EVO TJ at Congress, Arizona. Ultra 4 race!

[GCM 2]

How do coil isolators affect that? Just being curious.

Okay, the only way for me to sort this out for you is to answer more questions than you are really asking.....I think. Here goes;

So the set up on the TJ is not a coilover setup, it is consider a "spring over shock" set up since the springs are not actually part of the shock and adjustable like on a coilover. The springs on this TJ's set up are actually sitting on brackets welded on at the axle and brackets welded to the frame and are running over and around the shock body.

Lower axle bracket, shock and coil separate




Traditional coilover, spring is attached to shock shafts







The isolator on a traditional coilover set up allows you to run two different springs, with two different rates of compression. The isolator does two things 1- it is the device that connects together two seperate springs making them in actuality one spring and locates them along the shock body. 2- it is also the device that allows you to take advantage of having two springs having two rates of compression. During compression the top spring is your first spring engaged, and softer of the spring rates. The bottom spring is your firmer spring and gets involved for its job when the top spring begins to compress and as it does so the isolator rises to meet the two lock rings threaded on to the shock body (just barely visible in below photo above the black isolator) . Once the isolator meets the stop (two lock rings) the top spring stops compression and the bottom spring begins to take over with its firmer rate of compression. Hope this was written clearly enough.





On the TJ the isolators were just being used to locate/center/connect together the two separate top and bottom springs, but had nothing to do with interaction of the shock body like on a coilover. This is where the vehicle was under scrutiny during "stock class rules" and tech inspection. The fix determined by the race director was to simply remove the isolator and "hard connect" the springs.....so Mel decided to just weld the the two coil springs together and back the welds up with wire ties for another safety check. It worked......

 

[travisk]

Nice. The single long coil didn't bang up the shock body?

 

[GCM 2]

Nice. The single long coil didn't bang up the shock body?

Nah, at least not enough to worry about in a 30+ mile race

 

[hinrichs]

Thanks Greg for taking the time to explain that for me, never really even knew why there were 2 springs together on the coilovers since they are new to me coming from cars traditionally. I also thought the tj had coilovers since the pics make it seem like that's what it's running.

 

[GCM 2]

Thanks Greg for taking the time to explain that for me, never really even knew why there were 2 springs together on the coilovers since they are new to me coming from cars traditionally. I also thought the tj had coilovers since the pics make it seem like that's what it's running.

No problem! Thats one of the best things about coilovers, the ride is almost infinitely tunable to suit every condition you could ever imagine. The best part about the King Shocks that a lot of us are running is that they are rebuildable, so you always have the opportunity to change internal valving or spring rates to get the ride that works for your taste or the conditions you drive in.