Comfort in Suspension lift question

B3Hulk wrote:
Also, I do have a question about cross members being relocated. I relocated mine with the kit provided but I am not really sure on the reason. Can anyone give me a little insight?

Hulk, the front cross member drop kit is supplied because the front prop shaft clashes with the crossmember when the front axle is at full droop.

Supposedly, it's only required when you lift the vehicle more than 40mm... you may have gotten away without it for your install but some comprehensive kits seem to come with it (black raptor & tough dog). It's just a series of brackets to drop it right? rather than a new crossmember.

DAGZOOK wrote:

B3Hulk wrote:
Also, I do have a question about cross members being relocated. I relocated mine with the kit provided but I am not really sure on the reason. Can anyone give me a little insight?

Hulk, the front cross member drop kit is supplied because the front prop shaft clashes with the crossmember when the front axle is at full droop.

Supposedly, it's only required when you lift the vehicle more than 40mm... you may have gotten away without it for your install but some comprehensive kits seem to come with it (black raptor & tough dog). It's just a series of brackets to drop it right? rather than a new crossmember.

Yea it was just a set of brackets , spacers and new bolts n nuts.

B3Hulk wrote:
Lambert - Lifting the car did increase the centre of gravity but the 40mm lift kit is very minimal. What helped with stability was the wider wheels that are 15" by 7" wide with a negative 13 offset which are a lot wider than the stock. I am sure if I still had the stock tyres with the stock offset, I am sure it would feel not as firm. The wider wheels and better shocks all helped with handling.

How does that work on a vehicle with live axles? The axle is ALWAYS parallel to the road surface. The body is mounted on the axles with springs, How would having a wider axle reduce the amount the body leans on the springs?
Same goes with claims that shocks can reduce body roll. They would have to be very stiff to damp such slow movement.

With a beam axle you have two options to reduce vehicle body roll. First is using the strength of the springs be they the road coils or the anti roll bar to overcome the bodies tendencies to lean but that will make the ride very hard. Or you can retain some ride comfort with softer springs placed further apart relative to the centre line of the vehicle. Hence the spring perches are spaced further apart on the back axle to improve stability instead of matching the front dimension.

When people say that they have a feeling of more stability with wider tyres what is actually being felt is the additional unsprung weight associated with the wider wheels and larger tyres. I have driven several other Jimny with big tyres and back to back with Dreadnaught on standard alloy wheels and tyre size and the difference is so pronounced and personally I don't like the feeling of the additional weight as it detracts from the delicacy of the steering.

I think more noticeable than the increase in weight is the increased scrub radius. The contact patch is moved outwards relative to the steering axis, so this will put more load on the steering and have a noticeable affect on how it feels. Is this better for stability? Not really, it just means the steering is a slightly heavier. But it does feel different, and many people automatically associate different with better.

I agree though often the increase in height can if matched carefully with offset, eliminate or at least mitigate the alteration in scrub radius. This is what happens when modification is applied without consideration of the consequences.