'bout time i make my introduction

[HTeK]

Been lurking and spying on all of you for over a year now. I figured I should chime in and start making friends.

My deal:
22 yrs old
Going to college (Sierra & Sac State)
Working at a software firm in Rocklin
Live in Grass Valley

My Junk:
'90 xj - red and ugly
Currently stock
Currently building a waggy 44 front
Just got a Rodeo 44 rear (whoohoo discs all around!)
Going leafs all around (thanks Brett for some of the inspiration)
Anyone who would like to know whats going on with my front 44 and leaf buildup - i have started a thread HERE

Pic of my junk as it sits (yes, its ugly, and small - but its done me good so far) So, if you see me stop and say howdy.

Looking forward to meeting ya'll
-Justin

 

[ChuckD]

Going leafs all around (thanks Brett for some of the inspiration)

-Justin

That's pretty bold to come out of the closet on this. I hope Brett doesn't let it go to his head!


BTW, Welcome to Sierra Chapter!

 

[Goatman]

That's pretty bold to come out of the closet on this. I hope Brett doesn't let it go to his head!


BTW, Welcome to Sierra Chapter!

Yeah, we'll cut him some newbie slack.......for now.

Welcome aboard, Justin.

:wave:

 

[CRASH]

Going leafs all around (thanks Brett for some of the inspiration)
Anyone who would like to know whats going on with my front 44 and leaf buildup - i have started a thread -Justin

Good Lord, looking to Brett for inspiration is going to start you down a long, painful road.

And let me take this oppurtunity to formally state, once more for the record:

Leaf springs are for covered wagons.

CRASH

 

[basalt51]

I'm just trying out my new sig, I was feeling left out


WELCOME!!

 

[Big Red]

Welcome aboard Justin. The leafs should work out good for you for the front. Get a hold of Brett and see what he did, it looks good based on his recent Fordyce trail pics he posted. I have a 94' Wrangler with 10" of lift and I like how simplistic the leaf springs are. The control arms and coils are nice, but once you go over 6" or so, the short arms don't work that good and you have to really think of going with long arms. I'm probably going the long arm route this winter if I can find a good deal on them and sell my re drop brackets and short arms. Hold off on building that xj if you don't have it torn up already and get some wheeling in this summer. Build it in the fall/winter when wheeling is little to nothing. You should be good with 3" & 31's for now if you can swing that. Maybe a 2" budget boost would help. Anyways hope to see you on the trails.
Troy

 

[CRASH]

Welcome aboard Justin. The leafs should work out good for you for the front. Troy

How can you say this? Do you have real world experience with leaf springs on rock trails? How about longevity and structural integrity in a unit-body vehicle? How about simultaneous axle wrap on both axles (that's a real crowd pleaser)?

These are very real issues......and while Brett has performed the conversion, I consider it untested until he runs it hard for a season or two.

CRASH

 

[Big Red]

How can you say this? Do you have real world experience with leaf springs on rock trails? How about longevity and structural integrity in a unit-body vehicle? How about simultaneous axle wrap on both axles (that's a real crowd pleaser)?

These are very real issues......and while Brett has performed the conversion, I consider it untested until he runs it hard for a season or two.

CRASH

You have some valid points. I ran this setup for years on a few Wrangler and know it works. Heck Wranglers/cj/all jeeps before the 84' xj run leafs springs so I know they are simple and can work good. Your right by saying it is questionable about running leafs on a unibodied vehicle like the xj/zj/wj/etc. You might want to talk to the guy with the yellow 87' xj in Florida. Though he too has much different terrain then we have in Cali, Colorado, etc with lots of rocks/boulders etc. Rock Crawling is such an extreme form of 4 wheeling compared to flinging mud in soft terrain. The set up works in the back of an xj, but with the weight of the engine/trans/etc up front, that might be too much stress up front to run leafs. :dunno: Have to see. At least we have a few guinee pigs currently locally. :roflmao:
Troy

 

[HTeK]

Thanks all for the welcome.

As for the leaf springs - I would love to stay with coils, but money and lack of fab experience keeps me from long arms. The goal will be to someday go back to coils. But for now, I feel that front leafs are a solution that is workable.

-jm

 

[Big Red]

Thanks all for the welcome.

As for the leaf springs - I would love to stay with coils, but money and lack of fab experience keeps me from long arms. The goal will be to someday go back to coils. But for now, I feel that front leafs are a solution that is workable.

-jm

Do what you can, but don't get to carried away right off the bat, have some fun and run with us and let your xj evolve over time. A good time to work on it is in Winter when the Rubicon, Fordyce, etc are full of snow. Try to get 31's used so you don't have much money into them & slap on a 2-3" lift and have some fun this summer. I don't even think you need much lift with your cutting job based on your picture. Do you think you will be ready for the rubicon trip mid June 6/17? I have a winch and people in our group have stuff to yank you through spots if you need it.
Troy

 

[basalt51]

Thanks all for the welcome.

As for the leaf springs - I would love to stay with coils, but money and lack of fab experience keeps me from long arms. The goal will be to someday go back to coils. But for now, I feel that front leafs are a solution that is workable.

-jm

I think there is almost as much fabbing involved with going to leafs as there is in doing your own long arms. Less if you just use an EB 44 and do radius arms.

 

[CRASH]

I think there is almost as much fabbing involved with going to leafs as there is in doing your own long arms. Less if you just use an EB 44 and do radius arms.

OMG, nice avatar, jackass!

Ditto your last.

CRASH

 

[basalt51]

OMG, nice avatar, jackass!

Thanks, I'm working on getting 40s in the front so I can use fourwheel drive again

 

[BrettM]

Wow, I'm famous :dunce:

Leaf springs are for covered wagons.

CRASH

Wait, CRASH, what do you run in the rear of Princess II?




In hindsight, It was more work than I expected because I didn't have a lot of other people's previous experience to help me. I was still less work and much less money than doing a coil setup. To do it all again would me much less work and even a little less money than the first time.
I am extrememly pleased with how well it works and it got me all the way through Fordyce in just a few hours without even using the front ARB, and I did all of the winch hills and took no bypasses.
I have NEVER claimed it to be the ideal setup, but it's simple, cheap and it WORKS. As for longevity and uni-body issues, that's a problem with any XJ/MJ that gets wheeled hard. At some point it will be getting a cage which will be tied into all suspension mounts.
The only other axle/suspension swap that I think would be relatively close in time/cost/effectiveness would be swappin the HPD44 and 9" out of a late 70s F100/F150. But that requires finding a good deal on those axles; 1.5 years ago I found a HPD44 at Pick N Pull and sold it a week later for $550, excluding gears and lockers (which are necessary for any swap) I have much less than that into both my axles and all my suspension.

Justin- Where you at in GV? I'm near Lake of the Pines, between Auburn and GV. you could stop by sometime if you wanna check stuff out or just BS for a while.

 

[CRASH]

Oh well, at least you picked a good rear axle......

CRASH

 

[BrettM]

Justin, after reading your post on that other board, I have a few recommendations:

-44044s are extremely over-rated. they became popular because they were good, cheap and had a lifetime warranty. now that they got popular they are not cheap at all, usually $120 or more each. I am very happy with my 3.5" BDS YJ springs, $60 each, lifetime (no questions asked) warrantly, full military wrap on both ends, flex great. I'm probably closer to 7-8 inches of lift, so you'd probably be best off with 2.5" YJ springs for 6.5".

-Gearing. I have 4.88s and I use 33s for daily driving and 35s for the trail. The 33s are perfect, but the 35s suck on the road. If you're going to run 35s on the street, get the 5.13s or even 5.38s.

 

[BrettM]

Oh well, at least you picked a good rear axle......

CRASH

better than D35 clearance, better than D44 strength

I'm very happy with it, I hardly even touched it on Fordyce, but my D44 cover lost a lot of paint

 

[CRASH]

Do you have spare shafts for the rear?

CRASH

 

[Stoney]

i think u should jsut start off slow. there is no reason to do long arms or even a leaf conversion. even if u go with an 8 inch lift u still can run the short arms. they work very well i have run them for the past 3 years and had not many problems. if u stick with coils and shorts arms for now a long arm conversion is really simple and can b done in time! i don't think leafs are the wway to go for u at this time!

stoney

 

[basalt51]

Do you have spare shafts for the rear?

CRASH

Who me? I have one. Luckily the passenger's side and driver's side are the same length. The shafts are hard to come by these days and good ol' Covered Wagon Supply Inc. isn't making them anymore.