89cherokee.oef

Hey everyone, I've been on this forum before but for the past 3 years I've been in the military and am now returning home where my 89 xj Laredo is. I have a dana 44 front and Ford 9" rear both trussed and with 4:56 gears. My plan is to run a 6.5 in 4 link set up, and in desperate need of any and all advise.

XJwonders

in front or rear?

andrewmp6

http://www.essentiallyoffroad.com/ul...te-4-link-kit/ or https://www.claytonoffroad.com/

89cherokee.oef

I was planning on doing both front and rear triangulated 4 link but advice on either helps. I have no problem with fabrication and would actually prefer it over buying ****.

89cherokee.oef

I have seen that before, but i was leaning more towards was angling more at 4 link triangulated and that's more set up for top links triangulated and lower straight. Although the pros and cons to both might better help make a decision. What's a good design for a crossmember to mount the lower links to? I think the second link you gave had a good crossmember but I'm not sure it its strong enough.

andrewmp6

The front you want a 3 link,The rear a 4 link with a tri upper is prefect.Some run a double tri in the rear but its kinda overkill to me.Are you trying to build a pro rock crawler or what?

89cherokee.oef

Not a pro crawler but something that could I do most anything I ask of it. My original plan was to do 3 link front and I'm not exactly how I got turned away from the concept. Do you know a good reference for that?? I've seen a few threads on here and pirate that talk about it but most seem farther along in the process than I am. Any insight from someone who's done it would be very helpful.

brendancfarrell

What do you plan on running, coils or coilovers? Also, are you going to be running a full roll cage?

3 links are the most common front setup. My buddy built his own links and crossmember for a 4 link front, but ended up just doing 3. I don't see a major difference between the two.

Rear, do a double tri. It is overkill, but then again, you are puttin coils in the rear of a leaf sprung vehicle. Not to mention you won't require a trackbar with it

89cherokee.oef

I was planning on running coils and shocks for now, purely because of price vs quality and that I could convert it to coilovers later, I think? That's good to hear that double tri in the back is best that's what I was looking into. Did you buy or make your linkage?? If at all possible I'd rather make them but want to do it right with proper materials, I have access to plenty of quality steel. As far as the 3 link front goes I'm fairly ignorant, I've focused a lot of my research on 4 link. If there's not much difference in performance what are the pros to 3 link??

brendancfarrell

You can get into coilovers pretty reasonable nowadays. Just have to do a couple measurements and get your weight on each corner. How do you plan on mounting your shocks? In the trunk or still under the vehicle. Most I've seen do the inside route, personally, I'd angle them just right so they tuck up right in front of the gas tank.

As for my 3 link, I bought it years ago because I didn't know how **** about doing suspensions besides your typical coils leafs etc. Since then, I've been building all my stuff. You'll want a 3 piece crossmember so servicing your Trans and t case is easy and doesn't require removing the links. I have square links, but round is no different. I like the square because it slides on rocks pretty well and it's taken someone good beatings from these California rocks. Lowers are like 2.5" tubing and the upper is 1.5-2" I believe.

And I don't think there are pros to running a 3 link except it's weight reduction bro. Hahahaha but I've been in jeeps with a 4 link and I don't feel a handling or see a difference in articulation. I daily mine with no sways, roughly 5.5" of lift and 35s and it handles just fine. The issue is space when it comes to a 4 link. I didn't want to get into it with mine, so I won't be adding another link.

EDIT: converting from coils to coilovers is easy, but I'd skip the coils and go straight to coilovers only because I don't wanna waste time and money on buying and burning in coil buckets just to cut them off and put shock tabs on. Just seems like a waste to me

89cherokee.oef

Wow thanks so much that really helps a lot. I know this isn't a build thread, but I am planning on taking the fenders completely off and running tube fenders for clearance and hacking the rear.

This is what I plan on doing to the front end.



And this is what I plan on doing to the rear, maybe not this aggressive, but similar. This guy also moved his axle back but I don't want to relocate the gas tank or cut up into my cab. That was one of the main things is I want to keep the shocks all under to answers your question. that helps a lot.



Do u have advise on what coilovers you'd recommend that don't destroy my wallet?? I am all for quality, but I'd rather not over pay just for the name. I was panning on a 6.5 in total lift on bilstein shocks. Possibly the 6100 or 2165, but those are just shocks and I'd have to find coils. Thoughts??

brendancfarrell

Coilovers are tricky to lift with, at least in my opinion. All my builds were about travel, down vs up. My last jeep build was a 05 LJ that I put rockjock 60s front and rear with 16" kings up front with 4" teraflex coils in the rear with some bilstein resi's. Sat pretty even, but that's because the front hoops went right under the hood and obviously a ton of measurements. He was using a 300lb primary and 250lb secondary coil and it sat just a tad higher in the front, but he had 4" up and roughly 15" down with 40x13.50x17s.

If you want to keep the rears under the rig, you can probably get away with a 10" coilover with a custom relocation bracket to clear the gas tank. It would be tricky, but doable and it will not happen over night. You need to be extremely **** about your measurements. Measure everything at least 10 times and then double check that. One wrong measurement and you could throw off everything. I take my time with everything just so that I know it's right the first time and I don't need to worry about it breaking. Especially when it comes to rocks. We tweak our rigs in such weird angles and one measurement or one wrong angle measurement, boom, you need a tow.

But honestly, I'm not one to design stuff without actually being there haha. I have no idea what I'm dealing with, and I'm all hands on. All I can do is give you advice, and you learn from there. You'll learn a ton when you start this project

brendancfarrell

As for coilovers, I'll throw out FOX just because I love their shocks and I love their coilovers. Budget wise, Sway-a-way is still alive and well and I build Nissans with them and swift springs. Very reasonable prices.

89cherokee.oef

I defiantly understand the whole needing to be there thing. And honestly I've learned more from this thread than trying to sift through all the threads and info out there on the Internet. My goal here wasn't to go into this project with 100% certainty, or thinking it was going to be done on a week or month (even if I had the finances to get everything I need at once) it was just to get more of an idea of where to start and what all it could possibly entail. Do you have any pictures of your process with a year close-ish to 89?? Any draw ups or build up pictures would help a lot. Again thanks for all the advise.

brendancfarrell

I do not have any cherokee builds except my own and I've done nothing special with it.

I build rigs around tire size. If I want 35s, I build accordingly. If I want 42s, I build accordingly. Also I build rock crawlers, so I build for travel, mainly down with just enough up to stuff. You should build your rig with the tires you want and what you want to do with it, in mind so you can plan and build your jeep for the worst.

EDIT: If you are new to coilovers, the coilover bible part 1 and 2 are a must read over at pirate4x4. Read it. Learn it. Live it.