Smooth riding suspension?

Ive always wanted a jeep and i finally bought one but i didnt do enough research on it I have a 1993 jeep wrangler and i took it up to northern az and the ride was super rough. Does anyone know what kind of suspension would give me a smooth ride?

 

Welcome! Your YJ Jeep Wrangler ("87-'95) used leaf spring suspension similar to the CJs so the ride can be rather harsh on rough pavement but with some tuning starting with shocks as mentioned it may be tamed a bit. Post some pics as there are YJ members that can chime in with advice.

 

Switch to Old Man Emu springs for stock height up to 2.5inches of lift. Avoid heavy duty springs, they add an extra leaf stiffening up your ride. Get the 4 leaf pack front and 5 leaf back rear, or 5 leaf pack front and rear. If you want another inch order 5inch shackles (2in longer than stock for a total of 1 inch of lift. Also Old Man Emu shocks are supposed to be good. I usually run Pro-comp ES3000 shocks on my CJs and YJs. You want a neutral gas shock. Positively charged gas shocks are rougher riding. . CJs did not have track bars. They added this to the YJ, but it caused more problems than it fixed one of the problems was a rougher than it should be ride. Removing the track bars front and rear will soften up your ride some.

 

Thank you guys I will definitely give it a shot.

 

It's a wrangler s with all original parts with 130k miles

 

Forgot to mention that tire pressure can also make a big difference. The new tires manufactured today are rated to hold more pressure for the increasing loads of todays trucks. A YJ only needs 28 psi. I run less. Also, The bigger your tire the less you need to run.

 

Welcome to the forum @Jeepkid. Post up pics.....sorry. we need to see pics to be able to help. Lolll. But yeah....we like jeep porn. Lolll. Best of luck with your new YJ.

 

Welcome from Oklahoma

 

Here are some steps to do so without buying anything. Your back will thank you.

• Shackle bolts and spring hanger bolts only need to be torqued to 40/45 Ft LBS. Any more will restrict movement of the spring and decrease ride quality. I get a ton of people that come in the shop and complain about the same thing and they have impacted the bolts tight.
  
• The factory track bars CAN be removed front and rear. The Yj is the only leaf sprung jeep that ever came with them and this was done to make them drive less like a jeep and more like a car. There are plenty of other forum posts that explains why this is.
  
• Tire Pressure I highly recommend doing a "chalk test" This will allow you to determine the best tire pressure for your specific rig. Typically it ends up around 30 with a YJ on 31's-35's.

New springs and shocks will help, But you get what you pay for when it comes to lifts. As a general rule of thumb, the higher lift the leaf spring provides the worse it will ride. Just like @OFFGRID my favorite non custom made leaf spring on the market right now is the OME. Their shocks and spring kits are awesome and pretty decently priced. Shameless plug time (I can offer a Jeeps.net discount on any OME/ARB parts if you guys want them)

~Jeff

 

I always forget to mention the hanger and spring bolts. I cringe whenever I see my buddies not torquing things I stongly believe need torqued i.e. anything that moves and rotates for sure.

 

Hey guys,
Thanks for a ll the great info, I have been battling my rough riding YJ on MI roads and after all my mods I finally don't wake up with headaches every morning...
I removed the track bars and sway bar(I know its questionable but I need the articulation for potholes), I installed the MORE shackle reversal kit and switched to Bilstein 5100 shocks.
I created a video where I collected data with my phone accelerator to show the difference made by switching shocks,
You can also find a video where I remove the track bars if you go to my channel page.
Hope this is helpful!
https://youtu.be/YUw0wafF364