I'm super impressed with how far you've come with this Jeep. Hat's off to you my friend!
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SJ’s TJ
- Thread starter Sj's TJ
- Start date
I'm super impressed with how far you've come with this Jeep. Hat's off to you my friend!
OP
I'm super impressed with how far you've come with this Jeep. Hat's off to you my friend!
View attachment 363259
Thanks Rich! It's been a fun journey so far!
OP
I got someone to measure the distance from the bottom of the frame to the center of the upper bolt and a measurement from the lower bolt to the upper. Since the Savvy was 8” from the bottom of the frame, I matched it. I used 2 4” mounts from Barnes. 1 that was the standard 2.625” inner width and the other the 2” inner and combined them to get the 8”. Here’s how they turned out:
I made sure to weld everything and added some gussets as well to add strength.
How much to bring some of those "serious issues" over to my jeep
Can't wait to see her in action, sneaky clever solution for the upper mounts, too
OP
How much to bring some of those "serious issues" over to my jeep
Can't wait to see her in action, sneaky clever solution for the upper mounts, too
Hey Patrick, I'm happy to help with anything you have in mind.
Thanks, I wanted to keep the same geometry as the Savvy mid-arm and this is what I came up with. Genright makes an 8" mount, but the Barnes was cheaper, got here faster and allows me to move the upper arm down an inch if I want to.
Hopefully we can get together for a run in Nov/Dec so you can see for yourself. The work I did on the rear was such a dramatic difference, I'd imagine the front changes will only make things even better. Can't wait!
OP
I just couldn’t keep well alone, actually my passenger front shock was toast, and I went ahead and put matching 12” Fox shocks upfront as well. Cut the brackets off:
Since I had Artec CA mounts on the axle, I plated those up to the old shock mount and cut the end off the poly mount and ended up like this:
I went with some Barnes towers and had to trim the inner fender, but they turned out well enough:
Here is the final product installed. I have the reservoirs in the engine bay attached to the supports for now until I finalize my fender situation:
Overall, not that huge of a job. The test drive was awesome. Rig is very balanced now. Drives awesome. Can’t wait to hit the trail soon.
Since I had Artec CA mounts on the axle, I plated those up to the old shock mount and cut the end off the poly mount and ended up like this:
I went with some Barnes towers and had to trim the inner fender, but they turned out well enough:
Here is the final product installed. I have the reservoirs in the engine bay attached to the supports for now until I finalize my fender situation:
Overall, not that huge of a job. The test drive was awesome. Rig is very balanced now. Drives awesome. Can’t wait to hit the trail soon.
OP
While doing the front end work I noticed that the back of the inside TRE was scraping the bolt head of the steering stabilizer. Upon further inspection my Currie drag link is bent in pretty severely. I ordered a new drag link and installed it. Here’s the comparison:
I’ll take the old one to my buddy with a shop press and straighten it out and have a spare. I have now bent the original Currie toe rod (I have aluminum now) and now the drag link. Does that mean I’m an extra special member of the bent Currie club?
I’ll take the old one to my buddy with a shop press and straighten it out and have a spare. I have now bent the original Currie toe rod (I have aluminum now) and now the drag link. Does that mean I’m an extra special member of the bent Currie club?
I'm reviewing your stretch, outboard, and fabbed midarm. Good work BTW, especially for some of your first welding projects! LOL. You have guts!
Did you build that rear truss? How is it attached to the rear diff?
Is the rear AR necessary with the rear 4-link? I thought that was unnecessary.
OP
Thanks for the kind words. I practiced a bunch to make sure my settings were correct for good penetration before jumping in.
The rear truss is just a Barnes universal for a Dana 44. It looks like they have a newer version:
https://barnes4wd.com/products/dana-44-heavy-duty-axle-truss
If you go back to the #55 post in this thread you can see how it looked when I got it. It just welds right to the axle tubes. I got creative with the vent and brake lines to keep those stock.
The rear AR is not a requirement. I could have keep the stock one and just used some custom length links and welded some new brackets to the frame. I went with the AR because I wanted to go all the way since I was making such a drastic change. I also didn't like bashing up the axle mounts all the time. Now the rear axle is clear of any hangy down bits.
OP
So I wanted to go mountain biking last week and wanted to take the TJ for once. I had picked up this Next Venture bumper with hitch because the hitch looked beefy. I come to find out it’s not deep enough for my bike rack and basically is useless to me. So I decided I didn’t need the hitch sticking out if I was going to use it. So I went from this:
To this:
I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. Not perfect, but good enough for me.
To this:
I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. Not perfect, but good enough for me.
OP
I have really enjoyed my rig setup with the 5” rear stretch, mid-arm on 35s. It’s a very capable rig that can handle most trails I point it at. With that being said, I find myself wanting more and doing harder trails. I will share a couple pics that should explain what’s to come in the next year:
Tons of fun to come. I found these 08 super duty axles in great shape for a great price. I have huge plans for the front as I’ll need more wheelbase for bigger tires. I plan to build these axles throughout the year and get them in next winter. Should be exciting!
Sarkis
Tons of fun to come. I found these 08 super duty axles in great shape for a great price. I have huge plans for the front as I’ll need more wheelbase for bigger tires. I plan to build these axles throughout the year and get them in next winter. Should be exciting!
Sarkis
WOW Cool beans dude. I keep looking for a "Good Deal" on some but never what I'd consider that so I still am waiting.
OP
Yeah man, got them for $1000 with delivery to my garage. They are in great shape with no real rust. Came off an 08 F350 so the front tubes are 4”. Super beefy. Can’t wait to build these bad boys.
Something I’ve always wondered as I also have a 4cyl and want to run the mid arm is with so much vertical separation on the front frame side of the 3 link, how close to the engine mount brackets do the links get since the 4cyl brackets sit further back than the 6cyl? I’d assume it doesn’t get close enough since you haven’t had problems but didn’t know how close they do get with all 8in of separation on im assuming the 2in extended bump.
OP
That’s a great question. I had to clearance both ends on that driver side motor mount. The furthest back side a fair amount. What I did was added 1/4” plate to that mount to strengthen it as that side of the mount also is the support for my engine skid.
BeardedYinzer
New Member
Oh man, this thing is going to be nuts when you're done. Keep me in mind when you're looking to sale parts. I'm just up the road in Herndon, your gas tank skid gets a lot of use.