Ok so I recentlyish bought a 98 XJ (240K). Has a 1.75" puck lift in front and had a 2" shackle lift in the rear with leafs that had sagged it down to stock rear height. Shocks were all but shot so I purchased a set of Skyjacker M95s at the advisement of the guys @ Shock Surplus. They came 0-3" front and 1-3" rear and upon asking both Skyjacker and Shock Surplus if my sagged to stock height leafs would be an issue for that 1" minimum they both said it would not be.

So I install the new shocks and it tightened everything up for sure! Before, every bump I would hit would send the rear into a Saturday Night Fever Dance Party involving baby rhinos. However, now there is this little constant bounce that seems wrong. I mean shock absorbers are supposed to....... Um?......... Oh! ABSORB SHOCK?!? Is that it?... Anyway, I assumed it was a part of the break-in stiffness since it doesn't feel unsafe or anything but now it's been a month and it still persists. 10mph? It's there. 70mph? It's there. Parking lot? It's there. Highway? It's there. Old pavement? It's there. Fresh pavement? It's there. Like my 10yr old student debt, it's there.

So last week I decided to go ahead and swap out the old leafs thinking maybe that was the issue. So I swap in some fresh new stock Dorman leafs and a new 2" shackle to replace the old decrepit one. Issue persists. The ride is tighter but the bounce is still there. Now I should mention that it doesn't feel unsafe, per say. Just very very irritating considering all of these new parts that should be working in tandem to avoid such an issue. If I had hair I'd have pulled it out by now.

So at this point I'm not sure. Sway bars, bushings and endlinks look to be old, so that could be it. It's got 240k on it so the ball joints and tie rod ends are holding but most likely need changing. The steering was about as dangerously playful as an armoured grizzly bear when I bought it but installing a fat steering stabilizer helped that alot but there is still some play there.

So knowing all of that gives me an idea of what needs to be fixed, but this is my 1st Jeep/truck and I come from track cars and hot hatches so my wimpy road hugging past has not equipped me to understand the grizzled manly concept of creating MORE space between me and the road/not road. So help a newbie out!

 

I have an xj with a 4” lift and a 1991 Mazda Miata. Takes a little bit of time to get used to the other when I switch vehicles. I would say that’s probably just the way it is. Not what you want to hear but you will go crazy trying to chase little things like this. For a track car sure. But for an older jeep it’s just gonna have that lack of dialed in feeling.

 

No that's pretty much exactly what I needed to hear. When I swapped the shocks out it felt rougher to me. So when I took a buddy to work, after we got there, I asked him if he noticed anything different in the ride and he said no. I was pretty sure it was all in my head, but I'm glad to know that it is. I'm a perfectionist and a tinkerer so it's hard for me to put down an issue if, in my head, I think I can fix it. ALSO changing from 20+ years of dialed in track tuners is taking some getting used to, but I'M LOVING IT!!! So, again, THANK YOU for setting my brain straight!

 

Your welcome. Just think about how big the tires are and how much more movement all the suspension parts have compared to even a Honda Civic. There is a great series on Donut Media where they do “high / low”. They modify two 350z’s, one with the most expensive parts and the other with cheap parts. Then they repeated it with two Toyota Tacomas. The 350 with cheap parts was way worse then the one with expensive parts. But for off-roading the tacos they both had a tonne of fun and realized that the key is just getting out there!