Hi! Ok, so the short of this is .. I'm really leaning towards Evo's cantilever setup or Genright's outboards and double triangulated setup and need advice from people who may know both or at least have experience with one of them. I thought I would post here since there's some obvious bias in favor of Evo's setup due to experience with it and that's 100% fine.
Ok, so I have an '08 Ripp supercharged 3.8 on Rockjock 60s and 40s. The suspension is a mess of different things. I picked up this rig a couple years ago and it was running Skyjacker long arms w/ the Rebel Offroad coilover kit. The coilover kit is still there, but the Skyjacker arms and brackets are gone. A local shop convinced me they could do some amazing stuff and what I ended up with was ... well ... not. What I ended up with was front Synergy long arm brackets, custom made arms by the shop using cheap heims, rear custom long arm brackets and a RockKrawler 3 link. I didn't like the 3 link at all .. it felt like the ass end of my jeep was riding on the tip of a knife ... or the top of a fulcrum .. hard to explain ... tippy, wobbly, etc. I ended up unbolting the 3rd link and building a set of upper control arms and new brackets so that its a parallel 4 link again, and it feels much better than it did with the 3 link in there. Then, I got to know Paul Coplin from Fullstack Motorsports, an ultra4 racer who also tunes coilovers for racers, and he helped me tune in the coilovers and do some work to get the roll center set on the Jeep. Ugh, but everything's been a pain and I got raked over the coals by the shop.
So, what do I like ... I like coilovers. Once you get them tuned in, they are amazing. I want to go with coilovers again.
What I don't like ... the geometry of this setup is ok now, but its not great. You feel how awkward it is in turns when the ass lunges hard at times ... and definitely steers when flexing. I also don't like the raked back and inward rear coilovers ... even if its just the principle of having them setup that way .. it's not right.
Now, what do I do with my rig ... I drive it all over. I drive it to the airport, to the grocery store, the mall, whatever. I also drive it on 3000 mile treks from the Pacific Northwest to Rubicon/Moab/Alaska. It needs to do 60mph in the desert, 85 on the freeway, and rock crawl. A true swiss-army knife. And, even worse ... I'm PICKY. I want it to drive really damn good on the street .. and right now, its pretty good, but I want it better and I want out of the Rebel Offroad setup.
So, what I'm in for is going big .. and spending serious dough. I'm even considering having my rig trailered to one of the big shops (Evo, Genright, etc) and having it all done there. Money isn't that big of a deal .. what is a big deal is making sure that this thing comes back awesome and where I don't feel more regret.
Now, thoughts on specific kits ... and please correct me if I'm wrong about things ...
Evo - The double throwdown front and rear with cantilever looks awesome. I've seen all the vids .. Fordyce, the Evo1, etc. It looks like it handles everything really well. But, I'm concerned about a few things .. complexity and dampening from the coilovers in, what is essentially, an inboarded setup. I'm also concerned ... should I keep my parallel 4 link or have it all hacked off and do it all Evo .. so its their geometry? And, how good can you get the geometry when 85% of your kit is bolt on??
Genright - I can't find a single review of their outboard, double triangulated full setup. How does it drive on the street? I mean, on paper, its cool. I always think ... if you go completely custom you either F--- it all up, or you have the opportunity to get the geometry perfect meaning it could be better than any bolt on setup. I like that they moved the gas tank too. But, while this kit is cool, I'm leary of something that I can't find a few dozen people online saying "yes, it drives great on the freeway". Ya know?
Anyway, sorry for the long post, and I'm sure I'm still missing things bouncing around in my head that may be relevant, but I do appreciate any constructive criticism, input, etc you can provide. I'll be doing this and an LS swap this year and the cost will be so huge that I want to make sure this is the last time I do anything major with the suspension on this Jeep.
THANKS
Ok, so I have an '08 Ripp supercharged 3.8 on Rockjock 60s and 40s. The suspension is a mess of different things. I picked up this rig a couple years ago and it was running Skyjacker long arms w/ the Rebel Offroad coilover kit. The coilover kit is still there, but the Skyjacker arms and brackets are gone. A local shop convinced me they could do some amazing stuff and what I ended up with was ... well ... not. What I ended up with was front Synergy long arm brackets, custom made arms by the shop using cheap heims, rear custom long arm brackets and a RockKrawler 3 link. I didn't like the 3 link at all .. it felt like the ass end of my jeep was riding on the tip of a knife ... or the top of a fulcrum .. hard to explain ... tippy, wobbly, etc. I ended up unbolting the 3rd link and building a set of upper control arms and new brackets so that its a parallel 4 link again, and it feels much better than it did with the 3 link in there. Then, I got to know Paul Coplin from Fullstack Motorsports, an ultra4 racer who also tunes coilovers for racers, and he helped me tune in the coilovers and do some work to get the roll center set on the Jeep. Ugh, but everything's been a pain and I got raked over the coals by the shop.
So, what do I like ... I like coilovers. Once you get them tuned in, they are amazing. I want to go with coilovers again.
What I don't like ... the geometry of this setup is ok now, but its not great. You feel how awkward it is in turns when the ass lunges hard at times ... and definitely steers when flexing. I also don't like the raked back and inward rear coilovers ... even if its just the principle of having them setup that way .. it's not right.
Now, what do I do with my rig ... I drive it all over. I drive it to the airport, to the grocery store, the mall, whatever. I also drive it on 3000 mile treks from the Pacific Northwest to Rubicon/Moab/Alaska. It needs to do 60mph in the desert, 85 on the freeway, and rock crawl. A true swiss-army knife. And, even worse ... I'm PICKY. I want it to drive really damn good on the street .. and right now, its pretty good, but I want it better and I want out of the Rebel Offroad setup.
So, what I'm in for is going big .. and spending serious dough. I'm even considering having my rig trailered to one of the big shops (Evo, Genright, etc) and having it all done there. Money isn't that big of a deal .. what is a big deal is making sure that this thing comes back awesome and where I don't feel more regret.
Now, thoughts on specific kits ... and please correct me if I'm wrong about things ...
Evo - The double throwdown front and rear with cantilever looks awesome. I've seen all the vids .. Fordyce, the Evo1, etc. It looks like it handles everything really well. But, I'm concerned about a few things .. complexity and dampening from the coilovers in, what is essentially, an inboarded setup. I'm also concerned ... should I keep my parallel 4 link or have it all hacked off and do it all Evo .. so its their geometry? And, how good can you get the geometry when 85% of your kit is bolt on??
Genright - I can't find a single review of their outboard, double triangulated full setup. How does it drive on the street? I mean, on paper, its cool. I always think ... if you go completely custom you either F--- it all up, or you have the opportunity to get the geometry perfect meaning it could be better than any bolt on setup. I like that they moved the gas tank too. But, while this kit is cool, I'm leary of something that I can't find a few dozen people online saying "yes, it drives great on the freeway". Ya know?
Anyway, sorry for the long post, and I'm sure I'm still missing things bouncing around in my head that may be relevant, but I do appreciate any constructive criticism, input, etc you can provide. I'll be doing this and an LS swap this year and the cost will be so huge that I want to make sure this is the last time I do anything major with the suspension on this Jeep.
THANKS
