Jimbo's JL axle build and stretch
- Thread starter Jamesval035
- Start date
Some progress today but not to the extent I was looking for. I drove a bit this morning trying to find some 3/16” steel at local stores to start redoing my rear cross member. Nothing. When I got home I was rummaging through my scraps and found some 11gauge that I had and were a decent size that would work for my body mounts. When I started mocking up I realized the bolts were too long bc of the 1.25” body lift I have. So another trip to the store for some shorter 7/16 threaded bolts. The results of my rear crossmember.
It came out better than I expected it would. I had some 3/16” steel that came with my GR 3 Link that I won’t use so used this to fill in for the gap in the body mounts when tightened and installed. Works perfectly. I was hoping to get it all welded up today as well as finish welding the towers but, no bueno. I had to throw the axle back under the jeep to make sure the new crossmember didn’t hit the upper axle brackets, so that took a lot of time. But…
Plan tomorrow is to weld in everything tomorrow.
And I bolted in the BM tail lights. These things look so good!
It came out better than I expected it would. I had some 3/16” steel that came with my GR 3 Link that I won’t use so used this to fill in for the gap in the body mounts when tightened and installed. Works perfectly. I was hoping to get it all welded up today as well as finish welding the towers but, no bueno. I had to throw the axle back under the jeep to make sure the new crossmember didn’t hit the upper axle brackets, so that took a lot of time. But…
Plan tomorrow is to weld in everything tomorrow.
And I bolted in the BM tail lights. These things look so good!
Some progress today but not to the extent I was looking for. I drove a bit this morning trying to find some 3/16” steel at local stores to start redoing my rear cross member. Nothing. When I got home I was rummaging through my scraps and found some 11gauge that I had and were a decent size that would work for my body mounts. When I started mocking up I realized the bolts were too long bc of the 1.25” body lift I have. So another trip to the store for some shorter 7/16 threaded bolts. The results of my rear crossmember.
View attachment 677166
View attachment 677167
It came out better than I expected it would. I had some 3/16” steel that came with my GR 3 Link that I won’t use so used this to fill in for the gap in the body mounts when tightened and installed. Works perfectly. I was hoping to get it all welded up today as well as finish welding the towers but, no bueno. I had to throw the axle back under the jeep to make sure the new crossmember didn’t hit the upper axle brackets, so that took a lot of time. But…
Plan tomorrow is to weld in everything tomorrow.
And I bolted in the BM tail lights. These things look so good!
View attachment 677168
View attachment 677169
Oh my gosh I was just thinking of doing a cross member like that and couldn’t find anything online of people doing it simple for just the body mounts. Looks great!
Wasn’t bad at all. I had a buddy that had some leftover Dom so scored that from him. Measured the body mount hole from the side of the frame, and used a 1 1/8” hole saw for the body mount holes. Mounted the steel squares to the body mount holes then fitted the Dom tubing and made sure it didn’t interfere with the axle mounts. Tacked it in and removed, then finished welding it up.
Knocked some items off the to do list this morning/afternoon. Besides the brakes and a new D/S, the rear is pretty much buttoned up.
I have the axle pushed back close to max. I may push it forward a bit but. need to recycle the suspension where its at so it clears the corners.
I have the axle pushed back close to max. I may push it forward a bit but. need to recycle the suspension where its at so it clears the corners.
Nice work. Interested to see how you like the ORI's. I have a few hard core buddies that run them, and they seem to work very well.
For sure, only time will tell. Was set on fox coilovers but a buddy talked me into the ORI’s. He runs a set on one of his TJ’s and the other he has coilovers. He’s one of those guys that has wheeled a lot and I trust his opinion, so figured I’d give them a try. I’ve never heard bad things about them though, so that’s a plus.
Front passenger side down today.
Not as bad as I thought it would be, just had to do some angle calculations before I attacked it. The sawzall came in clutch for the bulk of it.
Not as bad as I thought it would be, just had to do some angle calculations before I attacked it. The sawzall came in clutch for the bulk of it.
Hectic week at work so didn't get much done during the week, but did finally get some tracking numbers for the front brake setup and a few other items. I planned to start mounting the Synergy knuckles and RPM steering this week but when I was putting it together, the upper knuckle mount was massive. I guess it needs a camber sleeve for the upper knuckle to ball joint.
So placed an order from poly performance and decided to get some PRP 4 point harnesses as well. I got the 4.3 for myself and the 4.2 for my passengers. I often ride alone so figured I'd save a little money. The difference between the two is the 4.3" has 3" straps where the 4.2" has the 2". This is also came in yesterday.
I don't plan to go hydro assist yet. But by the end of the year I hope to purchase and install the rest of the components. I figured this will be a good first step. The pitman arm is from parts mike drilled with a JK taper at the same length as the stock TJ pitman arm 5.5".
A month or so ago, I posted my 4" flare GR fenders on FB marketplace to see if I got any hits. Reason being, I wanted to go with the no flare. Well last week I had a guy message me asking if I wanted to trade for some GR no flare fenders. I was on it quick, but because of our busy schedule we couldn't meet up til yesterday evening. 1.5hr drive later and these will be the new fender. I think it'll look better without a flare since I won't be using rear flares. Plus, NC doesn't give two shits about tire coverage. At least I've never had an issue.
Today I put in some work finishing up grinding down the old front spring buckets and towers and found a good spot for the from GR frame mounts. This is at about 103" wheelbase.
My little chili pepper red TJ in the background sad since it hasn't gotten much love bc of my TJ. I do have some savvy CA's that I need to rebuild, and some RCV shafts that also need rebuilding that will go on the red TJ, it just has to wait its turn.
Tonight, I finally pulled out the GR universal coil-over mounts to take inventory and see how I'm going to attack the front. Will be a fun time. I've gone through NashvilleTJ's, Toximus's, and B00mB00m's thread but still reading to see what tricks and tips I can take away before I start it. I still haven't figured out what the hell I'm going to do with the front trackbar. Straight, bent, location on frame, what size to Dom to go with, Johnny joint or heim at the frame. lost of questions or trial and error to see what will be best for me.
And finally, just a funny here to honor the passing of everyone's hero, Chuck Norris. Enjoy haha
So placed an order from poly performance and decided to get some PRP 4 point harnesses as well. I got the 4.3 for myself and the 4.2 for my passengers. I often ride alone so figured I'd save a little money. The difference between the two is the 4.3" has 3" straps where the 4.2" has the 2". This is also came in yesterday.
I don't plan to go hydro assist yet. But by the end of the year I hope to purchase and install the rest of the components. I figured this will be a good first step. The pitman arm is from parts mike drilled with a JK taper at the same length as the stock TJ pitman arm 5.5".
A month or so ago, I posted my 4" flare GR fenders on FB marketplace to see if I got any hits. Reason being, I wanted to go with the no flare. Well last week I had a guy message me asking if I wanted to trade for some GR no flare fenders. I was on it quick, but because of our busy schedule we couldn't meet up til yesterday evening. 1.5hr drive later and these will be the new fender. I think it'll look better without a flare since I won't be using rear flares. Plus, NC doesn't give two shits about tire coverage. At least I've never had an issue.
Today I put in some work finishing up grinding down the old front spring buckets and towers and found a good spot for the from GR frame mounts. This is at about 103" wheelbase.
My little chili pepper red TJ in the background sad since it hasn't gotten much love bc of my TJ. I do have some savvy CA's that I need to rebuild, and some RCV shafts that also need rebuilding that will go on the red TJ, it just has to wait its turn.
Tonight, I finally pulled out the GR universal coil-over mounts to take inventory and see how I'm going to attack the front. Will be a fun time. I've gone through NashvilleTJ's, Toximus's, and B00mB00m's thread but still reading to see what tricks and tips I can take away before I start it. I still haven't figured out what the hell I'm going to do with the front trackbar. Straight, bent, location on frame, what size to Dom to go with, Johnny joint or heim at the frame. lost of questions or trial and error to see what will be best for me.
And finally, just a funny here to honor the passing of everyone's hero, Chuck Norris. Enjoy haha
B00mb00m
The Church of Cutting Brakes of Atlas-Front Digs
Supporting Member
Ride of the Month Winner
One of my mistakes was using A large offset tie rod. My tie rod ended up stuffed directly under my draglinK TRE. I did use a straight track bar because I don’t have a bender, but a bent one would’ve given me another 1/4” or so. I did heims, on the TB as coach’s by Blaine and they have performed well. it seems like the one link you really don’t want compliance in but it was about packaging for me. If you look the C end I would probably have to move it inboard to fit something bigger.
I’m going with rpm steering components and synergy hi steers knuckles. My camber sleeves come in Wednesday so won’t be able to assemble everything until then. I will most likely buy a HF tube bender but waiting. I’ve read an old post on pirate4by4 of Blaine’s that says if going straight trackbar, a 1 1/4” by 0.12 wall tube will do just fine, but if any bends in it, then a 1 1/2” by .25 wall tube would be ideal.
My initial full bump looks like bends in my trackbar may be beneficial to uptravel.
My initial full bump looks like bends in my trackbar may be beneficial to uptravel.
02GreenTJ
TJ Enthusiast
Tower on frame:
Brace:
Not genright but same idea. Used 12” coilovers and jk axles. Got 6” uptravel in the front with 4” of front stretch, however I had to keep steering in the stock locations on the knuckle to achieve this and put a large bend in the trackbar. I used 1.5” .250 wall dom and 7/8” heims, I’m going to use some poly spacers to keep the axle end from rolling.
Ride height:
Full compression:
Better pic showing the bend:
Hopefully this helps you with some ideas. These photos are in random orders so some stuff is unfinished or has had minor changes. I’m happy to take pics of other stuff later if you want. Sweet build!
02GreenTJ
TJ Enthusiast
I went with the Barnes version which has its own set of challenges. Looking back I’d probably leave the box closer to a stock location but I’m overall happy with the end result.
Put in about 24oz's of work today. My rock jock items for the front upper link came in so pounded the new Johnny joint bushing in. They provide the tool to help uninstall and install the new joint but still have to pound the shit out of it.
Curious to how it'll hold up to a 3 link. I guess time will tell. After trading the flared fender to a non, the cut for the Flux slider will be much easier, and it almost lines up with the stainless steel guard. May have to shave a little off for a clean install. Another good accident I have is the last holes after the slider cut will line up perfectly to throw a nut and bolt into the recessed hole.
Curious to how it'll hold up to a 3 link. I guess time will tell. After trading the flared fender to a non, the cut for the Flux slider will be much easier, and it almost lines up with the stainless steel guard. May have to shave a little off for a clean install. Another good accident I have is the last holes after the slider cut will line up perfectly to throw a nut and bolt into the recessed hole.
Cut down the rocker to match the fender. Not the best but it’ll do. A little jigsaw with a splash of grinder and sander to get it close.
Camber sleeves showed up today from polyperformance
Had many downs today follow by some ups. Was super excited to get the camber sleeves in to mount the knuckles. But once I was putting together the steering I realized RPM sent me the standard over the hi steer (flip kit) I needed. Called RPM and Don was super busy getting ready for EJS, but he had time to call me back and get me the right TRE with a %20 discount. Should be here next week. But I think I can work with the standard version for now.
Received my 2-48” dom tubing pieces today so mocked up the smaller tubing to see where ride height would be and how a straight tube would look like. I have a feeling I’ll need to bend the larger tubing to get the full articulation I’m after.
Order the heim joints for the trackbar from Barnes4wd as we as the axle side dom tubing sleeve. Unsure how that will turn out and not convinced that it’ll be the final buy. Jeeps really nickel and dime you when building something like this. It’s a PIA!
A little progress and dilemma this weekend. Progress was mocking up the pvc arms and tacking in the lower axle mounts. Lowers will be 22 1/4” and upper will be 33”. I’ll confirm today when I get home but plan to order them this weekend through wide open design. The lowers will be 2” and upper will be 1.75”. I thought I could get away with 2” all the way around but there is no way a 2” link will fit with where full bump is right now.
The goal for the front is to stretch as far a possible. As of right now that is looking like right under 3”. But the dilemma is at around 5” up, the upper Mount hits the lower radiator hose. I could maybe cut down the hose just a bit at the radiator to move it forward a little or I could push the axle back about .5” to get a little more clearance. But even after that, the trackbar will most likely get into the hose especially after I put some bends in it.
What to do what to do..
The goal for the front is to stretch as far a possible. As of right now that is looking like right under 3”. But the dilemma is at around 5” up, the upper Mount hits the lower radiator hose. I could maybe cut down the hose just a bit at the radiator to move it forward a little or I could push the axle back about .5” to get a little more clearance. But even after that, the trackbar will most likely get into the hose especially after I put some bends in it.
What to do what to do..
02GreenTJ
TJ Enthusiast
A little progress and dilemma this weekend. Progress was mocking up the pvc arms and tacking in the lower axle mounts. Lowers will be 22 1/4” and upper will be 33”. I’ll confirm today when I get home but plan to order them this weekend through wide open design. The lowers will be 2” and upper will be 1.75”. I thought I could get away with 2” all the way around but there is no way a 2” link will fit with where full bump is right now.
View attachment 679881
The goal for the front is to stretch as far a possible. As of right now that is looking like right under 3”. But the dilemma is at around 5” up, the upper Mount hits the lower radiator hose. I could maybe cut down the hose just a bit at the radiator to move it forward a little or I could push the axle back about .5” to get a little more clearance. But even after that, the trackbar will most likely get into the hose especially after I put some bends in it.
View attachment 679882
What to do what to do..
Our builds are so similar! I stole this idea from toximus and made my own hose from Pegasus racing radiator elbows and joints. I also had to put a slight bend in my upper control arm to clear the motor mount at full bump. So far I’ve got about 1000 miles on the build and no issues leaking or cooling wise.
Edit: I also used wide open design for the lowers but made a dom upper to allow for the bend.
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