Just another WJ
- Thread starter MrWilsonWJ
- Start date
Member III
Thanks! Next project should happen in a week or so once the rest of the parts come in. I already have the front leveling spacers which I think will help the nose down look and give a little clearance for the bigger tires. After the lift it had some rake to it, but it went down about a 1/4" more with the bumper and winch. Front sway bar disconnects are already here, just waiting for the IRO adjustable CA's to show up. I'm gonna throw on the Addco rear sway bar tonight so I can give it a test on a trail run this weekend, it will give me a chance to compare the setup to see if added highway stability is worth the trade off of less flex in the rear. But with the addition of front discos it might be a wash in the flex department.
Traveler III
- 770
- First Name
- Sean
- Last Name
- Layne
- Member #
-
22944
- Ham/GMRS Callsign
- KN6IQS
Awesome write up! Thank you for the pics and details! I have an ‘04 GC Limited that I’ve been working on (slowly, but surely). Setting mine up more for overlanding, but I enjoy hitting some trails as well. Your build is very similar to what I want to do, but not having a garage/shop makes it a little more challenging.
I put 4” lift springs on mine last week and an adjustable track bar. Took it for a drive and now have the dreaded death wobble. I’ll be doing adjustable control arms as well very soon lol
Member III
Having the shops and tools at the farm is definitely a luxury when building a rig. My end goal for this build is to have a capable trail rig that is also reliable/comfortable enough to take on multi day trips, basically a 50/50 overland, trail rig. Once I get my suspension and rear bumper done I will move onto some of the more overland geared projects.
Member III
When I was shopping lifts I wanted to stay at 3" because it didn't require adj. CA's, but now with the bigger tires I want to try pushing the front axle forward some. hopefully I can do it easy enough and the the new Ca's will also allow my to adjust the caster once I put in the leveling spacers.
Traveler III
- 770
- First Name
- Sean
- Last Name
- Layne
- Member #
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22944
- Ham/GMRS Callsign
- KN6IQS
I have the 4inch Rough Country lift kit (short arm) and struggled with death wobble in the beginning. I have found that my WJ is very finicky when it comes to alignment. If it gets the slightest out of alignment, it‘ll start having tantrums. The other issue I have been experiencing is that it eats tie rod boots like crazy - doesn’t damage the joints so much, just the boots. I have tried different brands of tie rod ends with no luck, and now I’m trying aftermarket boot replacements. Next step is to switch to Johnny joints.
Traveler III
- 770
- First Name
- Sean
- Last Name
- Layne
- Member #
-
22944
- Ham/GMRS Callsign
- KN6IQS
Also, with the adjustable CA’s you can fix the pinion angle on your front drive line. My lift kit only came with adjustable lowers, but I’m adding adjustable uppers for that reason. BleepinJeep has good YouTube video about it.
Member III
Been a while but latest up date is I got some suspension work done on the front end. Added new adjustable upper and lower CA's from Iron Rock Offroad, 3/4" leveling spacers, Rubicon express quick disconnects and some bushings. My reasoning for the the CA's was two fold, push the axle ahead for more clearance after moving up to 33's and adjust the caster angle. I didn't really want to run leveling spacers but after the bumper and winch I was suffering from some nose sag. And the Discos were just for fun.
The CA's went on easy enough and seem plenty stout, I went with the ones that have rubber bushing as opposed to the johnny joints. The rubber provides better insulation against vibration and jarring hits on rough terrain and since this isn't a full on trail rig I went for better ride quality over flex (for now). When installing them I just took a guess at where I wanted to be for length and went with 1" over stock length top and bottom. Turns out 1" might be a little too much, I now have plenty of clearance at the rear of the fender but rubbing in the front when disconnected at full lock. The front of the diff cover is also mighty close to contacting the track bar when flexed hard. My plan is to pull them back 1/2" then recheck and adjust again if needed. I set my caster at about 5.5 degrees and it seems to help with road manners, I was excited to get the parts installed and forgot to check what caster was before.
I ordered all my parts from Kolak, he suggested the Rubicon Express discos telling me they are the exact same as the JKS but cheaper so who was I to argue with saving some money. Again with these I went 1" over stock length trying to get the sway bar back closer to original angle. Now with the front disconnected it flexes great and I think once I play with adjusting the CA's the 33's will be awesome. I will however need to add some bump stop extensions, but I'll have to get the CA's dialed in first then hopefully only need 2-3" of extension. As for the rear sway bar I'm on the fence if I will keep the Addco HD on it or go back to the stock or come up with some type of disconnect for it. If you look at the above picture you can see how far from the fender the rear tire is, with the stock bar it would tuck the tire about an inch into the fender which is a difference of at least 3". The addco really helps to tighten up the handling on the highway, but I'm not sure how much of that was due to too little caster before. I might throw the stock sway bar on sometime to see what it does with the caster back in spec, but for now I will just get the CA's dialed in and run disconnected which will be fine for most of what I'll be doing.
The CA's went on easy enough and seem plenty stout, I went with the ones that have rubber bushing as opposed to the johnny joints. The rubber provides better insulation against vibration and jarring hits on rough terrain and since this isn't a full on trail rig I went for better ride quality over flex (for now). When installing them I just took a guess at where I wanted to be for length and went with 1" over stock length top and bottom. Turns out 1" might be a little too much, I now have plenty of clearance at the rear of the fender but rubbing in the front when disconnected at full lock. The front of the diff cover is also mighty close to contacting the track bar when flexed hard. My plan is to pull them back 1/2" then recheck and adjust again if needed. I set my caster at about 5.5 degrees and it seems to help with road manners, I was excited to get the parts installed and forgot to check what caster was before.
I ordered all my parts from Kolak, he suggested the Rubicon Express discos telling me they are the exact same as the JKS but cheaper so who was I to argue with saving some money. Again with these I went 1" over stock length trying to get the sway bar back closer to original angle. Now with the front disconnected it flexes great and I think once I play with adjusting the CA's the 33's will be awesome. I will however need to add some bump stop extensions, but I'll have to get the CA's dialed in first then hopefully only need 2-3" of extension. As for the rear sway bar I'm on the fence if I will keep the Addco HD on it or go back to the stock or come up with some type of disconnect for it. If you look at the above picture you can see how far from the fender the rear tire is, with the stock bar it would tuck the tire about an inch into the fender which is a difference of at least 3". The addco really helps to tighten up the handling on the highway, but I'm not sure how much of that was due to too little caster before. I might throw the stock sway bar on sometime to see what it does with the caster back in spec, but for now I will just get the CA's dialed in and run disconnected which will be fine for most of what I'll be doing.
Advocate III
- 5,584
- First Name
- Michael
- Last Name
- Rose
- Member #
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20990
- Ham/GMRS Callsign
- W7FSB
- Service Branch
- US ARMY Retired
Member III
I have to stick around the farm this afternoon and be here Tomorrow but don't really have much to do so I'm gonna try to knock out a quick tire carrier swing out. Won't be anything special or too nice but something to get the tire off the roof until I build a rear bumper
Member III
That's as far as I got today, doesn't look like much but there is more under the bumper skin. That will be the mount for the hinge and lock. Just need to build the swing arm tomorrow, I'll probably add some type of mount for a high lift and a place to put water/gas can.
Advocate I
Great progress on the rig overall. I love the overall stance, height and tire-size on the rig. I went a bit crazier, but seeing yours makes me go "hmmmmm, maybe I shouldn't have." Love the front bumper too... once I break-down and decide my bumper-trim + HK Offroad hidden winch mount aren't enough, I think that's the one I want.
-TJ
-TJ
Member III
Thank you. What you're currently doing with yours is the end goal... don't know if I'll go as far with the suspension and axle mods but 6" and 35's was what I've wanted since I started this project. But now that I'm getting things more dialed in I might be happy with 4" long arm and 33's, I guess time will tell. I'll be running it this way for at least another year or 2, what I do with it in that time will dictate what direction I go with the next lift.
Member III
I still need to finish welding and do a few other things, but this is what I got so far.
Member III
Got a little more done last night, just need to add the finish stuff and paint and it's ready to go!
Advocate I
That is so bitchen. I really need some sort of fuel solution built into my bumper too... hmmm....
-TJ
Member III
Thank you, it will also fit one of those 5 gal cube water containers if I don't need to bring fuel along. I did kind of screw up though, I should have put the hinge and tire on the drivers side so I could still kind of see out the back window.
Enthusiast III
Thanks for all the details! I have a 4" lift from IRO with long arms and I am going to need to do some trimming around the fenders and bumpers as well. So I will probably do something similar to what you did. I also really like how you mounted the antenna for your CB.
Member III
No problem, I really want a long arm lift but for my current set up the short arms are doing the job and what I have now was pretty cheap. What size tire are you running with the 4" lift?
