Myths Lies & the Truth about OTT Lifts

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Fri Jan 30, 2009 11:49 pm

MNKK wrote:

tjkj2002 wrote:

ThunderbirdJunkie wrote:

InCommando wrote:

Spoil sport :-)r

Does anyone know WHY skyjacker went to those weak springs?

Probably because of tender butts. the old ones are STIFF

Actually SkyJacker went to the softride coils due to complaints about UCA/UBJ failures due to getting over 3.5" of lift with the original coils.

But I like mine stiff. I want to feel the road. And I don't feel like I am going to tip over while turning.

Me too,glad I got the non-softride coils.I'm still at 3.75" of lift even with a ARB and winch up front.

MNKK · **Posted:** Fri Jan 30, 2009 11:51 pm

tjkj2002 wrote:

MNKK wrote:

tjkj2002 wrote:

ThunderbirdJunkie wrote:

InCommando wrote:

Spoil sport :-)r

Does anyone know WHY skyjacker went to those weak springs?

Probably because of tender butts. the old ones are STIFF

Actually SkyJacker went to the softride coils due to complaints about UCA/UBJ failures due to getting over 3.5" of lift with the original coils.

But I like mine stiff. I want to feel the road. And I don't feel like I am going to tip over while turning.

Me too,glad I got the non-softride coils.I'm still at 3.75" of lift even with a ARB and winch up front.

You have gone as far as you can with your vehicle.
We should trade. Then you do a grip of stuff to my KK, then we trade back.

Cool?

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Fri Jan 30, 2009 11:54 pm

MNKK wrote:

You have gone as far as you can with your vehicle.
We should trade. Then you do a grip of stuff to my KK, then we trade back.

Cool?

Not done yet :wink:

Still got the SFA swap and the V-8 swap to do

MNKK · **Posted:** Fri Jan 30, 2009 11:58 pm

tjkj2002 wrote:

MNKK wrote:

You have gone as far as you can with your vehicle.
We should trade. Then you do a grip of stuff to my KK, then we trade back.

Cool?

Not done yet :wink:

Still got the SFA swap and the V-8 swap to do

I saw that...

JJsTJ · **Posted:** Fri Jan 30, 2009 11:59 pm

funny.
kj has been around since late 01.
i watched, rode w/ and helped one of the originators of this forum discover how crappy the ott lift of that time was.
i was there when that ott lift was swapped for a daystar spacer lift. orignal springs, low miles, etc. and it rode Way better than the ott, no clunking, no noise, decent enough ride.

i installed a daystar, i beat the crap out of it until the orginal springs and shocks couldn't take any more. it worked as well as the factory springs allowed but gave up the ghost too soon imho.

i was there throughout the development of the frankenlift, all versions, testing all different brands of shocks, spacers & coil springs in different rates, etc until it was as good as we figured it would get. is/was it perfect? hell no, that is why you see SFA KJ's running around now. was it as good as could be done for the kj's lackluster original suspension? at that time, Yes. Oh and fwiw, Jeep engineers agreed when they saw them perform off road. like i said, fwiw.

i expected this thread would turn into a bit of a debate. there are many on this forum that have been there, done that, and returned to tell about it. if we could drag up the orignal forum, you would actually see the same discussion, only some of the names have changed.

has teh KJ front suspension ever evolved beyond what it was in late 01? No. will it ever? doubt it.
do some of the older KJ owners know more than some of the newer posters? maybe, maybe not. Maybe some newer posters Were out there doing the same work testing every variation on several KJs at once. Maybe they just wer not on teh Net posting it up and sharing teh info?

whatever.

i got a great idea. Take whatever the hell you got and go wheel it! Then take all your pent up aggresion to go fight to keep our trails open so we all can keep doing teh same dang thing over and over until we or someone gets it all perfect. come back here to LOST and Share what you find out.
How about everyone taking a friggin breather and let each other share whatever the hell it is they know or just Think they know. how about we not slam each other or challenge each other about what we share? maybe even those that have been around since day one trying all that we knew to try ever got it right and maybe a new guy Can come along and bring something new to teh table based on what They learned? maybe.

man where did i put my beer? cheers all!

Blue KJ in PA · **Posted:** Sat Jan 31, 2009 12:05 am

The short version of JJ's last post...those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it...

JJsTJ · **Posted:** Sat Jan 31, 2009 12:06 am

Blue KJ in PA wrote:

The short version of JJ's last post...those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it...

holy crap, you deciphered that post That fast?! :shock:

cheers!

Inc · **Posted:** Sat Jan 31, 2009 12:13 am

JJsKJ wrote:

i got a great idea. Take whatever the hell you got and go wheel it! Then take all your pent up aggresion to go fight to keep our trails open so we all can keep doing teh same dang thing over and over until we or someone gets it all perfect. come back here to LOST and Share what you find out.
How about everyone taking a friggin breather and let each other share whatever the hell it is they know or just Think they know. how about we not slam each other or challenge each other about what we share? maybe even those that have been around since day one trying all that we knew to try ever got it right and maybe a new guy Can come along and bring something new to teh table based on what They learned? maybe.

Seriously!

Funny thing is, women are know to be "catty" and more opinionated then men (and please don't take offense to this women I know it is a stereotype and not necessarily a true one :wink:

) and there are a few women on this board, none of which have been caught up in the garbage that this thread was dealing with. Maybe some of the women on here could teach a few of these "boys" a thing or two.

Bottom line, if you like it, drive it and it makes you happy. Who cares what everyone else thinks and get out there and enjoy your jeep.

InCommando · **Posted:** Sat Jan 31, 2009 3:02 pm

An advanatage I just discovered:

Running oversized tires let's you fool the top-speed governor. I could not make it past 107 before without the fuel cutting out. I hit 111 via the Garmin on the way to work as it is still below 107 on the speedo. I have to use 5th instead of 6th, but I think there is some more in the old girl....

JJsTJ · **Posted:** Sat Jan 31, 2009 3:43 pm

InCommando wrote:

An advanatage I just discovered:

Running oversized tires let's you fool the top-speed governor. I could not make it past 107 before without the fuel cutting out. I hit 111 via the Garmin on the way to work as it is still below 107 on the speedo. I have to use 5th instead of 6th, but I think there is some more in the old girl....

hey, Darwin just called.....he's looking for ya.

InCommando · **Posted:** Sat Jan 31, 2009 4:06 pm

To paraphrase something I just read in another thread ( and loved): If this kind of thing overloads your hummingbird butt, don't be upset at the alligators that have had training & years of experience in high speed driving both on the street and as a money-winning racer & can handle these things. :lol:

If it was a Darwin deal, I would have been weeded out 25 years ago when I started doing such things. 111 is nothing on a nice 8 lane concrete expressway. 130 is getting there. 160 gets your attention real fast. A lifted KJ with 4 -wheel disc brakes, modern steering, modern tires, and other modern upgrades is infinitely safer at those speeds than the bias-tired, drum-brake equipped, sometimes home-built race & performance cars that struggled to reach these same speeds 30 or 40 years ago. The KJ is way better equipped for such speeds than a '70 Chevelle, for example.

The OME coils provide a very nice, controlled ride at speed. Expansion joints for bridges that I felt with the stock set-up have a notable decrease in effect on the jeep now. I think that dropping to 35 psi in the e-rated tires might help a bit, but there is no harsheness or jarring even at 42 psi.

daspes · **Posted:** Sat Jan 31, 2009 4:58 pm

InCommando wrote:

To paraphrase something I just read in another thread ( and loved): If this kind of thing overloads your hummingbird butt, don't be upset at the alligators that have had training & years of experience in high speed driving both on the street and as a money-winning racer & can handle these things. :lol:

If it was a Darwin deal, I would have been weeded out 25 years ago when I started doing such things. 111 is nothing on a nice 8 lane concrete expressway. 130 is getting there. 160 gets your attention real fast. A lifted KJ with 4 -wheel disc brakes, modern steering, modern tires, and other modern upgrades is infinitely safer at those speeds than the bias-tired, drum-brake equipped, sometimes home-built race & performance cars that struggled to reach these same speeds 30 or 40 years ago. The KJ is way better equipped for such speeds than a '70 Chevelle, for example.

The OME coils provide a very nice, controlled ride at speed. Expansion joints for bridges that I felt with the stock set-up have a notable decrease in effect on the jeep now. I think that dropping to 35 psi in the e-rated tires might help a bit, but there is no harsheness or jarring even at 42 psi.

That may be but irresponsible all the same...

I used to race professionally, I sure as heck wouldn't do those speeds on anything but a closed course.

durangotang · **Posted:** Sat Jan 31, 2009 6:45 pm

InCommando wrote:

To paraphrase something I just read in another thread ( and loved): If this kind of thing overloads your hummingbird butt, don't be upset at the alligators that have had training & years of experience in high speed driving both on the street and as a money-winning racer & can handle these things. :lol:

If it was a Darwin deal, I would have been weeded out 25 years ago when I started doing such things. 111 is nothing on a nice 8 lane concrete expressway. 130 is getting there. 160 gets your attention real fast. A lifted KJ with 4 -wheel disc brakes, modern steering, modern tires, and other modern upgrades is infinitely safer at those speeds than the bias-tired, drum-brake equipped, sometimes home-built race & performance cars that struggled to reach these same speeds 30 or 40 years ago. The KJ is way better equipped for such speeds than a '70 Chevelle, for example.

The OME coils provide a very nice, controlled ride at speed. Expansion joints for bridges that I felt with the stock set-up have a notable decrease in effect on the jeep now. I think that dropping to 35 psi in the e-rated tires might help a bit, but there is no harsheness or jarring even at 42 psi.

...is that same KJ any safer for the family of four you hit when you blow a tire at 130mph? I don't think it is. Keep it on the track.

tonycrd · **Posted:** Sat Jan 31, 2009 6:45 pm

daspes wrote:

Lets stay on topic...

Guys, this thread has gone south, east, north and west.

Just so you know: at the first sign of trouble it's over. Daspes has already cleaned up some sh#t, I don't want to see any more.

I would like to express my gratitude to 2mopar_diesels for dedicating his time investigating the OTT lift on the KJ.

2mopar_diesels · **Posted:** Sat Jan 31, 2009 9:10 pm

tonycrd wrote:

daspes wrote:

Lets stay on topic...

Guys, this thread has gone south, east, north and west.

Just so you know: at the first sign of trouble it's over. Daspes has already cleaned up some sh#t, I don't want to see any more.

I would like to express my gratitude to 2mopar_diesels for dedicating his time investigating the OTT lift on the KJ.

Yeh! Exactly....................LOL!!! Funny how this took on a life of it's own. And I truely appreciate your kind words. I sure hope to meet some of you guys out on the trail soon. If this thread doesn't get back on target, I'll get a mod to clean it up, leaving only relevant info, and lock it down. So now I would like to ask those here if you think this should become a sticky, all be it with a new thread title??? Anyone got suggestions??? Cause I think this really shouldn't get buried.

Inc · **Posted:** Sat Jan 31, 2009 9:21 pm

2mopar_diesels wrote:

So now I would like to ask those here if you think this should become a sticky, all be it with a new thread title??? Anyone got suggestions??? Cause I think this really shouldn't get buried.

Sticky? No, but there is good info in here that could go into an OTT section of Tony's Lift FAQ thread which is a sticky. Complie useful info into a brief and concise section and it can be added and kept for posterity. PM that useful stuff to Tony and he can ad away.

tonycrd · **Posted:** Sat Jan 31, 2009 9:57 pm

Yep, if we ever come to a conclusion it will go into the lift FAQ.

For now I think OTT lifts work but only with longer bumpstops as stated earlier.

2mopar_diesels · **Posted:** Sun Feb 01, 2009 2:45 am

tonycrd wrote:

Yep, if we ever come to a conclusion it will go into the lift FAQ.

For now I think OTT lifts work but only with longer bumpstops as stated earlier.

So, what we need to do is harass all the OTT manufactures to add this info with the lifts they have and add bumpstops at the very least as an option. Kinda like the rear shocks. Almost every lift says they are not required, but highly recommended, and list the reasons why rear shocks are recommended.

***Now to come clean as to the reason I started this project***

Before looking here, I unknowingly purchased a Rusty's OTT lift. I am stuck with this lift, and now have to make it work as money which could have gone to better use in the lift went towards getting RL Super Skinks and skidplates. When I seen all the bad stuff that occured with this type lift here, I called and talked to Rusty himself and he said there was no problems with his lift. So I set out to weed through the conflicting info and see exactly who/what is right. And this was the fruit of my labor.

KJ-ITA · **Posted:** Wed Mar 04, 2009 7:37 am

Hi everybody!
I have the OTT and... last month...
I bottomed out my front struts!
Ciao from Italy

ATXKJ · **Posted:** Wed Mar 04, 2009 4:13 pm

Howdy KJ-ITA - Welcome to LOST

If you have money - get a good set of OME springs (Rancho struts if you have a v6 - OME struts for CRD)

if not - at least get Bumpstops.
http://www.trailquest.com/teraflex/KJ/suspension.shtml#bumpstop

Myths Lies & the Truth about OTT Lifts

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