nv6r

I have a '96 XJ that suffers from some serious rear wheel-hop. I noticed it yesterday when I was in some pretty loose sand at a fairly steep grade. It didn't matter if I had it in 2wd or 4wd (NP231 part-time only). It drives like a new Jeep on the road and I have never noticed anything like this on the pavement. Even though it doesn't have a rear sway-bar, it still handles great on the road.

Okay, now for the complete setup:
4.0L
3" of lift with blocks only.
Dana 35 rear with a factory LSD
Dana 30 open front
AX-15 5spd
Michelin 235/75R15 road tires (going back to 31s when I get a set of offset rims)

The wheel-hop is pretty violent if I let it keep going; I had to back out of it quick, put it in 4wd, and creep. When one tire starts to spin, I can barely notice it, but when the LSD kicks in hard and both wheels start to spin, then it will knock your kidneys out!

I am thinking a bad spring, but it was dark by the time I got back home. Going to take a look at it more later today. I have owned a couple XJs and never experienced wheel-hop this bad before. I just bought this XJ a little over a week ago, so I have not found all the little idiosyncrasies. I would like to solve this issue before the snow flies -- which, will seriously be towards the end of the month here in east central Nevada at 7100' ASL.

I am a master mechanic, but have not worked on the XJ Cherokee very much. I bought another one because of this fact, since this tells you something: 15-years as a mechanic and you don't see a particular vehicle very often, then that is the one to buy! Anyway, I just need a place to start looking because of this relative newness to working on XJs. Grands I know upside-down, backwards, and can put a tranny in one in my sleep

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.

--John

Zj heep

It's the 3" blocks(axle rap). Buy a good set of 3" springs and it will stop

Solomon7

Yup. Axle wrap from blocks makes the wheel hop. By using blocks you're drastically increasing the leverage the wheels have on the leafs. Especially 3" of blocks. An inch, maybe.


Lift 101: Avoid using blocks at all costs unless it's only seeing pavement and no heavy use. Blocks get ya where ya want to be vertically but screws up the leafs in no time.

Either get new spring packs for a 3" lift, build a bastard pack, or an add a leaf and 1" shackles.

nv6r

Yeah, that was what I was thinking. I am going to take a look at it more today and see if there is any "S-ing" to the rear springs. Anyway-which-way, I am going to take the blocks out and order a good set of springs -- I'm on Ebay as I write this. This Jeep is in great condition, so it deserves to have a proper lift.

--John