That is further up, isn't it? I removed the spring, stuck in the 2" lift disc, then put the spring back on. That would indicate to me that the isolater is still above the 2" disc I inserted?

I'm gonna measure my original ones and order the links for a 2" lift. But like I said before, the noise was there before I did the lift.

Not at the moment, but I'll get one for ya on Monday morning.

 

Squeaky, Creaky noises are usually bushing related.
Suspect swaybar bushings first.
You could remove the sway links and test drive it.