On-road and off- road driving

[FxNRæ]

Hello all, I am still new to the Jeep world. Only been apart of it for a few years now. I have a 2020 Jeep Wrangler Willys Ecodiesel. I am looking for some guidance in regards to suspension, steering, and overall drive quality.

I understand that this is a solid front axle vehicle and the ride quality won’t always be the best. My wife gets motion sick easily, so I am trying to look for ways to make the ride quality a little better for her but also for longer road trips. We don’t do any serious heavy off roading as I said I’m still new. The goal is to eventually get out on more difficult trails and learn what I can, but right now we do mostly on road driving and some very light trails that don’t have any technical obstacles. I would really love to get in the over landing scene, but that won’t happen for sometime yet.

I currently have 33 inch tires on the jeep, I don’t really ever plan to go more than 35 inches. I don’t think I’d necessarily need a huge lift, but maybe some leveling spacers or 1.5 inch lift. Are there certain shocks, steering stabilizers, steering box, and so on that could improve the ride quality?

Thanks in advance for any help!

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[3TV]

I've owned a number of Jeeps over the years. But the one that takes the prize as the best handling and best driving Jeep of them all was the 2021 JLUR 2.0T that I had bought for my wife. She told me she did not want a big lift or bigger tires, but she did want it to drive and handle better than stock. In particular, she did not like front end dive when braking, and the way it leaned in turns.

On that Jeep I used Eibach 1" lift springs, Steer Smart trackbars, King 0" - 2.5" lift shocks, and 1 1/2" wheel spacers with the stock wheels and stock 33" Falken MT tires.

Many people, including the next person that replies to this thread, will say King shocks are only for high-speed off-road use, but that is simply not the case. They also dramatically improve on-road ride and especially on-road handling.

I bought the King shocks from Northridge on sale for 60% off, so not that expensive.

That was the best driving Jeep I've ever owned.

 

[garykk]

Simply put….No

you can’t expect an off road setup to ride nice.

 

[aldo98229]

Uh oh. Motion sickness and Wranglers don’t go well together.

Solid axle vehicles are notorious for inducing “head bobbing” motion on passengers. The higher off the ground the vehicle sits, the more head bobbing there’s going to be. It’s how the laws of physics work.

If you guys plan on taking on increasingly difficult off-roading, the best thing your wife can do is focus her sight out in the distance, refrain from looking inside the vehicle, and carry this in her purse.

 

[vetygud]

You can lessen the harshness and ride stiffness by having different shocks such as Bilsteins, C ply tires instead of E ply and adjusting the tire air pressures to your liking. This will give you a less harsh ride on the highway. It is a Jeep and will never be a smooth rider. You can only tweak it to your needs. The shorter 2 doors are harsher. It is very hard to get the best of both worlds. A smoother riding highway Jeep can still perform off road with limitations.

 

[The Last Cowboy]

I've owned a number of Jeeps over the years. But the one that takes the prize as the best handling and best driving Jeep of them all was the 2021 JLUR 2.0T that I had bought for my wife. She told me she did not want a big lift or bigger tires, but she did want it to drive and handle better than stock. In particular, she did not like front end dive when braking, and the way it leaned in turns.

On that Jeep I used Eibach 1" lift springs, Steer Smart trackbars, King 0" - 2.5" lift shocks, and 1 1/2" wheel spacers with the stock wheels and stock 33" Falken MT tires.

Many people, including the next person that replies to this thread, will say King shocks are only for high-speed off-road use, but that is simply not the case. They also dramatically improve on-road ride and especially on-road handling.

I bought the King shocks from Northridge on sale for 60% off, so not that expensive.

That was the best driving Jeep I've ever owned.

Great setup. You can buy Eibach directly from their website. They have great customer service and ship fast. Their springs and shocks are excellent. OP, I'd go with the 2" springs on the front since you have the diesel.

https://eibach.com/eps-search?year=2020&make=Jeep&model=Wrangler&submodel=Sport+4-Door+JL

King shocks are high end and priced that way too. Getting 60% off is a great deal, but I'm sure that deal doesn't come around often.

 

[sl65racer]

I have A 3.5” lift on 37s, Falcon adjustable shocks, and a drop bracket on the front. Also Currie currentlync steering and Falcon adjustable stabilizer. It’s a very pleasant ride on both street and rocks. The adjustable shocks and right tire pressures make a big difference.

 

[NWJeepr]

I'd say wheel it as-is for your purposes until it starts to feel inadequate. Adding lift and bigger tires will only generally make the ride more nausea-inducing than it already is (solid axles produce a lot of side-to-side bouncing, and making the rig taller makes that even more noticeable.

My only recommendation at this point would be to buy a quality shock for it, like a Bilstein. And also, with the existing tires, take the "recommended" tire pressure with a grain of salt. Do what they call a "chalk test" and use the pressure calculated using that method instead. It's generally less than factory recommended, provides better tire contact with the ground, and results in a softer ride (with very low loss of fuel economy).

 

[AcesandEights]

Wanna make things worse, lift it and put 35" tires on it. You will increase the center of gravity and have more "head bob". You will only minimally add off road ability, and would probably never need the additional clearance anyway.

Wanna make things better, keep it stock height and change the tires to an all-season highway tire/very mild all-terrain, add softer dampers (shocks).

The solid front axle inherently allows the body to roll more because when one side of the suspension moves it affects the other side. All you can do is make it softer, or more compliant, so they both move more in concert with each other. Ultimately though, you have the wrong tool for the (best ride quality) job.

I'd suggest a 4Runner. Great off road and much better on road.

 

[GATORB8]

In general, so much of the motion/bodyroll off road is caused by the terrain, you'll never get a perfect ride.

On road, you can certainly tune your shocks and springs to reduce body roll, albeit likely at the sacrifice of some on road straight line comfort.

 

[Ratbert]

Get a sway bar that you can disconnect when off roading. That'll significantly reduce the head-bobbing and make it much more comfortable. It also improves your articulation, but that's secondary to keeping the wife happy.

Note that you probably want to only disconnect it when you're mostly staying below about 30mph. Sway bars keep the Jeep from swaying / leaning as much, which is very desirable on road.

 

[five9dak]

Lower the tire pressure, mopar LCAs for increased caster, make sure you have all the updated steering components / TSBs.

For your driving - look far into the distance and make steering corrections only for heading, not current position in the lane. If you try to manage current position in your lane, youll just weave back and forth and make your passengers sick.

 

[AZ Hella]

You can lessen the harshness and ride stiffness by having different shocks such as Bilsteins, C ply tires instead of E ply and adjusting the tire air pressures to your liking. This will give you a less harsh ride on the highway. It is a Jeep and will never be a smooth rider. You can only tweak it to your needs. The shorter 2 doors are harsher. It is very hard to get the best of both worlds. A smoother riding highway Jeep can still perform off road with limitations.

This 100%.
Good quality shocks, tuned shocks if you can afford it and load range C tires.

 

[zouch]

hey Matt!

i also have a Willys EcoD ('21).

my biggest beef with the basic 'ride' of the thing as stock was the fact that for some reason, the front Antisway Bar was spec'd far firmer than the rear, forcing the entire chassis to follow the front axle through all surface irregularities. to me, this was terribly unbalanced.

aside from all the other advice i've seen you get here already, i'd make sure you consider changing the Antisway Bars out to be something better balanced. (i personally went for Currie Antirocks in combination with the Mopar "2-inch" lift with the Fox Shocks and some other stuff, and my motion-sensitive wife now describes the ride as "like being on a cloud".)

and if you haven't already ditched those Firestone tires the Willys came with, there's a lot of room for improvement there.

ride's all about shocks, springs, tires, and Antisway Bars. longer LCAs can help with the steering a bit, but probably won't make a difference to the passenger.

good luck!

Hello all, I am still new to the Jeep world. Only been apart of it for a few years now. I have a 2020 Jeep Wrangler Willys Ecodiesel. I am looking for some guidance in regards to suspension, steering, and overall drive quality.

I understand that this is a solid front axle vehicle and the ride quality won’t always be the best. My wife gets motion sick easily, so I am trying to look for ways to make the ride quality a little better for her but also for longer road trips. We don’t do any serious heavy off roading as I said I’m still new. The goal is to eventually get out on more difficult trails and learn what I can, but right now we do mostly on road driving and some very light trails that don’t have any technical obstacles. I would really love to get in the over landing scene, but that won’t happen for sometime yet.

I currently have 33 inch tires on the jeep, I don’t really ever plan to go more than 35 inches. I don’t think I’d necessarily need a huge lift, but maybe some leveling spacers or 1.5 inch lift. Are there certain shocks, steering stabilizers, steering box, and so on that could improve the ride quality?

Thanks in advance for any help!

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