I removed the rear bump stops on my XJ because they were shot and I'm looking at putting larger ones in. I had one bolt on each shear. In the past, drilling bolts out has always resulted in me having to drill larger holes and tap for a different bolt. I would prefer to avoid that.

I was wondering if there is a bump stop setup that mounts to the axle instead of the frame. I was thinking I could fab up something that mounts to the plate above the leaf springs if I got longer u-bolts, but thought that may be a bit sketchy and would probably end up bending unless it was really beefy. If you have seen anyone do something like this or know of something similar being sold let me know

 

http://www.dirtboundoffroad.com/rear...erokee-xj.html

 

Thanks. That's exactly the design I was thinking, and 3/8" is definitely beefy. Now i just have to decide if it's worth the 65 bucks to not have to drill out and tap those bolts.

Any experience with this setup? Is it any better than the frame mount?

 

I have yet to use it but i would its thick enough and looks like it uses a gm truck rear bump stop.

 

Dirtbound stops, I love them.




Couple negatives about them:
-they're not curved up like oem ones, whatever.
-the bump stop is close to the u-bolt, so I'm missing a washer on one.


I'm at 6" of lift and have about 4-5" of up travel before the stop hits the frame. But the stop will also compress.

 

The other option is these http://dpgoffroad.com/products/dpg-a...top-plates-xj/ but they use the factory spot bump stops.

 

The upside down bumpstop may be fine for slow crawling, but a solid hit or dropping off ledges can cause the frame-rail to crush or get dented.
I use 4.5" tall progressive bumps with extra large base to spread out the load and make it 2" taller. Axle has a contact plate that is adjustable in height if needed. Set up to match travel in shocks.

 

I use the dirtbound setup with the Energy Suspension stops he sells. Real nice setup, stops me from shoving the tires into the body (~6inches of lift, bushwacker flats, so a bit of trimming, 32 inch tires)

 

Wow, thanks for all the info guys. It sounds like these plates are a pretty decent way to go for me. I do mostly slow crawling on fairly light stuff right now, so i wouldn't be to concerned about major drops that would crush the frame.

Looking at the energy suspension stops that dirtbound has it looks like they're made for 5-6" of lift, and I only have 3" plus the cut and fold fender. Is it only those stops that can be used with these plates or are they pretty much universal? Or can I use the 4.5" stops with 3" of lift?

 

Will need to measure for your application. Leaf springs come in different thicknesses which will affect the height of stops.
Measure the remaining uptravel of shocks. Then measure from top of leaf springs to frame-rail. The bumpstops should stop travel just before the shocks are fully compressed.
There are two types of stops, hard rubber and progressive. The rubber ones are easier to set up because they do not compress.
Progressive bumps will compress as seen in previous picture I posted. This compression needs to be factored in when setting them up.
In the referenced picture, the shocks are fully compressed at 15". I set up the stops to almost be fully compressed at 16" of shock length.

 

So I know it has been a few months, but I had to shift money priorities around there for a while. I finally ordered the plates from Dirtbound and got 2.5" stops to go with them. I'm installing them this weekend, but wanted to point out a few things i noticed when I took the plates out of the package. This may just be because I'm used to the aerospace industry quality when it comes to manufacturing parts, but I was expecting a little more.




The through hole for the bumpstop mounting stud isn't quite round. The studs won't fit all the way through:



I also noticed that the entire plate seemed to be tweaked just a bit. None of the holes were straight and the edges aren't 90 degrees:













Now, it seems like a solid part and with a couple minutes of drilling, I shouldn't have a problem installing it. I don't plan on making a big deal out of this or returning anything, but I wanted to point out to anyone looking to buy these that there may be some pre-installation work you need to do. They are exactly what I needed and I'll comment again later once I install them and use them.

 

I installed mine about a year and a half ago, and have no complaints.

 

The sides are probably not straight because the focus depth on their cutter was off for the batch. Shouldn't have an effect on performance though.