Driving without shocks

My jeep still doesn't have any shocks on it. I've been driving it around town for a while now and don't miss having them at all, the only time it bounces is when i have the brakes on hard on a steep, bumpy down hill. I've had it on the freeway for a few miles, and it did ok at 65. I didn't really expect it to handle very well with the spring over, but it does.

I'm taking it wheeling about 2 hours away tomorrow, and I have the choice of either driving it or flat towing it. Which should I choose? Is it safe to drive it that far on the freeway with no shocks? Is it safe to flat tow it now that it's spring over, 35's, lockers, and no shocks?

If I tow it, it will be with a 3/4 ton full size van. Driving it depends on whether or not I can find a CV yoke for my D18 at a local shop today.

 

As stiff as most early CJ springs are (original or aftermarket), I don't think it would matter too much. This is with stock parts.

BUT - On the flatfender that use to have, the front axle would hop like crazy if you hit a bump or anything. There were no shocks on it to stop this "domino effect" and you'd have to almost come to a stop to correct it. This was with heavy axles (full width 44's), heavy tires/wheels (Hummer 36's, on hummer beadlocks) and SOA with 3-leaf CJ springs. All that added together made it pretty rough without shocks.

Just my experience - YMMV.

 

I'm running basically the same set up that you had on the flatty, only I have RE YJ springs instead. It seems really stable, I'm just worried that it might start hopping on the freeway, and with the speed compounding everything, it might be dangerous.

 

Darn, you're brave driving that thing around on highway 24/680. With stop and go traffic like that, I'm supprised that your kidneys haven't turned to Jello.

 

A typical leaf spring suspension has a natural resonant frequency somewhere around 3Hz (3 cycles per second) without shocks. This is so the vehicle suspension can respond quickly to an uneven road surface. Shocks help damp this frequency, for passenger comfort, and to avoid wheel hop. Try your un-shocked Jeep at speed on a washboard road, and you will soon be wishing for shocks!

 

I wouldn’t drive it or flat tow it on public roads without shocks. Shocks force the tires to keep contact with the road surface for better handling, why take the chance on hurting yourself or possibly others?

 

......and when you loose control and hurt someone, they will use these posts to prove negligence. Oh what a world we live in.

JB

 

Well, I went and I'm back. Gotta love the 24/680 traffic. Cruising in a jeep at 65 mph with no windshield is definately an experience. It did fine flat towing, the only time i wish i had shocks was on the hill climbs, the whole jeep starts hopping like crazy on any decent hill. That being said, shocks are going on this week and I'm now in the market for a trailer. It sucks not being able to pull into gas stations or anywhere because you can't back up or make sharp turns.

I'll have pictures of the trip up soon. A friend flipped his cherokee on it's side, wedged in there pretty good about half way up tank trap at Hollister. I was right behind him, so I backed back down the trail. We didn't have a winch, so we slept in the cars and hoped that someone would show up and yank it out the next day. He didn't have doors on the cherokee, and part of the ground he was leaning on was inside the door opening, so when he got pulled along the ground his b pillar took out a large chunk of rock from the hill. With the help of the winch, only 24 hours later from being stuck, we're finally back home.