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Installation date: 9/14/03

I know what some of you are thinking, “bumpstops? why would I want extended bumpstops? I don’t need bumpstops…” I know because I used to think that same way. Well, extended bumpstops aren’t just for folks who want to run big tires but don’t want to do the trimming required to properly clear them — they are an important part of a well-tuned suspension system. If you aren’t running proper bumpstops, something is stopping your uptravel, whether it’s a tire hitting the body, a shock bottoming out, or something else hitting something, and it’s probably something you don’t really want happening very often. Bumpstops keep springs from being over compressed and they keep shocks from bottoming out. And yes, they can also help keep your tires off your body and/or fenders.

On my first test run with RE’s 5.5″ Extreme Duty lift installed on my XJ, I discovered that the super-flexy rear leaf springs would compress so much they’d invert before my bumpstops hit. Inverting most lift springs will fatigue them and cause them to sag more and sag sooner, so I knew I had extend my rear bumpstops to keep that from happening. That’s where DPG OffRoad’s new adjustable bumpstop plates come in.

The design is pretty simple, it’s just a new spring plate that extends out under the bumpstop, and you can stack spacers on top of the plate to fine tune how much uptravel you have. The spring plate is made of 5/16″ thick steel that has been zinc-plated, and the spacers are 1/2″ steel, also zinc-plated. The installation is equally as simple — just unbolt your stock spring plates and put the new ones in their place. The spacer plates are held on by stainless steel button head bolts and nylock nuts. When I installed the kit, I also took the opportunity to install a set of Daystar’s new 1″ extended poly rear XJ bumpstops, in red of course.

As you can see in the pic above left, I opted to go with two spacer plates on each side. Combined with the extended poly stops from Daystar, the setup is just about perfect for what I’m wanting. The tire still stuffs pretty far into the fender (remember those are 35’s), but the leaf spring doesn’t invert anymore and there’s a bit of uptravel left in the shock so I can swap in some slightly longer shocks to try and pick up some more droop.

without the bumpstop plates

with the bumpstop plates

I really lucked out with these two photos. The one on the left above is from the the test run with the new suspension and tires running stock bumpstops; the one on the right was taken after installing the bumpstop plates from DPG and the Daystar extended bumpstops. The loss in uptravel wasn’t huge, but it’s just enough to keep the leafs from inverting, which is what I was after in the first place.

For more information contact:

DPG OffRoad
Rosehill, KS
(316)776-9900
info@dpgoffroad.com
http://www.dpgoffroad.com/