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Purchased a 2" offroad lift kit a few years ago for my wagoneer resto, finally getting around to driving it and wow does it ride rough.

Does it take a bit for these springs to break in? It almost feels like it has heavy duty springs in it.

I also have new bilstein 5125 shocks in it.

Rough ride on the jeep means different things to different folks. I don't have experience with the 2" lift but would be surprised if it really harshened up the ride. The bilsteins are known for being a bit more agressive.

That being said my rusty's 4" lift softened up a bit after a while.

My question, did you over torque the bolts? Did you jump up and down a bit on the bumpers before torquing them down?

will e wrote:Rough ride on the jeep means different things to different folks. I don't have experience with the 2" lift but would be surprised if it really harshened up the ride. The bilsteins are known for being a bit more agressive.

That being said my rusty's 4" lift softened up a bit after a while.

My question, did you over torque the bolts? Did you jump up and down a bit on the bumpers before torquing them down?

No sir. Maybe I'll try doing that and re torquing them. I had the body off when I did it

It's a bouncy ride even driving it a few feet

Did you wait to tighten the shackles until it was down on the ground with the tires on? If not, your ride will be terrible. Helps to bounce it some too before tightening.

Stuka wrote:Did you wait to tighten the shackles until it was down on the ground with the tires on? If not, your ride will be terrible. Helps to bounce it some too before tightening.

Should I wait until all of the weight and interior is back in it to do this?

yes

Is it bouncy or rough?

Loosen shackles and spring eye bolts. Flex/bounce wee out of it, drive it over some curbs one wheel @ time.
Then torque shackle and spring eye bolts on level ground.
Since it sounds like you installed w/o body on frame, the ride would definitely be as described.

Iroc313 wrote:Purchased a 2" offroad lift kit a few years ago for my wagoneer resto, finally getting around to driving it and wow does it ride rough.

Does it take a bit for these springs to break in? It almost feels like it has heavy duty springs in it.

I also have new bilstein 5125 shocks in it.

It took about ~1000 miles or so for my BJs 4 inch lift to soften up. It was bouncy at first, you could feel every pebble on the road too. It is much nicer now w/ about 3k miles on it.
Give it time

Curly

It's a bouncy ride.

Thank you for the help guys.

Iroc313 wrote:Purchased a 2" offroad lift kit a few years ago for my wagoneer resto, finally getting around to driving it and wow does it ride rough.

Does it take a bit for these springs to break in? It almost feels like it has heavy duty springs in it.

I also have new bilstein 5125 shocks in it.

If it has Rough Country springs in it then it DOES have heavy duty springs, they will soften with time, but it won't be any time soon.

The BJ's springs are made by Alcan. They are the same length and height as an Alcan 2" but they use thicker (and fewer) leafs than Alcan's branded leafs. I think I have 8 leafs in my 2" while the BJ's branded leaf count is something like 5. Correct me if I'm wrong, Iroc313.

The result is that the BJ's springs are less progressive in rate than the Alcans, which means that they ride a little stiffer on the road. However, the offroad flex will be pretty similar between the two, I believe.

I had alcan make my springs. I sent them the weight front/back and told them 'about 1 inch of lift' since I already was SOA/SF.
My rear leaf pack has 5 springs, the front has 7. The ride seems fine and it flexes pretty good for a leaf setup.

This is with the front sway bar connected:

will e wrote:I had alcan make my springs. I sent them the weight front/back and told them 'about 1 inch of lift' since I already was SOA/SF.
My rear leaf pack has 5 springs, the front has 7. The ride seems fine and it flexes pretty good for a leaf setup.

This is with the front sway bar connected:

"like"

I was experiencing really bouncy ride on the Rustys 4" lift I have, especially in the front. It turned out to be the shackle bushings. They were so old they were hard and had zero flex. Loosening the shackle bolt fixed the problem (and then replacing the shackles with greasable poly ones permanently fixed it).

I had a 1986 Grand Wagoneer that sported a Rough Country 3" lift kit (which gives closer to 4+")
The name is very appropriate, ROUGH!
I drove M35 "Duece 'an Halfs" in the US Army that rode like a brand new Cadillac compared my lifted Grand Waggie!
I loosed the bolts and tried jumping up and down on it.
Next, I would take it on short drives on rough roads and across multiple trains tracks...nothing helped.
It was as if the shocks were solid bar stock and the axle was solid mounted to the chassis.
Without question, worst riding vehicle that I have experienced.

I hated my Rustys 4" lift when I first installed it. Since then I have replaced both front and rear shackle bushings, and the ride is now great. Much improved. The original bushings must have been rock hard with no flex/twist.

RamJetFSJ wrote:I hated my Rustys 4" lift when I first installed it. Since then I have replaced both front and rear shackle bushings, and the ride is not great. Much improved. The original bushings must have been rock hard with no flex/twist.

Did you mean "not great" or "great"?

Hah. Meant “now great” - will fix the post

I have all new polyurethane bushings on the shackles and leafs, maybe that could be it.

It really honestly rides awful, like an LB7 duramax or something.