I bought a 90 XJ with what I think is an old 4.5" lift. The coils were painted red (I assume from mfg) and it had rancho shocks. I think it was an add-a-leaf. Anyways, does anyone know who would have been producing red coil springs 10-15 years ago? I assume rancho. The reason I am curious is because I am trying to figure out my spring rate. I found an old thread that mentioned rancho coils might be in the 240# range. I just finished installing a home-built 3 link with "good" geometry according to reading on this forum, naxja, pirate, etc. and it doesn't ride very nice. I obviously got rid of the punched out rubber bushings so I am going to be losing those as a buffer, but I believe the coils have too high of a rate anyways and its very rough. I now have 90% AD where as before I was a little over 100% with my stock control arms and drop brackets (not sure if that matters). I am searching for softer springs right now and I have about 4.5" + 1" poly spacer. I would like to go with the skyjacker JC60FDR which has a main rate of 170# and I figure I could lose the spacer and maybe be able to toss a bumper on to drop the extra 1/2". Has anyone used these? Where I am at, it will cost me about $320 to get a set of springs and I won't be able to return them, so I was hoping I could get some input before pulling the trigger.

TIA

GTR

 

I did some math and cross checked with with weighing the jeep and some more math, and my spring rate is right around 215 lbs +/- 5. Has anyone made the change from something above 200 to the 170 range and been happy with the results? I also think I am just getting a LOT more road noise going from 8 rubber connections to a single rubber, 2 poly, and 3 steel connections. Not sure the 3 link was a great idea now!

 

I went from Zone 3" @ 240lbs to RE 4.5" @ 184lbs and saw significant improvement.

 

Do you happen to know what your compressed length of the RE 4.5 is? The springs I have now are 20" free and about 16 3/8" compressed with absolutely no extra sprung weight and about 10% fuel.

 

Sorry I do not have access anymore. I hated the 3" coils without any extra weight on the front. The right spring rate for the weight of the vehicle and good control arm geometry are most important. Shocks help on stability. Bushings should be appropriate to where you intend to use the vehicle. Solid bushings on a regular use street vehicle makes me cringe.

 

Yeah I made what I feel is a pretty big mistake. I got all horny to build a 3 link to improve something, not sure what though. I have poly on the LCA axle side and heims on the frame side and going down my gravel road its like riding in a tin can now. Honestly, if I hadn't cut the stock LCA brackets off, I would go back but thats not an option so I need to salvage what I got.

I've been calling around and it looks like I can get RE 1310s which advertise a 164# rate and they will put me at the exact same height I am at, and they are cheaper than the skyjackers I was looking at.

For reference for anyone down the road, the email I just got from RE says:

RE1310 - 164#/" - 21.25" Free Length
RE1345 - 184#/" - 22.75" Free Length

My true sprung weight in the front is 820 lbs per corner. That is based on a scaled weight of 2028 lbs less the 388lbs for the D30 w/ 1 Ton Gear & 31" Duratracs, Alloy Rims. This also takes into account half the weight of the long arms. Like I mentioned below, I have about 1/8th of a tank of fuel if not a bit less. I have nothing bolted onto the jeep except a hitch receiver and a 3/16" steel rear bumper that weighs 35lbs. That should be enough to go on for anyone else needing this issue in the future.

So, what I have now is a 20" free length, compressed down to 16 3/8" under 820 lbs, gives me ~226 lbs but I rounded down to 215 just in case I forgot some weight to subtract.
I think I will pull the trigger on the 1310s and hope for the best.

 

I bought and installed the 1310s and they made a huge difference. Lifted me up another 1/2” and rides much smoother in the front. Compressed height is 16.5”. I immediately noticed how lacking my rear leaf springs are though, so on to that now.