Suspension/Axles for terrain at speed

Before I even ask what I want to know, I just want to stress this is not meant to be some crazy professional jeepspeed build or anything of that caliber, it is merely for casual recreation and a fun project. I'm not looking for sick performance or top shelf merchandise.

With that said:

I have a project jeep i'd like to make semi capable of handling rough terrain at speed, and maybe sand as well, but im not sure what direction i should go with suspension.

Should I want a stiffer coil up front, or would it be better soft-ish, or just normal or what? I'd like to run some nice bilstein shocks on this as well, 5150s perhaps? Also the jeep is at stock height with 33x10.5s on it, and id like to keep it at this height or No higher than 2" more, absolute tops id say. Theres a dana 35 out back, and i think changing that out for maybe a 29 spline 8.25 would be a wise idea due to the strong housing, and then spooling it. And id like to switch out the front to a non-disco HP30 and maybe weld a simple truss to it? I'm not looking to go jump crazy with it because i know how wise that is with these, but i figure it wouldnt hurt (to have a truss).

I was also thinking perhaps a shock hoop in the back to accomodate a longer shock. forgive me as i have plenty of experience with building a jeep for rocks and trailriding, but absolutely none for anything speed related. I just think it would be a cool project. Also any suggestions for the leafs?

This is the jeep for those of you who havnt seen it before (the hood has since been secured with hoodpins, and there is a cage going into it before anything else)

Stiffer springs area must. You also need about 5" or more of uptravel in your suspension. Think about 4" of lift or slightly more. If you really want it to perform get some bypass shocks too.

Since its basically for sh*ts and giggles, I'd just drive it as is (roll bar of course) and replace broken parts as needed. (I'm assuming this isn't your daily driver, and is more than likely towed to your playgrounds.)

it isnt towed. itll see street use. just because its for grins doesnt mean i shouldnt do anything to it. hence the existance of this thread.....

as for lift, wouldnt the stock setup have something in the neighborhood of 4" of uptravel as is?? i cant justify doing 4"+ lift on this, too high for me. my other jeep is on 4.5 and 35s and i cant imagine doing anything with it at speed

I would say your problem with keeping it stockish height is shocks, you wont be able to get a decent travel shock to fit unless you move/modify the mounts significantly, you will be limiting your compression and hammering/riding your bumpstops.

thats what i was afraid of for shocks in front, perhaps i can modify the mounts accordingly, i have no problem trimming up for tires.

any suggestions on an effective means of heightening the front shock mount locale? id imagine i'd be using an eye-eye shock so the stem mount has to go anyway... perhaps some sort of half cirlce tube hoop solution? im really takin shots in the dark on that but it isnt something ive never seen done.

HeavyMetal said:

thats what i was afraid of for shocks in front, perhaps i can modify the mounts accordingly, i have no problem trimming up for tires.

any suggestions on an effective means of heightening the front shock mount locale? id imagine i'd be using an eye-eye shock so the stem mount has to go anyway... perhaps some sort of half cirlce tube hoop solution? im really takin shots in the dark on that but it isnt something ive never seen done.

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there is really no room to go up with the front upper mounts unless you protrude into the engine bay, then you may as well have an engine cage/hoop as you will need to access that area anyways to mount a shock, then the proverbial ball of string starts. Even then at stockish height you will be running into other issues such as oil pan clearance if you can sort out the shock issue

stop ruining my dreams ahahah

well this is certainly something to think about then...

oh btw i despise the proverbial ball of string, it has already owned me too much with my other xj.

HeavyMetal said:

stop ruining my dreams ahahah

well this is certainly something to think about then...

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The guy has good points though, check out his JeepSpeed build.

CanMan said:

The guy has good points though, check out his JeepSpeed build.

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already have, not discounting his points

i just like the idea of keeping it low, but i guess ill either have to abandon that or sacrifice some uptravel

I had the same problem when we were preparing our race car for the Turkish Off-Road Championships. We did want lots of uptravel but at the same time our car should be low in order to make good times at the twisty forest stages.

Our cars specs are as belows;

We used 3" RE front springs (We have 31" Tires)
Used Curries Upper and Lower race control arms
Lower shock mount of the front end lowered another 1.25"
Upper shock mount of the front end raised anorther 1.25"
with that we could used Fox resorvoir shocks 2.0 dia. 9" travel
Now we have 6.8" compression and 2.2" rebound travel
we also use Jounce shocks inside the coils which is a Hydraulic bumpstop which takes care of the last 3" of up travel (works like a cushion)

One thing i figured out with your application is that, you will sacrifice some uptravel if you insist on using 33" of rubber

Hope that helps..

hmm i never even thought about lowering the Lower mount, thats an interesting thought. Good post too thanks for the info

Relocate the lower shock mount onto the LCA mount on the axle just above where the bolt goes threw. I'm in the building mine along the same lines but with 4.5" to 6" of lift. I'm hoping to wind up at about 5" of lift with 10"-12" travel shocks in the front. I run the 33"x10.5" tires also. Right now I'm doing rust repair and frame reinforcement. My fenders are also cut more then yours are both in the front and rear.

Keep in mind that shocks are made to transfer mechanical energy into heat and they get hot. So unless you have addressed that issue have your fun and give it time to cool or you will smoke a standard shock.