Yj Front End Clearancing

[NAILER341]

well, i have begun this front end clearancing project. i made a couple of spring plates to get all of the stock junk out of the rocks. i decided to keep the same spring under configuration, and make some "buckets out of 1/4" steel. these will cradle the underside of the spring, and come down under the spring only the 1/4" thickness of the "bucket".

i also will be relocating the the shocks to the center of the axle tube. in order to raise the bottom of the shocks, i have to raise the tops. currently, i have the 12" rancho 5000 shocks with the pin mount at the top. those will be changed out to some other shocks with the bolt mount on both ends. [looking into the fox shox]

the pictures below will show the cutting of the existing shock mounts from the frame. for this i used my 4.5" grinder, and a new, "cool guy" air hammer. [this thing is great] i dont know how i have gone on so long without one.
the shock mounts are a ford part, and look like they will work great for my application. these are also the parts that are used on the tj rear shock relocation mod.


i'll get some pictures of the spring buckets,and post them soon.
thanks to everyone that helped on the ideas, and fabbing of these parts. :yay:

[NAILER341]

here are some pictures of the high clearance spring "buckets". these completely cradle the spring, yet have the bolts high enough out of the way that they should not be hanging up in the rocks. they are made from 1/4" square steel tube, and cut down to the desired width.
thet are gusseted with 3/8" steel plate, and all welded together.




i still have a small bit of fine tuning to get the buckets to sit squarely onto the spring, but this should be no problem.
so far i am very happy with the progress, and the construction of these items.
one other thing i still have to work out is the sway bar mount. i do like to run the sway bar on the road, and dont mind taking the 5 minutes to disconnect, and re connect the sway bar. so i have to make a custom mount to be able to utilize the sway bar.
i'll get more pics as i progress on this thing.

[RatherBeJeeping]

Nice looking finish job on those.

[rick]

Looks nice man! Holy schneikes...what is that, 3/8" C channel?

[NAILER341]

THANKS... it is 1/4" channel, and 3/8" gussets.
now to order up the shocks.
today was building a storage deck in the garage. i have to make some room to work, and set this up a bit more like a shop.

[rick]

I'll have to check those ubolt plates out in person on the next run. I have been thinking about just flipping the ubolts on the front, but after seeing those I think maybe I'll give it a shot - I like that you actually gain more clearance than if you flip ubolts because you don't even have the ubolts on the bottom of the axle, just a 1/4" plate that you can grind into a ramp.

Brian and I were just out cleaning my garage I'm working on the plans for the shed... I need to get a lot of stuff out of my garage before I can call it a shop.

[NAILER341]

i got the first part of the storage area finished. it is 18'x8' and goes across the whole area above the garage door when it is open.
next will be the other side of the garage with a couple of those 2'x4' flourescent lights.
this storage is going to be great! i already got most of the junk up there, and still have a lot of space to fill.
i'll get some pics of it tomorrow.

as far as the hangers go, i think they will work out well. the ford shock mounts look like they will work well too.
i am waiting for the shocks before i weld them on there though.

[aston]

Hey Erik,

Your U bolt plates are bitchin'

Would you ever consider going spring over?

Chris L.

[NAILER341]

thanks, chris.
i am not considering it at this time. i have seen that i flex as well as soa, and have been very happy with the performance of my jeep. i just like to tinker with it. i'll try this out for a while, and see how it works out. but as far as the soa.. it is at the bottom of my list if at all.

[blkTJ]

lookin' good Erik.