Cougar Buttes 11/12

[DzrtRat]

Firewood.....OK, will do.

[Deepwater]

They are forecasting rain on Saturday. Could be interesting.

Awesome - No dust!

I'll be there if I don't breakdown on Rattlesnake Friday ;-)

Mike

[daniel_buck]

I'm still good to go! Thursday morning I have 1/2 the day off, so I'm going to grind down some of the rear inner fender well and outer lip, I'm rubbing alot back there. If anyone is near LAX/SantaMonica Thursday morning and wants to help or give advice, I'll be here :-) I've never done much grinding before, but it should be fun I have a feeling I might need the extra clearance on this trip, haha!

[curtis]

They are forecasting rain on Saturday. Could be interesting.

CB in the rain is alot of fun. Did it once and couldn't get up Chicken Rock. Gets real slick out there, MORE FUN.

[mkjeepers]

CB in the rain is alot of fun. Did it once and couldn't get up Chicken Rock. Gets real slick out there, MORE FUN.

You're right Curtis, it could be "more fun". I may have to re-think the route a little though.
You know Daniel, most of the guys just let the rocks out there grind down their flairs.

[daniel_buck]

not talking about the flares, I've already cut them (I'll probably leave the rear flares off for this trip anyway, since I don't know how much time I'll have) I'm talking about the tire rubbing the inside metal fender well, and the sheet metal opening of the fender well where the flare bolts to. That's what I want to cut/grind/pound. It gave me alot of rubbing last weekend at Last Chance Canyon.

[curtis]

Daniel I would look at adjusting the control arms before I would grind.

[daniel_buck]

it rubs on both the front and the back of the wheel well, probably a little bit more on the rear side of the wheel well arch, but it's definitely both sides. What I really need to do I guess is extend the bump stops a bit. I do not know if I was hitting the bump stops or not, but it was rubbing for sure. And maybe shorten the lower control arms just a bit? I do have adjustable JJs in the rear.

The grinding alone will just be temporary for this weekend (since I didn't realize i was rubbing until last saturday, first real trail with the new 35s) long term plan is to adjust the bumpstops a little (if I have to) and do better clearance work in the back, and adjust the control arms if they need to be. At least that's the plan anyway. Maybe I can get someone on here to help me out with that sometime

Totally open to suggestions though!

[curtis]

It looks like your just rubbing on the plastic wheel well liner. Just take them out, and your good to go.

[daniel_buck]

It looks like your just rubbing on the plastic wheel well liner. Just take them out, and your good to go.

Yup, I already took out one side to see whats under there this morning, but the lip of the wheel arch (the sheet metal on the side of the body) is still going to be rubbing front and rear, since removing the inner fender well liner doesn't affect the sheet metal edge. so that's the main part I'm going to address. And there's also a bit of metal that is almost flush with that on the forward side of the wheel well, some rectangular channel that I'm going to grind down a bit.

It's a little hard to see in those photos, but the actual sheet metal of the arch is rubbing as well (well, the plastic fender flare lip that covers it is rubbing, but it's only a few MM thick). I'll trim the sheet metal before this weekends trip (thursday morning) and then after the trip I'll trim the flares to match and then bolt them back on. (don't want to attract to much police attention with no flares)

Someone on JeepForum posted a PDF from AEV that details this fairly well for 35" tires (the instructions for their highlining setup I guess), so I'm going to follow what that suggests as a starting point.

page 10 shows the sheet metal arch, and page 11 shows the rectangular channel that sticks out http://www.aev-conversions.com/pdf/i...structions.pdf

According to their PDF 35s should only rub in the rear of the arch, but mine is apparently hitting both the front and the rear (probably because I don't have enough bumpstop)


At least, that's what appears to be going on, haha! I wasn't really even thinking about all this until this weekend.

[curtis]

Do you have a 1" body lift?

[daniel_buck]

yes, I do. 2" spring lift, and 1.25" body/motor lift

[aw12345]

You need to find some 3 to 4" lift springs and call it good. Extending the bumpstops is a stop gap fix since you are taking up travel away.
In the long run more wheel travel is the goal, keeps it from getting tippy. 4" lift, 35" tires can make for a pretty darn nice wheelin Jeep

[daniel_buck]

Yea, eventually I want to go with 3" springs, but I need to make sure that I can still fit in the parking structures at work. (the jeep is my only vehicle). Right now I have a little more than an inch in some places before I hit low hanging pipes and such. I'm just worried that some 3" springs may be a bit more than 3", or that maybe my 2" springs aren't quite 2". I have no clue. I have a good several inches of clearance in my garage at home, but not so much at work.

But you are right about keeping as much travel as possible, which is why I want to start trimming things before I bumpstop the heck out of it, haha! So far with the trails I've been on, i think I've had enough flex to not lift a tire in most cases, but I want to start stepping up the trails that I'm hitting. :-D

[curtis]

Before you go grinding on it , let the guys at CB this weekend look at it and give you some advice.