Doesn't matter much. It will pretty much shift near instantly to the gear that is selected. If you put it in drive and take off from stop, it will get through the gear shifts in a couple of Jeep lengths.
Thoughts on installing a Savvy mid-arm on my 04 LJ with 35s
- Thread starter wheelman2925
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Blaine built mine. He used it to prototype the Mid-Arm for Savvy. Here is the list...
Savvy Mid-Arm, outboard rear, relocate springs, taller towers in front, 15" Big Brake Kit, flipped backing plates, upgraded emergency brake lever, Fox 2.0 remote reservoir shocks (tuned), Currie steering and front/rear antirock, PSC Big Bore Hydro Assist, factory Rubicon 44's w/ ARB, Revolution Gear 5.38 - 33 spline rear chromo - 30 spline USA made chromo with JK joints, Savvy skids/body lift/gas tank skid. I'll answer any questions you have.
Also, the Mid-Arm was designed for the LJ on 35's. People have installed it on other builds and it works, but the focus was the LJ on 35's. I went with 15" wheels because I wanted load range "C" tires. The tires dictated the wheel size and the wheel size dictated the brakes. Side bonus, it has that classic Jeep look!
I'd like me some of that! But I'd haul it to Blaine (or another experienced pro) and get'er done right. Not ever gonna happen tho', so I'll just live vicariously.
and enjoy my much milder build.
OP
Thank you for the details on your rig. Wasn't aware of the mid arm history. That's a really nice jeep. It's rare around here to see savvy equipped jeeps around here. I'd be very interested in seeing a jeep like yours on trail. I'm sure I'll reach out as the build progresses.
I only gave you the Savvy history, kinda. Blaine was building (what I call) one-off mid-arms for a couple of years. When I told him of my desire for a TNT suspension he suggested I check out his Mid-Arm. A year later I had asked Gerald at Savvy if he could help me get back in touch with Blaine because I was ready and having a problem reaching him. He told me Savvy could do it. I was hesitant and stated I didn't want to upset Blaine as this was HIS design and he sold me on it! He said not to worry its handled. I wasn't aware of this next part until AFTER I got my Jeep back...
I dropped off my Jeep at Savvy and he sent it to Blaine! I found out later that there had been on-again off-again talks about Savvy selling Mid-Arm kits and I guess the timing was right. So Blaine prototyped the brackets and used his experience from previous one-off builds for arm lengths and locations, and the Savvy Mid-Arm was born. I understand there may have been slight changes to the production brackets since mine. I can't speak to that but I'm sure it had to do with the manufacturing of the brackets.
The Savvy Mid-Arm uses the stock shock locations! Outboarding is a whole separate thing! My Jeep went back to Blaine for outboarding which included longer shocks (and towers) front and rear. This allowed the Mid-Arm to really articulate! The stock length shocks restrict the Mid-Arm articulation (duh). Longer shocks = more travel! The shocks have been tuned twice so far. The wife likes the hard top and that adds quite a bit of weight so the tuning is going to be different. While there, Blaine also added the PSC hydro-assist which has been flawless (until recently, I can't get PSC to reply to MULTIPLE phone calls and e-mails so I'm still working the problem.)
Blaine and I talked about coil-overs. Try having that conversation! We agreed that in MY case it was an unnecessary expense. Clearly there are better shock options out there and those options can get expensive, but for MY JEEP and my level of wheeling, the Currie HD coils and separate Fox 2.0 remote reservoir shocks work great!
It was at this time I also decided to go to 35's and switched from 5.13 gears to ARB locked 5.38. I can talk about spending money twice because I've done it and its why I push people to DO IT ONCE! You'll notice that one of the pictures above has a Spidertrax wheel spacer. That was for the factory Rubicon wheels and 285/75R16 (33's). Those were eliminated with proper offset 15" Method rims.
I have a very capable Jeep and have no regrets. It can go places I won't.
If there are, I am unaware of them other than a very slight angle change on the rear lower tabs that form the mount. The rest is as we prototyped it.
Thanks for sharing that, I enjoyed reading the history. I've tried to read through that giant thread on Jeepforum but beyond a point it's just mostly forum chatter. It's also really great to see you enjoying the Jeep all these years.
Here is my paraphrased guess of how this went:
Dino: Hey Blaine I think I want coilovers.
Blaine: Why?
Dino: (not to pick on Dino) Insert one of many reasons the interwebs says we need coilovers.
Blaine: Unless you have a packaging problem with the coils and shocks you have coilovers are a waste of time and money.
I also pointed out the obvious. Dino does communications support for the Savvy race team at KOH and did so when they won on coils and shocks.
Too fucking scared to ask the guy that did it? Calm your tits indeed.
Would you please share your pictures of the front ends you do (shock towers)? I'm curious how far off I am from a better way.
Can't pass that up! 11s with 50/50 split (I am aware I need to cut off the rubber pad on the shock shaft).
You can leave the shaft bumper on, serves very little to remove it. The rest is just fine.
All of it would be slightly different but at the end of the day, none of it matters because what you have will work just fine. There are a lot of things done that I don't understand but I have the benefit of hindsight.
FYI- prettier welds are a function of understanding what to do and where to do it. That tends to produce a difference in how a weld looks.