Hey folks, I recently purchased and installed a set of H&R springs for my KJ and decided to capture some photos and notes about my observations to share here. For the ease of formatting I put this info in a Google Doc, and then exported to a pdf which is attached here. I'm super curious what other think about the spring data and comments I've made. Also about the stacked coils in front. I don't have a horse in the race other than wanting my vehicle to work. Cheers!
A couple of things combined, but generally all relating to too much lift... 1) The sway bar geometry was out of tolerance. Even after replacing the endlinks and bushings and playing with the bolts etc it was always just kinda binding and not allowing a natural movement. The ride quality with the sway bar on was completely unacceptable. 1b) With the sway bar off things worked much better, but it still suffered from a severe lack of downtravel and would regularly top-out the shocks. So the performance was still missing even tho it was very comfortable on paved roads. 2) Dramatic CV angle worried me. The inner boots had 4 ribs totally stacked and I was advised by several clever folks that it would certainly not be long before the boots tore, or worse. 3) I had terrible offroad traction. You could feel the difference in any turn above 30kmh on a dirt road. I would later learn it was because I had almost no downtravel left. By increasing the coilover preload that much, you basically trade downtravel for uptravel. Great for hitting big bumps, bad for coming down the other side of them. 4) They were too stiff. It was ok with the sway bar off but still lacked the sensitivity I was looking for.
have you asked HR about the upper part of the spring being so stacked under static load? Thanks for the review. it's one of the spring im considering.
Reading through your review, you are asking why the coils when loaded seem to have no space between them. One question I have in general, what is the weight difference between the V6 and the diesel, also between automatic and manuals. Greater weight on the front end could cause those coils to preload like that. I believe the manual is lower weight then the automatic though. Another question is, could there be different length clevis? Could the shock not be seating correctly in the clevis? Since you've had similar issues between 2 different spring sets, I'd look at your other parts to narrow down the problem. I'll be interested in your on/off road results. I'm looking for a little extra ground clearance without breaking the bank.
Might want to find your manufacture date... https://www.jeepkj.com/threads/liberty-lift-confusion.69489/page-3#post-771678 NOTHING, repeat nothing at all changed in the suspension from 02-07, nothing Only thing the first few KJs that were built prior to April 12, 2002 were 3/4 of an inch taller
But when you remove the sagged out front springs from a KJ that was built prior to April 12, 2002 there is nothing at all there then to change anything The front springs is what gave the 3/4 of an inch more height
