A Story of Indecision and Frivolous Spending

jjvw said:
It would also be good to hang the axles and make sure the driveshafts are safe from bind. Specifically the rear, because I know very well how mine came together. If what we believe it true, Chris's travel arc is shifted lower than mine is. But his rear output might also be a bit lower than mine is. The short Rubicon drive shaft doesn't like to hang too low.

Or just make an effort to not put both front or rear tires in the air... ;)
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I guess I was taking the lift and forklift testing at face value. If there is any sort of shop warranty on the work this would hopefully be covered. But yeah, for good measure I'd suggest taking the springs out and cycling the front and rear. Steering too.

I personally wouldn't want to break down on the trail or go back to that shop to check about any warranty.
 
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toximus said:
I guess I was taking the lift and forklift testing at face value. If there is any sort of shop warranty on the work this would hopefully be covered. But yeah, for good measure I'd suggest taking the springs out and cycling the front and rear. Steering too.

I personally wouldn't want to break down on the trail or go back to that shop to check about any warranty.
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It's all fine, run it.
 
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toximus said:
I guess I was taking the lift and forklift testing at face value. If there is any sort of shop warranty on the work this would hopefully be covered. But yeah, for good measure I'd suggest taking the springs out and cycling the front and rear. Steering too.

I personally wouldn't want to break down on the trail or go back to that shop to check about any warranty.
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@Chris this! Do some final checks, maybe even ask the guys at the shop for suggestions on things you should check before a trail ride. Maybe have them double check it for its first trail ride. Thus, eliminating any easy to spot issues that may arise once on the trail.

Hopefully youll be testing your new rubi crawler on some obstacle that is actually worth the concurring.

Unfortunately there will always be a first trail ride after mods, going out somewhat blind as to what to look out for and what to listen for. And Now as a closer to custom build, breakage at some point will be a thing. You've crossed into the world of custom TJ’s, congrats! Now go have fun with it and make the changes that YOU see fit once out on the trail.
 
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It's getting the new wheels put on at the tire place. I'm going to pick it up in about an hour.

I'll post some measurements and photos then.

And yes, don't get me wrong, I plan to use it for a bit before I do the outboards over again. That won't happen until the new year at the earliest!

One thing I can tell you from driving it to the tire shop today after picking it up... Holy crap those tuned Fox shocks ride amazing.

All you guys asking how you can get your TJ to ride like a JK or JL... invest in some Fox shocks and make sure you have them tuned. I'm still pretty blown away by the ride.

Those Rancho RS5000X shocks were great in terms of ride quality, but these Fox shocks blow them out of the water.
 
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Chris said:
It's getting the new wheels put on at the tire place. I'm going to pick it up in about an hour.

I'll post some measurements and photos then.

And yes, don't get me wrong, I plan to use it for a bit before I do the outboards over again. That won't happen until the new year at the earliest!

One thing I can tell you from driving it to the tire shop today after picking it up... Holy crap those tuned Fox shocks ride amazing.

All you guys asking how you can get your TJ to ride like a JK or JL... invest in some Fox shocks and make sure you have them tuned. I'm still pretty blown away by the ride.

Those Rancho RS5000X shocks were great in terms of ride quality, but these Fox shocks blow them out of the water.
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Which Fox shocks did you get, and how much were they? I had Rancho RS5000X and now I'm running Bilstein 5100 and still feel it's under-dampened. I've looked at the Fox shocks, (their corporate HQ is only a few miles from where I live). I'm just having a hard time dropping $1,200 for shocks..... :)
 
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Chris said:
All you guys asking how you can get your TJ to ride like a JK or JL... invest in some Fox shocks and make sure you have them tuned. I'm still pretty blown away by the ride.

Those Rancho RS5000X shocks were great in terms of ride quality, but these Fox shocks blow them out of the water.
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Good to hear, I’m hoping to outboard end of next year with the fox shocks :)
 
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RubiconMike said:
Which Fox shocks did you get, and how much were they? I had Rancho RS5000X and now I'm running Bilstein 5100 and still feel it's under-dampened. I've looked at the Fox shocks, (their corporate HQ is only a few miles from where I live). I'm just having a hard time dropping $1,200 for shocks..... :)
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They are $259 per shock. These are them:
https://www.ridefox.com/filter.php?m=offroad&t=shocks&f1=type&v1=Smooth Body

Note that they won't work unless you have outboard shock mounts front and rear. The kicker is that I paid extra to have them setup by Paul Coplin (http://fullstackmotorsports.com) with a TJ specific tune. Out of the box they won't ride as good as they do if you have them tuned to the vehicle.

Kathy said:
Now that you drove it, I’m also curious if the vibrations are gone?
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Not sure yet. Haven't taken it up to highway speeds.

tomtaylz said:
Good to hear, I’m hoping to outboard end of next year with the fox shocks :)
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Don't skip on getting them tuned. From what I'm told, they won't ride nearly as good right out of the box. They need to be tuned if you want to get the most out of them.
 
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zebra12 said:
Does Paul do his own outboarding? If not who does he use?
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He does his own outboarding. I saw it on a LJ he had in the garage... it looked pretty sloppy, but I'm not sure if maybe it's something he did a long time ago when he was learning. Maybe he's better now? I should ask him about that.

RubiconMike said:
Seems like they should work in the stock location if you get the correct shock length and use bar pin eliminators. They may not have as much travel, but the dampening should be about the same.
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No way they'd work in the stock locations. They have eyelets on both ends. Even with a bar pin eliminator, how would you convert the stock rear upper shock mount to an eyelet mount?

Not to mention the bottom mounts as well.
 
Chris said:
No way they'd work in the stock locations. They have eyelets on both ends. Even with a bar pin eliminator, how would you convert the stock rear upper shock mount to an eyelet mount?

Not to mention the bottom mounts as well.
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These adapt the front uppers:
frontShock.jpg


And these adapt the front lowers and rear uppers:
shockLower.jpg


Should not need an adapter for the rear lower, it's just a bolt through a hole. Maybe a sleeve to get the right diameter and spacers to center it.
 
RubiconMike said:
These adapt the front uppers:
View attachment 66811

And these adapt the front lowers and rear uppers:
View attachment 66812

Should not need an adapter for the rear lower, it's just a bolt through a hole. Maybe a sleeve to get the right diameter and spacers to center it.
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Once you get them bolted up with an appropriate length shock, how would the travel look?
 
RubiconMike said:
These adapt the front uppers:
View attachment 66811

And these adapt the front lowers and rear uppers:
View attachment 66812

Should not need an adapter for the rear lower, it's just a bolt through a hole. Maybe a sleeve to get the right diameter and spacers to center it.
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I didn’t even know those adapters existed.

You could try it for sure. But at that point I would just outboard and buy the right size shocks to begin with. Better than doing it twice.
 
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