Any rubbing 35" no lift off road?

[steveale]

asking for a friend... LOL

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[Ole Cowboy]

IF you are not rubbing then your lift is too high...its called Dial In! With tube fenders and some TRICKS, I could put 37's on my TJ with a 3 in lift.

And when one of the Jeep Rag writers asked me about it on one of my trips to Moab and I showed him how I did it, a couple of months later he wrote an article on how to do it, of course, I got zero credit, but I would SWEAR that the pic in that mag was my inner fender well. He and camera man were amazed.

There are so many 'tricks' that you can do to a Jeep, any year, any model that lets you do amazing things off road...

 

[steffen707]

IF you are not rubbing then your lift is too high...its called Dial In! With tube fenders and some TRICKS, I could put 37's on my TJ with a 3 in lift.

And when one of the Jeep Rag writers asked me about it on one of my trips to Moab and I showed him how I did it, a couple of months later he wrote an article on how to do it, of course, I got zero credit, but I would SWEAR that the pic in that mag was my inner fender well. He and camera man were amazed.

There are so many 'tricks' that you can do to a Jeep, any year, any model that lets you do amazing things off road...

Spill your guts cowboy! What are these tricks?

 

[Ole Cowboy]

Spill your guts cowboy! What are these tricks?

The following is specific to my TJ, but the approach applies to all Jeeps. I had 35's and knew I had to go bigger to increase my performance envelope.

Here are things I did and have done on other Jeeps, JK's etc. This is the 'Dial In'

1) Rubbing is OK, it a matter of how much!

2) The rear of the inner fender well on the front had an assortment bolt heads that grabbed: Fix = round head no more grabbing the tire I used Allen head screws and I lengthened the wheelbase another trick*

3) I went to tube fenders or you could use any of the thinner profile fenders

4) Upward movement or 'Stuff' is your challenge and you dial in by shimming bump stops to get max stuff which means rubbing. If you are not removing paint from the underside of the fender you are not maxing out your vertical stuff. By shimming you control the rubbing. You want at FULL STUFF the tire to just barely rub some paint, now you have OPTIMIZED the lift you paid money for!!!

5) Disconnects: No fan here for serious rock work. What you have is semi-independent suspension with a solid axle and it does not work very well in extreme. This NOT to say the Rubicon unlockable sway bar is not good, in fact it's very good, but it's not for the 4++ rated trails. The sway bars job is to keep the tires planted on the ground which is why the Currie AntiRock is the solution. This helps you to Dial In the vertical/droop and provides better control by helping to keep those tires planted on the rocks. NOTE unless you plan on doing a LOT of off road and your focus is on 4+ level trails your everyday disconnects will meet your needs.

Then, of course, there is the wheelbase now a lot of folks want a longer WB in the 2 doors. I can get 1.5-2 in length by adjusting the control arms, but it's far more than that, remember Newton's 3rd law: For ever action, there is an opposite and equal reaction. If you want your suspension to work all this has to be taken into account. One thing I noticed from my MANY MANY hours of laying underneath Jeeps following the chain of actions and reactions.

I cut off my steering box and then welded it back on to retain the OEM steering arm angle!

If you want to wheel and drive to work then you have to work HARD at it. Building an Off road ONLY wheeler is easy compared to trying to build a serious rig for the rocks and trails and drive it nearly a 1000 mi to Moab. In all my years of wheeling, I found those that trailer their rigs to do so because they cannot drive it a 1000 mi and back and the trailer is to haul it when it breaks and break they do.

Here is a pic of my Dial In, note the hex head bolts on the inner fender wells, I replaced those with rounded hex screws, they barely stuck out and the Allen head screw you don't need open end wrench to deal with them. As you climb the ladder of hard and harder trails suspension become more and more important. KEY is the parallel track bar, tie rod, steering link and axle. I later built my own Track Bar (in RED) to cure Death Wobble...YES, I cured it! YES, Jeep could do same, but they have NO requirement to do so, their parameter is 33 in tires not 35/37+ tires. I suspect the same cure I developed for the TJ and JK applies to the JL/JT, but I have not been under the suspension yet, if you want to know how I did it, just ask...

 

[steffen707]

The following is specific to my TJ, but the approach applies to all Jeeps. I had 35's and knew I had to go bigger to increase my performance envelope.

Here are things I did and have done on other Jeeps, JK's etc. This is the 'Dial In'

1) Rubbing is OK, it a matter of how much!

2) The rear of the inner fender well on the front had an assortment bolt heads that grabbed: Fix = round head no more grabbing the tire I used Allen head screws and I lengthened the wheelbase another trick*

3) I went to tube fenders or you could use any of the thinner profile fenders

4) Upward movement or 'Stuff' is your challenge and you dial in by shimming bump stops to get max stuff which means rubbing. If you are not removing paint from the underside of the fender you are not maxing out your vertical stuff. By shimming you control the rubbing. You want at FULL STUFF the tire to just barely rub some paint, now you have OPTIMIZED the lift you paid money for!!!

5) Disconnects: No fan here for serious rock work. What you have is semi-independent suspension with a solid axle and it does not work very well in extreme. This NOT to say the Rubicon unlockable sway bar is not good, in fact it's very good, but it's not for the 4++ rated trails. The sway bars job is to keep the tires planted on the ground which is why the Currie AntiRock is the solution. This helps you to Dial In the vertical/droop and provides better control by helping to keep those tires planted on the rocks. NOTE unless you plan on doing a LOT of off road and your focus is on 4+ level trails your everyday disconnects will meet your needs.

Then, of course, there is the wheelbase now a lot of folks want a longer WB in the 2 doors. I can get 1.5-2 in length by adjusting the control arms, but it's far more than that, remember Newton's 3rd law: For ever action, there is an opposite and equal reaction. If you want your suspension to work all this has to be taken into account. One thing I noticed from my MANY MANY hours of laying underneath Jeeps following the chain of actions and reactions.

I cut off my steering box and then welded it back on to retain the OEM steering arm angle!

If you want to wheel and drive to work then you have to work HARD at it. Building an Off road ONLY wheeler is easy compared to trying to build a serious rig for the rocks and trails and drive it nearly a 1000 mi to Moab. In all my years of wheeling, I found those that trailer their rigs to do so because they cannot drive it a 1000 mi and back and the trailer is to haul it when it breaks and break they do.

Here is a pic of my Dial In, note the hex head bolts on the inner fender wells, I replaced those with rounded hex screws, they barely stuck out and the Allen head screw you don't need open end wrench to deal with them. As you climb the ladder of hard and harder trails suspension become more and more important. KEY is the parallel track bar, tie rod, steering link and axle. I later built my own Track Bar (in RED) to cure Death Wobble...YES, I cured it! YES, Jeep could do same, but they have NO requirement to do so, their parameter is 33 in tires not 35/37+ tires. I suspect the same cure I developed for the TJ and JK applies to the JL/JT, but I have not been under the suspension yet, if you want to know how I did it, just ask...

Wow! Very cool of you to share all that. I know typing up a long post takes time.

 

[Ole Cowboy]

Wow! Very cool of you to share all that. I know typing up a long post takes time.

LOL, I started this am at 5:57 am and I posted at 9:07:

6 dogs (dog setting 2 for friends out of town)
1 wife.

NO MATTER how early I get up I have interference and demands on my time...LOL

 

[steffen707]

LOL, I started this am at 5:57 am and I posted at 9:07:

6 dogs (dog setting 2 for friends out of town)
1 wife.

NO MATTER how early I get up I have interference and demands on my time...LOL

WOWZERS, well I really do appreciate your insight and I'm sure it'll help more than a few jeep enthusiasts.

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