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Jeep wrangler build


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Moving a little slowly by my standards too, crack on. :D;)

Too many irons in the fire Al, I've been busy refitting the workshops at work for the last few weeks.

I've got a bit done today though, I've made some bushes to convert the 1/2" rose joints in the fox shocks to 10mm bolts, these push in from each side and act as miss-alaignment spacers as well.

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I really struggled to mount the shocks directly central in the kingpin.

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This wasn't ideal as the moving the steering lock to lock was lifting and lowering the shock mounting point, So i had to make some more spacers and mount the bolts the other way round,

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Next i put the problem of the bump stops to bed, I really couldn't find anything suitable so i made them to suit rangerover front bumpstops, i might cut the rubbers down a little as i've mounted the plates so full bump is metal on metal with rubbers just restricting travel.

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And on the o/s i plated the bumpstop mounting into the panhard rod mount, typically it looked good just tacked in place, so i fully welded it up, now i think i might cut it back out.

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We have some obsolete hydraulic ones at work that use the same principal, they do two bends at once using a wide centre tool with a wiper that follows the bend around. Done millions of bends in their time. Good machines in their day :)

We also have an obsolete one of these but we only have tooling upto 3/4" :( I think we pinched a drive out of it for another machine too :( :(

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Dan, why is it important to mount the dampers centrally over the king pins?

Also, can anyone explain the advantages and disadvantages of a piston type bump stop compared to a traditional rubber/polyurethane block?

Thanks

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Also, can anyone explain the advantages and disadvantages of a piston type bump stop compared to a traditional rubber/polyurethane block?

Thanks

The piston type offer a gradual stop, rather that a "bump" I would Imagen its a bit softer on the joints when you have a heavy bottom out.

They cost quite a bit more than a traditional one's and is more complicated, so more to go wrong.

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The piston type offer a gradual stop, rather that a "bump" I would Imagen its a bit softer on the joints when you have a heavy bottom out.

They cost quite a bit more than a traditional one's and is more complicated, so more to go wrong.

Nail on the head, they help to reduce chassis/axle/link stress and fatigue.

They are however awfully expensive for the simple job they do. IMHO only people that have lots of dosh and need a bling factor use them!

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Dan, why is it important to mount the dampers centrally over the king pins?

Also, can anyone explain the advantages and disadvantages of a piston type bump stop compared to a traditional rubber/polyurethane block?

Thanks

Welcome back Lewis,

I want to direct the load from the damper as directly into the swivel housing as possible, and it should make the steering really light as well.

having it mounted offset as in my mock up would probably have led to all manor of issues

There are advantages and disadvantages to each bump stop type,

piston type allow for a progressive, adjustable stop that has a degree of tuneablity, but they aren't cheap and the way most are mounted with the bump can cut half through the outer wall of the chassis I think is a recipe for a cracked chassis,

The stock landy rubbers mounted as I have are low budget, low tech easy solution. I really would have liked to have used a progressive rubber bumpstop off the front of a tlc80 or Nissan terranno rears are nice, but ultimately the rover ones required less time to fit them in the correct place,

A lot of the japs and merc use very large progressive bumpstops inside the front springs often with little or no bump travel at ride height, something that I think plays to their advantage quite often.

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Welcome back Lewis,

I want to direct the load from the damper as directly into the swivel housing as possible, and it should make the steering really light as well.

What difference (in steering weight/difficulty) would you get from mounting the dampers to the top of the axle tube? Or is the jeep chassis wide enough to prevent this?

Will you use a ball joint or other joint at the bottom of the damper to releive the twist as you steer or will the rotation of the damper tube be sufficient? I forget what dampers you intend to use but it strikes me that this rotation in the lower mount could cause some noise if using a coilover, whilst an AirShock would be fine.

Mid 2000's air sprung merc S class used vertical ball joints as the lower damper mount

If not using a joint to allow for rotation I assume you will use a spherical bearing in the lower mount eye? I imagine a rubber or eurethane bush wouldn't last long

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Okay fair enough, I've just read that thread, and the airshox will presumeably cope better with the turning effect than traditional coilovers, but it doesn't "feel" right :-) I'd still prefer to mount it on a ball joint like the merc I mentioned

I wonder what effect, if any, the turning effect will have on the seals of the airshox

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Okay fair enough, I've just read that thread, and the airshox will presumeably cope better with the turning effect than traditional coilovers, but it doesn't "feel" right :-) I'd still prefer to mount it on a ball joint like the merc I mentioned

I wonder what effect, if any, the turning effect will have on the seals of the airshox

I agree it feels "odd" but it is no difference really to a macphearson strut.

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Air or hydro bumps are just small emulsion air shocks, that can be used to give you a position sensitive area of the axle travel.

When using them you still feel the bumps but set-up right they really take the hits and hard landing out. It means you can go a lot faster over rough ground, and small jumps feel like driving over sleeping police men.

With an air shock you also get a progressive force through out the range of its travel ie the closer they get to full bump the more force they push back with, you should be able to set them up to help a lot in cushioning the bumps.

Are the shocks 14" ?

Purely out of interest what's your compression/rebound travel going to be 50/50 ?

I also don't think the turning effect will make any difference to the seals, as that movement is very small compare to what they cope with in the full range of travel.

Plus being a re-buildable mono tube shock the seals are service items and easy to replace.

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Are the shocks 14" ?

Purely out of interest what's your compression/rebound travel going to be 50/50 ?

They are 14"s,

I am building with very little bump travel, at ride height there is 5" between the bumpstop mounting plate and the axle case, with 1" of shaft still showing on the fox's, with the rubber bumpstops bolted in there is just under 3" of bump and 8" droop. Straight droop will be limited to around 10" from full bump.

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