More Suspension Questions: Building a CJ7

[GaryMB]

RE: who is it?

My original suspension plan for my CJ7 was to get wider axles and do soa. However, a few issues have come up in the building of my cj. I will be installing a stroker soon, and am concerned with spring wrap with the soa setup and the 300+lb/ft of torque the jeep will have. I will be installing Scout II dana 44's that are about 2" wider than my widetracs. What I'm looking for is room for larger tires, not being too top-heavy, suspension articulation, handling offroad and on, and reliability. The place my jeep suffers most offroad aside from the current drivetrain is tire size and articulation. Onroad, I can really feel how stiff the suspension is. My concerns with the soa is how well the flat, aged yj springs will hold up (I talked to a guy who has a soa on his xj and loves the flex, but just cracked a main leaf from too much neg. arch), spring wrap, and mostly being too top heavy (I've already come really close to rolling with only 3.5" of lift). The fact that I get brand new, spring wrap-resistant, durable springs with less lift with the re sua really has my attention. What concerns me about that though is it won't flex as well as a soa, will cost more, and will not give me more clearance under the axles where I have already hung up my u-bolts on various obstacles. Only if the sua flexed better...Anyway, i'm really just stuck between these two choices for the suspension on my cj. Offroad, my jeep sees everything. My goal is to take it on the tank traps at Hollister when I'm done building it and then drive it home for 80 miles on the freeway. What do you recommend, seeing as I have no experience with soa and re sua lifts?

 

[Junkpile]

RE: Re: When Is a YJ ready????

I prefer to stay with a SUA setup and run quality springs up to about 6-7" of lift. Over that, I would recommend going to a 2" SOA with a slightly stiffer spring, or a full-on 4"+ SOA to do 39s and bigger. I don't mess with flat or overly soft springs for the reasons you mentioned. After a certain point SOA is the only way to go, but I prefer SUA on the smaller setups. Quality springs and shocks make the difference.

 

[TwistedCU]

Just to let you know, you can flip the U-bolts on a SUA lift. I beleive there's a kit or 2 out there for that.

RE's 4.5 Xduty kit combined with a 1" BL should clear 35's. They are very flexy for a SUA setup (probably moreso than your rancho lift) although you're right... they are pricey. Sully has that kit on his CJ7, maybe he can give you a review?

You could always do traction bars for your SOA if you go that route. Maybe fab some kind of disconnects for it when you want to play in the rocks.

It's a tough choice no doubt. Both setups have definate advantages. Before I sold my last YJ I was contemplating the same ???s. I'll probably revisit that dilemma when I get my next one.