Looking around for my video camera....

When this goes down, I want you guys right there with me.

One more day. Then the intro flick/pic and then comes disassembly and parts comparison. I am stoked.

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2004 KJ 3.7 Limited:
IRO WJ Upper Arm -- WJ Rear LCA's -- Rear Driveshaft Spacer -- JBA Upper A Arms -- 4 inch Lift -- 265/75/16 4" B/S -- WasherBottle Relocate -- Custom High Mount Intake -- Carpet Delete -- Homebrew Winch Bumper -- Warn VR8000 -- Homemade Plow -- Pinch Weld POUNDED -- POR 15 inner fenders --

JBA 6" lift uses a 2" cradle drop, which also drops the engine and tranny/transfer 2", id let the motor drop too (check your heater cose hoses), that will keep the CG low. But the mechanical fan runs into promblems. The steering shaft has a weld in it. Mark it, drill it out and then once your done with the drop drill out the shaft and put a bolt thru it (thats what jba has you do)

Im NOT gonna touch the cutting of the CV shafts. But all your saving is busting the upper ball joint out.

Keep us tuned in!!!

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2002 KJ Limited 3.7, 5.25" lift via coilovers, custom HD rear springs, 32.2" tires on moabs (soon 33s) 4.56/JBA diff, OX lockers front/rear, NP241OR, Parker Fab front/rear bumpers, rock rails and roof rack, Viair OBA.

2006 KJ sport 3.7, 4" Ironman lift, 32" tires, Parker Fab front/rear bumpers and rock rails.

Kayak you are a god send!

I will, as you said drill out the weld in my drill press, but I will probably weld it back together, and bolt it (be prepared, defence in depth, etc).

I studied the liberator photos (apologies as I can't remember who posted them, but please credit yourself) in great detail. It has perfectly flat cv angles.

Flat cv angles and big(ish) tires is where I am going. I should end up on 4 inches of lift after all is said and done.

You are bang on with the mechanic fan, but I took care of that already lol, I got pissed of one day and took a saws all to the shroud. It's not going to give me a problem anymore lol!

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2004 KJ 3.7 Limited:
IRO WJ Upper Arm -- WJ Rear LCA's -- Rear Driveshaft Spacer -- JBA Upper A Arms -- 4 inch Lift -- 265/75/16 4" B/S -- WasherBottle Relocate -- Custom High Mount Intake -- Carpet Delete -- Homebrew Winch Bumper -- Warn VR8000 -- Homemade Plow -- Pinch Weld POUNDED -- POR 15 inner fenders --

The liberator used 1 of 2 sets of superlift extended length knuckles.The liberator got crushed and there is still that 2nd set floating around(somewhere) since superlift scraped the whole KJ lift idea.

Correct the liberator used longer knuckles...

But that was before jba upper a arms

Trust me baby. I got this.

_________________
2004 KJ 3.7 Limited:
IRO WJ Upper Arm -- WJ Rear LCA's -- Rear Driveshaft Spacer -- JBA Upper A Arms -- 4 inch Lift -- 265/75/16 4" B/S -- WasherBottle Relocate -- Custom High Mount Intake -- Carpet Delete -- Homebrew Winch Bumper -- Warn VR8000 -- Homemade Plow -- Pinch Weld POUNDED -- POR 15 inner fenders --

Not understanding........oh well..... good luck

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MUDD'S MOTORSPORT'S We do IFS lift installs ,
03 OVERLAND EDITION /Kilby-Skidrow-Mopar-4XGuard skids/ 2.5 inch TOTAL CONTROL JBA coilovers -JBA Arms/MOABS-31 FALKEN WILDPEAK AT3W / 4.10's etc, 04 Kilimanjaro Edition loaded, plus 05 KJ limited

The liberator used stock upper a arms, hence the need for longer knuckles.

Jba upper a arms are designed to lower the position of the ball joint while correcting the angle. It shouldn't be too hard to fab up a spacer.

But, I may not have to. I will find out and so will you guys.

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2004 KJ 3.7 Limited:
IRO WJ Upper Arm -- WJ Rear LCA's -- Rear Driveshaft Spacer -- JBA Upper A Arms -- 4 inch Lift -- 265/75/16 4" B/S -- WasherBottle Relocate -- Custom High Mount Intake -- Carpet Delete -- Homebrew Winch Bumper -- Warn VR8000 -- Homemade Plow -- Pinch Weld POUNDED -- POR 15 inner fenders --

Not the only reason but oh well.............

_________________
MUDD'S MOTORSPORT'S We do IFS lift installs ,
03 OVERLAND EDITION /Kilby-Skidrow-Mopar-4XGuard skids/ 2.5 inch TOTAL CONTROL JBA coilovers -JBA Arms/MOABS-31 FALKEN WILDPEAK AT3W / 4.10's etc, 04 Kilimanjaro Edition loaded, plus 05 KJ limited

At the very very least. We can learn something.

_________________
2004 KJ 3.7 Limited:
IRO WJ Upper Arm -- WJ Rear LCA's -- Rear Driveshaft Spacer -- JBA Upper A Arms -- 4 inch Lift -- 265/75/16 4" B/S -- WasherBottle Relocate -- Custom High Mount Intake -- Carpet Delete -- Homebrew Winch Bumper -- Warn VR8000 -- Homemade Plow -- Pinch Weld POUNDED -- POR 15 inner fenders --

You WILL need a spacer at 2.5". However much you move the inner pivot points, the outer ends ( ball joints ) need to be moved the same amount. Simple geometry. Troy can address that better than I can. I got around the spacer issue by actually moving my uca mounting location down the EXACT same amount as the cradle drop. The most you can get from that is 1.15". I went exactly 1" . This is not something I would recommend to anyone else. It has been cycled through its travel but not truly tested yet until the rest of the mods are done.

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02 Red KJ Sport,33s,custom fenders,custom roof rack,custom 5" susp, cradle drop,V8 swap
[url=http://www.lostjeeps.com/forum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=68&t=64049]04 KJ, 4" Fox coilovers, Bilstein, 33's, RL front bumper
'05 WK Limited, Hers

can't wait to see how this turns out

_________________
Alec
1987 Jeep XJ
The Build Thread
Chincy 2" lift for now
31x10.50r15s
HPD30 front and D44 rear

JBA's have never been long enough for any cradle drop,there only like 3/8" longer(that is it with a slightly angled balljoint) then stock arms.

Plus JBA's UCA's pre-dated the liberator by 3+ years anyways.

Well, looks like we got us a shitload of work to do.

It so happens that I have various thicknesses of steel tubing. I will post pics of what different cradle drop heights will look like, obviously not with weight on the tires, but def with upper and lower arms attached. Hard to explain, you'll see.


Wrt the jba arms giving 3/8 more room, I read on his site that the 3/8 is represented between the inside radius of the arm and the spring/strut.

My money is on the notion that if you consider the clevis fork a pivot point... Then lowering the cradle will move the knuckle up. By what ratio is anyone's guess.

Intro flick comes out tomorrow. Later afternoon eastern time. Wait for it.

Ryan

_________________
2004 KJ 3.7 Limited:
IRO WJ Upper Arm -- WJ Rear LCA's -- Rear Driveshaft Spacer -- JBA Upper A Arms -- 4 inch Lift -- 265/75/16 4" B/S -- WasherBottle Relocate -- Custom High Mount Intake -- Carpet Delete -- Homebrew Winch Bumper -- Warn VR8000 -- Homemade Plow -- Pinch Weld POUNDED -- POR 15 inner fenders --

Been a bunch of people that have done their own cradle drops over the years
Funny thing is they never worked out and soon sold off their KJs
waiting and watching

_________________
MUDD'S MOTORSPORT'S We do IFS lift installs ,
03 OVERLAND EDITION /Kilby-Skidrow-Mopar-4XGuard skids/ 2.5 inch TOTAL CONTROL JBA coilovers -JBA Arms/MOABS-31 FALKEN WILDPEAK AT3W / 4.10's etc, 04 Kilimanjaro Edition loaded, plus 05 KJ limited

When you do a cradle drop the UBJ/knuckle has to be extended, then the steering shaft, then the heater core hoses, then longer brake lines, longer clevis or something, also transmission has to stay in line. Plus alot more variables.

Not saying it cant be done. It can, good example would be the JBA 6" lift. I have installed one and its not easy. Looked good with 305/70r16s but needed some more work to clear them good.

I learned alot off that guys pocketbook, so when i get around to doing my 33s or 34s, It will be done right.

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2002 KJ Limited 3.7, 5.25" lift via coilovers, custom HD rear springs, 32.2" tires on moabs (soon 33s) 4.56/JBA diff, OX lockers front/rear, NP241OR, Parker Fab front/rear bumpers, rock rails and roof rack, Viair OBA.

2006 KJ sport 3.7, 4" Ironman lift, 32" tires, Parker Fab front/rear bumpers and rock rails.

Wow!

Just farted around with auto cad for 2 hours while I waited for the rain to stop.
It turns out, that yes a spacer will in fact be needed. Unless, and this is where it gets ridiculous... (According to cad) ... The amount of cradle drop must exceed the amount of intended lift in order for the lca pivot on the clevis enough to pivot the lbj up, and with it the knuckle.

so, here I was thinking that I was gonna add another 2.5 inches of lift and 2.5 inches of drop, along with the kk diff (which is still happening), and skip the whole ubj spacer. Don get me wrong, I don't mind adding a spacer, but 2.5 inches of spacer??? Let's get real. NO. An inch, maybe, no problem.

I plan on re welding the engine brackets higher up (adding more tube) on the cradle. So hoses, clearances etc, no big deal.

I have two cradles, a kj and a kk, almost identical. (Pics to follow) so I get two tries at this. I would have kk lower arms, but I got over zealous with the torch

Again, first video and the mistakes I made on my kj will be available tonight..

I am stoked for this.

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2004 KJ 3.7 Limited:
IRO WJ Upper Arm -- WJ Rear LCA's -- Rear Driveshaft Spacer -- JBA Upper A Arms -- 4 inch Lift -- 265/75/16 4" B/S -- WasherBottle Relocate -- Custom High Mount Intake -- Carpet Delete -- Homebrew Winch Bumper -- Warn VR8000 -- Homemade Plow -- Pinch Weld POUNDED -- POR 15 inner fenders --

Here are the pics I promised.

all of these pics are pre project start


under the pass front.


front angle shot


drivers front


trying to be accurate


the results


front side profile 265/75/16


rear

and misc goodies (cause I am getting tired of captioning everything)



video is still uploading ...........

_________________
2004 KJ 3.7 Limited:
IRO WJ Upper Arm -- WJ Rear LCA's -- Rear Driveshaft Spacer -- JBA Upper A Arms -- 4 inch Lift -- 265/75/16 4" B/S -- WasherBottle Relocate -- Custom High Mount Intake -- Carpet Delete -- Homebrew Winch Bumper -- Warn VR8000 -- Homemade Plow -- Pinch Weld POUNDED -- POR 15 inner fenders --

_________________
2004 KJ 3.7 Limited:
IRO WJ Upper Arm -- WJ Rear LCA's -- Rear Driveshaft Spacer -- JBA Upper A Arms -- 4 inch Lift -- 265/75/16 4" B/S -- WasherBottle Relocate -- Custom High Mount Intake -- Carpet Delete -- Homebrew Winch Bumper -- Warn VR8000 -- Homemade Plow -- Pinch Weld POUNDED -- POR 15 inner fenders --

Nice video....

_________________
2002 KJ Limited 3.7, 5.25" lift via coilovers, custom HD rear springs, 32.2" tires on moabs (soon 33s) 4.56/JBA diff, OX lockers front/rear, NP241OR, Parker Fab front/rear bumpers, rock rails and roof rack, Viair OBA.

2006 KJ sport 3.7, 4" Ironman lift, 32" tires, Parker Fab front/rear bumpers and rock rails.

thanks. been plugging away in cad all day.

_________________
2004 KJ 3.7 Limited:
IRO WJ Upper Arm -- WJ Rear LCA's -- Rear Driveshaft Spacer -- JBA Upper A Arms -- 4 inch Lift -- 265/75/16 4" B/S -- WasherBottle Relocate -- Custom High Mount Intake -- Carpet Delete -- Homebrew Winch Bumper -- Warn VR8000 -- Homemade Plow -- Pinch Weld POUNDED -- POR 15 inner fenders --