Driveability 68 cj5

I have a 68 cj5 V6 that I am trying to make drive and ride little better. I have done the power steering conversion and a shackle reversal. I think the springs were rearched (?) prior to 1972 when my dad got it.

My question is has anyone replacing old springs with ones made today experineced a major difference in ride? What about changing to a TJ spring?

Regarding drivability the Shackle reversal helped a lot as the jeep tracks better through corners and rides better. There are no shimmies or wabbles it just seems a little scary over 50 mph.

PS this has been a great site I would never have gotten through the steering conversion or the HEI distibutor with out it!!!!!!

 

If you switch to Wrangler springs you'll have to redo your shackle rev. and change you spring mounts to accomodate the wider springs. I can't personally vouch for the ride, but a lot of people say its better.

 

Yes! I swapped my springs out in my 3B and I could really tell the diff. New shocks also helped. I used the 1" superlift springs and am very happy with them.

 

I really like late CJ Skyjacker Softride.

 

have you had the front end lined up yet?

 

Clint

Do you mean a spring the same size as my current one or spring that is wider? Do all CJ's have the same spring set up?

Sorry sparky tj yj cj it starts running together. What I am hearing is get a new spring set like the one I got and it will make a differnce. I am going to go with a couple of inches of lift.

Thanks to everyone for the advice.

CW

 

Lamar

Can they adjust anything other than toe?

 

Caster can be adjusted with shims and the caster is what mainly affects the wandering and tracking on the road. I can drive mine on the interstate at 70 with no wandering. Now a big rig can go past me and cause me to be blown sideways but the jeep tracks straight with no wandering at all.

 

I have a shackle reversal and Rancho 1-inch springs. Compared to the original springs, the ride is much more subtle and almost enjoyable on mildly long trips, say greater than 4 hours.

I have no experience with placing yj springs on an earlier jeep. However, the few times that I have seen it performed have all been spring over axle. This could be due to the limited lift, if any at all, that you might get with stock, relatively flat yj springs.

If it is side to side sway that you are most concerned with, maybe installing a sway bar with quick disconnects would be the way to go. I'm not a big fan, but it may work for you. I once had a commando with a stock (i think) sway bar on the front.

Good luck.

 

Every jeep I have ridden in with the Rancho 1" leafs have ridden pretty well. I changed the shock absorbers on my CJ5 to RS9000 and that made a big difference.