Coil Springs And Shock On ’98 TJ
Posted in Coil Spring | Asked on Jul 29, 2010
I have a 3″ suspension lift, my drivers rear coil spring is broke and no longer fits the lift spacer. How hard is it to change it? Should I change all four? Someone also told me that having coils and springs is overkill. That one or the other is enough? Sadly he started to make sense when he explained it? also sadly, I don’t know.
Thanks Dan. What I meant to say was that I have both coil springs and also shocks. Do I need both?
There are 2 Answers
To answer your question, coils are pretty easy to change. Depending on the car, and how much you want to remove, you can either jack up the car high enough and remove the control arm bolts to get the axle to “drop” far enough, or you can get a coil spring compressor (loaners are usually available at a parts store) and with minimal jacking, remove and replace it.
Depending on the age of the coil, you should replace the set (front or rear) together to keep the vehicle level, but if you have spacers, you should get all four new coils that are the desired height (much safer, better performance).
Your coil is your spring, they are the same thing.
Yes you need both coil springs and shocks. Your Jeep would bounce around uncontrolably without shocks. Shocks dampen the movement of the suspension to control the springs movement.
TJs are bad about going through rear springs. I would just replace the one spring. I see you say 3″ suspension lift, but then you also mention a lift spacer? I’ve only seen 2″ spacers, what are running liftwise?
As for replacing the spring, its pretty easy, unbolt the shocks from the rear axle on one side, then jack the Jeep up from the frame, like the rear bumper. Make sure you have a tall jack, or using some sort of spacers, you should be able to get the Jeep high enough you can just slide the spring out and slide the new spring right back in with the axle hanging there. Be sure you put jack stands under the frame before you get under there prying on anything.
If you are using lift springs, you can call whoever the lift is through and get just one spring. If you are using stock springs with lift spacers, I have a buddy who is selling his stock 98 TJ suspension stuff, I’m sure he would let it go cheap, here is a link:
http://www.cdmfabrication.com/bbb/viewtopic.php?t=39