"Pacing myself" build
- Thread starter bobthetj03
- Start date
OP
Once you get that power plant back together and up to snuff, chase the electrical gremlins if you have any, then the rest is just like restoring an old home. Hope they built the coach part better than they do these days. My RV was put together with staples and pressboard paneling in the cheapest way possible.
Its definitely built better than the Coaches of today. Solid walnut cabinets, Aluminum and SMC body panels (including the roof), Aluminum body structure, etc. Its really quite solid. My plan is mechanical, electrical, then house. My wife, however, wants to some some house stuff "out of order." I suppose I'll allow it, just so she maintains some excitement about the thing
Our first house project is going to be replacing the headliner. Somewhere along the way, they stuck wallpaper up there, so that needs to come out. The trap is that I'll want to replace all the lighting with recessed LED's and add speakers, etc...Gotta control that urge!
OP
The roads in my town are in pretty bad shape, so I'm often hitting the bump stops during normal driving around town. I have 3.5" of up before my bump stops hit the jounces and 5" of total up with the jounces fully compressed. The zip tie test confirms that the jounces are stopping any further up travel during normal driving. I'd like to increase the up to give the shocks more time to do their job prior to being stopped by the jounces, but I don't want to lift the jeep any more than it is now. I was perusing the MC website the other day and saw a new item that was of interest. Replacement jounces. It got me thinking that if their jounces are softer, that maybe It would provide a little more cushion on smaller events than the factory jounces provide. A quick email to Will at MC to ask the question gave me the opposite. He said their jounces are actually a little harder than the factory jounces, which in turn provides a better ride. This has me a bit confused, but if their jounces have more of a shock absorber type of movement like shown in their video, maybe their could be something to it. It also appears that when they are fully compressed, they give about 1" of upper bump stop. Can't confirm that unless I buy them, install them, and cycle the suspension, a lot of work. I hate pulling the front springs! If indeed they provide 1" of upper bump, I could feasibly remove one of my lower hockey pucks. This in turn would give me one inch of additional up before hitting the jounces and still provide enough bump stop to keep the shocks from bottoming out. My shocks are the limiter. I originally set the bump stops to give me half an inch of shock shaft before hitting the jounce cups (jounces removed), so I have little wiggle room. Another thought I had was to cut one inch of jounce off to give more free up travel, but that could bite me in the butt and make the hits harder due to less jounce cushion. Just ramblings in my mind right now, but I would like to experiment with this idea. Thoughts?
So...are you hitting hard and fully compressing the jounces or are you leaving a bit of travel on the table? I don't think replacing jounces will get you what you're looking for. I think removing some bump stop will, though I don't know that it would be noticeable or worth the effort...
OP
Based on my measurements, I'm hitting the jounces but not compressing them much.
OP
OP
According to Rancho's specs, the 2.5" lift shocks are 14.43"/23.84". the zero lift shocks, 13.05"/21.03". I'm sitting at 19" in the front at ride height. I'm pretty close to a 50/50 travel bias. If I went with the zero lift shock, I could lose an inch of bump stop, buy would lose quite a bit of droop. It would be around a 70/30 travel bias. I know having more up is beneficial, but losing that much droop doesn't sound appealing either. Ideally I need a shock that is 13.00"/23.00".
OP
Looking back at my old OME nitro shocks that I plum wore out, they were closer at 13.19"/22.36".
I reread your post about the issue and realized my shock question wasn't really relevant since you have plenty of up travel left. But thanks for answering.
I assume you're using factory jounces? Maybe it's time to revisit the bumps... Perhaps some fun with the forklift will show you how the jounces are compressing at various loads.
I assume you're using factory jounces? Maybe it's time to revisit the bumps... Perhaps some fun with the forklift will show you how the jounces are compressing at various loads.
OP
Yeah, I did the ole forklift flexing a while back. Getting good compression disco'd, but you aren't getting road transfer to the ole butt dyno when you're static like that. That's why I was toying with the idea of cutting off some of the jounce so I have a bit more free travel before hitting the jounces. Having a jounce that doesn't compress as easily, like Will @MC mentioned with their's, doesn't seem like it would help matters. The only thing I was considering with MC's jounce is the ability to use it more as a bump stop and be able to remove a lower bump, which is a rigid hockey puck. I just don't know if MC's jounce will give me an inch of solid bump with it fully compressed.
If it works $50 for 1" of up travel seems like a low price of entry. It may be worth a shot. Wait for Black Friday and you could likely get them for 10% off with free shipping.
If the MC jaunces are progressive, I bet it would be a noticeable improvement. The "soft mechanical stopping point" from their graphic seems like a marketing phrasing to me, for that to stop anything it has to be firm enough to be nearly static (or in an ideal case slowing things enough to a stopping point before hitting the harsh metal).
My logic is thinking that similar to a car's crumple zones, you want a progressive damping to increasingly slow down the opposing force. Ideally an initial plushness with a progressive resistance softening the overall blow.
My logic is thinking that similar to a car's crumple zones, you want a progressive damping to increasingly slow down the opposing force. Ideally an initial plushness with a progressive resistance softening the overall blow.
OP
That's an interesting way to think about them. Not sure how they would go about producing a jounce that is progressive in its resistance, but I sure like the idea that it could be.
Me too, I'd like to understand their materials better and if that would be possible in something such as this. That may be more on the springs (an argument toward progressive or dual rate springs) than the "last mile" problem the Jaunce bumpers deal with.
OP