3min3m2

Have you checked your tire pressure?

rob_engineer

Tires certainly play a roll in the 'feel' of the suspension. I air my Goodrich tires to 44psi when I tow. Definitely makes the suspension feel stiffer compared to the 36-38 psi I run when not towing. Especially feel on bridge expansion joints.

Yankee

Any solid front axle vehicle I have had rode harsher than IFS, unsprung weight seems to matter. Maybe that is perception on my part though. But shocks, tire pressure and type do matter also. Wheel base length seems to make a difference.

As already noted probably some of it is just design limitations that make it able to articulate the suspension offroad while remaining stable at speed.

JKbender

Correct, unsprung weight of a solid axle does have an impact in ride over IFS. When you hit a large bump the solid axle gets more mass in motion and thus the springs must be able to counter that mass in motion.

That said, those of us that have been owning Jeeps for a while will tell you that the JK has the smoothest ride ever... By far!

matt1171

Thanks!! That all makes sense. I'm not unhappy with the ride of my JK, I was just curious. It seemed to me that a softer suspension would be better off-road to soak up the rough terrain but now I understand why firmer (compared to a passenger car) is needed.

Mschneid

Think about a soft suspension off road; going fast toward an incline and if the suspension was soft it would bottom out; you would nose dive into the hill rather than climb it. Going over rocks just bouncing around would just keep bottoming out.

The main reason is that a vehicle that has a high center of gravity and short/narrow wheelbase would be even more dangerous and apt to roll over if it had a soft suspension. That is why lift kits are even stiffer because you are raising the center of gravity and causing more of a hazard.

Go around a bend too fast with a soft suspension and it will roll over easier.

Freewill

That's sorta the approach I took when I modified the suspension. The stock shocks would get hot and let any little bump bottom the suspension against the bump-stops. Next, our heads would be bouncing off the roll bars.

So, the suspension changes were: More suspension travel with longer springs and shocks, and high-end bump stops that don't rebound like those little rubber bump-stop turds. The longer shocks are mono-tubes which cool a lot better, 'tho not as well as remote res. shocks would.

The ride is about the same as with stock Rubi springs and shocks. On big bumps at speed, the combination of more travel, better shocks, and better bump stops let the suspension "work" without hitting its limits. The Jeep sits about 2 1/2 inches taller thanks to the longer springs, and the suspension has about 2" more travel at the wheels.