I've got a black 02 XE 4cyl....put new 30in Bridgestone AT Duellers and cranked the T-Bars on the front end to level the ride out....but my question is this...if i invest in a) Calmini or b) Rancho shocks would it ride better?....i wheel her about 20% of the time and the stock shocks seem harsh.....

any suggestions?

Any time you crank the torsion bars you are limiting your bump travel. That is going to be a source of your "harsh" ride up front since you are going to be hitting the bump stops quicker.

Speaking only of the Billstein shocks that I have experience with:

Changing shocks will firm up your ride and prevent your front end from bobbing up and down like a pogo stick as the OE ride provides. A stiffer shock will also take more time to run through the full extent of available suspension travel while absorbing more impact.

yeah - the stock shocks suck...upgrade away.

Do the "bumpstomps" limit travel vertically or horizontally?

Noobie001

The "bump stops" limit travel vertically.
The "steering stops" limit turning horizontally.
With larger then standard (33"'ish) tires they can hit the frame when you turn the wheel as far , as it goes, so you adjust the stops to keep that from happening. The bump stops keep the tires from folding under the truck and shoving up through the hood when you jump it.
If you cranked the front end to high, you may be almost / completely on the upper bumpstops. look on the upper a-arms. there is a metal pad that is close to / touching a small ~1" rubber cone pointed up. that is the upper bumpstop, it is the one preventing the tires from folding under the truck. If you are to close to it (due to cranking) the little ~1-2 inch movements of the tires as you drive down the road may be causing you to hit it. the tire stops moving vertically, and causes a jolt to the truck. you should be able to at least shove a finger between the stop & its pad.

Happen to have an image of this? I kinda know the general area your speaking of, but to be honest am not able to discern exactly what your referring to.

Noobie001

raining here.. but from the front of the truck, follow the lower edge of the upper a-arm. A few inches from the tire end there will be a small rubber cone, (think the pyramids) stickin up below the a-arm. That is the bumpstop. As the tire moves down, the upper a-arm hits the rubber piece. If they are two close together at ride height, they will be hitting as you drive down the road, not fun.

You can see the bumpstop and clearance above....if someone has photoshop, and wants to put an arrow pointing at it, it might help if not obvious.



My UCA is the top most silvery colored arm, the stock arm looks like this:



The stock arm curves up at the end, the SLR curves down at the end (Tire end).

The top circle is the upper bumpstop, the lower one is the lower bumpstop. the lower one is hiding behind the sway bar.

Thanks! So does the bumpstop "bump" into one of of the control arms depending on direction? If not, what do they "bump".

Noobie001

Top Bumpstop - Upper Red Circle -

Look at the pic above...look at the top red circled area in the pic...in the lower half of the top red circle there is a black rubber thing sticking up that looks like a half a black rubber ball...thats a bumpstop.

In the same red circle there's a silvery metal thing with a small metal bump pointing down, right above the black rubber bumpstop.

The black rubber bumpstop is fixed in place, and the silvery metal thing (The Upper Control Arm, or UCA) moves up and down as the tire moves up and down.

When the UCA's little metal thing comes down, it will hit the little rubber thing (The bumpstop), which stops it.

So - As the UCA is traveling down, it is travelling down towards the bumpstop...

Lower Bumpstop - Lower Red Circle (Obscured view)-

Similar to the upper bumpstop, but, the Lower Control Arm (LCA) is moving up to hit it, instead of down like the UCA's stop.



So - One (LCA) hits on the way up, one (UCA) hits on the way down.

Hope that helps!

Not to highjack but....

TJ. Is there any downsidee to your adding a lower profile bumpstop with the 4wd? I know that when I had the SLR 1-4 setup arms we added the lowpro bumps and it did increase your droop and there no negative issues.

Adding a lower profile bumpstop will increase driveline angles more then the lift by itself, and cause a harder jolt when you top out the suspension, as in right after a speed bump.

Socal, I've had low profile bumpstops on mine, for a long time, now, and haven't seen any adverse effects. Take in mind, though, I've always been cautious when I'm at full droop and full steer, as I like to protect the front CV shafts. I have yet to pop a CV, so I'd say as long as you're careful w/ your driving (this has NOTHING to do w/ the extremity of driving...), it should be fine w/ a 4x4.

But to be honest, the reason I put in the low profiles was, during a regular check of things up front, I found that both factory droop stops were gone. Not worn, not anything...gone! So I had to replace them, and JD (louisvilleoffroad.com) had some I threw in. So now I have some that are bolted in, not just plugged in, and haven't had any problems w/ them pulling another dissappearing act.

Porche is right on the money -

If you are cautious when drooped and at full lock-ish conditions, the CV's get flaky.

I put in the diff drop for that reason.

More droop is good, but, you do have to keep the frail CV's in mind when hitting the go go juice under those conditions.

I was half submerged the other weekend, with my pass side tire completely under water as I was sliding that way along a big 'ol underwater rut, and I started sawing the wheel for traction, felt the rut edge falling away....and backed off knowing otherwise the tire was going down bye bye into unknown further submerged terrain....and I'd be at full droop with the wheel locked side to side trying to power out.

Luckily - the winch works.

shocks...pegs.... luckeeeeeeeee

Did someone kick in close1's door and take him to have his stomache pumped already, or was it too late?