Rockhead

Like others have said on here, the first thing that I did was to think and dream about this project for a long time. Even with all that pre-thought (planning) I still made a major change right in the middle of the project. Let's get started. First I looked at other Cherokee shock tower projects to see how others pulled it off. Most of the other projects had a cross member connecting the towers that I didn't like. This cross member, to me, limited the usable area in the back and blocked access. I started with the 1 1/2 inch Blue Torch FabWorks shock tower kit. Here are a couple pic taken at the start of the project. More posts to follow showing the project progression.

93XJLI

looks good so far. just food for though, if you're mounting to the floor they will rip out over time. depending on the type of shock and how the jeep is used, that time may be longer or shorter.

hankthetank

interesting. looks like you are using the seat bracket to tie the top of the hoop into...?

Rockhead

Happy Friday, well, my Friday this week. Going to a Friday night through Sunday night offroad event at the Cove in VA. (:
Ok, time to answer your questions. At first I was going to have the tubes welded in to the frame, I don't weld. Then I decided to have my welder, Freaky Tree Fabrication in Gainsville VA weld feet on the tubes so that I could bolt the towers in place and have room for longer shocks to handle more articulation.
I took the back seat out a long time ago, so the seat latch points did line up perfectly. Those plates that are bolted to the seat latch point in the pic are from Tractor Supply. The feet bolt plates were big enough to cover the holes that I originally drilled for the tubes to stick through the floor. Pic time.

PingPong

Knda like where this is headed. this might be in my future as I am stretching my rig again

I will be at the Cove as well.. If it would be at a later event I would have my enclosed with me.. and my welder... but not this trip.


Looking forward to checking your rig out.

Rockhead

Yup, saw you on the OCC board. I'm caravanning with Bryan and a couple others from Warrenton around 1ish.
So, the towers are bolted through the floor with washers on the bottom side. These feel very solid. The bottom mounts for the shocks are tabs welded to the leaf spring plates. All of my measurements; top tabs to bottom tabs and axle to bump stop told me that I needed 12 inch throw shocks. The shocks that I ordered (Rusty's) measured 11 1/4 inches because of an internal bump stop. Because of that 3/4 inch difference, I had to raise the bottom shock mount about an inch to keep droop where it needed to be. More pics. The shocks now have rubber boots so that state inspection won't be a problem.

lineman76

Nice looking jeep man! Subbed

CobraMarty

Clean install.

Rockhead

Update.
I'm back from a two day off road event (testing period for me). This setup worked great. I was a little concerned with the possibility of the shock body making contact with the sides of the hole that I drilled in the floor that the shock goes through. The hole is three and a half inches and there was no contact. I got into many off camber situations with no problems. I'm very pleased with the outcome of the whole project. The only constructive criticism from senior staff of the club (Off Camber Crawlers) was to eliminate the washers that I used to adjust droop with solid stock spacers, no problem. Here are some post trial trip pics. One of the pics is to show the shift boot that I used to seal around the shock body.

ZombieResponseJeep

This. Is. Awesome.

DieselD

Awesome.

What were the rubber boots that you used from?

PUNISHER

From one Va. guy to another....very nice work and the boot is brilliant!

joemomma22

this is amazing but can someone tell me what the point of long travel shocks would be. the axle only can go so far right ? sorry for the noob question.

Rockhead

Thanks people.
The boot is for a T4 or T5 trans. And it already had one side trimmed to fit.
With my setup I get seven and a half inches of compression and about four inches of droop, that's why I went with a twelve inch shock. The more vertical a shock is the more efficient it will be. You can lay the shock down at an extreme angle and handle that much articulation with a shorter shock, but your shock wont be efficient and (let's lay it on the line here) the towers do look pretty good. Sorry, I couldn't resist. Thanks again for the compliments.

Lowrange2

Your install looks nice.

But, as has been mentioned before, what do you intend to do long term? It seems to be that with enough wear and tear the bolts through the floor will fatigue and cause issues.

Do you intend to extend your roll bar back into a cage and incorporate the shock towers?

Did you make plates to go on the bottom side of the floor to 'sandwich' the thin floor?

Do you plan to do something similar up front or are you content with the travel you have now? I have nowhere near that amount up up travel in the rear. I have maybe 3-4"s of up in the rear with 5 inches of lift and 35's.