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What size coilovers in the front without....

RockRod

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Janesville Ca
Going through the hood... Also, how long without going into the engine compartment, except maybe the upper mount!!!!
Got pics????
And the rear coilover length without going inside (like Rockkrawlers rear)?
 
RockRod said:
Going through the hood... Also, how long without going into the engine compartment, except maybe the upper mount!!!!
Got pics????
And the rear coilover length without going inside (like Rockkrawlers rear)?


I'm going to save my comments for now and just tell you about my limited experience. We got SeanP's rig done w/ front coilovers now. They're 14" Sway-a-ways (I think). They go inside the engine compartment, but we could have fit 16" ones pretty easy without going through the hood. Either way, this is not just mild fab work.
Billy
 
yep, I fit 14x2 SAW no problems. I could have gone 16s easily. 250/300# springs.

It's quite a bit of fab work to do and you have to perform surgery on a critical part of the jeep. Once you cut there is no going back.

I flexed up the heep last night to fully extend the shock prior to charging with nitrogen. Even with the 14's I have a crapload of droop. So much so that I maxed my 48" highlift and had to use my 6" jack stand extender base thingy underneath it when jacking under the rocker. I set my shocks at about 5" up 9" down.

I swear I will do a write up and post pics at some point.

SeanP
 
you don't just "do a write up" for coilovers. build your long arms, make the coilovers fit wherever you can. he cut out the stock coil towers and made a hoop that goes over the engine with the coilovers mounted to that. this is all on a HP D60.
 
SeanP said:
yep, I fit 14x2 SAW no problems. I could have gone 16s easily. 250/300# springs.

It's quite a bit of fab work to do and you have to perform surgery on a critical part of the jeep. Once you cut there is no going back.

I flexed up the heep last night to fully extend the shock prior to charging with nitrogen. Even with the 14's I have a crapload of droop. So much so that I maxed my 48" highlift and had to use my 6" jack stand extender base thingy underneath it when jacking under the rocker. I set my shocks at about 5" up 9" down.

I swear I will do a write up and post pics at some point.

SeanP

Race you back to camp............




:D :D
 
You're gonna have to deal with the engine compartment. To brace the hoops you really need a crossbar to tie them together and I had to relocate the coil and the relay cluster, airbox is gone, as is the washer bottle. When you remove the coil pocket you have no mounting for any of that junk.

But this is what you get: link

I've got 6" uptravel & 8" down.

-jb
 
When using coil-overs with the D60, could you move the pumpkin to the drivers side an inch or so to eliminate some of the typical D60 fitment problems? That way you could get it away from the exhaust, oil pan. The coil-over requires much less room (on the axle) than a stock-type coil mount. This make sense?
 
Richard, no desert racing for me until I get those bling pneumatic bump stops. However, I can be relatively certain that my shocks won't fade on the lakebed ;)

Yeah, you have to get creative under the hood for coil overs, that's for sure. I too had to relocate my relay box, my overflow bottle, my ARB compressor and my airbox. I still need to get a small K&N and figure out somewhere to stuff that.

Brett, no worries on the trackbar clearance at this point.

Not sure that I follow the post about moving the D60, however the later D60s were a bit more offset towards the drivers side anyway.

My justification for CO's were this:

1) There was just no room for my coils, they were stuffed against the knuckle and still rubbed on the frame and the tie rod.
2) I needed new shocks anyway, I wasn't happy with the performance of the 5012s.
3) Crash and Beezil hadn't done coilovers yet so I had to have some sort of coolness over them. Crash has since done me one better with his impressive front 3 link with the flat belly. Doh, foiled again Batman.
 
SeanP said:
Richard, no desert racing for me until I get those bling pneumatic bump stops. However, I can be relatively certain that my shocks won't fade on the lakebed ;)

My justification for CO's were this:

1) There was just no room for my coils, they were stuffed against the knuckle and still rubbed on the frame and the tie rod.
2) I needed new shocks anyway, I wasn't happy with the performance of the 5012s.
3) Crash and Beezil hadn't done coilovers yet so I had to have some sort of coolness over them. Crash has since done me one better with his impressive front 3 link with the flat belly. Doh, foiled again Batman.

I should shoot a couple of pics of my front bumpstops, which are working decently.....but still need a good trail workout. I got the Daystar front extended bumps and modified them.............oh, but you don't have coil or bumpstop towers anymore! :)

Don't you have shaft bumbs on your SAW's?

I think you have all kinds of coolness..........you have the biggest, baddest, best built garage wheeling XJ around. That's commendable! It used to be Vintagespeed, but JB got his done and has hit the trails.

:D :D
 
Goatman said:
I should shoot a couple of pics of my front bumpstops, which are working decently.....but still need a good trail workout. I got the Daystar front extended bumps and modified them.............oh, but you don't have coil or bumpstop towers anymore! :)

Don't you have shaft bumbs on your SAW's?

I think you have all kinds of coolness..........you have the biggest, baddest, best built garage wheeling XJ around. That's commendable! It used to be Vintagespeed, but JB got his done and has hit the trails.

:D :D

My gawd you love striring the pot, you old hippie. :D

CRASH
 
CRASH said:
My gawd you love striring the pot, you old hippie. :D

CRASH

:jester:



:D
 
I got a smokin deal on black diamond coliovers 12" travel .200.00 shipped for the set. These are a bit different that SAW etc. and shorter stroke so I inboarded em a bit. made new shock hoops and beefy lower mounts. All mounts area over kill. wanted to be able to play with combinations of different ends etc so all brackets I made to for the largest bushing I might want to try.

picture.JPG


They use a single spring and design range is rated for corner weight of rig


picture.JPG


For brackets top and bottom I used trailer leaf spring hangers and modded to work with the notcher. The nice part is the brackets have a center bolt hole so the cross over brace will be bolt in

picture.JPG


pic from the front. bling HD 44 cover was free so lay off! LOL

the 12" travel is set at 4.5" up and 7.5" down. I could have easily used 16" travel saws witout going through the hood. lift is at 5.5" They do have internal bump stops but the set up now the single spring compresses 100% before the internal bumpstop is hit.
 
Re: Bump stop mods....

Hey Richard and others that may be interested, I recently did some front bump stop mods myself that seem to be working ok. It's a bit of a story, but I purchased some poly extended bump stops for 97+ xj's, but when I went to install them...after tearing the suspension apart, they were too large in diameter to fit in the stock bump stop perch on my '98. Well, I didn't want to put it back together only to tear it apart again later, so I "turned" them down using my router. :) They had a hole through them about 1/2" in diameter, so I slid a piece of threaded rod through the bump stop and two end blocks of wood with holes drilled in them and set this contraption on my router table. Adjusted the bit up a bit and hand rotated the bump stop over the bit till the whole bump stop had been "turned" down to match the stock bump stop diameter where it fits in the cap welded to the coil perch. I then used a different bit to cut a notch in the correct spot for the perch crimp to hold the new bump stops in place. I cut them to length, installed them and reinstalled the suspension (after replacing a lower D44 ball joint and axle shaft u-joint.) First test showed that the bump stops would simply fold over upon flex! So, after much thinking, I decided to install a 3/4" steel rod into the middle of the bump stop, extending through the top of the coil guide to keep it straight. I sunk it into the bump stop 2.25" and left about 1.25" without the rod. After a lot of messing around, I got them in and tested. Although they work ok, I think I should have inserted more rod in the bump stops because they still fold over more than I would like upon flex compression. They do hold the suspension at bay much better than when they were not supported by the internal rod though. Jeff
 
Goatman said:
I think you have all kinds of coolness..........you have the biggest, baddest, best built garage wheeling XJ around. That's commendable! It used to be Vintagespeed, but JB got his done and has hit the trails.

:D :D

Hey, I resemble that remark! I will wheel this year, I swear.

i am going to find a way to mount bumpstops to stop the control arms.
 
SeanP said:
Not sure that I follow the post about moving the D60, however the later D60s were a bit more offset towards the drivers side anyway.

Yeah, just wondering if it was offset more to the d.side and if that helps with clearing the exhaust, pan, etc.
 
Re: Bump stop mods....

Jeff 98XJ WI said:
Hey Richard and others that may be interested, I recently did some front bump stop mods myself that seem to be working ok. It's a bit of a story, but I purchased some poly extended bump stops for 97+ xj's, but when I went to install them...after tearing the suspension apart, they were too large in diameter to fit in the stock bump stop perch on my '98. Well, I didn't want to put it back together only to tear it apart again later, so I "turned" them down using my router. :) They had a hole through them about 1/2" in diameter, so I slid a piece of threaded rod through the bump stop and two end blocks of wood with holes drilled in them and set this contraption on my router table. Adjusted the bit up a bit and hand rotated the bump stop over the bit till the whole bump stop had been "turned" down to match the stock bump stop diameter where it fits in the cap welded to the coil perch. I then used a different bit to cut a notch in the correct spot for the perch crimp to hold the new bump stops in place. I cut them to length, installed them and reinstalled the suspension (after replacing a lower D44 ball joint and axle shaft u-joint.) First test showed that the bump stops would simply fold over upon flex! So, after much thinking, I decided to install a 3/4" steel rod into the middle of the bump stop, extending through the top of the coil guide to keep it straight. I sunk it into the bump stop 2.25" and left about 1.25" without the rod. After a lot of messing around, I got them in and tested. Although they work ok, I think I should have inserted more rod in the bump stops because they still fold over more than I would like upon flex compression. They do hold the suspension at bay much better than when they were not supported by the internal rod though. Jeff

Jeff, I found the same thing, the Daystar bumpstops were too big to fit into the old bumpstop cups, but I took a different route to make them work. I eliminated the steel cups and just bolted through the bumpstop to the tower. Mines an '88, so the cups unscrew. I measured exactly how long I thought I needed them to be, and cut the excess off the top, for me about 3/4-1". I then drilled out the hole in the center, from the bottom, to 3/4" diameter (largest bit I had) down to about 1.5" from the top. I then got a couple of bolts the correct size, turned down a couple of washers to fit the hole, and bolted them up. I also drilled four holes in the bumpstop towards the bottom (crosswise) to soften them up some, two holes 90* offset (X), then two more holes 90* offset a little above the first holes, 45* offset from the other holes.

I can tell you, as you've found out, that the 1.25" you left to compress isn't enough. Mine compress over 2" and bottom out the shocks. I'm going to add another 1/2" to the lower bumpstop extension (1/2 a puck) until I get the shocks rebuilt with shaft bumps. I wish I hadn't cut as much off the Daystar bumpstop, but I was just guessing on how much they would compress, and how much uptravel I would use.
 
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