OP
-3an brake lines are going in.
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Daily Driver, Go Where I Want To Build
- Thread starter jjvw
- Start date
OP
We are back from our half week at TJFest in Moab. Great trip with tworley, rasband, and everyone who joined us on Saturday and Sunday.
More pics are over here...
https://wranglertjforum.com/threads...e-not-a-team-aka-team-hypen.47282/post-866222
Several observations were made.
Driving over rough terrain is noticably faster and easier since the shocks.
I got to experience shock packing while barreling over a longer stretch of bigger woops and dips at 30-35mph. By the 3rd or 4th hit, I could feel the suspension bottoming out. Keep in mind, everyone else was traveling no faster than 20-25mph.
Slick rock and a rear locker while turning hard is a recipe for losing a tire bead. We reset a four of them, including mine just by getting the tire fully in the air and filling with air. The hardest part is getting good jack placement.
In this case, we had @taylormade73 crawl forward a bit more until the tire lifted enough.
Steel wheels don't survive as well as aluminum. Beadlocks would be nice to have!
V notches and bowls are easy to lose track of. Always turn into the low side.
The Vanco Big Brakes were a unexpected and surprising help. Holding the brakes without having to stand on the pedal made during the multiple steep descents made navigating and controlling the fall much easier and safer.
I think I got to see where the mid arm was doing it's thing compared to other control arm arrangements. There were several cases of short arm hops and long arm light fronts where mine stayed calm, quiet and walked right up and through the obstacle. The overall calmness of the suspension seems pretty evident in every situation.
Hydro assist moved up the priority list a bit. There were many cases where turning the steering wheel on slick rock while locked was nearly impossible and made positioning difficult. This wasn't nearly as big of an issue two years ago on 33" Coopers. But 35s and the grippier MTR is a completely different story.
Also, I would really like to get rid of the factory front locker so I don't need to worry about it. I don't trust the spider gears in 4wd, so I tend to keep the front locked much of the time. I want the option to open or lock either end as the occasion calls for it.
Overall, I'm very happy where the Jeep is right now. Everything is working together really well. And the fact that I can very comfortably drive full speed on the highway for 6 hours to Moab for 3-4 days and go back home still amazes me.
More pics are over here...
https://wranglertjforum.com/threads...e-not-a-team-aka-team-hypen.47282/post-866222
Several observations were made.
Driving over rough terrain is noticably faster and easier since the shocks.
I got to experience shock packing while barreling over a longer stretch of bigger woops and dips at 30-35mph. By the 3rd or 4th hit, I could feel the suspension bottoming out. Keep in mind, everyone else was traveling no faster than 20-25mph.
Slick rock and a rear locker while turning hard is a recipe for losing a tire bead. We reset a four of them, including mine just by getting the tire fully in the air and filling with air. The hardest part is getting good jack placement.
In this case, we had @taylormade73 crawl forward a bit more until the tire lifted enough.
Steel wheels don't survive as well as aluminum. Beadlocks would be nice to have!
V notches and bowls are easy to lose track of. Always turn into the low side.
The Vanco Big Brakes were a unexpected and surprising help. Holding the brakes without having to stand on the pedal made during the multiple steep descents made navigating and controlling the fall much easier and safer.
I think I got to see where the mid arm was doing it's thing compared to other control arm arrangements. There were several cases of short arm hops and long arm light fronts where mine stayed calm, quiet and walked right up and through the obstacle. The overall calmness of the suspension seems pretty evident in every situation.
Hydro assist moved up the priority list a bit. There were many cases where turning the steering wheel on slick rock while locked was nearly impossible and made positioning difficult. This wasn't nearly as big of an issue two years ago on 33" Coopers. But 35s and the grippier MTR is a completely different story.
Also, I would really like to get rid of the factory front locker so I don't need to worry about it. I don't trust the spider gears in 4wd, so I tend to keep the front locked much of the time. I want the option to open or lock either end as the occasion calls for it.
Overall, I'm very happy where the Jeep is right now. Everything is working together really well. And the fact that I can very comfortably drive full speed on the highway for 6 hours to Moab for 3-4 days and go back home still amazes me.
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This is when you know you're getting it right, and the money/effort was well spent. Sounds like beadlocks and a PSC upgrade are in the future!
OP
It's one of those things that is hard to explain unless it can be experienced.
More to come on at least one of those!
OP
It's there and it is wonderful. But it also shouldn't be forgotten how well everyone did out there. On the trails we did, I can only think of one or two times where mine was able to get somewhere others couldn't.
Yeah, I thought mine did well enough to not warrant a mid arm yet. I've not found wheel hop to be my limiter yet, only my line choice. When I choose better lines, it just crawls up like no other.
Line choice plays a big role as well. If JV has taught me anything, it’s that 1” can make a bigger difference than your girlfriend might make you believe.
That's because she is used to 2" bigger.
Hey! This is a a bit old but I am willing to build one bumper like this one DIY, with the help of a friend, that knows his way around this kind of stuff.
I have two questions:
1) Is this steel or aluminum? If it's steel, do you think that this could be built using aluminum?
2) Just to be sure, you didn't cut the rear cross member at all, right? Just drilled some new holes for the bolts that are visibly in those photos?
OP
A square is cut through the crossmember and the receiver sleeve is almost touching the gas tank.
This could physically be done with aluminum. But knowing that the Savvy bumper is reenforced with steel, there would be a whole lot more involved with the engineering to the point that this would not be a flat plate and the Savvy bumper would make a whole lot more sense. Also, keep in mind that the Savvy bumper isn't intended for towing or for carrying a rack.
Thanks,
I'm looking to build one bumper from scratch since I don't live in USA, and availability is limited to smittybilt, rugged ridge, etc bumpers.
No way I can find a different, more reputable, brand over here.
Do you remember at all how much does it weight?
They only thing I don't want to do is to cut the crossmember/frame. Do you think I can install a hitch without cutting the crossmember? maybe if I let the hitch receiver stick out a bit more?
OP
Weight is about 25lbs, I think.
If you don't cut through the crossmember, then you are building the hitch version of Next Venture or the Swag Big Hit.
It's pretty light! I like it.
Do you mean this one (photo)? So if hitch sticks out more needs all this support? Did you add similar support at the hidden side?
OP
It's all about leverage. Mine has smaller gusseting on the face. But nothing behind because there is no room to do anything that doesn't chop up the crossmember more than the square I cut.
Can you gets Barnes offroad thru amazon there in the UK? I used one of their bumper plates as a base to start with and shamelessly cribbed Josh's design. I added some tub corner protection too...
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B082VH3ZRW/?tag=wranglerorg-20
not really!
That's why I am looking to build a custom one. With the help of person that knows how to weld/build things by steel etc (he is a professional that I trust).
I am looking for a rear bumper for about 2 months now. The "best" option is Smittybilt 76750D but I am not sold at all.
OP
OP
Remember the importance of good blocking! For years I had a pair of 3.5 x 3.5 x 12" wood blocks that I carried with me all the time, until I left them at the top of Escalator where I used them as wheel chocks on mine while we were fixing @taylormade73's fallen off tire.
I missed them the very next day where we could have used blocking multiple times for various reasons.
Today at the job site, I pulled this 8ft 3x4" out of the trash pile.
This is exciting for me. I had always wanted another pair of blocks so I could chock all four tires, build a small cribbing tower for a jack, fill in a hole, etc. But I had what I had and was in no rush to add to the mess I already carry with me.
I cut four 14" lengths which will fit nicely in my tool box or a few other empty spots in the back. Now I can build a small tower between 1.5" and ~10" tall depending on how I stack and roll the blocks with my old double layer square of plywood.
I missed them the very next day where we could have used blocking multiple times for various reasons.
Today at the job site, I pulled this 8ft 3x4" out of the trash pile.
This is exciting for me. I had always wanted another pair of blocks so I could chock all four tires, build a small cribbing tower for a jack, fill in a hole, etc. But I had what I had and was in no rush to add to the mess I already carry with me.
I cut four 14" lengths which will fit nicely in my tool box or a few other empty spots in the back. Now I can build a small tower between 1.5" and ~10" tall depending on how I stack and roll the blocks with my old double layer square of plywood.
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