More travel for cheap?

[jeremyswrangler]

Hello, I plan on trying to get more travel/articulation out of the front axle on my TJ . First thing is longer brake lines and then Home Depot special quick disconnects. I'm hoping this will be about all I need to do. Any comments or advice will be greatly appreciated!!! Thanks:D

[Crawldit]

With the sway bar disconnected the one thing that may still limit your front articulation is the shocks. Make sure that they are long enough that they aren't getting maxed out at full flex. You should probably also make sure that your bumpstops are the right length

[jeremyswrangler]

okay thank you!

[Offroader5]

Your brake lines will most likely do nothing in terms of giving you more travel, cause if they were the limiting factor now, you'd probably have already pulled them apart. The sway bar disconnect is definitely a good place to start. I'm not positive on how the coil spring is captured on a TJ. If it has a capture (mount/clamp) on the top AND bottom, then your travel will be affected because once the coil is stretched to it's limit, you won't get any additional down travel. A fix for that is to have your coil clamped in/captured at the bottom only so it will let the top float when it needs to.

On the shocks....get a shock that's long enough so that when sitting static (flat ground), the shock only has a couple inches of shaft showing. This will be your available uptravel. Then extend your bumpstops far enough so it only uses that much uptravel and doesn't bottom out the shock. This will give you the max amount of down travel with whatever lift height your running. As an example, I'm running 14" travel Bilsteins on the front of mine with only about 3" of shaft showing at static ride height. That gives the most possible down travel and is way more than adequate since the top of the coil comes unseated at the top "horn" more than 4 inches.

[trailrunner58]

I have a set of disconnects in the garage you han have cheap. They are in great shape. they came with my lift when I got it. I switched them out for the JKS.

[xFallen]

Your brake lines will most likely do nothing in terms of giving you more travel, cause if they were the limiting factor now, you'd probably have already pulled them apart. The sway bar disconnect is definitely a good place to start. I'm not positive on how the coil spring is captured on a TJ. If it has a capture (mount/clamp) on the top AND bottom, then your travel will be affected because once the coil is stretched to it's limit, you won't get any additional down travel. A fix for that is to have your coil clamped in/captured at the bottom only so it will let the top float when it needs to.

On the shocks....get a shock that's long enough so that when sitting static (flat ground), the shock only has a couple inches of shaft showing. This will be your available uptravel. Then extend your bumpstops far enough so it only uses that much uptravel and doesn't bottom out the shock. This will give you the max amount of down travel with whatever lift height your running. As an example, I'm running 14" travel Bilsteins on the front of mine with only about 3" of shaft showing at static ride height. That gives the most possible down travel and is way more than adequate since the top of the coil comes unseated at the top "horn" more than 4 inches.


On a TJ the driver side is usually captured at the bottom with a clip. The passenger side is usually not captured at all.

Coil springs are not designed to stretch and therefore should not be captured at both ends unless there is some mechanism in place to preclude them being stretched.


Barry

[Y2K-XJ]

Ive got a set of JKS Bar pin Eliminators for the front.
They add aprox 1/2" of length to the shocks..

Let me know, I will let them go for pretty cheap
They are BRAND NEW IN THE BOX, Never used. (PM me if your interested)

I went with bilsteins:D and they had real good bar pins on them already (the stock ones are JUNK)......

On my XJ both right and left springs are "clamp" captured on the BOTTOM only.
Im sure TJ's are exactly the same...

Actually I cant think of any vehicle that springs are captured on Top and Bottom?

[Offroader5]

Ive got a set of JKS Bar pin Eliminators for the front.
They add aprox 1/2" of length to the shocks..

Let me know, I will let them go for pretty cheap
They are BRAND NEW IN THE BOX, Never used. (PM me if your interested)

I went with bilsteins:D and they had real good bar pins on them already (the stock ones are JUNK)......

On my XJ both right and left springs are "clamp" captured on the BOTTOM only.
Im sure TJ's are exactly the same...

Actually I cant think of any vehicle that springs are captured on Top and Bottom?

I believe some older Fords are catured at both ends. I know my buddies old Bronco is that way...which I told him we'd have to change, cause he's got maybe 6 to 8 inches of total travel....$uck$

[jeremyswrangler]

Great advice!! Thank you very much!!

[mingoglia]

On a TJ the driver side is usually captured at the bottom with a clip. The passenger side is usually not captured at all.

Coil springs are not designed to stretch and therefore should not be captured at both ends unless there is some mechanism in place to preclude them being stretched.


Barry

...and Barry is the guy that's living proof that TJ coils aren't captured on both ends. :p "Has anyone seen my spring? I know it's around here somewhere".

[DsrtJeeper]

On a TJ the driver side is usually captured at the bottom with a clip. The passenger side is usually not captured at all.

Coil springs are not designed to stretch and therefore should not be captured at both ends unless there is some mechanism in place to preclude them being stretched.


Barry

Tell that to the Bronco guys and they'll laugh. One guy I've wheeled with has a tubed '66 Bronco with the original captured coils. My new build will include captured coils after whitnessing the advantage of them. :)

[DsrtJeeper]

I believe some older Fords are catured at both ends. I know my buddies old Bronco is that way...which I told him we'd have to change, cause he's got maybe 6 to 8 inches of total travel....$uck$

John;
Let me guess...your buddy is running radius arms?

[DsrtJeeper]

Here is a pic of Rio's rig. All 4 coils are captured top and bottom. Those are 4" coils that use all of the 12" of travel in the rear shocks.

http://tinypic.com/jaywz6.jpg

[xFallen]

Tell that to the Bronco guys and they'll laugh. One guy I've wheeled with has a tubed '66 Bronco with the original captured coils. My new build will include captured coils after whitnessing the advantage of them. :)

They can laugh all they want. :rolleyes: If the coil spring is the limiting point, it is plain and simply a broken design. This point should be obvious or will be to anyone who uses coils as the limiting mechanism in their suspenion.

If the spring isn't the limiting point, then it doesn't matter. The previous point should have discussed limiting straps, I guess.


Barry

[DsrtJeeper]

They can laugh all they want. :rolleyes: If the coil spring is the limiting point, it is plain and simply a broken design. This point should be obvious or will be to anyone who uses coils as the limiting mechanism in their suspenion.

If the spring isn't the limiting point, then it doesn't matter. The previous point should have discussed limiting straps, I guess.


Barry

12" of travel in the rear and 14" of travel in the front isn't enough for you? :confused: Rio's rig is capable of these numbers with a lower COG than either you or me. Your current lift and many others use shocks for limiting. Is that not a broken design? Limiting straps will cure both suspension designs.

I could be mistaken, but don't coilovers incorporate contained coils and the travel is limited by the shock? Keep in mind that it's up to us to make these designs work on our vehicles. After all; we are altering factory sound suspensions.

[Offroader5]

John;
Let me guess...your buddy is running radius arms?

Oh yeah, still running the radius arms and no wristing:rolleyes:

On the issue of limiting...coilovers still need the benefits of a limiting strap to be done correctly.

[DsrtJeeper]

On the issue of limiting...coilovers still need the benefits of a limiting strap to be done correctly.

Agreed and the point I was trying to make in my previous post. ;)

[Antman]

Here is a pic of Rio's rig. All 4 coils are captured top and bottom. Those are 4" coils that use all of the 12" of travel in the rear shocks.

http://tinypic.com/jaywz6.jpg

Rio is running a Bronco Dana 44 "WITH" Bronco radius arms in his TJ.

[DsrtJeeper]

John;
Let me guess...your buddy is running radius arms?

It's not the captured coils that are limiting your buddies rig. It's the bind of the radius arms. All he needs to do is wrist the passenger side.

http://nissan4wheelers.com/groupee/forums/a/tpc/f/885603133/m/23110139221/r/23110139221#23110139221

[DsrtJeeper]

Rio is running a Bronco Dana 44 "WITH" Bronco radius arms in his TJ.

Exactly; and the point I was trying to make. People are under the assumption that Ford radius arms can't get any flex. You have to think outside of the box. I'm installing the same Dana 44 under the front of my Heep, but wider. I'll be using the Ford radius arms with the passenger side wristed.