It's also a street driven vehicle. So I want to make sure it reacts as well (if not better) than a factory XJ.


And that requires some engineering & a comprehensive thought process. I'm giving people a "play-by-play" of how it gets done. It normally doesn't stretch out this much.


Besides ... some of us do enjoy the mechanical aspect as much as the driving aspect. My goal is to be able to turn the keys over to a complete stranger and know they'll feel comfortable driving the Jeep. And then get on the trail and keep up with the TJs with 35s or 36s and still drive home in one piece (providing I don't flop).



Joe

 

I see this build as a way of teaching the "Science" behind a well thought out build.

It's very educational and has pointed me personal in a direction for my future build plans.

 

Sounds good...I'll read into the build more...Didn't mean to citicize...just curious...

 

I've read worse ..... don't sweat it.




Joe

 

Ok so I just got done reading the posts...I consider myself on a scale from 1-10 mechanics wise to be around a 5. I think you should take my 97 when you get done with your 97 and try your luck on it! Sheetmetal is a B to weld man so don't sweat it. Otherwise your welds look good and stout. I love your setup...keep the posts coming TECH SNOB!

 

Been a few days since I updated. My head has been too far up my azz to see things clearly.



Now that everyone has read and re-read all that good information ... it's time to proceed forward.



I met up with Jeremy of RockKrawler at the PA Jeep show and discussed my thoughts on a rear coil setup. At that time, they had just introduced their coil/coilover kits for the Cherokees and I wanted to see how the kit looked. Although the design is excellent, it would not suit my needs on the main premise that the doubler was going to cause interference (crossmember mounts, additional exhaust issues, etc).


I asked Jeremy about purchasing the coil mounts separately and explained to him why I was doing so. He agreed to let me give it a whirl and I had a set on my way to the shop.



Here is what they looked like when they arrived (other than the fact that I removed the shock tabs).








Cleaned up the area and marked the area where the mounts would be welded. Then trial fit them in place. These mounts have been moved back an additional 3/4 of an inch (from RK's original mounting spot). I knew I was going to stretch the wheelbase and had the room to do so.








The mounts are designed to be perimeter welded. I chose to take it one step further with additional plug welds.








Like all my other metal-to-sheetmetal welding, I used the Cold Galvinizing compound where there was contact of parts along the frame rail. I also started to grind down the weld spots and have not ground the final 2 welds.








Could I have made my own? Sure. But I saved a bunch of time & aggravation, which is worth the the investement. I've already done enough custom stuff.

 

Using the handy dandy calculator .... the angles of the control arms were already set for me. So with a bit of cutting work (probably quite a bit --- but I'm trying to forget the time I spent on them) I had UCA tabs ready to go. Like my front suspension, I incorporated multiple mounting holes to allow me to fine tune the suspension to my liking.







Then made the coil mounts.







The LCA were a bit more complex to make because of the greater angles (compared to the front) and the fact that the joint/bushing was starting to rotate making the bolt sit on an angle. Once I was able to make 2 consistent pairs I was ready to go.








Then I cut, heated, and bent a 1/4 inch plate to act as a skid and tie both tabs together. Ran the skid underneath and then upwards a bit so that it would not act as a shovel. Like all my other LCA tabs .... the joint or bushing has about 1/4 inch of clearance to allow for movement without sticking below any mounts.

 

As with the front suspension .. arms need to be made again. Lower construction is identical (other than length). The uppers are a bit different this time around. Since this rear suspension has 2 uppers, I felt comfortable going with a slightly smaller joint in order to utilize as much room as I could. The same tubing was used (1.5 x .250 DOM) as the front. For the rear links, I decided to use the Rubicon Express Small SuperFlex joint.


RE's normal "small" joint is designed for use with a 10 mm bolt (same as factory). However, they offer the same joint with a 1/2 inch bolt option. You lose a very minor bit of travel .... but not enough to notice in the grand scheme of things. I purchased the ball assemblies from Rubicon and then called Ballistic for mounting studs and threaded bungs (so I could adjust them). And that is what we have here:













I guess EndlessMtnFab is AT&T country.













Enough angles to make you cross-eyed.







And another quick preliminary shot of the rear crossmember. The upper mounts are tacked in and one set of the lower mounts are tacked in as well.

 

Looking good....

 

Just briefly looked thru this thread and all i can say is amazing work I will be watching this closer now. Keep us updated

 

Nice work, it's getting sexy!!

 

real nice work.

You and AT&T should do a commercial! haha

 

Beautiful welds like always man!

 

This thread boggles my mind...and makes me want to learn to do this...I wonder if Fantic is watching in ninja stealth mode...

 

Of course he is!!