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Bowed Coil Springs After CAD & Lift

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Old Jun 15, 2015 | 05:04 PM
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Default Bowed Coil Springs After CAD & Lift

Hello All,

So Saturday I installed some RC Control Arm Drop brackets. I also Added a .75" spacer, upgraded to Rusty's Offroad UCA's with and reused my RC Fixed Lower Control Arms. My car sits about 5" in Lift. Once I finished installing everything, I noticed that my 4.5" RE Coil Springs are bowed toward the beam. I am thinking my UCA's are too long and I should probably should have gone with Adjustable UCA's. Any thoughts or solutions on what I can do to solve this? I'd like to have it aligned next weekend.

Cheers!
Steve
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Old Jun 15, 2015 | 05:08 PM
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Originally Posted by LaredoBucket
Hello All, So Saturday I installed some RC Control Arm Drop brackets. I also Added a .75" spacer, upgraded to Rusty's Offroad UCA's with and reused my RC Fixed Lower Control Arms. My car sits about 5" in Lift. Once I finished installing everything, I noticed that my 4.5" RE Coil Springs are bowed toward the beam. I am thinking my UCA's are too long and I should probably should have gone with Adjustable UCA's. Any thoughts or solutions on what I can do to solve this? I'd like to have it aligned next weekend. Cheers! Steve
pictures help. What brand adjustable TB you got
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Old Jun 15, 2015 | 05:17 PM
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Originally Posted by sycoglitch
pictures help. What brand adjustable TB you got
Yeah, I failed to snap any pics last night. I'll have to take some later.

I have a Rusty's Off-road adjustable track bar with drop bracket.
http://www.rustysoffroad.com/jeep-su...unt-xj-zj.html
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Old Jun 15, 2015 | 06:17 PM
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Trying to figure out what you mean by "toward the beam"...
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Old Jun 15, 2015 | 06:35 PM
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Originally Posted by cdn_xj
Trying to figure out what you mean by "toward the beam"...
HA! Sorry, I meant "Axle". My Jeep is a 2WD and I'm Volkswagen guy too, so we tend to call the front end a beam.

The Springs are Bowed forward, towards the front axle. The passenger side is bowed more than the driver side.
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Old Jun 15, 2015 | 06:53 PM
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At least one set of adjustables or just get OEM uppers and lowers. The CAD brackets work with OEM length arms at that height.
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Old Jun 15, 2015 | 07:26 PM
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Originally Posted by LaredoBucket
HA! Sorry, I meant "Axle". My Jeep is a 2WD and I'm Volkswagen guy too, so we tend to call the front end a beam.

The Springs are Bowed forward, towards the front axle. The passenger side is bowed more than the driver side.
Ah...gotcha.

First of all, check to make sure that the bottom coil of each spring is installed correctly. there's a depression in the lower spring mount that indexes where the end of the bottom coil should be. Also ensure that the coil retaining clip is in place. Depending on your driving style, it is possible the spring to rotate out of position without the clips in place.

After you've checked ot ensure that the springs are installed properly, if they are still bowed forward you can use adjustable control arms to return the axle's orientation back to what it should be relative to the ground. Either shorten the uppers or lengthen the lowers. Given that yours is a 2wd, there should be no major, detrimental side effects.

Should you eventually convert to 4wd then you need to know the following:

pinion angle is critical in minimizing/eliminating driveline vibration. if the pinion angle is too great, the pinion yoke u-joint will experience varying angular velocities as it rotates which manifest as driveline vibration.

As you lift the chassis (and transfer case) away from the front axle the pinion angle increases. To alleviate this, the axle is rotated forward to bring the pinion angle back within specification.

One of the by-products of this adjustment is the reduction of caster angle which will have an effect on the steering.

Another consequence of rotating the axle forward is that the spring perches (as well as all of the other components attached to the axle), which at stock height are level, are now pitched forward as well. This results in the springs bowing forward, much like they are now.

The proper way to correct this would be to have the diff housing clocked forward relative to the axle Cs to address the pinion angle independently of the rest of the attachments to the axle but this is not always practical (or cheap).
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Old Jun 15, 2015 | 07:41 PM
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my RE 5.5 passenger side coil was bowing a bit also. didn't harm it's performance any.
RE wouldn't warranty the spring cause it wasn't sagging.

wouldn't stop me from buying RE again. the quality is ****.
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Old Jun 30, 2015 | 11:45 AM
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Originally Posted by sycoglitch
pictures help. What brand adjustable TB you got
Finally got around to taking a couple pics Drivers Side Bowed Coil Springs After CAD & Lift-image-2003834671.jpg Passenger Side Bowed Coil Springs After CAD & Lift-image-3755993557.jpg
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Old Jun 30, 2015 | 11:54 AM
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Bowed Coil Springs After CAD & Lift-image-69303501.jpg


Bowed Coil Springs After CAD & Lift-image-2545382576.jpg
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Old Jun 30, 2015 | 03:40 PM
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Need adjustable arms.
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