Justin187

So, i'm newish to the off-road scene, i understand the basics and maybe a little more but recently i read up on this thread that was talking about keeping a lcog. it talked about fitting 35s on like 3 inch lifts with still tons of flex, which i just couldn't understand. upon a little research someone said something about day star extended bump stops can allow smaller lifts to clear larger tires, i understand you haft to trim and such but can someone explain to me how this is possible? Thank you for your help.

toasterknight

When you run a larger tire on a vehicle you typically run in to interference with the fender and/or suspension components. There are many ways to go about fixing these problems and the options you choose effect what the final product will look like and be capable of.

Let's start with fender interference. If the tire is trying to eat the fender you have 3 options to get it to stop.

1) you can run extended bump stops which limit up travel. This limits the flexibility of the suspension system though these limits can be overcome in other ways.

2) you can trim fenders. This has the same net effect as extending the bumpstops by making it so the tire reaches the end of its up travel before it hits the fender. It also has the added benefit of not limiting suspension flex. There are extreme options in this category that will increase tire clearance massively.

3) you can increase the suspension height. This increase how much clearance you have a ride height but has to be combined with extended bump stops to prevent the tire making lunch out of the fender. Often this leaves you with roughly the same amount of flexibility in the suspension as before just the lower limit is farther down and the upper limit is not as high. There are also extreme cases here that allow a doubling or more of suspension down travel while only partially limiting up travel.

The other problem I mentioned, suspension interference often comes from running a tire that is wider than factory. It is fairly easy to solve this problem by running a wheel that has less backspacing which pushes the center of the tire farther away from the center of the vehicle and at the same time away from the suspension components. The down side is that you often end up with the tire eating fender when its pushed out far enough because the fender typically come down a bit right at the outside edge.

Examples: on an xj you have multiple ways to get a larger tire I will use a 35 for my examples as that's about as big as the factory drive train will take without completely swapping axles.

1) you can do a massive lift in the 8" range and do no trimming but have massively long bump stops.

2) you can do a slightly smaller lift say around 6" trim fenders have a a moderately long bump stop and have a fairly average looking xj on 35s

3) this is my personal preference and the plan for mine. Something around a 4.5" long arm lift with a dual rate spring, long bumpstops and cut deep into the fenders. I will be using a shock that is actually too long for the height however it will be saved by the abnormally long bump stops. This will allow the suspension to droop beyond what most would consider normal without hitting the end of the shock or unseating a spring. With this setup I will hopefully end up with the flex of a 6" lift while rising at 4.5 inches. I have included a picture of a similar setup because it is awesome.
Credit for the photo must go to one of the owners of jcr as that is one of his Cherokees.

Edit: the build specs for the jcr jeep.
JCR Crusader front bumper.
JCR Crusader rear bumper.
JCR Adventure roof rack.
JCR Classic sliders.
3" Zone lift with full rear packs.
Notch Customs fender flares.
35" BFG KM2.
17 x 8" Ultra Xtreme X102 wheels.
TruckLite LED headlights.
Superbright 50" LED bar.
China clear corners.
Superbright LED bulbs.
Motive 4.56 gears.

andrewmp6

read this https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f67/lo...24-12-a-32980/

Teephphah

Lol! I was about to ask where the "like" or "upvote" button was for this post.

And THEN I saw the pic.


WOOOOOOOOO!!!! GO NOTCH CUSTOM FLARES BROTHER!! WOOOOOOO!!!!

XJlimitedx99

Bump stops can help increase flex because when you're at full compression on one side the bump stop acts as a fulcrum for the axle and will actually push the other side down.

Down-travel is more useful than up-travel in most situations. This is why you see people running long arms on 4" lifts with huge shocks. You might only have like 4" of up travel but 8" of down travel. It keeps everything level and stable.

toasterknight

I completely agree my plan is to have massively long shocks with bump stops.

toasterknight

Too bad they are close to 800 shipped to you.

Justin187

Thanks, it really helped me understand and it was massive help!

toasterknight

Which post? I need validation for my massive post.

FEED MY INSECURITIES!!! /sarcasm

Justin187

lol, yours was the most informative! thanks for helping me understand.

toasterknight

Your welcome.

andrewmp6

Shock length is the key to flex,To short or to long both can be just as bad.What most do is install their lift with out any shocks and cycle the suspension to see how much travel it has.Then order shocks what that much travel.The 2nd way on this video

93_xjcherokee

When I ordered my shocks I cycled my suspension all the way up and all the way down. It came out to me needing shocks for a 4.5 inch lift. I only have 4 inches of lift but my shocks compressed and extended is perfect suspension travel for my jeep.

Fred/N0AZZ

What your considering you will need more lift to do it you need a long arm setup and you will need about 4 1/2" of lift with a lot of fender trimming. I have just increased my lift from 3 to 4/1/2"'s to be able to go to a long arm (still short arm now at 4 1/2"). This is the only way to maximize the flex on a small lift without losing clearance by dropping the CA box's.


I am running 33's and 35's on two different sets of rims the 35's are on beadlocks and I bought them used and re-grooved them for off road only use. The 33's worked fine with the 3" lift it rubbed a little but would have never have cleared the 35's the extra 1 1/2" did it. I did not have to do any more trimming for the 35's after the lift.

toasterknight

You can do long arms at a lower height so long as you limit the up travel to prevent interference.