Jcm627

I have a 2012 JK with a 3.5” AEV DualSport Suspension and 35” tires. I’ve been driving that for about 6 years and it’s given me no problems, except it’s a very, very uncomfortable, swaying back and forth, ride in rocky conditions and the front wheels like to come off the ground too easily while rock crawling.

My friends are always tinkering with their suspensions, everything from dual and triple rate springs ( which they swear by), stiffer rear sway bar(really? How much can one bend?), and shocks. They run long arm and mine is a short arm, so there’s that.

Anyway, these trails down here are nothing but rocks and holes of all sizes and non-stop ledges. My wife gets thrown so hard from side to side sometimes she has gotten a couple of hard knocks hitting her head on the seat belt connector. We’re talking 2-3 miles per hour.

I’m thinking I need to do something to adjust the rebound, but that doesn’t seem to be anything people talk about re Jeep’s.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

TheDirtman

Rebound is going to be in your shocks, for what you have the easiest thing would be to go to some tripple bypass shocks. Expensive but will do what you want and it gives you a full range of adjustability. Other than that you could contact Accutune Offroad in SoCal to do some custom valved smoothie shocks from Fox or King. Again another expensive way to go but not as much as the bypass shocks, however you would loose the adjustability. You also have to decide if you really want to run high $$$ shocks out the back end on the factory mounts. I doubt you are going to find an off the shelf bolt on solution unless you just get lucky. I would look at your tires as well on the load rating and the PSI you are running off road. Many rough riding jeeps can be corrected somewhat with tires and wheels.
The AEV is also somewhat of an entry lift and will reduce the already short wheel base of the JK. Adding track and wheelbase to your jeep will improve the ride and stability off road. A high steer or Drag link flip kit will reduce axle shift and bump steer and improve the ride both on road and off. An aftermarket rear sway bar like an anti rock can give you some tunability and extra stability on and off road since the factory one is so small.
Hope I gave you some things to think about. Too bad you are so far from me as I have a shop and its nice to put the jeep up on a rack to see what has been done to it and how to improve the ride. Good luck.

Sixty4x4

Has your system also got raised TB brackets on the diffs or adjustable track bars? 3.5" lift height will most likely benefit from this. More closer to horizontal for the TB the better with respect to swaying side to side but that does not apply fully to the front as the TB should be parallel with the drag link.

Jeff Pillsworth

Could also be swaybar related, I find with the front disconnected there is severe movement as the rear goes over obstacles, my previous TJ had an currie antirock on the front and was much better over the same obstacles. It is on my list of planned upgrades for my jk.

Jcm627

Thanks for all your input! Definitely a heck of a lot to think about.

I was thinking the same thing about the shocks. The idea though of spending a few thousand on shocks is too much though. I wouldn’t get anywhere near out of them what they are designed for. I just rock crawl.

Tires are BFGoodrich 35x12.5x17. I’ve been running 18lbs. Used to run 15. Changed for no particular reason but I guess I’ll go back to 15 just to see. They have barely 5000 miles on them so any change there will 2-3 years away.

The rear track bar sounds like best short fix. AEV apparently changed to a high tower on their lift and bent a new track bar around to clear the exhaust, or some such thing they say to improve geometry. Honestly hard to choose between AEVs geometry and my wife’s head .

I might just have to drive slower. Already slow enough as it is with a manual though.