LCG front and rear shock relocation

I spent the better part of the day messng with these today..

having only a 2.5" lift and long travel shocks takes away uptravel from the suspension system.
I built the brackets to gain uptravel without sacrificing downtravel/flex

I have been running on 25.5" long 10" travel shocks which require 2+" bumpstops and limited my uptravel to about 3.75". since I have diy highline fenders, I have lots of room to play with.
now I have 29" long 12" travel shocks 5.5" max uptravel from ride height and 6.5" down travel, every bit of the articulation is useable although it can unseat the coils slightly... I have more plans for that...

here's some pics, what do ya think?
questions?

my original mock ups... some may remember seeing them posted several months ago..



this is one of my new ones..



I chopped off the top 2" of the shock towers.




ride height.



full droop.








and some forklift flex....
 
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Cool. Are you going to do the rear?

I see you have your WJ knuckle, brakes, and steering installed. Also looks like you have another solid track bar. How do you like your brakes and steering? I can't see the axle end of the track bar. Did you raise it up to match the higher drag link mounting location?  

the brakes and steering are awesome.. it flat stops right now.
the rear is next!

I made a bracket for the track bar relocation then decided to do something else with it (longer) including flip the wj steering links..

theres no hint of bumpsteer BTW the way it is now, must have something to do with the flat drag link... I can feel very slight bumpsteer if you hit a hump that unsettles my stomach..  
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man that's some cool fab work! you gonna do the limiting straps like rawkon did with his? you might be able to do some sorta anchor from the top of your spring and secure it to the spring bucket, that way there won't be any kind of slop from the strap hanging down  
I work to support my Jeep

chariotofmanliness:
man that's some cool fab work! you gonna do the limiting straps like rawkon did with his? you might be able to do some sorta anchor from the top of your spring and secure it to the spring bucket, that way there won't be any kind of slop from the strap hanging down

nope no limiting straps... I don't need them to keep the springs in. I set the shock tower up high enough to keep it from drooping that far although they do unseat a little but not enough to be able to feel or drop the spring.

by using the longer shock I was able to adust for more uptravel and slightly more downtravel than my 25.5" shocks that had 10" travel. now I'm sporting 12" travel 29" shocks with more up and down travel.

I'm going to build a split spring tower and use a cut down set of 126 spring rate stock springs on top of the rancho 2.5" coils to not only level the jeep without spacers... the light springs will act as dual rate or progressive springs and keep the springs from unseating at full flex when I goto a 14" travel shock and the mid arm three link I'm building. I'll be maintaining the current ride height and make the flex completely useable. basicly I'll be able to both use it as a prerunner and a LCG rock crawler with a hair under 7" of uptravel and about 7.25" down travel from ride height.  
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Mice mud glad to see that your still hard at with the rubi .  
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5.5 rubi longarm, dana 44's, cromoly shafts,currie HD stering,currie antirock,warn powerplant,warn bumpers,4.88 35's

Very cool!  
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So it's not a Jeep... sue me... it's still faster!

Questions? Comments? Concerns? PM Me!

here's another teaser... from the rear.. I'll show off the 13" full droop measurement and the 5.5-6.5" uptravel measurement later, it depends on how much crap I have piled in it...

this one is with about 200# of tools and recovery gear in between the tail gate and the back seat..





more pic later on how I did it!  
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I finally got around to getting the pics downloaded for my rear shock relocation..

now I'm sporting [B][SIZE="5"]5.75" uptravel and 13" travel rear[/SIZE][/B], 5.5" uptravel 12" travel front with my Rancho 2.5" lift...

this is my scrap building material (frame rail from an olds delta 88)... marked



all cut out with the angle grinder with a 4 1/2" cuttoff wheel.



spreading it out and forming... I pounded a 3" dom tube in it.



bent the braces with channel locks and a BFH






then cut out the lower axle mount...




drilled and bolted on the studs..




marked for death... also cut out with the angle grinder




tacked in place and checked my measurements..






getting the lower welded... big difference in clearance from the stock mounts eh...






while I was down there I noticed the track bar mount was about to bust off also, I put the frame I cut out to good use..



ride height/uptravle



full droop...




carnage left over..

 
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very cool, hows she ride and flex  
"WHEN IN DOUBT TACH IT OUT!"

the front end picks off the groun 45" before the rear comes up, due to finding the point my rancho lower control bushings bind..


rides awesome!  
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Were you rubbing the tire on the rear coil bucket on the stuff side when the opposite side was full droop? And is it getting worse with more travel? Are your Rubi wheels with 5" of bs still working?  

awesome man!!! hey jason, he even painted the parts......lol  
I work to support my Jeep

ftgiles:
Were you rubbing the tire on the rear coil bucket on the stuff side when the opposite side was full droop? And is it getting worse with more travel? Are your Rubi wheels with 5" of bs still working?

yep, at full droop the left side rubs the coils from the track bar pulling it over... rear coils unseat about an inch now. I'm planning on making my own version of the nth spring relacation now to take up the space. I'll prolly get some 3.5" nth degree front coils now also if I can't figure out how to make my own dual rate spring set up.

the 5" backspacing is on it's way out the door tho they still work with a little rubing! there's a set of 15" eaton 32 bolt bead locks and 36" iroks that might makie their way under my jeep if the 15" wheels will fit my wj cherokee brakes.

I did get a buch of "no way you can do that trail with that" at browns camp last weekend.. the modified lcg and stock wheels is so decieving it's fun especially when I'm running on stuff the guys with 37's are going around... I made it up the "can opener" obstacle and drove through the "crushers" like a sunday drive.. when the tires can stay on the ground and the jeep doesn't get lifted by bottomed out shocks on bumpstops it's amazing what it can do even with my belly hanging way down...

there musta been a dozen people at the top of can opener that had never seen 2.5" of lift and 34's make it up without a line, in fact one guy didn't believe I only have a 2.5" lift, lol, he had a yota on 39.5's and some ungodly amount of lift that had to persuade it to go up... down is easy, just hang on... lol  
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chariotofmanliness:
awesome man!!! hey jason, he even painted the parts......lol

I was thinking of Jason the whole time I was choking on paint fumes to! lol  
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