Lord Al Sorna's 2014 JKUR Build Thread

[Lord Al Sorna]

Great to hear! I'm kicking myself for not learning to ski last year.

Do you think the fox bump stops are a big part of why it's so dialed in for high speed off-road driving?

I would say that is lower down on the list of reasons...

#1 - Shocks are tuned well, and being remote resi they eek out a little bit of additional travel for the suspension height.
#2 - Suspension is set that ride height is closer to the limits of extension travel rather than compression travel. This bit I learned as an IFS toyota guy... Lots of Jeeps out there have suspension geometry / shock lengths / bumpstops setup to get a lot of extension travel, but rig is closer to fully compressed at ride height. This gives you "wicked flex"... but you are 1-1/2" off the bumpstops all the time on level ground. What happens when you hit a 2"+ hole at 50? THUMP My Jeep rides around closer to fully extended on the shocks, but has more compression travel available.
#3 - Manual control on swaybar disconnect. I used the Evo kit that mounts to existing electronic swaybar but makes it so you turn a knob to engage system and removes electronic parts. The 18mph thing drove me absolutely insane with the factory push-button system. The ************* car does not make decisions like that in my world, I do. With manual control I leave that baby unlocked almost all the time on the dirt, which means way less vibration being transferred through the frame. This makes a huge difference.
#4 - Fox hydro bumps. These really just give you the opportunity to drive around with an increased degree of "reckless abandon". They take the hit really well on ditches, bigger holes, etc if you don't slow down enough and take all the harshness out of most bottom-outs. You need your suspension up high to utilize these, otherwise you will be tapping the axle into them all over town / all over everything and they will drive you nuts.

 

[KlausVanWinkle]

I would say that is lower down on the list of reasons...

#1 - Shocks are tuned well, and being remote resi they eek out a little bit of additional travel for the suspension height.
#2 - Suspension is set that ride height is closer to the limits of extension travel rather than compression travel. This bit I learned as an IFS toyota guy... Lots of Jeeps out there have suspension geometry / shock lengths / bumpstops setup to get a lot of extension travel, but rig is closer to fully compressed at ride height. This gives you "wicked flex"... but you are 1-1/2" off the bumpstops all the time on level ground. What happens when you hit a 2"+ hole at 50? THUMP My Jeep rides around closer to fully extended on the shocks, but has more compression travel available.
#3 - Manual control on swaybar disconnect. I used the Evo kit that mounts to existing electronic swaybar but makes it so you turn a knob to engage system and removes electronic parts. The 18mph thing drove me absolutely insane with the factory push-button system. The ************* car does not make decisions like that in my world, I do. With manual control I leave that baby unlocked almost all the time on the dirt, which means way less vibration being transferred through the frame. This makes a huge difference.
#4 - Fox hydro bumps. These really just give you the opportunity to drive around with an increased degree of "reckless abandon". They take the hit really well on ditches, bigger holes, etc if you don't slow down enough and take all the harshness out of most bottom-outs. You need your suspension up high to utilize these, otherwise you will be tapping the axle into them all over town / all over everything and they will drive you nuts.

#2 is interesting. In 100-series world people were always concerned about leaving at least 2.75" of "droop" because otherwise you'd run out of down travel and start lifting wheels even in street driving.

#4 is the part I was wondering about. I'm happy with my AEV set up, but occasionally that ditch or wash is harsher than it looks and I wish I'd slowed down a little more. It'd be nice to not take those huge hits.

 

[Comanche Scott]

I've got the Teraflex Speed bumps, and they feel pretty much seamless in function.
After blasting around the desert, and in big rock technical descents, I'm very glad to have them. Helps keep the body stable.

 

[Lord Al Sorna]

#2 is interesting. In 100-series world people were always concerned about leaving at least 2.75" of "droop" because otherwise you'd run out of down travel and start lifting wheels even in street driving.

#4 is the part I was wondering about. I'm happy with my AEV set up, but occasionally that ditch or wash is harsher than it looks and I wish I'd slowed down a little more. It'd be nice to not take those huge hits.

Yeah, you still need some rebound travel on-tap. I just meant that unlike many Jeeps, mine is set up high in the overall window of travel instead of low.

The addition of bumps was nice, and provides for a higher average speed on dirt roads. I really do warn you that at 3.5" lift I don't think the fox version would even work... You really need some room in the suspension to utilize them unless you are in full race-mode and hitting them hard all the time. I ended up putting spacers in my springs and going even higher to give them more room before they engaged, which puts my Jeep at ~4.75" lift. The setup is nicely dialed now, but before adding 3/4" spacers I was tapping into the bumps a lot more than I wanted to. They make a vibratory click you can hear / feel once the axle engages them, and the ride gets super stiff. Because of this at 4" lift height they actually had a negative effect on overall ride quality. That extra 3/4" made all the difference.

 

[Lord Al Sorna]

Random photo dump:

Front D44 after giver her some lovin'. Evo truss kit, ARB diff cover / Lube Locker, Synergy Ball Joints



Last trip out was to Moab for Halloween. The BEAST!


Sunset Arch, Hole-In-The-Rock Road

 

[darjo242]

Great thread!! Definitely gonna use this as a guidepost for ideas on my future build for my JK.

 

[Comanche Scott]

Those pictures are very inspiring! :drool:

 

[Lord Al Sorna]

Great thread!! Definitely gonna use this as a guidepost for ideas on my future build for my JK.

Glad to hear it, and thanks! They are great rigs, and I am sure yours will take you where you wanna go. It's fun when you get things really dialed-in the way you want.

Those pictures are very inspiring!

Thank you for the kind words. We had a great year, and are lucky to live in an outdoor playground. This makes me want to post a few more... overlanding is a lot of fun!

On location: Escalante, UT - Hole-In-The-Rock Road. Sunrise Arch / Willow Gulch






On Location: Kanab, UT. Coral Pink Sand Dune State Park / Elephant Butte Trails





CHEERS! See you on the trail...

 

[Lord Al Sorna]

Spring prep projects! Just re-tuned compression stack in my shocks. Got some great advice from Ryan at Accu-Tune offroad and the parts to add a flutter stack to compression valving.

Though my shocks are adjustable, the adjuster only handles low and mid shaft speed damping (it is a bleed adjustment). My rig took big bumps and high speeds beautifully, but there was a lingering harshness on small road chop and washboards that left me wanting more. Per my chat with Ryan, I kept the factory #90 stack completely intact, and added the largest two and smallest shim from a #70 stack for the flutter. In this picture you can see the #90 stack on the bottom and then the top three added. Reason for doing this: to soften small bump compression while still retaining the ability to take larger hits well. I am very pleased and excited about the results in initial testing.

Shock tuning is fun to get your head wrapped into. Basically this shim stack allows the shock to move easier at high shaft speeds for the first bit of travel as the oil pushes on the lighter stack. This pulls out the initial harshness and acts as a little buffer on small bumps. Once the shaft keeps going, the shims continue to bend and engage the #90 shims, providing more resistance. "AKA: Poor man's bypass shock"



Shot of complete front suspension. Added long lines for the resi's and welded remote mount brackets to the frame. Originally the resi's were mounted to the side of the shock body, but with the addition of the safari snorkel I could still turn but no longer see which number the adjuster was on. Going off of feel and memory, I thought it was on 3, but upon pulling the shock I discovered it was on 7.... Not even close, this was a worthwhile upgrade.


Complete rear suspension... I added a taller rear track bar bracket and longer sway bar links to correct some alignment / geometry after adding spacers. Everything lined up the way it is supposed to be now and oh so buttery smooth.

 

[Lord Al Sorna]

Here's another little tidbit worth sharing... For the last two seasons I have been cruising around with one of these on my rear rack to hold recovery gear:
https://www.amazon.com/Rampage-8662...rd_wg=BIVfG&psc=1&refRID=7ES71JDGHS3YE2A3NBQP

It did its job well enough but this winter I needed to rescue the UPS man... long story short I broke the lid off with a crowbar to get to my tow strap. The lock had jammed up, making the contents inaccessible and provoking me to an angry bear rage on the container.
Had this happened on the trail without my huge crowbar, I would have had one miserable SOB on my hands. Buyer beware...

SO, I needed a *RELIABLE* container to hold recovery gear on the back rack of my Jeep. I started thinking about ammo cans, and remembered there being some different sizes than the common .50 cal. Enter the 120mm ammo can - a military surplus gem.
http://www.surpluscenter.com/Miscellaneous/Ammo-Boxes-Cases/120-MM-MORTAR-SHELL-AMMO-BOX-1-3324.axd
Bought mine at this link. Great price, and container arrived in excellent condition. Markings made it apparent that it had carried smoke bombs. FUN. Two problems still remained - security and secure mounting. To solve the latter, I pulled my fabbed bracket for the Jerry can, made some surgical cuts with a cutoff wheel, and re-welded the piece to the narrower length of the new box. The width was only 3/4 less than the Jerry can, so I just cut a piece of 3/4 ply and put it in as a spacer. Then just used two cinch straps on the metal handles, and got things to where they were super secure and wouldn't rattle.

Then on to security. Out came the welder... I fabbed up two little tabs that I could put small padlocks through to secure the lid on the box. I then finished by welding a loop of square tube to the side, giving me a convenient place to run the cable lock through. This should be enough to deter any crimes of opportunity. Someone would have to work at it at least...


Finished by giving it a white paintjob, just to go with the whole black-and-white / yin-and-yang thing I have going.


One thing I figured when I went this route is that the tall, narrow shape would be good to stack coiled items (straps, battery cables) in an efficient way. When I packed this little baby, I discovered just how right I was.
Everything in this photo now resides in the box except the paper towel roll and the grey pig tube! The straps nestle in side-by-side, so it packs super efficiently.


This is most of the recovery gear I carry at all times: 1 60' strap, 1 30' strap, 2 tree straps, 4 shackles, snatch block, spill cleanup kit, roll heavy wire, roll heavy zip ties, jumper cables, battery tender jumstart pack (shop-tested, works GREAT! can also charge phones - has USB out). I also have a tool roll in the rig and good first-aide kit at all times.

The only drawback with this setup is the weight on the rack. Since its a heavy box filled with heavy gear, I'm pushing the limits of the OR fab rack with a heavy jack, heavy spare, and heavy water jug. It is not too much more than I had originally, but it is more weight. The OR fab rack has been rock-solid, so only time will tell if any issues are going to bubble up.

 

[Comanche Scott]

Nice, simple and clean. :beer:

 

[Al75]

At start of thread you wrote:

"I do a lot of high-speed overland style driving in UT (my favorite example being the Hole in the Rock Road, outside of Escalante, UT - 60 miles of insane washboarding, dips, and drainage cuts/holes). I had experienced plenty of shock fade on my Tacoma through my travels and knew the upgrade would be worth it for me. I choose the Fox 2.0 shocks with with compression clickers for this application and now love them."

Do you have experienced fade with Fox 2.0 shocks?
What is weight of your Jeep when you are going to trip?