Decreasing Height of Installed Lift

[mphilleo]

I've been appreciating all the great knowledge I've gained from the threads and my discussions in this forum. If I can lean on that knowledge base again, I'd sure appreciate it. Long story short, as some of you may know, the previous owner of my 2012 JKU installed a 3.25" Rough Country lift kit. I've addressed some of the issues with adjustable track bars, geometry correction brackets and adjustable control arms to dial things in, as well as improve front caster. For aesthetic and functional reasons, I'd like to reduce the height of the lift.

RC's kit shows that there are 0.75" coil spring spacers included that go between their "lifted springs" and the OEM coil spring isolators. I contacted RC directly to confirm whether I can simply remove their spacer and reuse their springs with the OEM isolators, and they said yes, although I'd want to get a realignment afterward. I contacted some of the manufacturers of the other components (i.e. Rancho regarding which slot to use on their geo brackets), and it seems like this should be fairly straightforward. The question I'm left with, is what is the most efficient way to do this? I had good luck using spring compressors when I installed the MC coil spring retainers.

I know that the other way to do this would be to support the Jeep's frame with jackstands, disconnect the shocks, swaybar end links, and the trackbar and get enough droop to separate the springs. Since I only need to make enough space to pull the coil spring spacers and OEM isolators out, is it possible to support the frame on each corner in turn, compress the spring enough to pull that spacer out and then re-seat it? Either way, I'll probably need to bring the Jeep into a shop to get it realigned and possibly have the rear control arms adjusted (unless the figures @wayoflife suggested in a past thread would be invalid after this change) and things of that nature.

 

[WJCO]

You shouldn't need spring compressors. You might have to re-tweak your caster afterwards. You will need to straighten out your steering wheel and don't need a shop to do that.

 

[mphilleo]

You shouldn't need spring compressors. You might have to re-tweak your caster afterwards. You will need to straighten out your steering wheel and don't need a shop to do that.

I probably didn't phrase it very well, but I was curious if just using spring compressors is a viable alternative to unhooking the front suspension and drooping the front axle on a jack, while the Jeep is supported by the frame.

 

[WJCO]

I probably didn't phrase it very well, but I was curious if just using spring compressors is a viable alternative to unhooking the front suspension and drooping the front axle on a jack, while the Jeep is supported by the frame.

I guess it is, but I don't find loosening the suspension parts all that much work.

 

[OverlanderJK]

I probably didn't phrase it very well, but I was curious if just using spring compressors is a viable alternative to unhooking the front suspension and drooping the front axle on a jack, while the Jeep is supported by the frame.

I would rather remove the whole axle before I used a spring compressor. Those things are a ticking time bomb. Watch the videos online on those things and maybe your opinion will change.

 

[CalSgt]

I would rather remove the whole axle before I used a spring compressor. Those things are a ticking time bomb. Watch the videos online on those things and maybe your opinion will change.

^^^^ This

Spring compressors should only be used when no the option is available, and get your retarded cousin no one likes to apply them in trade for a 6 pack or 8-ball when that time comes.

 

[desertrunner]

What your asking about doing should work yes but without disconnecting the shocks your going to have to compres those springs quite a lot and it would make me nervous as hell. To each their own but a 3" ish coil will pretty much fall right out if you just disconnect the shock and sway bar link and jack up the other side. Really not that much extra work.

 

[mphilleo]

Since so few threads get follow ups, I thought I'd post an update. After following your advice and doing things the right way, I removed the lifted coil spring spacers, then measured the lift again and it went down to a 2.75" lift, give or take 1/16". I didn't necessarily expect to get the same 0.75" back from the thickness of the spacers, so I'd say this is a pretty good result. I accomplished what I intended to, which was to reduce the vertical footprint somewhat, improve handling/stability (if only a little bit), improve the aesthetics (which it did), and made it just a little easier to get in and out of.

As I mentioned in the post above, I have Rancho geometry correction brackets. I've kept the front control arms located in the 3" slot of the brackets (since 2.75" is obviously closer to 3" than 2") and considering that the caster is probably slightly higher than when I started all this, the steering seems pretty good. I noticed it's a lot better at self-centering than before. It tended to be slow and lazy at that when the lift was 3.25". To be honest, I'm a little concerned about the possibility of having caster too far out of spec, but it should be fine and I don't think I've experienced any driveline vibrations yet, just the hum of my Duratracs (it's too windy to tell today if anything is vibrating or if I'm just getting buffeted).

The rear pinion angle, if I'm measuring correctly with my analog angle finder, is about 5-6°. The rear driveshaft is slightly higher, by 1-2° at about 7°. I've included a picture for reference. The main thing I noticed is right now the on-center steering is lower effort/resistance but it also feels less darty, and provides more feedback as you turn the wheel left or right. The input and response seems to be mostly balanced. Whereas before this, it was more moderate on center but maybe requiring more frequent, small inputs that correlates to the on-center feel and more consistent throughout. I'm not sure if all that makes sense but it's the best way I can describe it. I noticed in general, the steering feel was smoothed out when I put on my 1.25" wheel spacers.

Beyond that, the front driveshaft seems to have roughly the same clearance to the exhaust; so far, so good. I may have to adjust the steering wheel again slightly after the initial adjustment, but it's close.

 

[mphilleo]

I wanted to take a moment to provide an update for anyone who is curious from the last thread or just in general.

After I performed the lift reduction (down 0.5” to 2.75"), I decided to bring my Jeep in to someone locally recommended by one of the 4X4 shops in town. (although there is a great guide on how to do it yourself here, I just didn't have the time during my business' busy season) After explaining that I wanted to ensure everything was where it should be after this change in the lift, and that I was experiencing a nagging drift to the right, they performed the service. It appears they adjusted the right hand side control arms be a little longer to help with the drift. They also seem to have brought the caster closer to stock range. My only complaint is that I don't think they adjusted the steering wheel position, which is biased a little to the CCW position. I will make an adjustment to that myself yet.