The Pumpkinator's Build Thread

[gribbles]

Originally Posted by LGriffith

Let's let the owner and person who's thread this is answer the questions and make the calls...

recoil has helped a lot with this build.....I'm pretty sure he's able to make a simple suggestion

[Jeffro95]

I wish I could have the problems James is having. Not being able to get all your new stuff to fit just right, would be a pretty good problem to have.

That's right, I don't have any new stuff....

[gribbles]

I hear ya Jeffro, I've been there before, and its really hard to look at it that way when everything is going wrong. But I also know that he'll learn a ton from it and be happy as hell when its over and probably be thankful for everything he's learned (but not for what he's spent)

[rkates]

The whole coil swap boils down to, long arms were meant for taller lifts. Now with the LCG thing going on we are taking a suspention thats built for 4''+ and putting it in shorter lifts. So now the arms for the Y-link are super tight to the frame. The xtra height is more of insurance that the frame and arms don't meet.

Hay Connor, the shocks have a total of 8'' of travel. They would be absolutely useless on his jeep.(unless he mall crawled only) That suspention is SUPER flexy. I'm guessing before I even measure he is looking for a 12'' shock. And limiting straps are a must!

[hotrod_hooligan]

Originally Posted by LGriffith

Yeah, I assumed it wasn't for more room. But If he was looking for different style/ nicer coils, than why not get them in the same size? I'll just wait for James' answer

With the coil spring relocators in the rear that add 3/4" lift he needs taller springs in the front anyway, add to that the winch and winch plate in the front.... Get it?

[recoil101]

I'm just saying that with the weight and after the springs settle he's only going to be about a half inch taller than with the rc coils. It will look fine but more importantly it will perform even better

[Bennettj13]

I went and worked on the Jeep last night. Still not driving. Issues with the brakes. We've got the lines but no banjo bolts. Rod is going to head to Pull-a-part and see if he can find some that will work. The fronts are done and good, the rears are what are giving us the latest issues.

As for the hiccups and build changes with coils/shocks here lately... Basically, I felt that my front control arms should have had more room between them and the frame. Due to the way they have to mount to the axles with this set up though, it is close. VERY close. In fact, as of right now, the front is sitting on the control arms. While mocking everything up, we knew we'd need to cut the brackets off, but due to being in someone elses garage, and time constraints that day, I didn't want to do the finish work quite yet, thinking we could just get it moving again, and I could take care of it later. I was wrong. Because I didn't grind the inside portion of the stock front CA bracket off completely, the LCA's up front catch. It's an easy fix. I just have to grind the frame clean there, and everything will be fine.

Coils-
I ordered new coils because I have a heavy winch and winch plate that sag the front end a good bit. Once we put the RC coils in with the 1.5" coil spacer, and had the jeep attempting to sit at ride height, even with it sitting on the LCA's, the rear was 1.5" higher. So, it would have dropped even more had the LCA not stopped it. Now, I didn't have a spare on there or anything else, but still. I just decided I'd rather have all coil up front, and maintain a progressive rate coil than deal with spacers, and limiting myself.

Shocks-
As a byproduct of going with bigger coils, and outboarding the rear. I opted to just buy new shocks instead of suffering with the RC shocks being too short and limiting myself that much more. Originally, I knew the rear shocks would be a tad short, so I had not intended to outboard right away, but after everything was said and done, I just decided to bite the bullet now for the added gains of having a properly working suspension. The suspension from TNT is incredibly flexy, and if I'm going to take advantage of that, I need longer shocks with the coil issues that I ran into. Period.

I'd like to be clear and say that I am not blaming TNT for any of these problems. At first I was pissed because the arms were hitting, and even knowing that it was custom work, in my head I still expected everything to work together without a hitch. I've not been very realistic in my expectations through a lot of this build simply due to a lack of experience with building a custom set-up using various manufacturers parts. In the end, I'm still happy with where this is ending up, even though it's a bit higher than I had originally planned. So, hopefully that explains things for everyone. Let me know if there are anymore questions.

Because of the late night part run last night, we couldn't get the grinding done. Sunday we should be able to get the Jeep driving again as long as Rod can find some banjo bolts that will fit for the calipers in the rear. Aside from that, I'll be limping it around until I get shocks in. I'm still waiting on the SYE and rear DS. It won't be long now. Wish me luck. Time for work.

[nriver]

These builds always have unexpected turns. Keep at it.

[recoil101]

I'm just saying that with the weight and after the springs settle he's only going to be about a half inch taller than with the rc coils. It will look fine but more importantly it will perform even better

[hotrod_hooligan]

We get what your trying to say Jerry. Though I doubt it will settle that low

[recoil101]

I tried to delete the last post. It won't let me

[Luckrider]

Well James, it looks like you are finally getting there. I still think if I have Your major problems when I finally start my build, that mine will go pretty smooth. It is better than having stuff that is broken, different from what you ordered, or incomplete. You have at least one extra word going out for your sanity

Keep at it, you are almost there. Nice to know you are going to do the shocks right. The RC ones would probably be fine onroad, but off, they would probably take away all of the advantages that suspension has to offer.

[Bennettj13]

Originally Posted by Luckrider

Well James, it looks like you are finally getting there. I still think if I have Your major problems when I finally start my build, that mine will go pretty smooth. It is better than having stuff that is broken, different from what you ordered, or incomplete. You have at least one extra word going out for your sanity

Keep at it, you are almost there. Nice to know you are going to do the shocks right. The RC ones would probably be fine onroad, but off, they would probably take away all of the advantages that suspension has to offer.

Part of the luck with getting the right parts and everything depends on who you are ordering from. You gotta avoid the bums and be sure to check reviews of vendors. I've been lucky so far. And you have to realize that even with all the planning in the world you can't account for everything. I'm still learning that lesson, even though I know it as truth.

[Red_Smoke]

It looks good James, and glad to hear you're getting the longer shocks. We set the rear up for 10" travel, but unfortunately I set the fronts up for the 8" shocks. You can put longer ones on... just means you'll have 4" compression and the rest will be made up in droop.

and by the way, doctor says my armpit hair will grow back, so don't worry about me

[recoil101]

Arm pit hair? That sounds like a great story. James I'll be home tomorrow watching the Colts game with my Dad before he heads south for the winter. Feel free to drop the Pumpkinator by so I can finish the wiring.