OP
James & The Sahara Build Thread
- Thread starter JamesAndTheSahara
- Start date
OP
Yes brand new in box. I managed to find 3 vendors with them, but it took nearly a year to find a vendor with the sought after non canister version like what Jerry runs. I'm more than stoked to get this on the TJ
. The vendor did state the product is NIB and never opened, in the event something is missing or broken they will take care of it. No idea what that means with a discontinued product.
OP
Nice score! your due diligence really pays off, BTW is Private investigator your day job?
Starrs
TJ Guru
OP
No thats the much more common version with the Jerry cans. This one hangs far too far from the body and can cause clearance issues as well as sag. There are very few photos of it online sadly. The one I have is the own shown below here:
OP
Maybe some day. Hey when i put my mind to it anything is possible!
Starrs
TJ Guru
Nice. My dream carrier is somehow mounting the AEV tire carrier onto my rock crawler rear and getting the AEV gas can that they make for the JK to go with it. There was a guy on AEV forums that did just that on his red LJ and it looked BA. They make some good stuff and I love it all lol
OP
Here comes the long post. I want to preface by saying I am a visual learner and made a mistake when I first installed my lift kit and luckily haven't down any damage since the install. This would have been different had I not completed checking for for interference/bumpstopping before the ride. Lets go!
Below is the main things I was working on today.
Before re-checking bumpstopping here I am sitting at both sides at full drop with 3" of bumpstops & no chance of inverting the arms:
Removed the coils/bumpstops from the TJ, in the second photo you can see the ball joint has worked itself out yet again. What I will need to do very soon in the future I will need to knurl the ball joints and re-press it.
Axle at full bump with my previously installed 3" of bumpstopping. I didn't get a picture of the shock but this is it at .25" before full compression. I don't remember if this was just negligence or ignorance but sure as heck taking care of it now.
I still had quite a few hockey pucks laying around so cut a couple in half and they filled the void quite well. As you can see there is very little shock travel remaining with the TJ at full bump. This places my TJ at 3.5" of bumpstopping in the front:
AntiRock with steering wheel straight at full bump, checking for interference:
Re-checking Currie HD trackbar and Currie CurrectLync for interference issues at full bump:
Tire on the TJ at full bump, Savvy Fox 2.0 shocks limiting:
Re-checking tires for rubbing:
Look how close the Savvy LCA is to rubbing on my 33x10.5 with 3.75" BS:
Passenger side, checking bumpstops & for interference issues:
Currie AR at full bump:
Moving steering wheel left and right checking all steering components for rubbing/interference:
Passenger tire at full bump, 2" of space before fenders:
Passenger side LCA has been rubbed hard on the rocks already, as you can see I got hung up pretty bad one time :
AR gets close to the tires, but not rubbing:
Had to run to Fastenal to upgrade my hardware:
Put the spring back on:
After the axle swap I am using this on nearly everything putting stuff back together. Way too many broken/seized bolts from salt rusting it away on the roads:
Forgot the cup so had to remove the spring and put the cup on the perch:
New MOPAR Jounce Bumpers:
New bumpstop height set and bolt down, you can see the new 1/2" puck on the bottom:
Jounce bumper installed:
Shocks back in:
Tires back on, vehicle on ground:
While at Fastenal got some new bolts for the new rear tow hook and future bumper:
Below is a picture of a small problem I ran into installing the tow hook, do you see the issue?
Ugh, didn't know TJ's changed after some point and didn't have this hole in the bottom:
I have the hook installed with one grade 8 bolt as its rated to tow using a hitch on both bolts. I stood and pull as hard as I could on it but couldn't get it to wiggle. Not confident I will be able to use this as a recovery point...
Conclusion: Whew thats a lot. Sorry for all the pictures, but messing it up the first time I wanted to make sure I documented it right 100% and showed exactly what to look for when checking bumpstops/interference. I'm unsure of what to do about the rear tow hook, there is supposed to be a third hole I can feed a nut on a plate into but that hole isn't present on my TJ. I'm more confident about the TJ for the trip and excited to actually flex her a bit. Tomorrow I will do the rear sway links and re-check those bumpstops (WAY easier than the front, removing the coils at least hahaha). I still have those rear body mounts I am going to replace, hopefully tomorrow but don't necessarily need to do it. Finishing up things for the trip, going back to Auburn hopefully tomorrow night so I can get some stuff mailed out to people I have promised haha. A little disappointed the Fox 2.0 shocks are so limiting, I really feel they should have a little bit more travel, but I may be wrong. As always more to come!
Below is the main things I was working on today.
Before re-checking bumpstopping here I am sitting at both sides at full drop with 3" of bumpstops & no chance of inverting the arms:
Removed the coils/bumpstops from the TJ, in the second photo you can see the ball joint has worked itself out yet again. What I will need to do very soon in the future I will need to knurl the ball joints and re-press it.
Axle at full bump with my previously installed 3" of bumpstopping. I didn't get a picture of the shock but this is it at .25" before full compression. I don't remember if this was just negligence or ignorance but sure as heck taking care of it now.
I still had quite a few hockey pucks laying around so cut a couple in half and they filled the void quite well. As you can see there is very little shock travel remaining with the TJ at full bump. This places my TJ at 3.5" of bumpstopping in the front:
AntiRock with steering wheel straight at full bump, checking for interference:
Re-checking Currie HD trackbar and Currie CurrectLync for interference issues at full bump:
Tire on the TJ at full bump, Savvy Fox 2.0 shocks limiting:
Re-checking tires for rubbing:
Look how close the Savvy LCA is to rubbing on my 33x10.5 with 3.75" BS:
Passenger side, checking bumpstops & for interference issues:
Currie AR at full bump:
Moving steering wheel left and right checking all steering components for rubbing/interference:
Passenger tire at full bump, 2" of space before fenders:
Passenger side LCA has been rubbed hard on the rocks already, as you can see I got hung up pretty bad one time
:AR gets close to the tires, but not rubbing:
Had to run to Fastenal to upgrade my hardware:
Put the spring back on:
After the axle swap I am using this on nearly everything putting stuff back together. Way too many broken/seized bolts from salt rusting it away on the roads:
Forgot the cup so had to remove the spring and put the cup on the perch:
New MOPAR Jounce Bumpers:
New bumpstop height set and bolt down, you can see the new 1/2" puck on the bottom:
Jounce bumper installed:
Shocks back in:
Tires back on, vehicle on ground:
While at Fastenal got some new bolts for the new rear tow hook and future bumper:
Below is a picture of a small problem I ran into installing the tow hook, do you see the issue?
Ugh, didn't know TJ's changed after some point and didn't have this hole in the bottom:
I have the hook installed with one grade 8 bolt as its rated to tow using a hitch on both bolts. I stood and pull as hard as I could on it but couldn't get it to wiggle. Not confident I will be able to use this as a recovery point...
Conclusion: Whew thats a lot. Sorry for all the pictures, but messing it up the first time I wanted to make sure I documented it right 100% and showed exactly what to look for when checking bumpstops/interference. I'm unsure of what to do about the rear tow hook, there is supposed to be a third hole I can feed a nut on a plate into but that hole isn't present on my TJ. I'm more confident about the TJ for the trip and excited to actually flex her a bit. Tomorrow I will do the rear sway links and re-check those bumpstops (WAY easier than the front, removing the coils at least hahaha). I still have those rear body mounts I am going to replace, hopefully tomorrow but don't necessarily need to do it. Finishing up things for the trip, going back to Auburn hopefully tomorrow night so I can get some stuff mailed out to people I have promised haha. A little disappointed the Fox 2.0 shocks are so limiting, I really feel they should have a little bit more travel, but I may be wrong. As always more to come!
Last edited:
Wow! That's a lot of bumpstop extension Jimbo! Did you happen to measure the length of your shocks while at full droop and compare to the advertised extended length of the shocks? Curious to see how much more extended length they have. Doesn't give you a whole lot of suspension travel under normal driving conditions.
OP
I didn’t but I can easily measure it tomorrow, what do I need to measure, bottom of shock body down the shaft to the eye? Or eye to pins?
Measure from the bottom of the bar pins to the bottom cup that supports the lower most upper shock bushing. Then compare that to the advertised shock lengths.
OP
James that pic reminds me of John Madden on Monday night football!
OP
Final update on the rig prep:
I had quite a bit of trouble today trying to finish things up, but it is all done.
Before pulling springs:
Springs removed:
As expected, rechecking my bumpstops... the rears were also quite off as well. 4" of bumpstop required in the rear on both sides leaving very little travel left in shock:
My poor placement of my hard to soft line conversion, clearing the shock tower at full bump, very close hahaha.
Putting the springs back on:
These sleeves on the rear sway links were a pain in the butt to remove. Had to call in a buddy who had a cut off wheel so everything went smooth, for a little while...
Uh oh... Boogered up a thread on the bolt going too fast removing the sleeves, had to take a step back and re-thread the bolt:
Extended rear sway links attached below:
Had to run to ACE (Fastenal closed..) to get some 10.9 M10x1.5 bolts that were long enough for 4" of pucks:
Bumpstops and jounce bumpers installed:
Below are pictures of the rear suspension with tires flat on ground:
. Also really glad I can put the spring compressor down for a while, was really starting to hate using that thing hahaha.
I had quite a bit of trouble today trying to finish things up, but it is all done.
Before pulling springs:
Springs removed:
As expected, rechecking my bumpstops... the rears were also quite off as well. 4" of bumpstop required in the rear on both sides leaving very little travel left in shock:
My poor placement of my hard to soft line conversion, clearing the shock tower at full bump, very close hahaha.
Putting the springs back on:
These sleeves on the rear sway links were a pain in the butt to remove. Had to call in a buddy who had a cut off wheel so everything went smooth, for a little while...
Uh oh... Boogered up a thread on the bolt going too fast removing the sleeves, had to take a step back and re-thread the bolt:
Extended rear sway links attached below:
Had to run to ACE (Fastenal closed..) to get some 10.9 M10x1.5 bolts that were long enough for 4" of pucks:
Bumpstops and jounce bumpers installed:
Below are pictures of the rear suspension with tires flat on ground:
Because I needed to get back home today I didn't have time to remove any of the shocks and measure, although none of the lengths are advertised and it wouldn't change a thing. I really don't know if I was sent the wrong ones or they are all faulty but 3.5" front bumpstopping and 4" rear bumpstop is pretty terrible considering I also have a body lift. My shocks are stupid short and the tires are no where near the fenders yet. Honestly 35's would fit with this much bumpstopping and not hit the fenders. May need to shoot Gerald an email in the future to ask if it was intended to be ran this way. I didn't get the rear body mounts replaced today, when I sell the rack I will replace the mounts then (Rack's tie in are in the way of the body mounts). TJ pretty much set for the trip, weather is starting to look a bit more warm so I shouldn't freeze. 6 days left. Upcoming I will install the rear ORFAB tire carrier when I get it and going to need to service a couple things maintenance wise on the Jeep still:
- Replace body full door handles
- Replace rear main seal, valve cover gasket, and oil pan gasket (All 3 are pretty much useless currently).
- Replace manual transmission fluid
- Replace lower shift boot
- Replace exhaust manifold
- Replace both O2 sensors
- Replace spark plugs/warm/rotor/cap
. Also really glad I can put the spring compressor down for a while, was really starting to hate using that thing hahaha.
TJ2
TJ Expert
Yikes...4" of bumpstop seems excessive. You only have 3" springs, right? I'd say your shocks are too long...So the compressed distance is too long. It also looks like your bumpstops are going to hit your coils as soon as that suspension starts to cycle.