CrazyJim's Jeepspeed/Prerunner XJ build

hey i was thinking of running the same bump pads you are running in the back. Any reason you didnt run them on the frame side and have your striker on the axle. Also what was the squish rating for those bumps at max compression? thanks

I ran them that way because they are single post mounting, where the stock spot is two post. They smash down about half the thickness of the rubber if you subtract all the void spaces, to be safe. I've got a set of brand new black poly's from polyperformance that I'm not going to end up running if you'd like them.

Looks awesome man. What rims are those? They aren't the same ones at the beginning I think.

Thanks man, the wheels on the Jeep in the beginning were Centerline Telstars. I loved them, wish I hadn't gotten rid of them. The ones on it now are powdercoated American Racing AR-23's. Also light and VERY strong.
 
82ffce17.jpg

So this is what i was thinking of running. First i would plate the frame then i would have the two 1 3/4 dom tubes come down to a base plate for the bump to bolt to then i would plate between the two tubes and sleeve between the two plates in the middle.
Then on the axle i would just make a nice wide flat striker pad for it to contact on. Just whats thought up in my head.
How much you thinking for those bumps?
 
Looking great. Where are the pictures in the first post taken? Specifically the first 2 or 3, it looks like a place outside of LA I saw when I visited a few years ago.
 
I'll be pulling right at 12" in the rear without going into negative arch on the springs. I'm going to see what Joel can do with the 12" and go from there, if I feel I need more, I'll move the mounts higher to go negative. However, I think I'll be fine, and he recommends against it obviously and says it causes a nasty buck.


Jim, what springs are you using, I assume Deavers? Sorry, didn't read back to see. I'm still trying to figure out rear travel and shock placement on our KOH car build. I don't know how much more spring droop to expect in the real world, on the rack with 35's and beadlocks bolted up the droop is 9" below where the spring would be flat. How did you determine you'll get 12"?
 
Jim, what springs are you using, I assume Deavers? Sorry, didn't read back to see. I'm still trying to figure out rear travel and shock placement on our KOH car build. I don't know how much more spring droop to expect in the real world, on the rack with 35's and beadlocks bolted up the droop is 9" below where the spring would be flat. How did you determine you'll get 12"?
Yes I'm running Deavers. Mine are a 9 pack I believe. I'm bumped at flat, with no shock shaft left. I did this to get the most out of my bypass tube, rather than letting some of it go unused. We'll see if this worked out in my favor or not. On full droop, without the driveshaft hooked up, I'm showing 11.40" of shaft, because my shocks are mounted straight up and down, this shows my actual travel. Not sure why you'd only be showing 9" of real wheel travel though.
 
Well, got the Jeep back on all 4 wheels this weekend. Going to definitely be ready for KOH this coming Feb. It won't be completely done, but it'll definitely be offroad worthy for KOH.

Big thanks to Chris Amrien for the front trussed D30, it worked out bitchen. That paired with Ballistic's 1.5" .250 wall steering with 7/8 heims makes a nasty strong front end I'm hoping. It's set up with a high steer knuckle from Teraflex, which posed a few more clearance issues with wheel backspacing and the steering.

Also a huge shout out to Tom Nissley from www.socaloffroad.net/ for a SMOKIN' deal on a set of front Deaver Jeepspeed springs, got them cheap and fast. Thanks Tom!!!

Anthony (Tone) came out late last week to help wrench a bit, which was nice having an extra set of hands around. We got all the mounts for UCA's, LCA's, and track bar drilled out to 5/8" and 3/4" holes respectively. I had a buddy machine my pitman arm and drivers side knuckle for 3/4" bolts. Here's the front end going under the Jeep!

IMG_1524.jpg


IMG_1521.jpg


We got the Deavers installed along with wheels/tires to see how she was going to sit:

IMG_1528.jpg


IMG_1530.jpg


IMG_1534.jpg



Bringing us to this weekend, I was busy with family stuff all weekend, being Christmas and all, but was able to get away a bit to start the steering and get most of it done. I had to order some more spacers from ballistic for the heims which is what stopped the progress for tonight. We started with the track bar to get everything squared up before doing steering. This track bar and mount is badass, thanks again to Chris for building a sweet axle. It should give me some nice geometry once it's all said and done.

IMG_1547.jpg


One small problem I ran into was the axle side track bar mount. it was designed (I'm assuming) for a 3/4" heim, not a 7/8". This created a problem for me running the 7/8". The Jam nut for the heim hits the mount when suspension is compressed, I considered running a jam nut on only the frame side, but after speaking with some people in the know, Dan Turner, I decided I'll be better off clearancing the mount for the nut instead.

IMG_1549.jpg


Once we got the heims hung I realized I was going to have to run under the knuckle for the tie rod, which isn't a major concern for me as I won't be doing much crawling. The truss hangs down further anyway. However, not only will I have to run UTK, but I need a larger spacer to space the heim down. Chris warned me of this when I bought the axle, recommending 1" or so tie rod to help clearance. With a single high mis spacer moving the heims down though, it clears the 1.5" just fine. I see not real reason to change it for 1/4" of clearance.

IMG_1550.jpg


IMG_1553.jpg


IMG_1552.jpg


As you can see here, there's not a TON of clearance under the beefy ass track bar mount:

IMG_1555.jpg



Speaking of clearance, we ran into another concern. The Teraflex knuckle moves the ear for the drag link forward, and in, to ride near the wheel lip. With my wheels being 3.75" backspace, it puts them quite close to the heim. We're talking less than an 1/8" when the "BFGoodrich" rolls by. This will be temporarily solved with some small 1/4" wheels spacers until I can grab some new wheels with a slightly different offset.

IMG_1548.jpg




All in all I'm happy with the progress that's been being made, and it feels REAL now. I actually feel like I'm making forward progress, and that the XJ may actually be done some day. :D
 
Last edited:
Hey jim, i think you screwed up dude.The truss is on the bottom and it is going to get hooked on parking bumps at the mall.:)

Looks good jim, can't wait to see it out in the desert.
 
Too bad I cant view pb at work.....write up sounds good though Jim!!! hahaha

Yours will be running and mine wont (for KOH). What a turn of events!!
 
Still want to go to KOH. Not sure if it will be in my Bronco or not...... +3.5 beams = extended axles and a bit more than just a bolt in so it will kick my ass for a bit. Need spacers for the uniball beam pivot plus need to buy heims for the arms + associated spacers.
 
Back
Top