A Story of Indecision and Frivolous Spending

[Chris]

How does it drive and handle comparing it to Daves (JW) opinion on the savvy mid arm?

Will you post a link for the rear Currie antirock? Thanks.

I'm reluctant to say without adding the rear Antirock first.

There's more body roll obviously, but this is something I expected. I have never driven Dave's setup, but being as though his is not a triangulated rear and still uses a track bar, it makes sense that the roll center on his configuration is different than that of the Savvy setup.

I actually don't mind it the way it is now with no rear-sway bar. It's not off-putting in anyways, you only notice it when you go through corners, and it feels very similar to the feeling you get when you go from the factory front sway bar to an Antirock. Still planted, just a bit more body roll.

I'll give a more in dept review once I've had a chance to test it out longer and install the rear Antirock.

As for the Antitock, I got it here:
http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-5...0001&campid=5337789113&icep_item=123132814947

Use coupon code PHLDAYTEN.

Having the shocks work correctly has nothing to do with being hardcore.

You're right, that was worded poorly on my part.

 

[pcoplin]

Chris, super bummed to hear about the towers. It still should ride real good, you'll just have a limiter on the larger bumps.

And the Jeep looks excellent on the done pic. Love the wheels.

He does his own outboarding. I saw it on a LJ he had in the garage... it looked pretty sloppy, but I'm not sure if maybe it's something he did a long time ago when he was learning. Maybe he's better now? I should ask him about that.

That Jeep I'm working on was not done by me, was built back in 2009 I think? I'm just redoing the rear link geometry, and adding bump stops in the rear. Have to do the same in the front. It was built with 4 inches uptravel and 10 down, no bump stops except shaft bumps. Old school build, not super great work. Everything hits and rubs everywhere, and has too big of tires on it.

 

[Chris]

Chris, super bummed to hear about the towers. It still should ride real good, you'll just have a limiter on the larger bumps.

And the Jeep looks excellent on the done pic. Love the wheels.





That Jeep I'm working on was not done by me, was built back in 2009 I think? I'm just redoing the rear link geometry, and adding bump stops in the rear. Have to do the same in the front. It was built with 4 inches uptravel and 10 down, no bump stops except shaft bumps. Old school build, not super great work. Everything hits and rubs everywhere, and has too big of tires on it.

View attachment 67326

View attachment 67327

View attachment 67328

Ahhh, so that wasn’t done by you. I thought maybe that was some earlier stuff you had done!

Anyways, yeah, sucks about my towers. I’ll end up buying new Poly towers and doing it myself this time. That way I’ll be able to maximize the up travel.

It does ride amazing though, that’s for sure. I took it down Front Street in Salem which is a horrible rode full of pot holes, dips, and railroad tracks. It soaked them all up and made them barely noticeable. It was good with the Ranchos before, but now it’s so good that it feels like an entirely different vehicle.

Once I get the rear Antirock installed, it should reduce the roll substantially. It’s not horrible the way it is, but with no rear track bar or sway bar, there is obviously some roll.

Glad you like the finished look. That’s been my goal is to have a Jeep that retains most of the stock Jeep look, but still performs excellent off-road.

Those Jeeps you have... those things are just absolute beasts!

 

[mattcogdell]

That's the open gap between the bump stops.

So for instance, in the front there is 3.75" of gap between the jounce bumper (note that I mean the jounce bumper) and the lower spring perch bump stops.

Honestly, I never measured the up-and-down travels before this.



The front is getting the Savvy which should be here on Monday. The rear is getting the GenRight plate bumper which is at the powder coat shop now.

Care to post a picture of the savvy bumper in a raw finish on the Jeep before coating?

 

[Chris]

Care to post a picture of the savvy bumper in a raw finish on the Jeep before coating?

Sure, I'm not going to mount it on the vehicle, but I'll take a photo of it in raw aluminum once I unbox it.

 

[Chris]

Just a little update on this. @pcoplin of Fullstack Motorsports is going to be fixing the outboard rear mounts for me in the coming year. He's got the tools, the knowledge, and knows how to do it properly.

It also helps that he's local too!

 

[Serbonze]

Great solution!

 

[Chris]

Great solution!

Agreed. I'll probably still buy a welder to practice with, but Paul knows this stuff inside and out, so I'd rather have him do it right the first time.

The good thing is, the front shocks have 5.5" of shock shaft showing at ride height, so we think they got the front towers in the right place (since it's an 11" travel shock).

 

[bobthetj03]

Good news! Sounds like the front is as good as it's going to be.

 

[Chris]

The Savvy front bumper came today. Going to drop it off to get powder coated tomorrow.

Let me just say that I'm blown away by how light this thing is... Seriously, I can lift it with 2 fingers!

 

[bobthetj03]

How are they strengthening the winch mount area?

 

[tomtaylz]

The Savvy front bumper came today. Going to drop it off to get powder coated tomorrow.

Let me just say that I'm blown away by how light this thing is... Seriously, I can lift it with 2 fingers!

View attachment 67604

Yeah it is stupid light. Curious how it’ll look with the winch guard. I’m mixed on if I want to order one.

 

[mrblaine]

The Savvy front bumper came today. Going to drop it off to get powder coated tomorrow.

Let me just say that I'm blown away by how light this thing is... Seriously, I can lift it with 2 fingers!

View attachment 67604

That bumper with hardware and winch fairlead mount including hardware and hooks, weighs less than the factory bumper with the same bits.

 

[mrblaine]

How are they strengthening the winch mount area?

The fair lead mount has extensions of material on both sides and matching holes in the bumper. When the mount is bolted down, you wind up with a winch deck that is essentially a sheet of 6061 T6 3/8" thick with a flange front and rear to slow down deflection.

 

[mrblaine]

The Savvy front bumper came today. Going to drop it off to get powder coated tomorrow.

Let me just say that I'm blown away by how light this thing is... Seriously, I can lift it with 2 fingers!

View attachment 67604

Since you have the memory ability of a gnat, I'll remind you again that you should bolt up your winch first before you do any coating in case the bumper needs to be modified to clear bits of the winch that interfere with stuff.

 

[bobthetj03]

He has to remove bumper #3 first, lol!

 

[Chris]

Since you have the memory ability of a gnat, I'll remind you again that you should bolt up your winch first before you do any coating in case the bumper needs to be modified to clear bits of the winch that interfere with stuff.

I actually have the winch off in the garage mounted to the bumper (did so after I took those photos). I did that after I took the photos.

He has to remove bumper #3 first, lol!

It's been removed... Did that days ago.

 

[Chris]

Today I was also able to successfully shut off the post-cat O2 sensors and disable the evap system entirely without any check engine lights.

Just to be sure it worked, I unplugged the evap system completely, and sure enough, no check engine lights. My plan is to remove the pre-cats from the downpipe and replace them with tubing instead.

As long as the pre-cat O2 sensors still work (with they do) the engine will run just fine.

Here's my thread on the software I used to disable the emissions:
HPTuner MPVI2 & VCM Suite Review: 100% Full PCM Access For 2005-2006 Jeep Wrangler TJs

 

[mrblaine]

I actually have the winch off in the garage mounted to the bumper (did so after I took those photos). I did that after I took the photos.



It's been removed... Did that days ago.

With the hoop?

 

[Chris]

With the hoop?

Yes. I had to enlarge the 4-holes on the winch fairlead mount, and the bumper itself, where the winch mounts too.

I bolted the bumper and hoop onto the Jeep first, then I bolted the winch fairlead mount on to the bumper next. This held the bumper in place while I enlarged the 4 winch mounting holes.

It worked out great, because the winch went on without a fuss afterwards.

These photos were taken before I bolted everything up.

I just want to say that I am damn impressed with this bumper. Not only is it nearly weightless, but the craftsmanship and fit on this thing are absolutely superb.