k frame drop braket

Quicksilversurf917 · **Posted:** Mon Apr 13, 2009 8:10 pm

That is really really scary

wolfman1722 · **Posted:** Mon Apr 13, 2009 8:55 pm

so how have people built their 2 inch drop for the k-fram and trans

wolfman1722 · **Posted:** Mon Apr 13, 2009 9:25 pm

basical im currently sitting at about 5 inches over stock i need to drop the k frame 2 inches to avoid cutting my cv axles. im talking to marlin about buying the a-arm drop bracket but the rest im going to build myself can any one give me pointers in what materials ti buld them with, for instance should i use 2 inch square steel tubing with a thick dom wall or should i get a bunch of 1/4 inch or 1/2 inch by 2 inch steel pieces and weld them togeather.

Jack Ryan · **Posted:** Tue Apr 14, 2009 2:42 pm

Quote:

Your killing your rear driveline angles without dropping the trans/t-case mount the same as the cradle and will damage your t-case,driveshaft,and rear end since you are now pointing the rear t-case output up and creating more extreme angle that the u-joints will not like for very long.Oh and when you drop the cradle you automatically drop the rack&pinion steering gear since it is bolted to the cradle.Just remember also that any lift(and lift gained by larger tires) is 100% lost with a cradle drop,so basically kinda pointless and to much hassle to deal with all the problems inherent to doing a cradle drop.

Got pics of your KJ? It's odd that myself and a few others live in the springs and have never seen you yet,besides the one failed RK lifted KJ never seen one lifted any higher then a Frankinlifted KJ.

Thanks for the welcome.
I'll post some pics on my next few days off. I work an extremely odd schedule. I do plan to drop my trans crossmember 1/2 to 3/4 inches, but have not had time to yet. I lifted the Jeep in the last month. No drive line vibes as of yet. I'm sitting on 265/75/16 BFG all terrains with 1 1/4 wheel spacers on all 4 coners with stock rims.

I understand the fact that the rack and pinion drops with the crade, but how much cradle drop can you have without having steering shaft issues, if any?

The point of the lift with the cradle drop was to fit the tires in the wheel wells better. Pinch weld pounded and a little trimming with very little rub. I took the concept of what Jeepin al did with KJ several years ago before he sold the company to marlin. I have OME springs and struts with a Tera Flex 2 inch kit on top. I got about 4.5 to 5 inches of lift and needed to reduce the shaft angles a bit (it's not rocket science to figure that one out).

I bought some rails from Rock Lizard a few months ago and live fairly close to him. The Jeep isn't trail ready yet because I'm still playing with the lift and the possiblilty of simply taking the Tera flex kit off.

tommudd · **Posted:** Tue Apr 14, 2009 3:11 pm

Jack Ryan wrote:

Quote:

Your killing your rear driveline angles without dropping the trans/t-case mount the same as the cradle and will damage your t-case,driveshaft,and rear end since you are now pointing the rear t-case output up and creating more extreme angle that the u-joints will not like for very long.Oh and when you drop the cradle you automatically drop the rack&pinion steering gear since it is bolted to the cradle.Just remember also that any lift(and lift gained by larger tires) is 100% lost with a cradle drop,so basically kinda pointless and to much hassle to deal with all the problems inherent to doing a cradle drop.

Got pics of your KJ? It's odd that myself and a few others live in the springs and have never seen you yet,besides the one failed RK lifted KJ never seen one lifted any higher then a Frankinlifted KJ.

Thanks for the welcome.
I'll post some pics on my next few days off. I work an extremely odd schedule. I do plan to drop my trans crossmember 1/2 to 3/4 inches, but have not had time to yet. I lifted the Jeep in the last month. No drive line vibes as of yet. I'm sitting on 265/75/16 BFG all terrains with 1 1/4 wheel spacers on all 4 coners with stock rims.

I understand the fact that the rack and pinion drops with the crade, but how much cradle drop can you have without having steering shaft issues, if any?

The point of the lift with the cradle drop was to fit the tires in the wheel wells better. Pinch weld pounded and a little trimming with very little rub. I took the concept of what Jeepin al did with KJ several years ago before he sold the company to marlin. I have OME springs and struts with a Tera Flex 2 inch kit on top. I got about 4.5 to 5 inches of lift and needed to reduce the shaft angles a bit (it's not rocket science to figure that one out).

I bought some rails from Rock Lizard a few months ago and live fairly close to him. The Jeep isn't trail ready yet because I'm still playing with the lift and the possiblilty of simply taking the Tera flex kit off.

yes pictures soon of the suspension, not sure how you can stuff all of that in there and still have the suspension work any at all. Don't go into a lot of detail I have had mine apart 25 times at least using different setups and see no way to have a liveable everyday driver with that much lift. What upper arms are you using also?

Jack Ryan · **Posted:** Tue Apr 14, 2009 6:01 pm

I'm using JBA's 4.5 gen arms. I'm hoping to hit a small trail tomorrow and get some good pics. I'll post back then.

Jack Ryan · **Posted:** Wed Apr 15, 2009 6:26 pm

KJ in front of the house

Right front tire

Close up of right A arm and strut/spacer assembly. I will change out the Tera Flex 2 inch bump stops for stock again because the A arm sits so high.

Left CV axle

On a dirt road just for fun

Front tire on a rock. The Right tire would have been stuffed in the wheel well more but I still have the Tera Flex 2 inch bump stops installed and it was hitting the stop here

Rear corner view

Rear

Left rear tire

Corner shot

Near a trail head

On a slight incline

So far the lift setup has been working well. I have to install some isolators in the rear to level out the lift. There are none right now. I have yet to install my new rock rails as well. Diffs are open.

2006 KJ · **Posted:** Wed Apr 15, 2009 7:19 pm

great looking jeep... and i'm really glad to see people thinking out side the box and trying new combo's.. as well as the slight cradle drop. your going to hear very soon that you should keep the big bump stops in the front.. but i've never had a problem with my stockers... thank you for posting pictures! i think a 4-5 inch lift with slight cradle drop would be a great lift for a liberty... a little more flex and a little less headache with CV"s

ramlebliberty · **Posted:** Wed Apr 15, 2009 8:29 pm

i think a 6" lift with a 2" drop to keep everything up front sane, long arms in the rear for maximum rear flex, lower the uca also and gain a few inches of front travel, a coilover shock attached from the unibody to lca to avoid hitting the half shafts, and a 5.7l hemi :lol:

that would be the optimal kj ifs setup

Guest · **Posted:** Wed Apr 15, 2009 8:38 pm

ramlebliberty wrote:

i think a 6" lift with a 2" drop to keep everything up front sane, long arms in the rear for maximum rear flex, lower the uca also and gain a few inches of front travel, a coilover shock attached from the unibody to lca to avoid hitting the half shafts, and a 5.7l hemi :lol:

that would be the optimal kj ifs setup

except for a couple of things that sounds like the jba 6" lift.

rescu2000 · **Posted:** Wed Apr 15, 2009 9:08 pm

Oops. Post went into the wrong topic.

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Wed Apr 15, 2009 9:11 pm

rescu2000 wrote:

I have one more question, on the D30 strength. If they make a kit to strengthen the D30, wouldn't that be better than a beefier axle? The reason I am saying that is that you would get the best of both worlds. The small pumpkin (and better ground clearance) of the d30 and the axle tube strength of a beefier axle. Are internal component failures an issue?

Poeple have asked about a cast steel/iron D30A housing,looked into it and unless 10,000 buyers are there it would not be cost effective,about $35,000-$50,000 alone for the mold/prototype.

Jack Ryan · **Posted:** Thu Apr 16, 2009 12:24 pm

Quote:

great looking jeep... and i'm really glad to see people thinking out side the box and trying new combo's.. as well as the slight cradle drop. your going to hear very soon that you should keep the big bump stops in the front.. but i've never had a problem with my stockers... thank you for posting pictures! i think a 4-5 inch lift with slight cradle drop would be a great lift for a liberty... a little more flex and a little less headache with CV"s

Thanks for the compliment!
I understand the reason for keeping the larger bump stops with the Tera flex spacers. I would keep them if my A arm were a little lower.
The A-arm spacer I'm using (not really road ready yet) has my a arm sitting an inch or two higher than I would prefer. If the arm were lower then it would cause too much spring compression and need the extended stop at full articulation. Now it doesn't come close because of where the arm is.

wolfman1722 · **Posted:** Thu Apr 16, 2009 2:38 pm

can we see som pics of the arm spacer and the cradle drop also ild like to see your rear susp setup

Jack Ryan · **Posted:** Thu Apr 16, 2009 7:04 pm

I'll gladly post some pics but it may take a few days. I'm looking at a darkening Colorado Springs sky as we wait for a snow/rain/hail/cold type storm. I don't have a garage so the weather dictates my time.

For the rear suspension I have OME heavy duty springs and the 2 inch Tera Flex spacer. Nothing fancy. I also need to install my JBA rear tri link extender, the isolators I mentioned earlier, and extended brake lines. I installed rancho shocks too. I don't remember the exact model number, but they are in the RS9000X adjustable line. They are longer than the standard recommended length from frankenlift (model 17004) that rancho has which is 24 inches. These are 26. TJKJ2002 is right (as he often is) when he says that a cradle drop does not do your ground clearance justice, but I think that the setup that I have allows more rear droop than just the OME springs because the 2 inch spacer allows the 26 inch shock to fully extend without the spring falling out. It would have in one of the above pics if I didn't have the spacer.

For the front bracket it is intended as more of a mock up piece as it is made from a heavy bracket that I found at home depot and drilled some holes in to fit. My intent with it is to make sure alignment specs are liveable and that the height works. I have a friend at a local college who can fab up a real world design when some positive specs are available (unless someone here wants to assist).

If you are thinking of a cradle drop check out these posts from KJhawaii and Jeepin Al in 2006. There are some important points to consider. Jeepin al did some great foundational work for us. That's the reason his A-arms are all over the place. In his design he moved where the arms were mounted instead of using a bracket.

Let me know if you have any other questions besides pics.

Ryan

http://www.lostjeeps.com/forum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=12755&highlight=kjhawaii

http://www.lostjeeps.com/forum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=7890&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

http://www.lostjeeps.com/forum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=12513&highlight=kjhawaii

wolfman1722 · **Posted:** Sun Apr 19, 2009 1:03 pm

i was reading some old posts by jeepin al and he was talking about using grand cherokee knuckels because they are the same but an inch taller i talked to my local junkyard they said 125 a piece maybe ill go for 5 inches of lift and a one inch cradle drop and cut my cv axles

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Sun Apr 19, 2009 8:17 pm

wolfman1722 wrote:

i was reading some old posts by jeepin al and he was talking about using grand cherokee knuckels because they are the same but an inch taller i talked to my local junkyard they said 125 a piece maybe ill go for 5 inches of lift and a one inch cradle drop and cut my cv axles

Grands have the LBJ inverted compared to the KJ,will not work.

wolfman1722 · **Posted:** Tue Apr 21, 2009 8:09 pm

darn hoping that was going to work guess ill just have to figure some thing else out

wolfman1722 · **Posted:** Wed May 27, 2009 12:15 pm

did you ever take those pics of your susp and drop braket

k frame drop braket

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