So, as you know I'm not to keen on the rough ride of the spacer lift. The problem is not the front suspension, but the rear.

Whenever I go over rough bumps, it's so stiff it rattles everything on my interior and gets pretty annoying. None of this noise was prevalent when I was stock.

Now, here is my question. Would changing the shocks soften this up? Or, is this a bigger problem that the spacers are causing because they're compressing the coils?

Yes better shock will help.Did you get extended rear shock when you did the lift?

OME N132L's or Rancho 17004's are the most popular.

I'm not sure spacers can compress the rears.

I mean they do on the front - you have a spring compressor and you bolt a top plate on the strut so the spring can't expand the full length.

but on the rear - the springs are just sitting on top of the spacer - there's no bolt through the center compressing them - it's only the Jeep body weight - it's just sitting 2 1/2" higher.

over in the CRD section some folks were complaining the stock shocks are stiff in the cold - does this correlate with temperature?


(off topic - did you see this ?
http://www.lostjeeps.com/forum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=29712&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
reminded me of yours - still not something I'd do - but it does look good)

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2005 CRD
stuff
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^^correct. When you use a spacer lift on the rear it just lifts the spring up. It doesnt put any pre-load on the spring like the coils overs do on the front.

Shocks would probably help but the rear end of my jeep always rides rough when its cold(normal).

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LOST KJ'S
Where are you going???
Current Jeep: 2004 Jeep Liberty
-Atlantic Blue
-Air Ride Rear Suspension ; OME/Rustys Lift ; Powertrax Locker ; Moog Lower Ball-Joints ; 245/70/16 Yokohama Geolander A/T-S's on MOABS ; Flowmaster 50 SUV
Lost #007082
http://www.cardomain.com/id/jeepjeepster

I know exactly what you mean, mine was the same. Shocks will affect your ride, but yes the spacers will cause overcompression of the coils when you flex the rear and have not added extra heigh bumpstops. I just installed a custom set of rear coils that completely removed any need for spacers in the rear and are actually heavier duty than my old OME heavy duty rear coils, pairing these new copils with a set of larger bumpstops in the rear and a set of long travel rear shocks has completely travsformed the rear end of the KJ. Brilliant ride and you can put a heap of gear in the back and the rear doesn't sag down, and the Flex, heck, the rear end almost looks like its about to fall out when you flex it up off road.

PM OzLtd if your interested he can tell you all you need to know.

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yes get new shocks it will make a BIG difference. i know ive been there too. getting a suspension lift will help more though but if u dont do alot of wheeling then the shock will work. i have had both.

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cactus green 03 sport 3.7
Rusty's coil lift w/ Rancho RSX shocks & 3 ring clevis
custom skids and rock rails ; Surco roof rack w/ hi lift mounted
pioneer cd/aux with Zune mounted on dash; uniden cb with 4' K40 antenna
xeon lights; grill inserts; black wheels; 245/75/16s MTRs
#1281 http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2967585/1

So, it definitely is worse during the cold. I could actually hear the shock compress after it was parked out in a empty parking lot light night at 10 degrees.

What do you recommend for colder weather, would there be any different between the two?

"OME N132L's or Rancho 17004's are the most popular."

It's easy to find the Rancho 17004's, and the OME N132L's are a pain in the booty to find...

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Have fun out there.

2003 Cactus Green Renegade w/ NP231 & NV3550
Al's 4th Gen UCAs
Custom 3.5" Lift
Rear DTT
Spidertraxed 245/75/16 Maxxis Bighorns

Just to keep you guys updated this is still an issue I'm working on. The squeaking seems to be coming from the jack area. I took the jack out for a day and it still squeaks, so we made sure the washer wasn't rattling and I'm going to tighten it down tomorrow.

As far as the rough ride goes I just took ~3 lbs psi out of the tires. I figure there are only two things that changed in the rear suspension, the shocks and the tires. My max psi is 44, the tires were at ~30 lbs psi ,I lowered it down to about 27. If that doesn't change the ride I'm going to re-inflate the tires to 30 psi and buy new shocks .

The squeak is from the rear seat latches,spray some WD40 on them.What shocks are you running now?

Thanks Troy. Are you saying the coils located on the bottom of the rear seats, right next to the seat belts? I'm running the generic white Rusty's shocks that came with the spacer kit. Also, is 27 psi dangerous? I don't drive far to work but I actually have a night class tomorrow that requires a bit of highway driving, I wouldn't want any blow-out of course.

tjkj is right on the money OME N132L's or Rancho 17004's are the most popular. But also what are the condition of your rears, if they were sagging a bit before the spacers went in this can also affect the rear performance. If your springs are a bit weak to start with adding a spacer might make matters worse.

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The latches where the top part of the seat backs latch is where I'm talking about,seems to be a common problem.

Yep get ride of those Rusty shocks,either the OME or Rancho's is good.I would run the tires back to at least 32psi for any long distance driving.