Front wheel travel....

durangotang · **Posted:** Sun Apr 27, 2008 4:02 pm

I have had some time at work and was trying to take a look at some suspension components on our KJ's.

My question to toss out there for everyone are our front coilovers. After taking a closer look at this setup I saw some potential to really get some quality suspension parts in there. Here's what I am looking at:

- the top mounts on the front are nowhere near hood height. Larger shock hoops could be fabricated if the battery was relocated into the vehicle and the airbox was replaced with a CAI or smaller replacement box (of course some other stuff would have to moved around as well). If hoops were fabricated you could increase your shock length by approximately 8". This, in itself, isn't a benefit because our KJ's can't fit 8 more inches of travel in their current configuration. This would, however, let us run coilovers that have longer bodies and are highly adjustable with dual-rate springs.

- the bottom mount is the big problem that I see. Anyone know of a way that a standard coilover mount could be adapted to fit out clevis? Any solutions that people might be able to think of regarding getting around the CV shaft?

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Sun Apr 27, 2008 7:03 pm

Quote:

the bottom mount is the big problem that I see. Anyone know of a way that a standard coilover mount could be adapted to fit out clevis? Any solutions that people might be able to think of regarding getting around the CV shaft?

Gdet rid of it all together and put a solid front axle in :wink:

.

Novel ideal but but our CV's can only take so much travel anyways,a locker helps for the lack of travel.

tommudd · **Posted:** Sun Apr 27, 2008 7:16 pm

Or you could use all of those ideas on a .......2 wheel drive,

no worries about the CVs then. Good ideas durango, would be great if they worked but it just won't :cry:

durangotang · **Posted:** Sun Apr 27, 2008 7:25 pm

Let's ignore the CV angles for a moment... can you think of any way to adapt the clevis fork to a coilover?

tommudd · **Posted:** Sun Apr 27, 2008 7:31 pm

the clevis fork has to stay, no way around that. You could build something else to put in its place but you still need something for the CVs to go through, an opening that is that wide and that tall, no way around it. So from there you can build anything you want to, however long... have them coming up through the hood, but on the bottom what you have is pretty much it!

durangotang · **Posted:** Mon Apr 28, 2008 1:43 pm

I'm not going to give away all of the details just yet... but let's just say that a quick brainstorming session with a coilover manufacturer and the emailing of several CAD files resulted in an adapter to make a coilover fit our clevis fork. I'll keep you updated when I start putting it all together.

tonycrd · **Posted:** Mon Apr 28, 2008 5:28 pm

aah, won't we need another bump stop too?

Fulltimer · **Posted:** Mon Apr 28, 2008 7:57 pm

tonycrd wrote:

aah, won't we need another bump stop too?

Or maybe a bigger checking account! :lol:

Keep thinking outside the box. That is how things get invented.

Terry

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Mon Apr 28, 2008 8:36 pm

That's going to be pricy to get custom coilovers and springs to work on the KJ,they're going to be custom due to having to be really short.Your looking at 8" coil overs,maybe 9".

durangotang · **Posted:** Mon Apr 28, 2008 10:44 pm

Looking at about $400 per wheel plus the price of piecing together the shock hoops and the clevis adapter.... probably $600-$700 per wheel when it's all said and done... dpends on how much I can sweet talk someone with a lathe :lol:

tommudd · **Posted:** Mon Apr 28, 2008 11:48 pm

But in the end how much are you really going to get extra? I can't see that it would be that much more with the limited amount of room that is there

But prove me wrong :wink:

Tom

durangotang · **Posted:** Tue Apr 29, 2008 2:24 am

How much extra? Not much :wink:

It honestly just sounds like a fun way to push things a little bit and get some quality adjustable travel under the KJ.

(plus Troy keeps telling me to just do a SFA so I have to prov him wrong...even though he might be right :lol:

)

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Tue Apr 29, 2008 12:20 pm

durangotang wrote:

How much extra? Not much :wink:

It honestly just sounds like a fun way to push things a little bit and get some quality adjustable travel under the KJ.

(plus Troy keeps telling me to just do a SFA so I have to prov him wrong...even though he might be right :lol:

)

It's a good idea,all except the cutting of the top area where the OEM strut plate goes and weld in a custom hoop.That custom hoop will force you to move the battery,fuses box,and the stock airbox(if still there),plus it will weaken the the unibody since that area is a major component of the unibody.If you keep the upper strut mounting area alone and use a adapter like Wally,ARBSeth,and JJ did to mount the coilover then you are left with having a custom length coilover made,and then finding coils to put in there will be hard(most likely custom made also),even harder to find if you want the dual rate springs.With that all said and done you have not gained much if any more wheel travel then what is available right now, but it would look cool though.