 YJ
Front Spring Conversionwith Bill Johnston Putting the ShrockWorks Winch Bumper on last month gave us a few options we didn't have before. The bumper was designed to allow enough room for suspension upgrades that fit around the front of the frame rail. So we went ahead and installed the Trail Tough Front YJ Spring Kit (with Missing Link) conversion on the front of the Samurai. |
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 The
Trail Tough 'J' shackles use a bump stop that bolts over the end of the
frame rail, and when used with the new bumper it looks like it was made to
be there. Although the bump stop pads are replaceable by just
removing two screws, Trail Tough reports that they have never had to
replace a set. But if you ever need them, Trail Tough has them in stock
and you can purchase replacements with a quick call to Brent. |
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  Unlike
other drop shackle variants on the market, the 'J' shackle curves up
around the bump stop. This allows for a shorter ride height on the street
without compromising any articulation for an additional six inches of
droop. |
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  The
rear brackets allow for the longer YJ spring by moving the mounting point
back a few inches. There is some drilling involved here, but it is
necessary so the support bolts can keep everything in place during more
stressful articulation. |
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  The
springs we used came from a Jeep YJ. They were supplied by Get Serious Off
Road* in El Paso Texas. We tried the four
leaf (front) set first and found it too soft to handle the winch that will
be coming next, so we used rear (five leaf) springs to do the job. We will
be looking for another set of rear springs later when we add YJs out back.
*Interesting side note* |
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  Using
Doetsch Tech 8000 shocks out front took care of a few problems we had seen
over the last few suspension changes. We were experimenting with a few
different locations for the front axle by moving it forward a little each
time. The problem was with the bump stops. We had to move them with each
axle movement to keep their effectiveness. These new shocks have bump
stops built in, so no more problem! |
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  On
the left you can see how the bump stop keeps everything safe at full
stuff. Here you can see how important measurements can be when ordering
shocks. We used model 8407 (32" extended / 18.5" collapsed
lengths) and it gave about an inch of clearance before it would have
shredded the fender. |
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We also had to move the lower shock mount to the top of the axle because
leaving it down low (previous installation) would cause the shock to try
to wrap around the springs at full droop. And as you can see, this spring
and shackle combination allows for LOTS of droop. You may also note
the small amount of material we had to shave off the corner of the spring
plate where it comes closest to the shock. We are running our upper shock
mounts in a custom configuration, and it isn't in the stock location.
Trail Tough assured us that is the reason the shock came close enough to
the spring plate to cause concern. The good news - Trail Tough assures us
that trimming the plates just a little like we did will have no ill effect
on the strength of the component.
-Next month- |
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| Component Sources:
Trail Tough Products ShrockWorks - Offroad Fabrication Get
Serious! Off-Road |
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08/11/10 14:56:09
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