Eibach Coilovers (Lowest Setting) & JBA UCA's

[RoLyMa27]

Back before Christmas I noticed the Bronco seemed to be riding a lot rougher, especially noticeable in the rear. Considering the debacle with the reservoir falling off the rear shocks, I figured it was time to just go ahead and get new shocks. Prior to this I had narrowed down my choices to Eibach and Bilstein 6112's as they are both affordable and have great reviews. When Eibach discounted the 2.0 by over $300 during black Friday I jumped. My worry with new coilovers is I didn't want to lift the thing and there are no coilovers available that are direct replacement that don't lift it a little. I was %100 pleased with the stock stance/ride height. My son came down to help me install everything. It took us all afternoon to install one. He had to leave so I decided to get someone else to install everything else. Here are the before and after pics. I used a laser level to mark the before and after. The only thing that is not stock are the wheels. Original tires with 30K miles. Tire Pressure - 36lbs The Bronco is empty. All four coilovers are set to their lowest setting.
Before

After

Black line before - Laser after

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[V1Rotate]

I hope your JBA’s are better than the ones we installed on my wife’s grand Cherokee when we lifted that. They squeak like a stuck pig every 2500 miles without fail.. I hardly even put my grease gun away

 

[WheresMyBronco]

How's the ride comfort before and after? If I ever change my suspension it'd be for something more comfortable as well, so just curious how your experience is

 

[RoLyMa27]

How's the ride comfort before and after? If I ever change my suspension it'd be for something more comfortable as well, so just curious how your experience is

Definite improvement. Smoother, not as firm as stock. Slight drop in responsiveness. If stock steering response is a100 Eibach is a 95.

 

[turbo_jimbo]

Are you saying you dropped the ride height by an inch and a halfish?

 

[RoLyMa27]

Are you saying you dropped the ride height by an inch and a halfish?

No, raised about 1 1/4.

 

[turbo_jimbo]

Gotcha. Just misread that I guess.

 

[Darin]

Like you, I used the warranty shock recall as a reason to upgrade to Eibach 2.0 coilovers. I got a set with HD springs from Panda Motorworks (thanks @Caleb@PandaMotorworks ). And like you, I didn't want to lift my Bronco any more than necessary. So I set the rear shocks all the way down and ended up with about a 1.25" lift in the back. I then ran the fronts up so there was about 5/8" of threads showing, giving the Bronco a slight rake (when I load it with gear, I wanted it to be almost level) and an overall lift of about 1.25".

@WheresMyBronco: I think the ride (on road) is much nicer than stock. As @RoLyMa27 says, not as firm and perhaps a bit less responsive, but my driving style doesn't notice it at all. I am looking forward to using them off road (trails and dirt roads) next month. I don't do any rock crawling or very hard trails — more exploring and camping — so I suspect I'm going to be really happy.

Shoutout to Bill, who owns Hardline 4x4, a local guy who did the install (along with new tie rods and trackbar). Great work. Fair price. Quick turn around. Overall nice guy. If you are in the western Philly suburbs and looking for a shop, I really recommend Bill’s (he typically does a lot of Jeep and 4Runner work, but wants to do more Bronco work). Check him out: https://www.hardlinefab.com/

Here are a couple after pics (I don't have any before pics):

 

[TLO]

Like you, I used the warranty shock recall as a reason to upgrade to Eibach 2.0 coilovers. I got a set with HD springs from Panda Motorworks (thanks @Caleb@PandaMotorworks ). And like you, I didn't want to lift my Bronco any more than necessary. So I set the rear shocks all the way down and ended up with about a 1.25" lift in the back. I then ran the fronts up so they there was about 5/8" of threads showing, giving the Bronco a slight rake (when I load it with gear, I wanted it to be almost level) and an overall lift of about 1.25".

@WheresMyBronco: I think the ride (on road) is much nicer than stock. As @RoLyMa27 says, not as firm and perhaps a bit less responsive, but my driving style doesn't notice it at all. I am looking forward to using them off road (trails and dirt roads) next month. I don't do any rock crawling or very hard trails — more overlanding and camping — so I suspect I'm going to be really happy.

Shoutout to Bill, who owns Hardline 4x4, a local guy who did the install (along with new tie rods and trackbar). Great work. Fair price. Quick turn around. Overall nice guy. If you are in the western Philly suburbs and looking for a shop, I really recommend Bill’s (he typically does a lot of Jeep and 4Runner work, but wants to do more Bronco work). Check him out: https://www.hardlinefab.com/

Here are a couple after pics (I don't have any before pics):

So you went with the HD springs and the ride is STILL more plush than the stock Squatch Bilsteins?
Maybe you can can help me out...
I have a 2 door Heritage that I overland with. Couple hundred pounds on the roof, maybe a couple hundred more in the back...
Stock suspension rides level when loaded, with some squat... But the front (with winch) was too easy to bottom out on slow, deep pockets...
I would love to have maybe an inch or so lift AFTER loaded up and less bottoming....
Should I opt for the HD springs? Or wind down the normal springs to get the ride height I want....?

 

[RoLyMa27]

So you went with the HD springs and the ride is STILL more plush than the stock Squatch Bilsteins?
Maybe you can can help me out...
I have a 2 door Heritage that I overland with. Couple hundred pounds on the roof, maybe a couple hundred more in the back...
Stock suspension rides level when loaded, with some squat... But the front (with winch) was too easy to bottom out on slow, deep pockets...
I would love to have maybe an inch or so lift AFTER loaded up and less bottoming....
Should I opt for the HD springs? Or wind down the normal springs to get the ride height I want....?

I have the regular springs if that helps.

 

[TLO]

I have the regular springs if that helps.

So you wound down the collars all the way, front and back, and your ride height came up 1.25"...? Interesting...
See, this makes me wonder if the HD springs would be too much.
If I added 3/4" on the collars, for example, I wonder if I'd get what I want for my needs... Same lift as you unloaded and hopefully less bottoming

 

[RoLyMa27]

So you wound down the collars all the way, front and back, and your ride height came up 1.25"...? Interesting...
See, this makes me wonder if the HD springs would be too much.
If I added 3/4" on the collars, for example, I wonder if I'd get what I want for my needs... Same lift as you unloaded and hopefully less bottoming

If I am not mistaken, the HD spring ride heights are with a 500lb load.

 

[TLO]

If I am not mistaken, the HD spring ride heights are with a 500lb load.

Yeah, you're right... But it just muddies it more for me lol
I would of thought the HD springs would be noticeable more rigid than stock, maybe even borderline harsh. But as you can see in this thread, 'better ride' than stock
For me in Canada, there is no way I'm ordering thru Panda in the US because of cost and duty (and politics!) but I also heard that Eibach themselves will soon start offering the Pro Truck with HD springs.
Then again... I may not pull the trigger until my Bilsteins are swapped out for recall (so I can re-sell them)

 

[Darin]

So you went with the HD springs and the ride is STILL more plush than the stock Squatch Bilsteins?
Maybe you can can help me out...
I have a 2 door Heritage that I overland with. Couple hundred pounds on the roof, maybe a couple hundred more in the back...
Stock suspension rides level when loaded, with some squat... But the front (with winch) was too easy to bottom out on slow, deep pockets...
I would love to have maybe an inch or so lift AFTER loaded up and less bottoming....
Should I opt for the HD springs? Or wind down the normal springs to get the ride height I want....?

Yes, with HD springs it is more plush than stock Squatch Bilsteins — less rigid or jarring, is how I would describe it. I feel small bumps and holes less, it seems to me (or maybe I just tell myself that to justify the cost).

Yes, with the rear collars run all the way down (lowest lift possible), I got about 1.25". I then adjusted the collar on the fronts to get the same lift there. The math suggested run the collar up 5/8" (Eibach confirmed that number) to get about 1.25" in the front too. So now, when you look at the shocks, on the rears you see no threads; on the fronts you see about 5/8". The front end is a tad lower than the rear, which should be fine when I stuff all my junk in the back.

I opted for HD springs because I wanted to have the option to add a winch later and because I load the backend with a lot of gear. I didn't want to have to compress the spring and (possibly) get more lift, just to have it where I wanted it loaded. That was the reasoning I used, but I'm no suspension genius, so I might be entirely wrong.

It seems to me that if you ran the collar down a bit (compressing the spring) you could avoid the bottoming out, but I wonder what it would do to the ride height. Again, I'm not suspension guru so that's beyond my knowledge.

All I can say is: right now I like that without lifting it much I got a nicer on road (empty) ride, and I hope a nicer off road (loaded) ride.

 

[cyberfalco]

I've been working King of the Hammers for 12 years now. Eibach is a sponsor of the event. This year I was offered some sponsor money so I got a set of the HD sprung ones. I can't wait to get them on.

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