[Unlimited04]

My ultimate goal is a capable general purpose Jeep. Whether thats daily driving to work in the crowded big city parking in garages, long 5 hour drives for fun activites, climbing mountain trails in Colorado, trail riding on forest roads to a fishing hole, carrying a mountain bike to the next singletrack, camping with friends, accessing various national parks/forests, or carefully driving to a Colorado ski resort in the middle of blizzard for world class powder runs. It's not a rock crawler, its not a mud hole machine, its more of a general purpose expedition Jeep and its going to go be a jack of all trades, master of none.

My comprehensive 33" tire build:


Mods for 33" tires

• JeepMedic engine skid & tummy tuck
• JKS 1.25" BL, Currie 1" MML
• Springs: OME 2.5" - 934 front, 949 rear
• Shocks: OME N66 & N67
• Skyjacker steering stabilizer
• Custom front track bar with the Loose Track Bar Bolt Fix.
• Custom rear track bar made from the stock bar and RE heim end.
• Front Bumpstops: 1" Performance Accessories "Big Block" body lift puck + 3/8" steel piece welded to spring pad
• Rear Bumpstops: 1.3" + Airlift bags (see below), with modified jounce bumper
• JKS front sway bar disconnects and stow away cams
• V8 ZJ Tie rod
• RE rear sway bar links (9.5" eye to eye)
• Crown stainless extended brake lines
• Rokmen adjustable control arms (Clevite/JJ)
• NP231 w/ AA SYE & CV shaft
• Front HP D30, mini-truss, Vanco brakes (46mm dual piston calipers), TrueTrac
• Rear D44 TrueTrac
• Regeared to 4.88s

More Completed Mods:

• AA SYE & CV shaft
• Junkyard Roof Rack
• Hard Top Hoist
• Tire carrier
• Third Brake Light #1 and Third Brake Light #2
• Poison Spyder Customs Roll Cage
• GPS Mount For Roll Bar
• CB Mount for Roll Bar
• B&M Trans Temp Gauge
• Diehard Platinum P4 battery
• Air-Lift Load Leveling Airbags
• Transmission cooler
• Superwinch EPi9.0S + Warn winch mount
• Viair 1 gallon tank & air fittings
• Dynomax exhaust after turning stock exhaust into pretzel.
• Hesco high flow thermostat housing
• Savvy Off-Road Gas Tank Skid
  

Still waiting for install:

• AEV/Nth Degree Shock Shifters (outboarding lower shock mounts) & OME N67L shocks
• Rugged Ridge stainless steel header, wrapped with DEI Titanium wrap & coated with silicone sealant
• Monstaliner DIY kit
• 2nd stage tranny cooler

Wish List:

• extra lights
• air horn
• alloy shafts
• 2004 Durango 4.7L 160amp alternator
• Supercharger, stroker or turbo
• Something to fix the shift points on the 42RLE.
• Goodyear 4060882 Gatorback Serp. belt

You don't NEED all this to run 33s, but above is what I would consider a comprehensive 2.5" lift kit to bring all steering, suspension and driveline geometry to where they should be, while still providing an exceptional daily driver and capable off road rig.

Removed mods:
JKS front track bar
Reason: didn't work.
JKS rear track bar
Reason: didn't work.
Riddler Diff covers
Reason: major clearance problems, front track bar & gas tank skid interference.
Homemade 23mm bumpstops
Reason: Removed from front. Welded on 3/8" plate & tapped spring pad for bumpstops. Used in the rear to make 1.3" bumpstop extension.
Homemade t-case drop (6061-T611 aluminum)
Reason: installed SYE/CV shaft.
Zone Off-Road front cam bolts
Reason: installed Rokmen control arms. Caster now at 6.5 with HP D30 swap.
Daystar 0.75" spacers for front & OME 933 front springs
Reason: went with 934 front springs after installing winch.

[Unlimited04]

Pictures!

Before:


After:


Front suspension:

JKS track bar, Skycrapper SS, drag-link and tie-rod adjusted & alignment done.
*edit - ^^that track bar and diff cover didn't work...they hit each other at 1.5" less uptravel than stock.
Read here:
http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f9/tj-front-adjustable-track-bars-0-3-5-does-yours-hit-fit-738948/

Hopefully the JKS track bar won't hit the Riddler diff cover...time will tell:


Homemade 23mm bumpstop, JKS Quicker Discos:


Ground clearance:
Before:


After:


Rear Driveline Angle:

[Unlimited04]

The biggest problem right now is the passenger side rear shock mount: http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f9/lift-install-problems-778320/



I bought a Cobalt tipped drill bit that is supposed to be suitable for drilling hardened steel, that's tomorrows project. Tried to chip the weld-nut off today with a A3 tool steel chisel, it sure busted up the nut, but isn't doing much to the weld. The weld must be 7018 or higher tensile strength stuff.

[Unlimited04]

I can't comment on the ride yet because there is no right rear shock and i'm bouncing all over the freakin' place. I can't go over about 40-45mph because it bounces like crazy. Can't comment on vibes yet either because I can't drive highway yet, and when I am driving, I'm bouncing....

But here's somes measurements of the gains:

Before-
Drivers Rear: 33.25"
Pass Rear: 33.25"
Drivers Front: 33.5"
Pass Front: 32.75"

To the Tummy Tuck: 11.125"
Lowest point on the front control arm frame side bracket: 9.25"
Front Bumper: 17.875"
Rear Bumper: 15"

After-
Drivers Rear: 37.25"
Pass Rear: 36.875"
Drivers Front: 36.625"
Pass Front: 36.5"

To the Tummy Tuck: 14.875"
Lowest point on the front control arm frame side bracket: 12.75"
Front Bumper: 21.25"
Rear Bumper: 18.75"

Hopefully it settles a little bit, because its actually about 1" taller than I'd like. It also sits slightly nose high, or level, because of the 0.75" spacer up front, and the fact that I don't have my engine skid on. I'd hoped this nose-high would point the output shaft down a bit more and prevent me from having to install a SYE/CV or t-case drop.

Track bars still need some work. Rear axle is too far left and the front axle is slightly pushed right. Maybe off 3/8" in rear and 1/8" in front. I also put blue Locktite on the track bar, so it should be fun to loosen. Another project for tomorrow after I get the rear shock on.

As I had hoped, the ground clearance with the JeepMedic tummy tuck + 2.5" OME lift is freaking awesome. I can have a party under there I honestly don't know why you would need more than this for a DD.

[rubidriver]

You finally did it. I see you did go with the JKS track bar. It looks like you wont be having any trouble with it hitting, although you might need more bumpstop in the front. You are running a hair shy of suggested bumpstop for 33's on those springs.

[Unlimited04]

Originally Posted by rubidriver

You finally did it. I see you did go with the JKS track bar. It looks like you wont be having any trouble with it hitting, although you might need more bumpstop in the front. You are running a hair shy of suggested bumpstop for 33's on those springs.

what bumpstop should I have in front? The ones in there now are 23mm, which is 0.905".

[rubidriver]

Originally Posted by Unlimited04

what bumpstop should I have in front? The ones in there now are 23mm, which is 0.905".

With the 933 in the front normally you do a 2". With your BL you may not need that extra tho. You will be able to find out when you get your new tires ofcourse.

[Unlimited04]

In case anyone's interested, here is the laser alignment data from the shop. The uncorrected toe-in and drag-link made for some white-knuckle 30mph driving, thats for sure.

Camber (L/R):
Before: -0.8/-0.8
After: -0.8/-0.7

Caster (L/R):
Before: 4.2/4.5
After: 4.2/4.5

Toe (L/R):
Before: 0.68/0.59
After: 0.15/0.14

[LGriffith]

Did you get the OME HD springs, or the LJ/ZJ springs? My build's going to be very very similar to this one

[Unlimited04]

Originally Posted by LGriffith

Did you get the OME HD springs, or the LJ/ZJ springs? My build's going to be very very similar to this one

Front: 933 (TJ HD)
Rear: 949 (LJ Specific)

Decided against the ZJ 934 fronts after talking with OME. My friend that helped me install all this has 934 fronts with 949 rears, and he needs 1" rear spacers to sit level.

And if I'm thinking of the bumpstops correctly, I should be good. Baseline is 2" for 33s w/o BL. 2"-1.25" for BL. Leaves 0.75"-0.9" for the homemade bumpstop...which gives me 0.15" extra clearance. Plus theres a spacer in front which gives an extra 0.75".

EDIT-after adding a winch, I went to 934 springs. I'd recommend the 934/949 combo for LJ's, the 933's will work if you're keeping a stock front end with no extra weight.

[klimb2xs]

I had the same thing happen when I replaced my shocks. I just took a dremel with a cut off wheel to the welds. I was able to get one side of each nut cut loose. Then I took a chisel to then and knocked them off.

Originally Posted by Unlimited04

The biggest problem right now is the passenger side rear shock mount: http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=778320



I bought a Cobalt tipped drill bit that is supposed to be suitable for drilling hardened steel, that's tomorrows project. Tried to chip the weld-nut off today with a A3 tool steel chisel, it sure busted up the nut, but isn't doing much to the weld. The weld must be 7018 or higher tensile strength stuff.

[TheBoogieman]

Those bolts are a PITA.I snapped 3 off mine.
http://jeephorizons.com/tech/xjshock.html

[LJameson]

Am I the only person in the world that hasn't broken those off? Even at 120,000 miles when I did my lift, the bolts came out no problem. And they were the original shocks...

You pretty much have the build sheet of what I wanted to do to my TJ. I'm probably going that same route when I get back into one too. Maybe even get into an LJ if theres one in my price range.

[lumpster]

Originally Posted by jeepfreak4life7

Am I the only person in the world that hasn't broken those off? Even at 120,000 miles when I did my lift, the bolts came out no problem. And they were the original shocks...

You pretty much have the build sheet of what I wanted to do to my TJ. I'm probably going that same route when I get back into one too. Maybe even get into an LJ if theres one in my price range.

Ive never had a problem, 4 jeeps and no breaks. Knock on wood!

[95BadBoy]

Unlimited04 -
Looking very nice, hopefully you will get that shock in today.