Here we go guys, finally got some TJ updates for this TJ forum!
So I used to run 2.5" 12" shocks in the rear, they were a pair of shocks I picked up used and ran as is. Most of the zinc coating was gone and my tires rub the shit out of the shocks pretty much every time I take a corner because of my excessive body roll. The 2.5's were looking pretty rough, all the COM bearings were shot and they needed a rebuild. That was like a year ago or so. Rebuilt the shocks, bought some new black top and bottom caps and eyes, sandblasted the bodies and resis and decided to try painting them with Steel-It Black. The initial thought process was the Steel-It would be durable enough to withstand the tire rubbing. A $90 paint job later with some badass looking shocks and the more dumb that idea was starting to sound, not wanting to ruin the paint on the first corner I never put them on.
Well what do you do when you want to run big ass shocks on tiny little axles? This was what I came up with. I had a pair of hard plastic dust covers from the pair of 3.0 IBP Raptor shocks I bought, but they use a weird triangle bushing lower eye to bolt the dust covers on. A few measurements and some quality time on our brand new lathe at work and these split clamps were born. They turned out awesome, a really nice snug fit on the lower eyes of the 2.5s with a matching internal groove to slip into the OD groove on the eye. Two 5/16" bolts to clamp it with three 1/4-28 holes on the OD for the dust cover to bolt up.
Got the hard work done on the lathe with a small flat milled opposite of the 5/16 holes for indexing purposes later on. Moved to the bridgeport to drill and tap the first 1/4-28 hole while indexed on the milled flat. Then I bolted up the dust cover, marked the other two holes with sharpie and eyeballed the angle on the next two holes. Not sure what the angles are, but it wasn't a nice easy 120* between holes.
Then with all the holes in place, indexed back on the milled flat again and cut in half with a big slitting saw. A little bit of deburring work and they're all finished up. I made four pairs in case I screwed them up, but I managed not to scrap anything. I did get lucky as I didn't think two much about where the last two 1/4-28 holes would land, and they are real close to breaking through where I cut them in half, but luck was on my side.
Eager to test out my idea, I made a trip up to Pcoplin's shop and got the Jeep on the lift. Had to trim the back of my Artec coil buckets just a little bit for clearance near the clamp. Got all the masking tape pulled off the shocks, and I gotta say I really love the color of the Steel-It black, seems like it has a bit of smoke or charcoal to it. Plus with the cleaned up blue hoses, these 2.5's are looking real good all blacked out. I spent a good part of the day carefully getting these shocks in, pulled springs to cycle the suspension and made some better bump stop extensions to replace my previous DOM version that used too small of tubing and cause the bump stop cups to start to bend up and around the tube. Also made some thin plastic split sleeves for the resi hose clamps, they've got a little OD groove for the clamp to seat in and snap into place nicely on one of the grooves on the resi, should keep the clamps from tearing up my paint job.
Everything fits just like it used too, the tires rub the dust covers exactly as planned and I really like the sleeper look the blacked out shocks give, almost can't even tell they are there.
Full droop
Ride height
Full articulation
And I'm happy to say that I made the 40 mile trip back home with the 2.5's on last night. Definitely got some good rubbing in taking some hard corners at 50mph. Got home, there's some rubber left on the plastic dust covers, and absolutely zero marks on the shock paint job, so it seems they were a success. Time will tell on how long the paint will hold up, but I think these should make the required touch ups a lot less frequent at the very least. I love it when one of my ideas actually works
So I used to run 2.5" 12" shocks in the rear, they were a pair of shocks I picked up used and ran as is. Most of the zinc coating was gone and my tires rub the shit out of the shocks pretty much every time I take a corner because of my excessive body roll. The 2.5's were looking pretty rough, all the COM bearings were shot and they needed a rebuild. That was like a year ago or so. Rebuilt the shocks, bought some new black top and bottom caps and eyes, sandblasted the bodies and resis and decided to try painting them with Steel-It Black. The initial thought process was the Steel-It would be durable enough to withstand the tire rubbing. A $90 paint job later with some badass looking shocks and the more dumb that idea was starting to sound, not wanting to ruin the paint on the first corner I never put them on.
Well what do you do when you want to run big ass shocks on tiny little axles? This was what I came up with. I had a pair of hard plastic dust covers from the pair of 3.0 IBP Raptor shocks I bought, but they use a weird triangle bushing lower eye to bolt the dust covers on. A few measurements and some quality time on our brand new lathe at work and these split clamps were born. They turned out awesome, a really nice snug fit on the lower eyes of the 2.5s with a matching internal groove to slip into the OD groove on the eye. Two 5/16" bolts to clamp it with three 1/4-28 holes on the OD for the dust cover to bolt up.
Got the hard work done on the lathe with a small flat milled opposite of the 5/16 holes for indexing purposes later on. Moved to the bridgeport to drill and tap the first 1/4-28 hole while indexed on the milled flat. Then I bolted up the dust cover, marked the other two holes with sharpie and eyeballed the angle on the next two holes. Not sure what the angles are, but it wasn't a nice easy 120* between holes.
Then with all the holes in place, indexed back on the milled flat again and cut in half with a big slitting saw. A little bit of deburring work and they're all finished up. I made four pairs in case I screwed them up, but I managed not to scrap anything. I did get lucky as I didn't think two much about where the last two 1/4-28 holes would land, and they are real close to breaking through where I cut them in half, but luck was on my side.
Eager to test out my idea, I made a trip up to Pcoplin's shop and got the Jeep on the lift. Had to trim the back of my Artec coil buckets just a little bit for clearance near the clamp. Got all the masking tape pulled off the shocks, and I gotta say I really love the color of the Steel-It black, seems like it has a bit of smoke or charcoal to it. Plus with the cleaned up blue hoses, these 2.5's are looking real good all blacked out. I spent a good part of the day carefully getting these shocks in, pulled springs to cycle the suspension and made some better bump stop extensions to replace my previous DOM version that used too small of tubing and cause the bump stop cups to start to bend up and around the tube. Also made some thin plastic split sleeves for the resi hose clamps, they've got a little OD groove for the clamp to seat in and snap into place nicely on one of the grooves on the resi, should keep the clamps from tearing up my paint job.
Everything fits just like it used too, the tires rub the dust covers exactly as planned and I really like the sleeper look the blacked out shocks give, almost can't even tell they are there.
Full droop
Ride height
Full articulation
And I'm happy to say that I made the 40 mile trip back home with the 2.5's on last night. Definitely got some good rubbing in taking some hard corners at 50mph. Got home, there's some rubber left on the plastic dust covers, and absolutely zero marks on the shock paint job, so it seems they were a success. Time will tell on how long the paint will hold up, but I think these should make the required touch ups a lot less frequent at the very least. I love it when one of my ideas actually works
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