alfred_hybrid@hotmail.com

Hi all. We bought our first Wrangler last month, a 2017 JK Sahara. We purchased it sight unseen from a dealer a few hours away. We wanted the two door as it meets weight requirements for towing behind our motor home.

Mods that it came with that I know of are Fox shocks, aftermarket HU, red interior dome lights, and an abandoned switch on the driver side A Pillar (maybe a removed light bar).

We’re enjoying it so far primarily as my wife’s daily driver for now while adding the components needed for towing (tow light wiring, base plates, supplemental brakes). I do have a couple questions about the car though:

-How do I determine if it’s been lifted, and if so, how high?
-How much surface rust underneath is acceptable for a 2017 that’s lived its life in Michigan?
-When transitioning from paved to washboarded gravel, or when hitting a sizeable bump, the Jeep lurches. Is that due to poorly installed or configured suspension?

Thanks, and looking forward to diving into the forums.


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resharp001

Welcome to JKF! I towed my '13 JKU behind a gasser motorhome for several years before moving on from the MH. We have a few members that currently do. From the picture it does look like it has some sort of lift. Here are pictures to show the factory height in the front and rear -







Measure in those spots and see what your actual lift height is. There are many ways of lifting and that jeep could have aftermarket coils or could have spacers on top of the factory coils. It does not appear to have a body lift in the picture. You can take some pictures of the axle, steering components, and suspension and we can help identify what is stock or not.

In regard to rust, these things are rust buckets in your part of the country. Some of the pictures I see hurt my head and it seems like a constant struggle to fight it.

alfred_hybrid@hotmail.com

Good info, thanks.

The shock height measurement on my Jeep is about 22”, and the spring height is about 14”.

I don’t know how to interpret the top graphic you show above.

You can see some of the rust I’m talking about in the pics.

TheDirtman

Looks like a Mopar lift, 3.5" as you describe in your measurements. Shocks look to short for the lift though. Way too much shaft showing for the amount of bump stop you have. Sway bar links look short. Factory track bar so the axles are out of alignment. Check your front driveshaft to see if it is aftermarket or stock. Some Mopar kits came with a new front driveshaft. Look for cam bolts on the lower control arms at the axle. Its a cheap way to adjust the caster. That rust looks normal. I recommend some good thick marine paint and brush it on. You also have a inner axle seal leak.I bet you have E rated tires that are over inflated for your jeep. You should be around 28 psi. If you want to stay at that height I would recommend a full suspension redo with high steer or lower it down to the 2-2.5" range with some different coils and add some adjsutable track bars and some kind of caster adjustment like adjustable upper front control arms or some relocation brackets.

resharp001

This is what Dirtman is talking about when he highlights a leaking axle seal -



Those front seals are "inners", so they sit in the center of the axle at either side of the diff. Pretty much have to disassemble the front axle to replace them. It's not a big deal if you DIY it. I think shops charge ~$250-350 around me to replace them. Kinda a shame since the seals are ~$20. This isn't a huge deal you have to run out and fix this weekend, but leaky seals don't seem to get better with time.

Dirtman highlights just about everything above. It's highly likely that jeep has no caster correction post-lift (or inadequate) and the steering angles are pretty steep at that height which is all playing into the "lurching" effect when hitting bumps. It sits a bit high for those tires and your "toad" use. I'd bring it down a bit like Dirtman suggest. Shorter springs would also bring those shocks and sway bar links more inline with proper sizing.

alfred_hybrid@hotmail.com

Back in ‘08, I bought an old 911 that was in mediocre shape. I joined a Porsche forum to ask some questions of the experts and quickly found out how much I didn’t know about the intricacies of the car. I have that same feeling of being lost now, but at least I expected it this time around.

What sub-forum is best for suspension type follow up questions going forward? Modified or Off-Road?

Aside from the leaking seal and tire pressure (they’re at 34 now), any safety concerns with towing the Jeep as is?

​​​​​​​Thank you for the responses. I’ll start digging in.

resharp001

Modified would be fine for your suspension-related questions since it's not a stock set up. I wouldn't worry about towing it as/is once you get your baseplate installed. There's obvious room for improvement in regard to the current suspension but it's still roadworthy.

alfred_hybrid@hotmail.com

I dropped the pressure in the tires to 28PSI and what a difference. Just have to ignore the TPMS warnings.

Thanks all!

resharp001

There are programmers that will allow you to lower that alert threshold. I believe you can do it with the Jscan app. You need an OBDII BT dongle (usually ~$15) and a $20 license for the app but it's a great tool for programming features and diagnostics. The first time you throw more than a basic OBDII code you need something that can dig deeper into the various modules anyhow so better to just have something upfront if you plan to own the jeep for a while.