Full Size Jeep Network

Buddy of mine has a ZJ lifted and on long arms. It rides great and flexes like a mofo to say the least.

Has anybody here tried going this route with a grand waggy?

I have seen a couple of them show up over the years on the mothership using Bronco coil-over front end.

My favorite was the guy with the school bus yellow Cherokee that used the axles from a JK with a long arm kit, swapped it all over (including a Hemi). Very nice work. There is a full build thread on IFSJA.

Coil overs are not real easy to go on an FSJ due to them not being linked from the factory. So the frames are not as setup for it (lot less room as the frame is wider).

Plain 'ol coils (Like cu4wheelin did as mentioned by RamJet above) is much easier to do. As they are much shorter so they do not require the same space. Coil overs are not compact (Except for EVO's rear lever setup). Not that it can't be done, just takes more work to do it right.

I'm still trying to figure out what's gonna happen to the Honcho, but I have a feeling it will end up with front coils and king shocks. The rear will still be 63" chevy springs.

RamJetFSJ wrote:My favorite was the guy with the school bus yellow Cherokee that used the axles from a JK with a long arm kit, swapped it all over (including a Hemi). Very nice work. There is a full build thread on IFSJA.

Oh, you mean the guy that tried to delete his thread because it had some criticism, yea I saved the original version prior to to delete/resurrection in PDF.
I was not impressed.
If I had, oh let's say zeroK into it and a butt load of ChryCo support into it, I would have just stayed in bed.

Not saying it's not a worthy rig or he did not have some personal equity into it but let's be real about some of this.

Tad wrote:

RamJetFSJ wrote:My favorite was the guy with the school bus yellow Cherokee that used the axles from a JK with a long arm kit, swapped it all over (including a Hemi). Very nice work. There is a full build thread on IFSJA.

Oh, you mean the guy that tried to delete his thread because it had some criticism, yea I saved the original version prior to to delete/resurrection in PDF.
I was not impressed.
If I had, oh let's say zeroK into it and a butt load of ChryCo support into it, I would have just stayed in bed.

Not saying it's not a worthy rig or he did not have some personal equity into it but let's be real about some of this.

Oh it was 100% funded by Chrysler. He works for Chrysler. They brought it around to SEMA and a bunch of other shows to show what you can do with purchased parts.

And while I would love to have a JK suspension and the Hemi in my J10, as it would ride great, I would never put that weak front axle under it, complete downgrade. And while I think it was cool that Chrysler built up a Cherokee that is for the most part, a very nice rig, it wasn't really the build thread that we are used too on FSJ forums. Where the average joe builds the rig himself. Rather than buying 25k in parts and bolting it on.

Stuka wrote: Where the average joe builds the rig himself. Rather than buying 25k in parts and bolting it on.

Definitely don't have that sorta dough to throw down. The friend with the long arm ZJ is getting ready to part the rig out and build something else(WHY?) and my brother is looking to do a spring over on his '77 W/T. The thinking is that if both rigs are torn down anyways and if it can be done within reason and limitations of the budget, why not?

I probably wouldnt put a "stock" JK axle under it either, but it did lead me down a path where I found a truss system to add TJ/JK mounts to a Waggy front Dana 44, which would would make it pretty easy to add a JK 3 link style setup.

RamJetFSJ wrote:I probably wouldnt put a "stock" JK axle under it either, but it did lead me down a path where I found a truss system to add TJ/JK mounts to a Waggy front Dana 44, which would would make it pretty easy to add a JK 3 link style setup.

JK's use 4 links front and rear. Up front is a partial triangulated and the rear is a parallel 4 link. Well, not a true parallel, but its similar. Lower arms are longer. Both use track bars for centering, so roll center is an issue for the rear (Easily correctable with various lift amounts). And steering/track bar geometry is very important. But also easily addressable.

If I was to go with a linked setup, I would probably go with a JK system as they can be easily modified to fit other vehicles. Especially the long arms and they come with all the brackets to be welded on. It would cost a bit more than building one from scratch, but it would take all the math out of the equation.

Plus, you would not need to move the fuel tank or anything as they do not intrude inside the frame in back.

Wouldn't be bad, but would certainly have to notch the frame to clear the coilovers, and likely have to widen the track a couple inches.

I would also personally link it with coils and shocks. 3 link with trackbar front and dual triangulated rear. I would still notch the frame to fit a longer coil however...

Stucka, technically coiled Jeeps are 5 links.

What about the coil setup off of a 93-02 ram? It's basically a heavy duty version of the xj suspension.

pcoplin wrote:Wouldn't be bad, but would certainly have to notch the frame to clear the coilovers, and likely have to widen the track a couple inches.

I would also personally link it with coils and shocks. 3 link with trackbar front and dual triangulated rear. I would still notch the frame to fit a longer coil however...

Stucka, technically coiled Jeeps are 5 links.

Nobody I know considers the track bar to be a link as it is not load bearing.

BTW: no C Stu-kuh

I've just read too many suspension design books.

But since is locates the entire axle, I'm pretty sure it bears the same compression/tension type loads the control arms do.

And my apologies about the name. The phone makes me lazy I guess...

pcoplin wrote:I've just read too many suspension design books.

But since is locates the entire axle, I'm pretty sure it bears the same compression/tension type loads the control arms do.

And my apologies about the name. The phone makes me lazy I guess...

Yeah it locates it laterally. So it does have some load, but not like the main control arms. Which is partly why they are so much smaller. If a track bar is considered a link, the only true 4 link is a double triangulated. And the only true 3 link is a radius arm or wish bone.

Correct. And you can have a single triangulated 4 link, also.

I am currently doing a TJ suspension swap. 1976 wagoneer with all TJ geometry. Used Rusty's Offroad arms and some of their builder parts brackets. We are holding the frame at a 3" lift height and mounting the control arm brakets to the frame based on stock TJ meaurements and angles. The front will be coilovers, the rear is coils. One of the design perameters is to keep the rear wheels inside the wheel well while trying to set it up for 12" of travel. We want the finished look to be understated, basically we want it to appear stock but with a mild lift and slightly larger tires. So far it is working out well. build thread on the build thread forum.

Parallel four link ala Dodge using Ford coils. WT axle on 77' Cherokee. Ignore the shock length, it will be fixed. Bad thing is I need 9 inch stroke shocks.

Definitely doing this to mine. Ill copy some of my jk design. Ruffstuff seems to be best builder site