I have an '81 BJ42 with the 3B 3.4L diesel engine and from the day I bought it some years ago I found the ride to be bumpy and tiring, especially I if use it outside the city for trips longer than 30 min. I'm not sure if the shackles are ones the car came with, but I think they are in the original position. I removed the shortest leaf from the springs, which does not have much effect on the ride quality and I changed two shock absorbers with new Toyota shocks. Other than that I did not do any other modifications and I do not carry anything in the car other than a passenger and most of the time I use the car without the hardtop (which is a bit heavy). I plan on changing the tires with new AT tires, something like 235/85 R16 (31.7 inch tire height / 9.35 tread width), maybe they will be softer than my old tires.
What do you think I can do about the suspension to make it less harsh? I don't want to weld different mounting points for the shackles on the chassis, I don't want to do a coil spring conversion and I am not interested in more lift as I don't use this car off road. Should I get other shackles or another suspension, like an Old Man Emu soft suspension? I was reading on the forum that the original suspension is the one to keep. I could change the shocks to Bilsteins, but I believe that alone would not be a dramatic improvement. Also, don't you think the leaf springs are a bit flat considering the car is as light as possible at the moment (no passengers, no hardtop)?
Thanks!
What do you think I can do about the suspension to make it less harsh? I don't want to weld different mounting points for the shackles on the chassis, I don't want to do a coil spring conversion and I am not interested in more lift as I don't use this car off road. Should I get other shackles or another suspension, like an Old Man Emu soft suspension? I was reading on the forum that the original suspension is the one to keep. I could change the shocks to Bilsteins, but I believe that alone would not be a dramatic improvement. Also, don't you think the leaf springs are a bit flat considering the car is as light as possible at the moment (no passengers, no hardtop)?
Thanks!