Help with front bumpstops (Due to the gofer it flip.)

I just recently overhauled the front of my xj. Its an 01 with 265/75's.

The front height is great, and I'd like to keep it that way, because I don't rub on full flex.


It's now rocking a Dana 30 High Pinion that we outfitted with a Gofer it tie rod flip.


The tie rod is of my own brand, made of 1.5 inch OD dom tubing, with welded inserts and dodge tie rod ends.

I have 3.5 inch rubicon express coils, and an Iron Rock Offroad Track bar/ drop bracket. It sits at about 4.5 inches of lift.
I have stock upper bump stops, with 3 inches of lower hocky pucks. It all works great when rock crawling, or going slow.


However, I took it out this weekend to the sand dunes and I was cruising at about 20 mph over some very soft whoops in the sand. The result was BANG BANG BANG.

The drop bracket is hitting the tie rod. I never had this issue before the flip.
You can see how close they are.
The red circle shows missing paint.


I have verified that this is whats happening, because there is paint missing on both sides.


Even worse, I bottomed it out going fast into a driveway the other day. (I guess Im not mall rated.)

Ideally, I'd like to keep the height I'm at. Should I-
A) Add more bumpstopping, in the form of some poly extended upper stops
B) Add a daystar foam style bump stop (Which is hard for me, because I can't weld, and you have to make an upper plate to do so)
C) Lift it a tad to add clearance, and add bumpstops.

BTW- The bracket is welded to the frame, so there's not much I can do.
Also, I thought about adjusting the axle 1/2 inch out, but I don't know If that would work, or if its a bad idea.

Ideally, I would LOVE to get some progressive bumpstops, because I really enjoy going fast in the sand, and bottoming out is bad.

Thanks .

-Columbus.

How did your steering geometry turn out after installing the flip? Are the drag link and track bar parallel? Seems like if they were parallel before the tie-rod flip that they wouldn't be now. The solution to both problems then would be to raise your frame side track bar mount, if only it wasn't welded to the frame... Is there enough flat surface on the bracket to drill a new hole about 1" higher and then trim off the bottom of it? Doesn't really look like it in this picture:



Moving it up any less (say 1/2") and I imagine you'd have to weld up the existing bolt hole prior to drilling a new one. Frustrating how every solution or modification seems to bring a new problem, aint it?

flipping the tie rod doesnt change the angle of the draglink at all.....

and srmitchell i dont think moving the axle out a little bit would be a bad idea. and you can replace the stock upper bumpstop with a longer one.

I'd move the hole on the track bar up as high as possible and grind off the remaining metal to match. I've never heard of this issue before, is the bracket welded in the stock location? I'm guessing the bracket is too long for the amount of lift you have?

1990JEEPXJ said:

flipping the tie rod doesnt change the angle of the draglink at all.....

Click to expand...

Doh, I knew that! :doh:

For some reason looking at his pics I had in my mind that he went OTK on both sides. Even then, I'd still be wrong because he'd need to move the track bar up at the axle end, not at the frame end. I'll shut up now...:gag:

The bracket is welded to the factory spot. We did that at the same time too. Bummer.

Is there a problem with extending the axle out a bit? It would take me 20 minutes tops.

And Im wondering how I should go about making the harsh hits less harsh, maybe some progressive bumps?

You might try Prothane bump stops. Here's a writeup:
http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=985677&highlight=prothane

Progressive- or air- bumps are kind of intensive to mount. Kind of expensive too. The exceptions are the JKS ACOS system(expensive, but fairly easy to mount)
http://store.jksmfg.com/merchant2/m...RO&Store_Code=JKS01&Category_Code=Coil_Spring
or the Light racing Jounce shocks(not as expensive, easier to mount then a full air bump)
http://www.rdmoffroad.com/lightracingjounceshocks.aspx

Those prothanes are what I had in mind.

The basic idea is to make a plate so the bumpstop up top doesn't ruin the foam correct?

You know now that you mention it maybe you should measure your wheelbase. The front axle might not be far enough forward. I would think with the LA setup you have you could easily bump it forward about an inch and see if that helps, I think it might just be enough to clear it. Now you might be opening a can of worms because other stuff may start going out of whack but I would give it a try at least. It could just be that it's off and fixing it could solve the issue, I'm never that lucky but hey you could be.

Another thing is your caster maybe off tilting the axle at the wrong angle, correcting it (to about 5* for your lift height should be good) might eliminate the issue. I think a combination of correcting the caster (provide it is off in the first place) and moving the axle forward an inch should do you good. I'm feeling good about this one.

hmm just move control arms out a little to center the axle becasue its already to far back or it looks that way in the 1st pic. it does appear that you have adj control arms...

yeah, agree with Jim, try to move control arms out a little to center the axle

Thats probably a great idea, because although I don't rub the fender, the back of the flare likes to rub the tire.

if you can dial the pinion up some more that will also shift the tie rod forward