Upgrading axle and suspension

RockingK

RockingK

New member
Any ideas on suspension?

I have all new bushings and parts to rebuild the Rubicon Express long arm 3.5inch lift that I hope keep and go to a coil over or change out the Rancho 9000’s installed in 2011. Any ideas would be appreciated, from cheap to crazy, I am open. “Rocky” resides in the sierras, so local trails are Fordyce, Rubicon, Hell Hole and trails. I do drive to the wheeling locations, so road manners are important. It does have a Hemi conversion, so it is a bit more nose heavy but still a kick in the ass on twisty mountain roads and looking gain flat cornering and wheel travel. I also have a dual rate sway bar set that works well and I would like to keep it.

Thanks for the support and feedback,

Ken
 
RockingK

RockingK

New member
Ready for install

Well after a few weeks of collecting parts, wheels, shocks bushings etc. I am now, with the help of my good friend and next door neighbor who has generously offered his help, his shop with lift and alignment rack and most of all his knowledge and attention to detail, I am on my way! We took one last run with our local jeep club before tearing it down. I didn’t get any feedback on suspension upgrades so I decided to just replace the bushings, flex joints add zirc fittings and replace the Rancho 9000’s with broken off adjusters with some Fox 2.0 adjustable’s.

I went with a set on Raceline monsters 17x9.5 for the 38’s I picked up for $200. Each. My neighbor runs 40 MTR’s and I took off my 37’s so included a few pics of the three sizes side by side. Starting on the front next week.

Ken B9BBB1E6-841E-452E-A5DE-E03734F0A07D.jpeg D37E9E2D-E2AF-48C2-9262-267D0BD4B0DC.jpeg AB44889D-EECE-463E-BED1-D9E0B52806B1.jpg B8372CF7-AEDB-4A1D-A856-69DD4EEC31F6.jpg C2195317-E04D-41F4-A2B6-FA9EB7BF5A9C.jpg
 
RockingK

RockingK

New member
Thanks

Absolutely brother!

I bought this ranch a year ago when I retired and discovered that several neighbors with same interests and a pool of talent, I am the exception to the rule😳. We have a Retired machinist a auto body shop owner with a at home spray booth, everyone has a shop, two have lifts. I am in the market for my own’ trying to decide on a two post or four post. Needs to be able to lift my tractor, one ton diesel pickup, and a CTL with a forestry mulching head. 12k capacity min.
wjtstudios said:
Awesome build! And a awesome shop to go with it. It makes it a lot easier having the right tools.

Ken


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Click to expand...
 
RockingK

RockingK

New member
Making progress

Well doing this as time allows is now putting me behind schedule. Christmas is here and so is a full schedule of everything but my project. I’m so close and am getting excited to test it out! 798BF230-80E0-43BA-AD7C-AFD84F21498B.jpg 3D8A8CCC-4BE7-4836-AE91-B15C3E8B39FB.jpg 9F47BD0F-CFFA-49CD-9810-500DEBE330E1.jpg CE9141E8-1827-447F-A123-1F7CF231446D.jpg FB565B55-42EE-49C8-BCCA-785CB02DEA9C.jpg B0F6785A-3381-427F-BAB0-DCB77245E13C.jpg 2469587D-5C4C-4120-8E6B-D9253E9EB48A.jpg
 
R

RedRocker

New member
RockingK said:
Thanks, I agree that I would not want to do this again. Where is the best place to purchase Dynatrac and perhaps some new suspension components, and drive lines?
Click to expand...

Hands down Northridge 4x4!

I upgraded to PR 60/60 on my 2007 LS3 JKU this year.
 
Exodus 4x4

Exodus 4x4

New member
RedRocker said:
Hands down Northridge 4x4!

I upgraded to PR 60/60 on my 2007 LS3 JKU this year.
Click to expand...

Welcome to WAL. Maybe next time you’d like to look at the supporting vendors of this forum before making suggestions like this.

By the way everyone, Exodus Jeeps has been a Dynatrac dealer for a while and has a great relationship with them. If you need anything from them please let us know. Thanks


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cozdude

cozdude

Guy with a Red 2-Door
RedRocker said:
Hands down Northridge 4x4!

I upgraded to PR 60/60 on my 2007 LS3 JKU this year.
Click to expand...

If you enjoy a company that jacks up prices and then gives you a “discount” to make it look like your saving money then by all means, use them.
 
cozdude

cozdude

Guy with a Red 2-Door
Exodus Jeeps said:
Welcome to WAL. Maybe next time you’d like to look at the supporting vendors of this forum before making suggestions like this.

By the way everyone, Exodus Jeeps has been a Dynatrac dealer for a while and has a great relationship with them. If you need anything from them please let us know. Thanks


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Click to expand...

Can’t wait to work with you here some point in the near future!
 
RockingK

RockingK

New member
Finally a driver

Well now that the holidays passed, I got back on “Rocky” and completed the swap Saturday. Thanks to Sacramento Driveline Service of Sacramento shortened and balanced my old drive shafts. Took it out for a quick spin before PSC. 4F6ACBD0-D6E9-4999-A43E-9E144DCBCAB3.jpg DEA9B7A4-5D53-4010-A012-3DE7765564C9.jpg 3F21906E-9F70-44E5-B42F-F5DF2364283B.jpg
 
jesse3638

jesse3638

Hooked
Great build. I too have the same wheels and love them. I just when I purchased mine the aluminum ring was available. Did you purchase used or new? $200 a wheel is a steal.

As for suspension kits go. I'm currently running Full Traction's 3" Long arm. It's bee a solid lift and I have 0 complaints. It's very similar to EVO's Double D long arm lift the big difference are the Joints. Mine has Heims at the Axle end and clevites at the frame side whereas EVO's uses Johnny Joints. Both are bolt on but can be welded on if you prefer and made in the USA. The advantage of both are they use a true 4 link (2 upper and 2 lower control arms) just like the factory. If you suffer a control arm break you can still limp off the trail using the 3 remaining links. The arms you currently have are referred to as radius arms. The upper link attaches to the lower link. If you break the lower link, which may be possible considering your nice new heavy axles and V8 it may be very difficult to get off the trail. You mentioned the possibility of going to coilovers. This being said EVO's use of Johnny Joints are better suited to the flex allowed by them. I was told the clevites on my lift can and will fail fairly often if I go to to coilovers due to the flex. If I ever have a chance to go to them I'll let you know though..haha. Hopefully piginajeep will chime in as he has better knowledge of all this than I do. Hopefully this helps a bit.


Edit: I did the install myself which is pretty labor intensive as a lot of cutting has to be done. I worked on mine in my standard 2 car garage with it lifted as high as I could on jack stands. From start to finish it took me 3.5 weeks (weekends mostly) which included waiting on new part shipments as I was originally shipped some incorrect ones, new front a real driveshafts, draglink flip. It can be done this way but if you have a lift use it as laying on your back under the jeep on moving blankets gets old..haha.
 
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kpig

kpig

Member
That is one badass 2 door. Post some pics of the first wheeling trip with the new axles.
 
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