Quiet day here so I decieded to share some thoguths on the upgrades.
It all started with wanting locking hubs. Tired of turning the front end everywhere i went and having to deal with seal issues two or three times a year. Part of this was to move to a bigger tire the intent was the BFG KM3 39 inch. but for one reason or another they are not available to the common man. This drove the decision to what was avaiable and fit the bill. 40x13.5R17 Cooper STT pro's so far they have been excellent.
Bigger rollign stock leads to more torque put on the J8 axles... even with RCV's there is a high torque load on the gearset and pinion. A D60 is larger and 40+% stronger so the decision was made to upgrade the axles. With 40 inch rolling stock wheel cut clearance is an issue trying to maintain maneuveability on the trail will require a wider axle WMS to WMS ( WMS = wheel mounting surface) I had a choice of 70 inch or 72 inc. I chose the 72 inch WMS width and paired that with a 4.75 Back space wheel to maintain an effective scrub radius. The more you move away from zero scrub radius the more the road plays with steering. E.I. if you hit a puddle you do not what the wheel/tire to steer the Jeep due to the obstruction.
Evo Manufacturing is a good company and has put a lot of effort into designing their equipment. It is a one size fits all. I have learned a lot tuning their system and the biggest thing I have learned is the shock package on the red Jeep is not enough. Designed for a 4500# rig the spring rates and valving is not up to snuff for 6700#. Simple oil volume sizing is too small to keep up with keeping the Red Jeep under control. Like all the upgrades to this build I am striving for performance for the intended use. Long discussion with the biggest King Shock on seller in the country Flithy Motorsports; we decided that a 2.5 x 12 king shock will fit the bill with valving tailored to my rig, suspension design, weight and all important driving style.
Note: King makes each shock pair for the customer specification. they do not keep ready to install on the shelf. if you are buying them of the shelf make sure you know what you are getting in the way of spring rate and valving.
New axles bigger rolling stock leads to bigger challenge attempted on the trail. Red Jeep 1.0 had 7075 1.50 Aluminum tierod and Drag links in the steering system. you may remember me shearing off the drag link end at the axle last year. New axles have a 7075 links at 2.0 dia. and 2.5 ton joints. There is a lot of loading applied to that joint. To ease that loading on the new axles and even larger rolling stock the decision was made to go with a Hydraulic assist cylinder on the tie rod. This required a new box that is ported. I had the option to send in the old and have it converted but there was a lead time issue with that. If anyone is looking to upgrade their JK/JKU box give me a shout.
The Biggest change... transmission. I love a manual trans. Learned to drive on one, grew up with them in all of my vehicles. Daily driving the Red Jeep to DC I noticed that no matter how hard I tried I could not keep pace with JLUs on similar size tires. Off the line was great but they shift faster and there are more working gears with a shorter RPM drop between gears. The Red Jeep has put on weight and that doesn't help performance, so I decided to cross over to the dark side and upgrade the JKU to a JLU 8 speed auto trans. Same first gear with 5 more working gear and two overdrives. Running 5.38 gearsets in the big axles this should help street ability quite a bit. The idea here is do everything I can with the current 220ci 3.0L motor before making the jump to adding two more cylinders. So why is this important? I do not trailer my rig. It has to get to the trails on it own wheels so street performance is necessary.
The back seat delete has been on my mind for a year or so. I do not have kinds and rarely have a passenger let alone two. I want to move the weight more to the center of the rig leaving the rear open for optional stuff. The design is still fluid but will incorporate a spot for the ARB fridge, Hi-lift jack and a pocket for the electric chain saw. as well as recovery gear. The goal is clean, orginized storage that is readily available as required.
Cheers Picture of the process to come of the comming months.
It all started with wanting locking hubs. Tired of turning the front end everywhere i went and having to deal with seal issues two or three times a year. Part of this was to move to a bigger tire the intent was the BFG KM3 39 inch. but for one reason or another they are not available to the common man. This drove the decision to what was avaiable and fit the bill. 40x13.5R17 Cooper STT pro's so far they have been excellent.
Bigger rollign stock leads to more torque put on the J8 axles... even with RCV's there is a high torque load on the gearset and pinion. A D60 is larger and 40+% stronger so the decision was made to upgrade the axles. With 40 inch rolling stock wheel cut clearance is an issue trying to maintain maneuveability on the trail will require a wider axle WMS to WMS ( WMS = wheel mounting surface) I had a choice of 70 inch or 72 inc. I chose the 72 inch WMS width and paired that with a 4.75 Back space wheel to maintain an effective scrub radius. The more you move away from zero scrub radius the more the road plays with steering. E.I. if you hit a puddle you do not what the wheel/tire to steer the Jeep due to the obstruction.
Evo Manufacturing is a good company and has put a lot of effort into designing their equipment. It is a one size fits all. I have learned a lot tuning their system and the biggest thing I have learned is the shock package on the red Jeep is not enough. Designed for a 4500# rig the spring rates and valving is not up to snuff for 6700#. Simple oil volume sizing is too small to keep up with keeping the Red Jeep under control. Like all the upgrades to this build I am striving for performance for the intended use. Long discussion with the biggest King Shock on seller in the country Flithy Motorsports; we decided that a 2.5 x 12 king shock will fit the bill with valving tailored to my rig, suspension design, weight and all important driving style.
Note: King makes each shock pair for the customer specification. they do not keep ready to install on the shelf. if you are buying them of the shelf make sure you know what you are getting in the way of spring rate and valving.
New axles bigger rolling stock leads to bigger challenge attempted on the trail. Red Jeep 1.0 had 7075 1.50 Aluminum tierod and Drag links in the steering system. you may remember me shearing off the drag link end at the axle last year. New axles have a 7075 links at 2.0 dia. and 2.5 ton joints. There is a lot of loading applied to that joint. To ease that loading on the new axles and even larger rolling stock the decision was made to go with a Hydraulic assist cylinder on the tie rod. This required a new box that is ported. I had the option to send in the old and have it converted but there was a lead time issue with that. If anyone is looking to upgrade their JK/JKU box give me a shout.
The Biggest change... transmission. I love a manual trans. Learned to drive on one, grew up with them in all of my vehicles. Daily driving the Red Jeep to DC I noticed that no matter how hard I tried I could not keep pace with JLUs on similar size tires. Off the line was great but they shift faster and there are more working gears with a shorter RPM drop between gears. The Red Jeep has put on weight and that doesn't help performance, so I decided to cross over to the dark side and upgrade the JKU to a JLU 8 speed auto trans. Same first gear with 5 more working gear and two overdrives. Running 5.38 gearsets in the big axles this should help street ability quite a bit. The idea here is do everything I can with the current 220ci 3.0L motor before making the jump to adding two more cylinders. So why is this important? I do not trailer my rig. It has to get to the trails on it own wheels so street performance is necessary.
The back seat delete has been on my mind for a year or so. I do not have kinds and rarely have a passenger let alone two. I want to move the weight more to the center of the rig leaving the rear open for optional stuff. The design is still fluid but will incorporate a spot for the ARB fridge, Hi-lift jack and a pocket for the electric chain saw. as well as recovery gear. The goal is clean, orginized storage that is readily available as required.
Cheers Picture of the process to come of the comming months.
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