Tough truck mods?

Burley · Sep 30, 2003

Okay guys, I am going to enter my old '88 XJ in one of the Ohio Tough truck contests. This would be one of the amatuer types you see at monster truck shows. My question is this; how can I modify the suspesion or anything else to handle (survive) the whoop-didoos (sp)? What would be the best place to start? These things seem to tear the living daylights out of every truck that is close to stock every year i watch them. My XJ runs great but looks like crap so mods that affect the cosmetics aren't an issue.

TIA

Burley

giranger · Sep 30, 2003

get with the jeepspeed guys. They run the deserts with their XJ's. www.jeepspeed.com

Hope this helps Jeff

CRASH · Sep 30, 2003

You need to cage the hell out of it, reinforce teh suspension mounts, including the axle mounts, put in stouter motor mounts, and take all the weight out of it that you can. I'd even consider taking out the 4 wd system. Using a 2 wd as a base would lose at least 200 pounds (according to my 1994 Jeep brochure).

No doors, rear hatch, extra seats, carpet, etc.

Less weight = less inertia = less broken parts.

CRASH

Rufies97XJ · Sep 30, 2003

Burley.. when is this?? Where is Shelby?
Ohio-ian myself.. would like to come watch ya whip up on them trucks!!
Good luck with the build!!

Burley · Oct 1, 2003

Rufies97XJ said:
Burley.. when is this?? Where is Shelby?
Ohio-ian myself.. would like to come watch ya whip up on them trucks!!
Good luck with the build!!

Rufies, Shelby is about 20 minutes North of Mansfield or an hour North of Columbus. They have a contest at the Richland County fairgrounds in July and one at the Crawford county fair in the Fall. The ones I know about are over for the year so I have plenty of time.

Where is Fairfield?

Crash, I would do the 2 wheel drive thing but about 50% of the races I've seen, the track is loose mud. Anything with 2 wheel only, just creeps along. I think I will lose the rear seat, carpet, and any unneeded plastic, and anything else that is just spare weight.

Burley

vintagespeed · Oct 1, 2003

You'll want to truss that front D30, and if you can you want to gusset everything possible. Look at gusseting the inner knuckles to keep them from bending on hard hits. Also think about stripping the engine compartment and boxing in the coil spring 'pocket' areas. Might even run a crossbrace to tie the towers together.

I'd remove all the steering components and coils and cycle the suspension fully and look for possible contact with oil pan, exhaust, TB & etc. Take care of all these little things before you go jump it. Next I'd add some air bumps to soften those harsh landings.

The rear should be pretty straight forward, just make sure you have good bumpstops to keep the shackles from ripping out on hard landings. Box in all leaf spring mounts and shock mounts. And dont forget a good traction bar, you're gonna need it. NO LIFT BLOCKS.

Good luck.

XJguy · Oct 1, 2003

Triangulate the entire Jeep with emphasis on the suspension mounting points. Truss or get rid of the whimpy stock axles and get something really stout. Relocate as much as you can to the rear of the Jeep to give you 50/50 weight distribution that way you dont endo on the first jump. Prerunner style front bumper tied in to the top and bottom of the XJ will help.

XJguy

Ronbo · Oct 1, 2003

This was done by Dave Turner Motorsports for JeepSpeed use. Maybe it'll give you a few ideas....
(AFAIK, D30/8.25)

Burley · Oct 1, 2003

Thanks guys! That gets my brain turning! Man, that JeepSpeed axle looks stout as anything. Any ideas on seats? I don't want to jam my tailbone up to my shoulder blades when i come off a jump!

Thanks again guys.

Burley

Speed_racer · Oct 1, 2003

a milk crate with 6 pillows duct taped to it, light, and soft

Burley · Oct 1, 2003

Originally posted by SpeedÞ}acdr [îo]
@-milk c²fte with/6 pill¯{s duct0sapdd tþ"it, light, and soft

Actually that would be an upgrQge to thk wnrn Îut piect*of crað'in the²i rhght`ow Aözer 233,000 miles I guess it is time to retire it and find a new conshypone forpfy prec˜kus hint~.
º
Btrleè

Speed_racer · Oct 1, 2003

Orighnalü} pnste¤ by Burley Z/i]Actually that would be an uarade to the worn out piece of crap in there right now! After 233,000 ümler I vtesr it`s time to retiRg it an4%find a new cooB`y one for my precious hiney.

Burley

Yeah, lineì&with 9$93j miLds and 10 yrs oìj ir pr$|ty wor./out fre having a fat cop ass sitting in it 8 hrs a day!

aueaglexj · Oct 2, 2003

Is It worth all the money

Is all modifications worth it? I was just reading some of the other replies and everyone is talking beefy axle, roll cages and new seats. That sounds like a lot of money spent on something you could destroy pretty quick. I'm from the Mansfield area, and I didn't think the tough truck contests were anything more then a reason to beat the hell out your P.O.S. vehicles. Is there a large purse for winning this type of race, if not it seems pointless to do much more then 5 points and a good set of tires. Just my 2 cents.
Aueagle

Burley · Oct 18, 2003

Re: Is It worth all the money

aueaglexj said:
Is all modifications worth it? I was just reading some of the other replies and everyone is talking beefy axle, roll cages and new seats. That sounds like a lot of money spent on something you could destroy pretty quick. I'm from the Mansfield area, and I didn't think the tough truck contests were anything more then a reason to beat the hell out your P.O.S. vehicles. Is there a large purse for winning this type of race, if not it seems pointless to do much more then 5 points and a good set of tires. Just my 2 cents.
Aueagle

Sorry so late on the reply....

Isn't that why we do this kind of thing? For the FUN? What is the purse for wheeling in your backyard? FUN. After I finish this XJ it won't only be used for tough truck but for wheelin' in general. Aueaglexj, your right most of those guys don't have a clue what their doing, but if you went this year you saw the two guys with a tricked out pick-up and a Samurai (that's right) make it to the finals! I think a beefed up XJ could whoop them good and I'll do it whether there is a purse or not!

By the way the guy that drove that Samurai is one of the Grave Digger monster truck drivers.

Burley

Faux4X4 · Oct 18, 2003

The tough truck stuff is getting big, there are guys doing as a profession now. They have good pay outs, and you get into the fair free

This is a link to a video for a local tough truck comp, pay attention to the first black yota that flys. That is Dan and he is the new breed of tough truck racer. And also the short course ranger is a good example of what good shocks do, he does not have much travel but they run King Kong 4 inch shocks that have 1 inch shafts. How is that for compensation, just thought I would throw alittle psyc 101 in there.

Faux4X4 · Oct 18, 2003

O yea forgot the link
http://www.dirtalliance.com/media.htm

Burley · Oct 19, 2003

Faux4x4, those are some intense videos! I was glad to see some of those guys take those jumps a little slower than the first few. They were really hittin' em hard there for a while. My XJ would come to pieces on one of those! The tuff truck contest here in Mansfield is a little tamer than that, so i figure it would be a good test to run things out and see how they do (break).

Thanks.

Burley

Faux4X4 · Oct 20, 2003

That black yota that was going huge rolled yesterday, if that tells you anything about how he hangs it out. And like I said before you get into the fair free, so if you are just doing it for fun I say go for it. Jeeps like it Rough

Tough truck mods?

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