Increased clunks & thumps on Auto ZG after 2" OME l

[PC_96_GCL_ZJ]

I always thought my auto box was a bit thumpy in gear down particularly but the experts who have driven my car say it is all good. Since I fitted the OME 2" lift I must say that I have noticed a significant increase in the thump feeling, again more so on downshifts and only after now putting on about 1000klm since the lift. Is this to be expected or should I be looking for a problem? It does seem to have some slack in the drivetrain in all gear changes, it is very noticeable and annoying so I feel I must rectify it. I have also noted that something is loose down there too as when I go over a bump in the road I can hear some sort of sound like a steel plate rattling.

The work on the suspension was done by Suburban 4WD about 1500 klm ago and used std OME softer springs with OME hard shocks and 1" spacers all around. At about the same time they fitted a Jeep original transfer case skid plate.

There appears to be no driveline vibration that can occur with lifting, my thoughts are they I have strained something in the suspension area, I really have a poor understanding of suspension geometry on these cars, I don't have a clue what a panhard rod and the other things under there do!

I think I will take a run up there in the morning and have them look at it.

[Johno]

Yes take it back soon, before you clock up to many km's it could be something they have or haven't done. If you don't understand it let th experts deal with it.

[80LIX]

Hey PC,

Howya finding the lift and all your other mods, Im hoping to get a 4" soon so I hope there something simple wrong with your beast.

[PC_96_GCL_ZJ]

As I am mainly an on road user I chose this lift for a bit of comfort over the stock suspension, recent back surgery requires a comfortable ride. As it turns out we fitted the OME 1" lift with 1" spacers, we used a soft spring and a firm shock combo. The result is that the car feels a little jarring on bad road surfaces but is well absorbed by the springs. The cornering is quite ok, only a little more sway than stock courtesy of the firmer shocks.

Changed the spark plugs today, it had NGK compatibles which looked ok but were a few mm shorter than stock, the result appears to be improved/smoother idle and quicker acceleration at around 80 kmh+.

[PC_96_GCL_ZJ]

Update on my post.

I took the car to Suburban 4WD, they said all good but I should have insisted we go for a run because there is still some slack in the rear drivetrain/suspension. I might take it to Wagon Wheels and see what they think. They had the rear diff open last month for inspection and said all was good.

The other noise I was getting was diagnosed as a broken cat (brand new recently fitted Carsound 2 1/4" SS high flow cat). At my local Midas, we removed it today (it was flanged) and found that the cat was ok but the noise was coming from weld dags! All good now. Incidentally, the cat distributor knew all of the probs I was having with the car and told me that I risked breaking the cat when driving with stuffed O2 sensors and a stuffed fuel pump but still offered a warranty replacement! Top people at Carsound/Magnaflow.

I am going to Midas Concord tommorow morning to have a straight thru pipe section made from the muffler back routed under the diff, this will be flanged and only used for road and will be removed for off road use and the OEM pipe fitted back on.

[OzJeeper]

Silly question here (but you never know) have you an extended yoke in the rear of the tranny case?
Your transmission should have been silky smooth since day one. If you had a thumpy change B4 the lift then it will be pronounced with the lift.

I would be looking at the tranny in the short term here.

[80LIX]

Ill let ya know how my 3.5" lift goes, its booked in for next week along with ARB Lockers & 4.5s.