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Towing suspension upgrades

treetop1500

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Indiana
Newbie here with a tow/suspension question.

1998 XJ Limited
stock standard duty suspension
4.0
Factory bumpers
Rear Class III receiver installed
Otherwise completely stock

Purchasing a small boat and plan to pull it with the XJ.

Boat is a Lund impact 1875
overall length of around 23 feet on the trailer
2558 lb dry weight (includes trailer)
Approx 300lbs tongue weight

I do plan to install a tranny cooler, FTR. Most trips will be under 3 hours on the road. And I would like to replace all the bushings while in there.

My question is in regards to suspension upgrades and I'm hoping to lean on the expertise and experience of you guys here. Things I'm considering...

Complete OME upgrade front and rear with 3" lift
i wouldn't mind the extra height, but not sure if this is the right thing specifically for towing. I don't plan to off road the vehicle. Are the rears in these kits "heavy duty" or stiff enough? Will I need to replace other components if doing this? (Steering, control arms)

Upgrade to OEM or Quadratec HD rear leafs and new HD rear shocks.
I like this option due to the cost but as I understand it this will increase the rear height about 1.5". Is this any cause for concern if not doing anything to the front? Would it be best to also install HD springs/shocks up front? This is a daily driver so I am concerned what this will do to the way it rides/handles.

Other things I'm considering are air lift rear bags, and possibly a weight distributor hitch. Or a combination of some of these things. Looking for advice and other considerations.

Thanks in advance!
 
OME 930s in the front.

Go with your Quadratec in the rear, you can gain 1/2" with a shackle.

That will even out your 2" front and rear.

Bilstien 5100s front and rear.


You are no where near the requirements of a weight distributing hitch.

Air bags are completely unnecessary.



300lbs of tongue weight is acceptable, however, I try to keep my tongue weight at about 10% of load.

You can get to, or close to, 250lbs by loading your coolers, fuel, camping gear....etc.....behind the axle of the trailer.

The trailer will speak to you, listen to it, if you have to shift a little weight forward, do so.
 
This is great info. Thank you! I did some quick parts pricing and going this route puts the total cost slightly over what a complete OME 3" suspension would cost. I'm curious in your opinion how you feel the two compare for my particular application. Is the OME suspension more geared towards off-roading while your recommendation would be stiffer for towing? Thanks again!!!

OME 930 $167.20
https://www.quadratec.com/products/16090_4151_07.htm?gclid=CK_4_oekx9QCFdgIgQod0tcHdg

Crown HD leaf $185.98
https://www.quadratec.com/products/56010_11.htm

Shackles $120.99
https://www.quadratec.com/products/72519_808.htm

Bilstein 5100 fronts $154.98
https://www.quadratec.com/products/16070_212.htm

Bilstein 5100 rears $213.98
https://www.quadratec.com/products/16070_213.htm

Leaf spring bushings $59.99
https://www.quadratec.com/products/16311_5500.htm

Total: $903.09


Old Man Emu kit $855.99
https://www.quadratec.com/products/76090_800.htm
 
OME..........Old Man Emu.


Get the OME kit, good deal.


I have an MJ and an XJ...........OME does not make springs for the rear of the MJ but I do have them in the front of the MJ...........EXCELLENT springs.


Some say the OME shocks are a little soft, I like a stiff controlled ride, that's why I suggested the 5100s.


That said, OME is good, you'll be happy and your XJ will tow just fine.
 
Don't forget you'll need an adjustable track bar also, since you are going up three inches.


There are many many discussions on TBs, you'll get many opinions. I have JKS on both of mine.
 
Thanks again, I really appreciate your help. Doing a little more research it does seem like the OME kit would be a better fit for my application. I found the model #s on the coils and leafs that come in that kit and they are rated as "medium duty" which should be just fine since i'll only be towing every now and then, and a relatively light load at under 2600 pounds. The HD springs I was initially looking at are more for constant load, apparently.

I'll definitely be looking into the trackbars as well. Thank you for that!
 
Went ahead and ordered the OME kit, JKS trackbar, and a Flex-a-lite trans cooler. I'll let you know how it works out. Thanks again for all the advice!
 
Just wanted to follow up here with my experience with installing this kit for anyone thinking of going down this road.

The OME kit that I referenced above is going to set your rear about 2+ inches higher than the front. Apparently a lot of people will remove a leaf from the springs to level it out, but I wanted the extra stiffness for towing so I left the leafs as is. To level out the front, I ended up going with JKS Acos adjustable spring spacers. They slip over the factory bumpstops and are wonderful. I called ARB to make sure the front shocks that come with kit have enough travel to work with the spacers, and they confirmed it. They were excellent on the phone and full of good info. Leaving the ACOS spacers at the lowest setting (1.5") was perfect for my set up and if I ever get a heavier duty bumper up front, I now can adjust for that. This left my XJ with a slight frontward rake of about a 1/2". And the trailer barely effects the rear at all.

Removing the old parts was a bear. The bolts that hold the leaf springs and shackles were locked up pretty bad. Some were rusted solid to inner collet in the leaf bushings making them near impossible to get out. Lots of cheater bar prying, busted tools and gas axe work to get some of the parts out. I also had several other bolts break off, but had some bolt extractors handy to accommodate for that. I ended up ordering new bolts for all the leaf springs and shackles from Chrysler. I'd recommend the same.

The kit came with a Transfer case lowering kit. I test drove it shortly without this and it vibrated terribly. Installed it for now and vibrations are gone. However I'll eventually put a slip yoke eliminator and a new driveshaft in and do away with it. I feel like the drop kit is kind of a hack fix. Also just to warn anyone that's doing this... There are 4 mounting points to the chassis on the crossmember, 2 each side, one bolt and one stud. The studs were impossible to remove until I got a stud extractor and they came right out. Great tool.

The lift left the sway bar link angle at "not ideal" so I ended up ordering JKS adjustable quicker detach sway bar links and installed those as well as an adjustable track bar from JKS.

I also replaced the rear shackles with an OEM size shackle from crown auto. Would've liked a more heavy duty shackle, but everything I found was going to add another inch at minimum to the rear and I really didn't want it any higher.

All in all I'm really happy with the way it came out. I spent a LOT more than I anticipated, but that's the price we pay to drive these classics, I guess.

Final shopping list on this project came out like this:

Old Man Emu Suspension Kit from Quadratec
•*CS033RB Leaf Springs
•*2930 Coils
• Nitrocharger Sport 60052 front shocks
• Nitrocharger 60053 rear shocks
• T-case drop kit

Genuine Mopar Parts Leaf Spring/Shackle Bolts (x6) Part #34202118

Crown Automotive OEM Rear Shackles

JKS Manufacturing JKS2200 Front Adjustable Coil Over Spacers

OMIX-ADA 18205.16 Coil Spring Isolators

JKS Manufacturing JKS2001 Quicker Disconnects

JKS Manufacturing JKSOGS126 Front Adjustable Trackbar

Old Man Emu OMESD40 Nitrocharger Steering Stabilizer

Flex-a-lite 4126 Translife Transmission Cooler

Daystar O.E. Rear Bushing Set (unfortunately the leafs did not come with bushings)

Old Man Emu Rear U-bolts for Chrysler 8.25" rear end (x4)

And finally the stud extractor I referenced which I found at my local O-Reilly auto parts store:
http://bit.ly/2vzKKye
 
Do you have a picture after all of this work?

i want to get a feel for how that looks on the jeep.
 
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