Anyone experienced sagging with their Skyjacker 6-inch coil springs?

[Jim Oaks]

Mine are measuring out around 14-1/2" to 14-5/8". Others have measured theirs at 15-3/8" to 15-3/4" I'm not sure if mine have sagged from age, or if it's just from the winch bumper and winch weighing them down. Anyone have Skyjacker 6-inch coils and a winch? What's your coils measuring at??

 

[PetroleumJunkie412]

My coils are not sagging.















Other bits are, though.

 

[farmer]

The skyjacker coils are super soft and wind up sagging badly. I put a 6" in the 94 Supercab 4.0 I had and got maybe 4.5" out of the springs, winch would have made it worse. The springs were soft enough that alignment was never right because you couldn't get a consistent ride height. Stomp on the gas with 4.56s and the front would bob up a couple inches, stomp the brakes and it would nose dive.

Loved the strength of the bracketry, hated the spongy coils.

 

[BlackBII]

Here's an old thread talking about it.

https://www.therangerstation.com/forums/index.php?threads/skyjacker-coil-qs.24045/

Mine sit at 39cm or 15.3" on a regular cab shortbed.

I would just install some spacers or some washers to raise it back up an inch or so.

 

[4x4junkie]

My SJ 6" springs sit right at about 14¾" on my Ranger (so about 4¼" lift height).They've been on the truck since 1999 and haven't "sagged" (lost height over time) at all that I can tell (same goes for the 6" XJ coils I've had on my BII since 2007, they sit at 16¾"). Skyjacker makes quality springs, at least in that they maintain their height well with time (something I cannot say about Rancho), however they certainly are a good bit off on their claimed lift height (so yea, spacers or a move up to the next size spring is often what's needed, especially on a V6 Supercab truck).

The skyjacker coils are super soft and wind up sagging badly. I put a 6" in the 94 Supercab 4.0 I had and got maybe 4.5" out of the springs, winch would have made it worse. The springs were soft enough that alignment was never right because you couldn't get a consistent ride height. Stomp on the gas with 4.56s and the front would bob up a couple inches, stomp the brakes and it would nose dive.

Loved the strength of the bracketry, hated the spongy coils.

It's not the coils are too soft... they are too short. The issue you describe sounds much more like what happens when you have a jacked-up steering linkage:

TRS Magazine - Steering Tech - An in-depth discussion about TTB Steering and Alignment

www.therangerstation.com

 

[farmer]

It's not the coils are too soft... they are too short. The issue you describe sounds much more like what happens when you have a jacked-up steering linkage:

TRS Magazine - Steering Tech - An in-depth discussion about TTB Steering and Alignment

www.therangerstation.com

I disagree. Wonky steering would make it bump steer like crazy, but steering linkage cannot affect the camber.

 

[BlackBII]

I disagree. Wonky steering would make it bump steer like crazy, but steering linkage cannot affect the camber.

It can if the steering and axle beams move in a different arc, which can cause a toe change and by extension a camber change as the tires get pushed in/out when rolling on the pavement. Typically this happens with lift kits that don't lower the steering as much as the beams.

 

[farmer]

It can if the steering and axle beams move in a different arc, which can cause a toe change and by extension a camber change as the tires get pushed in/out when rolling on the pavement. Typically this happens with lift kits that don't lower the steering as much as the beams.

Toe change shouldn't change the camber. It may exaggerate excess camber.

From the Steering Tech article linked above

"Lifting the vehicle moves the axle further away from the steering box on the frame (by the amount the lift is tall). This results in the steering linkage being pulled up at a steep angle from horizontal, which then allows drastic changes in the front wheel toe alignment to occur with suspension movement (a form of bumpsteer-- this is something completely independent from the camber)."


In the case of the truck and lift I had, it would go negative under hard acceleration, and positive under hard braking, due to massive ride height change. Easily verified at night watching the light from my headlights bob up and down on vehicles in front of it. It rode like a caddy but those springs were way softer than they should have been. And yes I verified they were the heavier springs.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Toe change shouldn't change the camber. It may exaggerate excess camber.

Yes it can, I dealt with it earlier this year.

Toe out and the wheels try to go away from each other and suck the front of the truck down to the bumpstops going forward. Toe in isn't as drastic but I suspect it does try to bring the wheels closer together but it has to fight the weight of the truck and on my gravel driveway it couldn't get it done... but it would still suck the front end down when I backed up.

The only Skyjacker thing on my truck is the shocks, rest of the suspension is stock/stock replacement stuff.

 

[farmer]

Yes it can, I dealt with it earlier this year.

Toe out and the wheels try to go away from each other and suck the front of the truck down to the bumpstops going forward. Toe in isn't as drastic but I suspect it does try to bring the wheels closer together but it has to fight the weight of the truck and on my gravel driveway it couldn't get it done... but it would still suck the front end down when I backed up.

The only Skyjacker thing on my truck is the shocks, rest of the suspension is stock/stock replacement stuff.

I thought those issues were symptoms of worn out suspension bushings? I can see it having some effect, but the toe would have to be way off or springs be way soft.

My truck was professionally aligned multiple times while trying to figure it out, I have faith in the toe in being correct. It was a skyjacker 6" that didn't lift as much as stated, with the extreme pitman arm based on the recommendations in the tech articles. I had little to zero bumpsteer, all new steering, and all new suspension bushings, I was very happy with the steering and the tightness of everything. Shop said at the time that they were surprised at how tight a TTB front end could be.

The other truck I have, had stock style TTB (no drop brackets) and worn out junkyard F150 coils at the time, on a home alignment, and because the coils were stiffer, I had 0 issue with that truck.

 

[BlackBII]

Toe change shouldn't change the camber. It may exaggerate excess camber.

Yeah toe change by itself shouldn't change the camber BUT

When the beams and steering linkage move away from the frame(like under hard acceleration), the camber will naturally go positive and if the steering linkages aren't inline with the beams(in most cases they are too high), they will pull the toe in as they are moving in a shorter arc, and then the toe in and positive camber exacerbate eachother. And naturally the inverse would happen if the linkage was lower than the axle pivot points.

The issue you had sounds like something other than soft springs. Some stiffer springs combined with some stiffer shocks would likely mask the problem you were having, though.

 

[4x4junkie]

Toe change shouldn't change the camber. It may exaggerate excess camber.

From the Steering Tech article linked above

"Lifting the vehicle moves the axle further away from the steering box on the frame (by the amount the lift is tall). This results in the steering linkage being pulled up at a steep angle from horizontal, which then allows drastic changes in the front wheel toe alignment to occur with suspension movement (a form of bumpsteer-- this is something completely independent from the camber)."


In the case of the truck and lift I had, it would go negative under hard acceleration, and positive under hard braking, due to massive ride height change. Easily verified at night watching the light from my headlights bob up and down on vehicles in front of it. It rode like a caddy but those springs were way softer than they should have been. And yes I verified they were the heavier springs.

I think you may have misunderstood the part of the article you quoted, it was meant to say that bad toe alignment was a cause of rapid and/or uneven tire wear, not the camber (which most people were blaming the camber for since it was something they could tell just with their eyes, not understanding it was the toe causing their problem).
Toe is a fully separate adjustment from camber (and caster), however because the TTB beams act as levers, any change in moment acting upon them (such as that created by the tires trying to drive themselves toward or away from each other-- bad toe) can affect a change in the height of the suspension, and therefore the camber.

I run springs on mine that are much softer still than the 6" SJ TTB coils (240PPI Jeep XJ springs vs the ~410PPI of the SJ TTB springs), and I've had no issues with the alignment. However I also run a K-link style steering linkage like mentioned in the article.

 

[bobbywalter]

camber....toe.....ttb. strong relationship.

 

[Jim Oaks]

I wish I would have taken photos of the before and after when you were adjusting TRS-2.

 

[bobbywalter]

just need about a 1/2 hr and a flat parking lot.....i forgot about that....we should have did that before heading out from southington...but things be hectic for me these days...too many marbles rolling around in my tin can head...


lil bob put his trs sticker on his new to him ktm 125 to run the trans american trail with.....so he is ready to go . like right now...

so i figure we will be around in mid-late spring...

i figure they are as settled as they will get, just need to tune it in. Will seems flexible so we should be able to work with it...