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Flexing?

803 views 14 replies 7 participants last post by  TellyDSP 
#1 ·
Ok guys, I have a 1990 YJ, I love the thing, I love driving it and everything about it, I think I just love jeeps in general and please don't get me wrong..I am not trying to start anything with this ...but I have to ask. What is the deal with the flexing?
 
#2 ·
Well, ... here is my stab at trying to explain, someone feel free to correct me if i am wrong.

When 4xing, the ultimate setback to moving over hard terrain is always down to the amount of traction you can get on the ground, to move your rig forward...
Traction is alot depending on what you have touching the ground that can apply power to actually move you forward.
When you go over an obsticle, and one tires lifts from the ground, you inevitably, loose all traction from that tire. And without a locker... you actually loose two tires, because the one in the air is gonna spin, and not allow you to apply power with the other one.

The more flex your rig has, (being a jeep or whatever) is capable of, the more it is capable of keeping that tire on the ground and give you traction to get your farther... sometimes just enough to get to the next place of fun and disaster... If you have a locker... you can lift a tire and keep traction on the ground with at least one tire... If you have lots of flex, you can keep both tires on the ground... and they you can really go places.

I hope that kinda explains the addiction to adding flex. :D

I have actually seen guys that run two e-brakes in the rear, so if they do run into a problem with a tire lifting in the air and spinning... because they have no locker, they simply set their e-brake for that side, and it locks that tire up... forcing the other tire on the ground to turn.
 
#3 ·
:confused: What do you mean whats the deal with it? You have to have flex to try to keep your tires on the ground when going over obstacles. In general, the more flex the better. If your jeep can't flex, the tires wont be on the ground and you wont get traction.
 
#4 ·
You may also wish to read this article about flex and how to test for the flex ...

Like everyone else said, the ability to keep tires on the ground through high amounts of flex will take you further in your explorations of the back country.

BTW: Mud Ucker - I am one of those guys who runs dual e-brakes to lock up the two sides independantly.
 
#6 ·
Basically I mounted a pair of hand brakes between my two front seats. I ran one cable to the left e-brake and the other one to the right e-brake at the wheels.

When I popped in my new axle, I couldn't figure out how to make the stock foot e-brake work, so I had an idea of a hand brake instead .. and it mushroomed into a dual setup :)

You can see pics of it from my homepage.
 
#7 ·
NaeKid said:
Basically I mounted a pair of hand brakes between my two front seats. I ran one cable to the left e-brake and the other one to the right e-brake at the wheels.

When I popped in my new axle, I couldn't figure out how to make the stock foot e-brake work, so I had an idea of a hand brake instead .. and it mushroomed into a dual setup :)

You can see pics of it from my homepage.
and you website is where.....? Im very interested about how you did your install :)
 
#8 ·
bamakrw said:
Ok guys, I have a 1990 YJ, I love the thing, I love driving it and everything about it, I think I just love jeeps in general and please don't get me wrong..I am not trying to start anything with this ...but I have to ask. What is the deal with the flexing?
you've never been off-roading have you? Flex is good, Balanced Flex front/rear is great. RTI score dont mean squat. thats all there is on flex.
 
#10 ·
YJWOLF said:
you've never been off-roading have you? Flex is good, Balanced Flex front/rear is great. RTI score dont mean squat. thats all there is on flex.
actually yj wolf...i have done my share of "off roading". I did not know you were THE "off road authority". I sort of figured I would get some smart a$$ response that. Thanks for adding to the quality of the thread.
 
#11 ·
bamakrw said:
actually yj wolf...i have done my share of "off roading". I did not know you were THE "off road authority". I sort of figured I would get some smart a$$ response that. Thanks for adding to the quality of the thread.
He was not bashing you....he was only awnsering the question.....you have done your fair share of offroading? Probably not very hard things if you knew nothing about flex, you wouldnt be able to do it.............mud yes, rocks no...hes just tryin to help :D
 
#13 ·
GoTopless said:
He was not bashing you....he was only awnsering the question.....you have done your fair share of offroading? Probably not very hard things if you knew nothing about flex, you wouldnt be able to do it.............mud yes, rocks no...hes just tryin to help :D
Mud..oh yeah...lots of it. Rocks,...no. Where I live, we do not really have that type of terrain. I guess you guys with the "rock crawler" type rigs have a totally different mind set than someone
like myself, who just uses his jeep to play around in and to hunt out of. I do like to see all of the pics of the different jeeps and the different ideas they have.
 
#14 ·
bamakrw said:
I guess you guys with the "rock crawler" type rigs have a totally different mind set than someone
like myself, who just uses his jeep to play around in and to hunt out of. I do like to see all of the pics of the different jeeps and the different ideas they have.
EXACTLY :D Rocks are WAY different than mud.........and if i just did mud i would wonder what flex is all about too :p But now you know :)
 
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