Spring over kits

Can anyone help me with spring over kits, pro's / con's?

 

I have only seen one "kit". I think it was Rocky Road.

No one on Pirate seems to thinks it's worth a crap. Plus, I have read about bad customer service from that company.

Those guys think its way cheaper and easier to just weld new perches on the top of the axle and go from there. I guess it would be if you can weld and fabricate.

What kit are you speaking of??

High5

 

Rocky Road is defnitely iffy. I've ordered from them a couple times and was not very happy about the experience. I won't order from them again.

 

There's lots of discussion of spring-over vs. not in old posts. My personal feeling is that it's a cheap way to ruin a perfectly good suspension, but I'm old and set in my ways. Plus the physics of it is not appealing to me, since I want to continue to drive my Jeeps on the street. I just think the whole concept is kind of goofy... Leaf springs have to be mounted so far inboard that increasing the lever arm by mounting them on top of the axle seems like an excellent way to encourage body roll. If you're going to build a buggy, forget leaf springs and go with soft coils as far outboard as possible. JMO.

If you want softer, wider springs for better articulation, take a look at the Wrangler spring conversion on the tech pages.

 

i have SOA in my cj7 and i love it. it has a great ride, and if i was to put a swaybar on it, it would prolly take care of a lot of bodyroll on the road, off road in the rocks it is phenominal. however it is not as fun on the road, it has a nice soft road ride, but it lost a lot of handling and doesnt feel as peppy. i would drive mine across the country and be comfortable, but i miss an SUA jeep with a medium lift. if you arent doing some extreme rockcrawling, i wouldnt bother. if you do go with an SOA, do your homeowrk theres a good bit to it, and get a torque arm or you will wrap up your rear springs and break stuff.... ask me how i know lol!

 

Hey Justin i am about to build a "torque arm" or traction bar for my newly buillt SOA and would be able to send a pic of what you biult? Did you do a two location bar on the axle or just on top?

 

Im not a fan of SOA, but I have heard people speak well of the components.system from Rubicon Express . I think Mountain Off Road Enterprises (MORE) I recomend a good suspension system that is still a spring under

 

A good panhard bar in the rear could help, a friend of mine put one in when he put a SOA and LOTS of lift in his Samurai years ago,,limited body roll a lot. Might even be able to rig it with a quick disconnect, and also maybe try one of those aftermarket rock crawling sway bars.

 

i will try to get you a pic, i copied a sams off road one i think?... my friend bought it and i ended up making one off of it. i trussed my rear axle and tied it in cause i spun a centersection... hard to describe, i'll get pics as soon as i can.


as for the panhard bar and swaybar, i know they would help out a lot, but its really not that bad on the road. i still take bends at speed and have gotten used to the slight body roll, heck i even run it at 85 on the interstate. its just when i was sua it felt like a sports car, now it doesnt..... best way to describe the severity is it feels like a 4" lift with the swaybar disconnected on the road not really too bad

 

heres some pics, not too great but may help ya. definitely tie the torque arm into the centersection though, youll spin the axle tube out if you dont. i welded both of my axle tubes solid into the centersection, and then made brackets to tie the torque arm into the axle tube, centersection and the truss as one. heres the pics also, one thing of note, you need to have the shackle at 90 degrees with the angle of the torque arm for it to work properly

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f214/justinsbig7/2008_0702Image0042.jpg

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f214/justinsbig7/2008_0702Image0043.jpg

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f214/justinsbig7/2008_0702Image0044.jpg

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f214/justinsbig7/2008_0702Image0045.jpg

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f214/justinsbig7/2008_0702Image0046.jpg

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f214/justinsbig7/2008_0702Image0047.jpg

some arent that great but i hope it helps ya out