Rusty's top plate question

stormyday · **Posted:** Sat May 02, 2009 11:02 pm

The top (strut) plate offered by Rusty's goes on top of the front springs.

http://rustysoffroad.com/mm5/merchant.m ... Code=COILS

Does this go inside the top strut mounting or can it be put on top of the mount. It appears thin enough that this could be done. After having my last set of springs smashed so tight they could not flex (Rough Country Lift) I want my front strut springs to be free to move. Does inside vs outside the top mounting plate matter with respect to spring compression?

Seems everything we try when it comes to lifting a Liberty has some price to pay somewhere else. What's the downside of putting a plate on top of the mount? Rocky-Road sells something similar (Trim Packer) and they imply we have to buy their front UCA or the springs will hit. Will 3/8's of an inch make that much difference since I've ordered JBA upper control arms?

tommudd · **Posted:** Sat May 02, 2009 11:28 pm

Both RRO and Rustys sit on top of the strut plate, all you do is drop the strut down out and this sits right on top. Rustys is 1/4 inch thick while RROs is 3/8 of an inch thick. This plate will give you double the thickness in height.

What kind of springs are you going to use? And of course you know by now Rough Country = junk

jsc7002 · **Posted:** Sun May 03, 2009 12:21 am

also by messing with the suspension you will need to get an alignment, Im sure you already knew but just in case

stormyday · **Posted:** Sun May 03, 2009 12:28 am

tommudd wrote:

Both RRO and Rusty's sit on top of the strut plate, all you do is drop the strut down out and this sits right on top. Rustys is 1/4 inch thick while RROs is 3/8 of an inch thick. This plate will give you double the thickness in height. What kind of springs are you going to use? And of course you know by now Rough Country = junk

Great, just what I needed to know. I have the Rusty's plates sitting here on the desk. JBA and others have been sending my parts bit by bit. Next week I should get the rest. So far I have ordered the OME HD 927 front springs and OME struts. I intended to use the top plate from Rusty's with that combination. I can do the clevis lift if this doesn't work out. I'm trying to follow advice given here. For the back I ordered the OME shocks but I'm canceling that to get the "L" version. I'll keep my Rough Country back springs for the short term and order new OME with a week or two. I also got the JBA 4.5 UCA's. I ordered some other stuff, but right now it's late and I'm getting foggy....think of it later. When it's all said and done I'll have a complete OME setup hopefully using the OME 132L long shock, or the Rancho 17004's if they are not available.

As for Rough Country being junk, yep I know but I wanted to make sure I did it right this time so I've read and paid attention. The main issue with any setup like Rough Country is the large spacer in the front strut spring. It compresses the coils so close together there is almost no play and they get tighter with age. Just looking in there I can see the tighter difference in the distance between the coils. I don't have that much of a problem with the rear spring they provided though but the shock was not right and caused banging. It was reasonable when I first put it in, but as I approached high mileage the whole setup begin to fail. In a few weeks it will be gone and I'll be riding on a new OME suspension.... and will be thinking about other stuff to get next.

jse7002, I know too well about alignment. Found someone new to do that after this upgrade.

Haole · **Joined:** Sun Mar 08, 2009 12:56 am **Posts:** 41

I've had my rusty's lift on for a few months. the front end is tight!!! I do not like it. hit a bump and there's barely any shock absorbtion. the back is decent. and since the lift being put on... with the 1/4" upper strut plate. I have added 2 rear isolators and 4 rings to the clevis. I dunno how long this thing wil last. I really don't. If i had to do it all over. i would do something else for sure. a lot more research first. i went for a cheap suspension lift. thats what i got. anway,..

tommudd · **Posted:** Wed Jun 10, 2009 10:58 pm

Haole wrote:

I've had my rusty's lift on for a few months. the front end is tight!!! I do not like it. hit a bump and there's barely any shock absorbtion. the back is decent. and since the lift being put on... with the 1/4" upper strut plate. I have added 2 rear isolators and 4 rings to the clevis. I dunno how long this thing wil last. I really don't. If i had to do it all over. i would do something else for sure. a lot more research first. i went for a cheap suspension lift. thats what i got. anway,..

That is the reason some call me the Rev. Mudd due to me preaching about doing it right the first time with a good setup like OMEs, but a lot want cheap and have to redo it soon after like you are going to have to do. :wink:

Ride and handeling will be so much better after you get rid of what you have now. :lol:

ken · **Posted:** Wed Jun 10, 2009 11:56 pm

tommudd wrote:

Haole wrote:

I've had my rusty's lift on for a few months. the front end is tight!!! I do not like it. hit a bump and there's barely any shock absorbtion. the back is decent. and since the lift being put on... with the 1/4" upper strut plate. I have added 2 rear isolators and 4 rings to the clevis. I dunno how long this thing wil last. I really don't. If i had to do it all over. i would do something else for sure. a lot more research first. i went for a cheap suspension lift. thats what i got. anway,..

That is the reason some call me the Rev. Mudd due to me preaching about doing it right the first time with a good setup like OMEs, but a lot want cheap and have to redo it soon after like you are going to have to do. :wink:

Ride and handeling will be so much better after you get rid of what you have now. :lol:

Believe what he says, I just recently switched out a 7 yr old KRusty's for the brand new Franky prem II with 4.5 UCA's on Tommudds constant advising and :shock:

WOW what a difference.

tonycrd · **Posted:** Thu Jun 11, 2009 6:51 am

You're in for a surprise...the Rusty's wont fit.... :shock:

You need to drill the holes that are closest to eachother a little bigger.

------------------>>0.....0<<--------------------
----------------------(xx)----------------------
-------------------0.........0---------------------

I suppose you get what I mean.

Cobalt-60 · **Posted:** Thu Jun 11, 2009 9:41 am

Haole wrote:

I've had my rusty's lift on for a few months. the front end is tight!!! I do not like it. hit a bump and there's barely any shock absorbtion. the back is decent. and since the lift being put on... with the 1/4" upper strut plate. I have added 2 rear isolators and 4 rings to the clevis. I dunno how long this thing wil last. I really don't. If i had to do it all over. i would do something else for sure. a lot more research first. i went for a cheap suspension lift. thats what i got. anway,..

Give it 6-9 months of moderate wheeling. The Rusty's will have "settled" (that is the polite way of saying "sagging" right?) enough to give it a softer ride. :wink:

Right now I have a "new" (converted from a Rusty's) OME HD Lift that is so stiff it bounces me all over the place. Hence the reason that when I drive it in town, I intentionally look for speed-bumps to go over!!! :lol:

I know mine will break in for a better ride and still not sag too much...

Hood297 · **Posted:** Thu Jun 11, 2009 9:54 am

Stormyday,

I had the RC lift too, and the rear springs are pretty good. I was running 3 upper isolators and had ABOUT the same amount of lift as I do now with OME 948's and the ride with the RC springs is a lil softer and nicer.

Just an idea to save some $

p.s. I do love the OME 948's though

Rusty's top plate question

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