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2dr Saggy Bottom Blues

JeepPunk

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It took me a bit after getting my Jl to realize but the rake of the JLU and JL are opposite from the factory. The unlimited rolls nose down and the wrangler rolls with a saggy bottom.
I carry a lot of stuff (as much as will fit in the tiny space) in the back for work making it worse.
Depending on where I’m parked sometimes it really looks bad to me like I’m hooked to a trailer.
TeraFlex makes a 1.5” boost/level spacer kit that helps with this:
The kit for unlimited is 2”front 1.5” rear while the two door kit is 1”front 1.5” rear.
I have a manual and didn’t want more than a 35” tire since I drive 500+ miles per week so I was not interested in a bigger lift.
Installed the kit this weekend along with their bump stop kit.



Before rear floor to fender flare.
F4EC2E60-9285-4622-808D-A482C709FE2F.jpeg


Before front; floor to fender flare.
73053E09-171A-487B-9208-96D7859DAD02.jpeg


Before; floor to receiver hitch cover.
1B0FAAA8-FF4F-4D9D-85AE-D791B0C754F2.jpeg



After; rear floor to fender flare
BCEDD1FB-7069-4B90-AE4A-89ED7DD6BB4D.jpeg



After front floor to fender flare.
C683117A-3108-4A66-A19C-D682E59D0204.jpeg


After rear floor to receiver hitch cover.
DEF8B91E-6A2F-4D8D-A8FC-D764EB69B832.jpeg

8FBDF2FC-2396-4F5F-AB8F-88BD18DB5DBD.jpeg
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JeepPunk

JeepPunk

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DF672E3E-611E-4636-BA2D-909716DE1EF2.jpeg
18E67387-ACE9-4780-8A2B-C0F961215E61.jpeg
557AFA7A-D3AC-42DA-B565-4F5A8499E279.jpeg
Wheels and tires finally came in! It seems like everything for this Jeep including the Jeep itself has been an exercise in patience.
dick cepeck fun country on walker Evans racing wheels. (Yes fake bead locks)
17x8.5 +1 offset
315/70/17
 

Waiting

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@JeepPunk Thanks for posting the details and bringing this spacer kit to the forum! I'm interested in this kit, now. Do you have any level side shots to show us the fix? Below is a pic of another members (sorry, I can't remember the member I snagged it from) 2 door Rubicon that really shows the saggy bottom and a pic of mine that you can still still see in slanted pic.
Also, with spacers, geometry would change a small amount. How much of difference do you notice? I'm debating if I should go for Teraflex's 2" front & 2.5" rear spacer kit, with sway bar links and adding an adjustable front lower control arm, to correct castor (the Mopar lift comes with longer lower front control arms so it must be required idk)

35s no lift.jpg


IMG_0267.jpg
 
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Warpath

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@JeepPunk Thanks for posting the details and bringing this spacer kit to the forum! I'm interested in this kit, not. Do you have any level side shots to show us the fix? Below is a pic of another members (sorry, I can't remember the member I snagged it from) 2 door Rubicon that really shows the saggy bottom and a pic of mine that you can still still see in slanted pic.
Also, with spacers, geometry would change a small amount. How much of difference do you notice? I'm debating if I should go for Teraflex's 2" front & 2.5" rear spacer kit, with sway bar links and adding an adjustable front lower control arm, to correct castor (the Mopar lift comes with longer lower front control arms so it must be required idk)

35s no lift.jpg


IMG_0267.jpg
It's mine.

I added 1/2" Teraflex spacer in the rear to level it out.

20180914_164110.jpg
20180914_122454.jpg
20180915_175606.jpg
 

Waiting

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@Warpath LOL, I'm sorry for forgetting that was yours. I downloaded a ton of pics to stare at while I contemplating what I wanted to go with. It is amazing what that 1/2" correction does.
Did you use the JK 1/2" rear spacer? I can't find anything on the Teraflex website for the JL at 1/2".
EDIT:
I found it, I think. Is it this, on Quadratec's website.
 

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IPvFletch

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That's a nice stance there @Warpath!! Lookin good!!

FWIW, the Sport stock fenders sit 36" in front and 35" in rear, measured at the wheel center caps from the ground. That means the Rubicon fenders sit 3" higher than that of the Sport/Sahara - wow! I knew they were mounted a good 1.5" higher (at the hood line) but I guess they are also about 1.5" slimmer too. Anyways, I thought this comparison may be useful to others, but I've already lifted mine, so I'm beyond all this now. :rock:
 
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JeepPunk

JeepPunk

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I was concerned about caster too and wondered if raising the rear more would also reduce positive castor some as well. Happy to report that I drove it about 150 miles today and am very pleased it’s not screwed up handling wise. Does tram line some with major surface imperfections but I have cars that are worse. It’s actually quite enjoyable to drive. Only adjustment I had to do was to center steering wheel.
That squat in the rear is funny it’s like barely noticeable at first but begins to nag at you till it’s nauseating lol
@JeepPunk Thanks for posting the details and bringing this spacer kit to the forum! I'm interested in this kit, not. Do you have any level side shots to show us the fix? Below is a pic of another members (sorry, I can't remember the member I snagged it from) 2 door Rubicon that really shows the saggy bottom and a pic of mine that you can still still see in slanted pic.
Also, with spacers, geometry would change a small amount. How much of difference do you notice? I'm debating if I should go for Teraflex's 2" front & 2.5" rear spacer kit, with sway bar links and adding an adjustable front lower control arm, to correct castor (the Mopar lift comes with longer lower front control arms so it must be required idk)

35s no lift.jpg


IMG_0267.jpg
 

Warpath

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@Warpath LOL, I'm sorry for forgetting that was yours. I downloaded a ton of pics to stare at while I contemplating what I wanted to go with. It is amazing what that 1/2" correction does.
Did you use the JK 1/2" rear spacer? I can't find anything on the Teraflex website for the JL at 1/2".
EDIT:
I found it, I think. Is it this, on Quadratec's website.
No worries, I do the same thing. It's amazing the difference. Here is a link on teraflexs site: https://teraflex.com/shop_items/jl-jlu-0-5-rear-spacer-load-level-kit?vehicle=JL Wrangler
 

Waiting

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@JeepPunk You mentioned "Does tram line some with major surface imperfections but I have cars that are worse." What does 'tram line' mean?
 

FrankieFJL

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LOL, I'm glad I found this post! I thought I was the only one who noticed the reverse rake. Thanks for the discussion and bringing to my attention the options to correct it.
 

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JeepPunk

JeepPunk

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@JeepPunk You mentioned "Does tram line some with major surface imperfections but I have cars that are worse." What does 'tram line' mean?
For example; if there is a dip in the road and right tire hits it the steering will pull to the right. May be from wider tires and decreased offset as much as reduced castor.
Tram Line May or may not be correct terminology just what I’ve always used. Any car with really wide tires will pull
 

gspfunk

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For example; if there is a dip in the road and right tire hits it the steering will pull to the right. May be from wider tires and decreased offset as much as reduced castor.
Tram Line May or may not be correct terminology just what I’ve always used. Any car with really wide tires will pull
I think tram line is correct, but I’ve also heard it called road steer. My SRT8 does it a lot due to the 275’s on the front (plus 9” wide wheel). For me, grooves or seams in the road (or joints on bridges, etc) are the worst. If I’m driving down a road and encounter a seam that is either slightly higher/lower or has a small gap, it will pull right or left and I have to counter. The wider the tire, the worse it is. I’d also say it’s worse on low profile tires where there is less sidewall to disperse the unevenness.
 

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I just installed the Mopar 2" lift. The exaggerated sag from the spare levering the back seems, to my eyes, to be somewhat corrected by the Mopar springs. Before and after the Mopar lift:
IMG_0272 (1).jpg

IMG_0322.jpg
 
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JeepPunk

JeepPunk

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I just installed the Mopar 2" lift. The exaggerated sag from the spare levering the back seems, to my eyes, to be somewhat corrected by the Mopar springs. Before and after the Mopar lift:
IMG_0272 (1).jpg

IMG_0322.jpg
Yeah does not seem to be as noticeable.
 
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JeepPunk

JeepPunk

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AEC1C571-9DDC-47EB-BEBE-2BB271151673.jpeg
I was concerned about caster too and wondered if raising the rear more would also reduce positive castor some as well. Happy to report that I drove it about 150 miles today and am very pleased it’s not screwed up handling wise. Does tram line some with major surface imperfections but I have cars that are worse. It’s actually quite enjoyable to drive. Only adjustment I had to do was to center steering wheel.
That squat in the rear is funny it’s like barely noticeable at first but begins to nag at you till it’s nauseating lol
Update:
I’ve now driven about 1500 or so on this set up and it’s fine 75% or more of the time. It’s on really bad roads with lots of undulations and dips and when it rains hard that she gets a little squirrely. It also is hard to keep straight when slowing down forcefully at a stoplight where trucks have heaved the road. If I didn’t drive it so much I’d probably left it alone but today I added Rusty’s off-road adjustable LCA to see if adding more castor would improve things.

Using a basic pendulum type angle finder and my iPhone it showed to have about 4 degrees of positive castor. I added 1/4” past stock length to the new arms and ended up right at 6 degrees afterwords.

I’ve only driven a few miles but the steering is definitely tighter. Hopefully as I hit some of the spots where it was a handful it will prove better.

The arms are absolutely massive compared to stock. I bet they weigh over 2x!
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