Bill the MutTJ

RockChucker · Mar 30, 2016

Pretty killer trip with some great company. We ran Helldorado, Strike Ravine, Greenday, I think all of Smashing Pumkins, Minor Threat and the first half of Behind the Rocks on Friday. Made it almost to Rocker Knocker on Pritchett Saturday afternoon when some unfortunate breakage in our group occurred and we had to turn back early.

Tonkaman · Mar 30, 2016

Awesome jeep!

Greg · Mar 31, 2016

Dave, I have loved seeing your TJ progress over the years! I know in another thread you mentioned that you were inspired by my TJ build... I have to say that you took the idea to a totally new, higher level! It's amazing to see how well your TJ works, very clean work and extremely well thought out. I love it! Makes my miss my old TJ....

skippy · Mar 31, 2016

This TJ is OK...... I guess...... If your into that sort of thing..........

RockChucker · Mar 31, 2016

Greg said:
Dave, I have loved seeing your TJ progress over the years! I know in another thread you mentioned that you were inspired by my TJ build... I have to say that you took the idea to a totally new, higher level! It's amazing to see how well your TJ works, very clean work and extremely well thought out. I love it! Makes my miss my old TJ....

Thanks! It's been a project. Lots of fun! Lots of work. Most people will never understand the work it takes to build a rig like this. Now that I finally have a rig that drives again, we should hit some trails in Moab.

RockChucker · Mar 31, 2016

skippy said:
This TJ is OK...... I guess...... If your into that sort of thing..........

Yeah it's ok. It has some things and stuff and the tires rotate. Let's go wheelin

Bart · Apr 1, 2016

Wow, the rig looks great and seems to be working awesome. Nice job on the build. It's fun when you can go wheeling and not have to worry about the stuff that still needs to be done.

RockChucker · Apr 5, 2016

Fast motion through the Helldorado Gatekeeper

https://vimeo.com/161721199

Gravy · Apr 6, 2016

Do you feel like you're still loving the light spring rates?
Do you feel like it has excessive body roll at speed?

Looks like it's pretty awesome at crawling!

RockChucker · Apr 6, 2016

I do like the spring rates. But, I definitely need to tune the shocks and get the dual rate timer dialed in. Right now, the shocks are valved pretty light on compression and heavier on rebound (came out of the box that way from Fox). The way the factory tune is, is set more for a heavy spring rate and most of the damping is performed on the rebound.

I did a lot of research on spring rates and how to set them up. Conventionally, spring rates are set using a frequency based on vehicle weight. This conventional method works great for street vehicles that only have a few inches of travel, but falls apart with the long travel that offroad vehicles have. Wayne Israelson from Alltech Motorsports started a spring tech (LINK) thread on Pirate that discusses these concepts. In a nutshell, his method of tuning suspension is based on the springs only supporting the weight of the vehicle with 2-3" of preload, using the lightest springs possible.

There was plenty of argument against this, but essentially a shock is a frequency modifying device, so why not let it do its job and modify the frequency of the softer spring rate? Additionally, there are other benefits from this setup. Due to the preload on the springs, the force extending the shock (pushing the axle down) is greater in the last several inches of travel vs a heavier spring that doesn't have as much preload. The axle will "drop" out faster to get ready for the next event.

The goal behind this Jeep is for an all around rig. When I worked at Teraflex, I realized it's pretty fun to go fast. So, this Jeep will do that. Back to the suspension, right now, it is pretty soft everywhere. There is a little loop out at 5 Mile that Beach runs around that I have been around in this rig as well. I need to get the dual rate timer to enter into the equation much earlier to take full advantage of the dual rate spring setup. After messing with that a bit, I'm fully expecting that I'll need to tear into the shocks and revalve them. Until then, I'll keep rocking it. As it sits right now, I can run the whooped out road paralleling the highway between 40 and 45, I think. It's hard to remember to glance down at the speedo. The rear definitely needs more tuning help than the front. It does bottom out a few times on some of the bigger whoops.

Body roll isn't too bad. Especially considering I only have a trail sway bar on the rear end of the Jeep. I tried to fit one on the front, but there isn't any room. It definitely has less than the Teraflex JK I drove for 18 months or so (similar setup: factory rear sway bar and nothing on the front). I have driven this to work several times. I feel comfortable enough to do 70+ mph with one hand on the wheel. It really drives nice with the longer wheelbase.

Hopefully that answers your questions. It's hard to condense all my research and thought process into a short post.

Gravy · Apr 6, 2016

I'm on board with that thread. I've got a few posts on it from 4 years ago. I wondered because I've got 14" foxes getting ready to go in and 14" 150lb uppers and was deciding on either 200 16" lowers or going with a bigger step up to like 225 or 250 and threading the crossovers down to get into the dual rate earlier. I don't think I'll be able to run a sway bar up front easily either.

Pretty common in the dirt bike world to spring for weight and valve for ride so I'm on board with the theory, but weight on a bike doesn't change as dramatically as on a OHV.

Let me know what you decide on when you swap to heavier compression and lighter rebound valving and we can do some arm chair tuning comparisons.

RockChucker · Apr 6, 2016

I don't think I mentioned it, I'm running a 14" upper and a 16" lower spring. It's close, but fits on the shock.

Gravy · Apr 6, 2016

yeah I'd like to avoid tenders too.

RockChucker · Apr 10, 2016

I think I set some kind of personal record. I've been wheelin 4 out of the last 5 weekends. I don't think I have ever done that before.

Only had minor issues on the shake down run with my jeep the first time out. No issues since other than adjusting tire pressure. It flat works. And it's pretty fun drive to work too :greg:

https://youtu.be/tX_YuGZVIDk

I went out to the SL Offroad expo event yesterday and went wheelin and helped Rawlin McGhie and Chad Schoonover do a little shock tuning on their cars. There was a lot of people out there. Tacoma even made an appearance!

RockChucker · Apr 19, 2016

Not the most roomy thing ever. But it's a 4 seater again. The TJ seat was too wide to fit between the shocks, so I picked up a YJ seat from corbeau (for cheaper than a 20+ year old factory seat [emoji15]) and installed it with some Crow lap belts. The TJ seat is for sale if anyone is interested...

corbin.black · Apr 19, 2016

pretty soon we will need to change the name to rusty.. when you gonna paint everything?!

RockChucker · Apr 20, 2016

BLACK04WJ said:
pretty soon we will need to change the name to rusty.. when you gonna paint everything?!

It's on the list haha. You won't even recognize it when you get home...and that's all I'm saying about that :greg:

corbin.black · Apr 20, 2016

rockchucker said:
It's on the list haha. You won't even recognize it when you get home...and that's all I'm saying about that :greg:

That day still seems so far away!!! but I can't wait to come check it out man, it looks killer!

RockChucker · May 5, 2016

I've been continuing to work out the bugs. In the last couple months I've put almost 1500 miles on it driving around town and to work. It sure drives nice. I have a couple ideas to improve the steering response while eliminating the hydro assist. Stand by. It will take time. For those that are interested research non integral power steering.

I really liked the raw metal look on the frame and cage. Unfortunately the linseed oil coating didn't work like I hoped. Everything is patina'ing nicely [emoji15]. So. Time to paint. All the frame and cage are going to be rustoleum black. I've been using the engine enamel lately. Seems like it cures into more of a shell and lasts better. The rest of the jeep...well. It's days as a black jeep are numbered.

And a couple pics. Since threads are worthless without pics.

Went out on a quick night run up rattlesnake and to Wayne's world last Friday after work with some peeps from work. It was a good time. Even had a feller out for his first time in a 2014 4 door.
Photo credit goes to my pal Davey.

TJDukit · May 6, 2016

It's always fun to get the new guys out for their first time in their JK, more so if they are good sports about it.

Seriously love this rig.

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