Replaced the isolators, springs and 2" BB over the last two days with new isolators and Old Man Emu HD springs.

The isolators were SHOT, so flattened that I had to get them off with a scraper. Front springs were sagging bad, rears sagging a bit.

I installed the 2" BB from Fat Bob's about two and a half years ago and was never really as high as I should have been up front. In measuring from the center of hub to top of tire well, I had a hair over 19" when STOCK on an Up Country suspension should have been 18", so I started life with the BB at close to 1" low.

Well flash to a couple of weeks ago and I was really scrubbing at about 80% turn and forget sliding my winch in the front receiver. So I debated on replacing the isolators and UC springs and keep the spacers or replace the isolators, use the OME HD springs and pull the spacers. I decided on the latter.

Well I finished today and got an alignment and took it for a pretty good test drive. So far I'm VERY impressed with the OME coils. Firm but very smooth ride. Height is perfect, as all four tires measure 20" from center of hub to top of tire well within 1/32".

This gave me 2" over stock Up Country height, so I would imagine if you were to start with a standard (non-UC) suspension, you'd net 3" of lift.

I would wholeheartedly recommend this method of a modest lift to anyone looking at a BB or slightly higher lift. I don't know how shot the isolators and UC coils were when I bought the WJ in '05 with 61k miles on it, but I can say that the ride right now is better than at any time since I've owned it.

This was taken about a month ago at one of my favorite fishing spots on the intercoastal, every dip in the trail, I was scrubbing - no weight on the front receiver either, so imagine how bad it would have been if I tried to slide the winch on...



Yesterday after the OME HD coils:



I ended up making my own extended rear swaybar links because the IRO ones are $150. I had $23 each in these Mopar ones and just had to cut and weld extensions on...

 

BTW, I found my coolant leak that I was afraid might have been the bottom seam of the radiator. Was the thermostat O-Ring, so that was an easy, under $20 fix...

 

Time for slightly bigger tires!

 

The hell with that 'bolt... 31.5" x 10.5"s are good enough on a daily driver! As it is I'm down 3-4 mpg over when it was bone stock!

With 103k miles on it, about the most I'm gonna do is add an Addco 1" rear sway bar - the 5/8" stockers aren't really rigid enough and there's some body lean. I think I'm gonna do a steering stabilizer, there is a companion one to the Pro Comp shocks I installed, so it'll "go" as a set and it's 30% larger than stock. From there I kinda want to do wheel with a bit better offset to throw those tires out a bit, should also help some with body lean. I'm thinkin' 17" Crager Soft 8s in black, at $70 a piece they won't break the bank.

After that my boy, nothing planned but routine maintenance...

 

Nice! That jeep looks a little too clean though...

 

Looking good hammer.

 

Yeah I got it lookin' good, but I keep having to dump money into it that I don't have. None of it powertrain related thank goodness, but still a good bit of cash nonetheless.
After dumping close to $600 in the suspension that was necessary, I just got to go spend $70 on lift tubes for the rear liftgate and the hood. With the weather getting cooler I kept getting whacked in the head!!! The glass window in the back is shot too, but I almost never use it, those lifters can wait.
Let's hope I won't have to do anything for a while. Other than oil change, I should be good for 8000 miles and then the tranny, diffs, transfer case and plugs are due!!!

 

Looking good, nice looking rig.

 

Here's a little bit better shot where you can compare the clearance of the front bumper in my 1st photo in the initial post (before) and now:

 

Well I believe I made the right choice getting the HD coils. Even before my stock coils started munkin' up, putting my winch on the front pulled the front down about an inch.
Winch on the front now, pulls down about 1/4":