Getting turnt... hydraulicly

Hydraulic Steering 

This seems to be the line where you really commit to hardcore wheeling, you have the tires, lift, lockers... probably even some useless light bars... your rig is pretty damn capable, but the fact is, it steers like crap! Your steering stabilizer isn't cutting it on the street, and in the trails you are wrestling the steering wheel all day to get your rig to go where you want it to go. taking the leap to hydraulic steering will make all of that better, and make you wonder why you waited so long to do this?!

Options-

So what are your options? There are a few companies that can help you with your fluid power upgrade, I'm not going to go into the specifics of those but I will add some links to the end of this blog. Really there are two options, each with their own benefits and drawbacks.

1. Hydraulic Assist- This uses your power steering pump and steering box to supply hydraulic pressure to a ram that gets mounted to your axle, and the other end gets attached to your tie rod. There are LOTS of different ways to accomplish this, some guys swear by going the cheapest possible way and modifying their pump for more flow, drilling and taping their factory steering box, and adding a cheap hydraulic ram from the local farm supply store. This method will work, but isn't that reliable, so be prepared to have shit break.
   The best option is to replace the entire steering system with a complete kit that is designed for how you intend to use your rig. My hydraulic assist from PSC uses an upgraded pump, remote fluid reservoir, upgraded steering box with the ports already in it, and a purpose built ram with the correct amount of stroke. I have used this kit for the past 4 years with zero issues.
   
   
   
   
2. Full Hydraulic- This setup is more for the hardcore, trail only rigs, it eliminates all of the steering linkage from the steering box to the axle and relies solely on a ram (usually double ended) to move the tire side to side. There's no actual connection between your steering wheel and the tie rod, so there is no feedback. When it comes to shoving around 40"+ tires in the rocks it's fantastic, and packaging of your crazy suspension design is easier because you don't need to worry about steering connections beyond where to route the hoses. The drawback comes from the lack of connection itself, if you were to lose the pump, or blow a line your have ZERO steering! It's for this reason that this setup is not street legal, and isn't allowed in some racing classes.
   

The costs of either of these options can be a bit of a deterrent, an ultra cheap setup as I described above using a farm ram will probably run you less than $500, going to a complete kit from PSC is closer to $1,500-2,000 and the full hydraulic setup is closer to $3,000. But having the ability to have a rig that can go down the street with good manners, and still be able to make a turn while you are in a tight spot on the trail with big tires is pretty great. It's not for everyone, but if you are running 35" tires or larger you should definitely consider adding it to your build budget!

 PSC Steering

AGR Steering

Trail Gear

TV Magic

In recent years the off road world has finally seen in increase in the amount and quality of shows to give us our Sunday morning fix, there have been some great ones with a lot of good info, product reviews, and trail highlights... There have also been a few that just suck. 

Xtreme Off-Road

This show has been around for 15 years or so and has inspired countless offroaders to start their build, given some great info on "how to" and has shown a great variety of vehicles. Yup, for 15 years that was the go to for most of us on our Sunday mornings while drinking coffee and planning our builds in our heads... And then Ian left... And now the faithful followers of the show feel like they just got the rug pulled out from under them. The new hosts are just terrible, they don't appear to have any real knowledge, or confidence in what they are doing. And the couple of builds they have started are complete jokes! They decided to completely paint one project BEFORE starting any of the fab work, which anyone how has ever built anything will tell you should be the LAST step. I'll finish out this season with them simply because I'm hopeful that they will improve, and because there aren't many other options on a Sunday morning... Maybe I'll just start watching Spongebob instead.

Truck U

This one has been a hit or miss for me, I don't go out of my way to watch it, but if it's on I'll watch it depending on what they are doing. They tend to focus on the bolt on stuff, and newer trucks, essentially they are an infomercial that features trucks. 

Truck Night in America

Ok here it is, the new show that was supposed to be awesome, I mean, they built up the hype for months ahead of the first episode, certainly it's good right... not so much. I want to like it, but they just make it so easy to hate it. The thing I do like about it is that they feature real trucks instead of super high dollar builds, but honestly that is part of what I dislike too. If I wanted to watch some clapped out XJ with no lockers and no winch attempt obstacles that they have no business attempting I'd just go to the local park. They need to make some minimum requirements, lockers in both axles, winch, and an actual pre inspection to make sure guys are ready to compete. As for the competitions themselves... Well, that is the other place they fell short on this one. They claim it to be "The hardest course ever built" but it's really just a bunch of obstacles that don't test any real aspect of a vehicle beyond how fast you can go over big bumps, or how far you can launch a toilet... that has never happened on any trail I've been on... I would think that anyone that has competed in 4 Wheeler Magazines Top Truck Challenge would be extremely insulted by the claim of being the hardest course ever built, that course truly is the hardest, and they test ALL aspects of a rig, not just it's ability to push an ice cream truck off a cliff. I mean, they don't have one single rock on the whole course! I'll keep watching just to boost the numbers in hopes that they get a second season and improve some things, but I don't have much confidence in that.

4 Link Suspensions

This blog has been on my to do list for a while, I had great intentions of doing a full photo shoot and maybe a short video or two from the garage to show examples. The reality of that is much less exciting, as usual time is limited, and I'm stretched pretty thin. So I am going to need to share some resources in this one to give you good solid information and keep it interesting.

Four Wheeler Magazine did a great write up

Here is some info on front suspensions

There are tons of different ways to set up your own custom suspension, sure you can wing it, it might work, but chances are it won't work the way you had in mind. There's also the chance that in an attempt to make your rig ultra cool, and the baddest thing on the trails ends up with bad behavior, it could be set up in such a way that you can't actually put the power to the ground, or worse, be so unstable that it rolls over rather than crawls the obstacles. And then there's the safety factor, we are talking about welding and bolting the pieces that are holding your entire rig together here, be honest about your welding skills, if you can't put down top quality welds you should find someone that can.

Luckily there are now lots of companies making tabs, brackets, and all of the other parts to build your own suspension. But there are always guys that feel they can "do it better" in an attempt to save a few bucks they make all of their own parts, this is not a great plan for a beginner. The pieces available are well thought out, laser cut, and CNC bent pieces that have been proven on some of the hardest trails out there. And the price of these parts isn't that expensive when you take into account the material costs, your time, and the tools needed to make them. For me I would rather be able to open a box and immediately start fitting and mocking up pieces rather than spend my day trying to make a basic link mount.

Ruff Stuff Specialties

Artec Industries

I am by no means an expert on suspension design, and tuning. But there are a few places I did my research in order to feel confident enough to start building custom suspension, rather than repeat all of the info here i will just supply you with the best links I have used to figure out the different terms and what they all mean. There are lots of "rules" people use to build there suspensions, but once you understand what each piece does it will all make sense.

Excel suspension calculator

It's pretty amazing how 4 little links can have so many functions, but they are all important and must be addressed in order to have a properly functioning rig. The other factor that will limit you is the available space under your vehicle, there isn't much room under a Jeep once you start putting all of these pieces in there so you will probably need to either compromise on proper suspension angles or cutting away parts of your vehicle or moving things like fuel tanks and exhaust.

   

Creating a work plan... when you don't have time for the work

Most people have many different layers to their lives, to who they are, what roles they play in others lives. As much as I hope to one day be able to focus my career in the off-road world, living out my childhood dreams of spending my days building rigs, being able to business expense a trip to Moab, everyday living the life we imagine the reality TV personalities live; I'm not there yet. For now I have to juggle the same things most others do, a full time job that often requires me to travel to different places for extended periods of time to manage a project, or perform some field machining/welding miracle in a tight timeframe. I am a husband to a wonderful woman whom has some fairly serious medical conditions that requires my attention to help her get through the rough times when her lupus makes it so she can't function as she once could. I'm a father to some pretty amazing kids, and now a grandfather to a young boy that will surely be riding trails with grampie SOON. And since I had a few extra hours in a week I am now a full time college student... Somewhere in there is where I get to schedule work days in the garage, clearly they don't happen as much as I would like, and normally there are time limits to them; luckily I am normally awake before the rest of my household on the weekends, so I use that early morning time to satisfy my need for building rigs.

So how then do you make the most of the few hours here and there that you can get away to the garage to work on the stuff that you need to get done? Like most things you need to have a plan, you need to have a clear picture of what you want to get done in the given time you have. It's important to be realistic about what you can actually get done, it's not realistic to think you are going to build an entire roll cage in one day, but if you break that project down into small bites it makes it much more manageable. Instead of trying to get the whole cage done, make a goal to get the rear section done, or the node at the top of the cab that you know will take the most time. It's also important to give yourself some alternate tasks for when you hit a roadblock, maybe you get into your scheduled task and realize you don't have all of the parts, that special tool you need to do the job is broken, or you just aren't feeling it.

That last one is the hardest, tools and parts can be sourced pretty easily, but motivation to do something can be tough. especially if it's a tough task, or one that you don't have a lot of experience with. hitting a mental roadblock can take some real work to get through, and most professionals can attest to how important it is to refocus rather than just pushing through when you aren't 100% in the project. Have a small list of sub-tasks that you can work on, it can be something small, but sometimes just the feeling of accomplishing something is enough to get your head in the game.

Make a List! How are you going to know what to do next? How are you going to know what you have left? How are you going to know what you need to order? It doesn't have to be a super organized list, I've tried a few different types from handwritten notes, whiteboards, to Excel spreadsheets, for me having a mixture of all of these works best. I like to have a whiteboard in the garage right by the project, that makes it easy to look at it between tasks to decide what the next step should be. I like to have a written plan of the project with a little more detail than the whiteboard, and finally I like to have an Excel spreadsheet to list the parts needed, this makes it super easy to get a rough total for parts and helps to bring the whole picture of the project into reality.

Most times I really enjoy my early weekend solo mornings in the garage, music cranking, sparks flying, getting shit done. It calms me, re-centers me. Other times you look at the workload ahead of you and need to plan out a big boys "Play date" set a date, and a list of projects, then invite your buddies to come lend a hand, most will be happy to help out where they can (especially if you feed them) when they show up make sure you have a task to give them, nothing is worse than giving up a Saturday to help someone out and them not having a plan of attack on the project, often the day is wasted trying to figure out what to do, and then nothing really gets done. Have a list of tasks you want the group to get done, and make sure you have enough of a variety of tasks that people of different levels can work on independently, it doesn't make sense to have someone come over to help then you need to show them every damn step!

I hope this blog will help you guys focus a bit, sit down and make a list, come up with a plan, that way when you only have 4 hours to get something done you can actually get 4 hours of work done.


Words of wisdom from a master






   

Weak mounts

If you read my last blog you already know about the different options for lifting the most popular Jeep suspensions, one thing that remains a constant among all of them is there weak axle side lower control arm mounts (the frame side mounts have their own issues as well) The problem with the lower control arm mounts, specifically in the front is that they hang below the axle tube where they are susceptible to damage from trail obstacles. Couple this with a weak stamped steel design from the factory, with no type of skid plate and it's easy to see why most people end up bending or breaking these mounts.

This is exactly what happened to a good friend of mine on our clubs annual Easter trip to Windrock Park last year; and in true wheeler fashion he waited until the week before this years trip to properly fix it, due to work schedules and a busy family life it left me fabricating him a new mount less than 12 hours before his departure!

This lower control arm mount was ripped completely off by a rock, it was then temporarily welded back on.

There are several options out there to replace and upgrade the factory mounts, however with a little patience and some 3/16" steel you can throw one together in a couple of hours. For this repair I first cut the old bent up one off, it was pretty beat up, but I was still able to use it as a rough base for the new one. Be sure to clean all of the remnants of the old mount from the axle, remove all paint and rust from the entire area so that when you weld the new one on it will be a good solid weld.




I traced both sides onto a piece of cardboard, and added a little extra material on the axle side since that is where I cut it off. Once I cut out the template I also added the bolt hole location using the back of the original mount as the guide.

I then "bolted" it into the lower control arm and swung it up into place and began the trimming process, trimming a small amount at a time until it fits in the factory location correctly. It is important to account for the top plate in this process, however if need be you can trim the tops of the side plates once they are all fit up.

Once you are satisfied with the way the cardboard fits, it's time to transfer it to the steel. I have the benefit of a plasma cutter in our shop, however you could do this with an oxy fuel torch, a bandsaw, or even a grinder with a cut-off wheel. You will then need to transfer the bolt hole location and drill those through as well, keep in mind that you don't want to make these holes any larger than need be or you will end up with a lot of slop which could lead to death wobble.

Be sure to de-bur everything real good, you may be doing this in your driveway, or your poorly equipped garage, but it doesn't need to look like it, take some time to make it look good now so you won't be embarrassed to show it off to your buddies later.

Now start the trimming process over, this time with the steel parts, fit your pieces together using the control arm to hold it all together, don't tighten the bolt to much or you final gap will be to tight. Take your time, make sure your gaps are as tight as possible. Tack all the pieces in but be sure the tacks are in an area that can be cut out if you aren't happy with the fitment. Again, don't rush this, make sure all the pieces are fit correctly, and the lower control arm is at the correct angle; once you are 100% happy with the fitment add a few more tacks to lock it all in place. Remove the lower control arm from your new mount so you don't melt the bushing, plus this allows you to access the inside of the mount. Now weld that sucker in! 

I also added a small plate to the front side of the mount (That Jeep should have included from the factory) this acts as a skid plate, and helps to stiffen the mount to help keep it from folding over if you hit a rock. I added one to the factory mount too in hopes of keeping it in one piece so I don't need to do this again after the next trip out.

Be sure to paint everything before reassembling to keep the rust

Jeep suspension comparison

There's lots of options for lifting your coil sprung Jeep, but what is the best option for you? In this blog I will help answer that question by discussing the differences in each. This is relevant to several different models of Jeep's, the coil and link design was first released in the XJ (Cherokee), MJ (Comanche), and ZJ (Grand Cherokee) platforms, and then reworked slightly in the TJ (Wrangler) The photos in this write up were taken from the XJ, and ZJ models... Because that's what we have in the shop right now.

Stock- 

I'll be honest, the engineers actually did a pretty good job right from the factory with this suspension, on the road it rides nice and smooth, off road it flexes well, and is well suited for light duty wheeling and fire road cruising. If your only plan for your Jeep is cruising backroads that are slightly to rough for your minivan, you will probably be fine with this. I would also include "Budget boosts" in this category, a budget boost is simply adding some spacers to the top of the coil spring to increase ride height; in moderation they work, but should never go over the 2" mark, and you need to keep in mind your shocks will be your limiting factor. 

As you can see the control arms are pretty short, and not very beefy since they are just stamped steel, serious off road use, and big tires will destroy these little guys. 

Another issue to keep in mind with these control arms, especially if you plan to use them in a lifted configuration, is that the angle of these are designed to provide the best performance AT FACTORY HEIGHT! meaning that if you use these with taller springs or budget boost spacers you will be using them at a much steeper angle than designed, this will result in a rough ride as tires will be trying to shove them straight up rather than in an arc.

Short Arm Lift-

This is your "basic" suspension lift that most guys start out with, it replaces the control arms with tubular pieces which often have flex joints at one end to help them move more freely, longer shocks to allow the suspension to flex further, and longer springs to increase ride height. Because these are designed as a system ride quality normally stays fairly comfortable (Some companies have better springs and shocks) This is a great option for the guy that wants to actually hit some trails, you won't be ready for rock racing, but you'll be able to go play in the woods and have a good time. RC short arm kits

4" suspension at ride height 18.3 degrees

4" Suspension at full droop 33.2 degrees

The issue with this set up goes back to the angle issue I described in the stock setup, although the new control arms help correct this problem to some extent, you are still using the stock location for the mounts, meaning the angles still won't allow for large lift heights; a short arm lift is usually good to about 4-5" of lift. Some guys try to stack budget boosts on top of their 4" lift springs and think they are badasses, really they are dumbasses. Doing this throws your control arm angles WAY off, plus your shocks are going to be to short, and because your angles are to steep it is going to move your tires towards the back of the wheel well, even if it doesn't rub you'll look like an idiot. This is also a good way to rip your factory mounts off the frame or the axle.  

Long Arms-

This is where you start to play with the big boys, all of those issues above, GONE! You simply cut out all the factory frame mounts, install new cross-member mounts, and install your much longer and stronger than factory control arms. With this setup you can get away with 7-10" of lift, with plenty of adjustment to keep your angles happy, on road ride quality will probably be better than the factory since at ride height your control arms see about 1/4 of the angular movement for the same lateral distance. Sure they may cost a lot more up front, but they are cheaper than buying a BB only to realize it's not enough, then going to short arms only to outgrow them in a year or two, and THEN finally order the long arms that you should have bought in the first place (This is literally what most of us do, we're all idiots)

The Iron Rock Off Road kit utilizes an Iron-Y design which eliminates the upper control arms

So what's the downside to a long arm set up? Other than the cost of the kit, not much. These kits are engineered to perform, they are strong, and flex like crazy. And as you can see in the photos the angular change from ride height to full droop is much less than the short arm lift.

7" Lift at ride height 12.5 degrees

7" lift at full droop 26.6 degrees

Full Custom-

So where do you go from Long arms? What do you do if you want LOTS of suspension travel, and the ability to adjust how your suspension reacts? Rip out all the factory stuff, and throw down some cash on custom links, mounts, and either coil over shocks, or ORI struts, do a BUNCH of calculations, change your design 5 times before settling on the one that will fit your space, and ride characteristics. 

This option is not for the guy that just wants to take the kids out and splash through some mud puddles, this is for the guy that is fully committed to the hobby, he's full blown addicted to the feeling of hitting the hard line and making it.

Winter Projects

Ahh winter, it sneaks up on us every year, no matter how much we think we are ready for it we are never as prepared as we want to be. Christmas seems to come out of nowhere, and consumes much of our time; and our budgets! Then New Years comes and we all make resolutions that we know damn well we won't follow through on. But then what? What do we have to look forward to after that? It conjures up images of being snowed into our primitive log cabin's huddling around the fire, and hoping to make the rations hold out till spring.

But for the offroader winter means so much more, it means it's time to take care of all the little issues with your rig that you put off to get you through that last trip out on the trails before putting it away for winter. It seems every year we come up with a grand list of upgrades and changes that we need to get done during our winter maintenance. Perhaps it's a faulty wiring harness that has been causing your electric fan to cut out and make you overheat, or you are finally going to make those half doors you've been wanting for a couple of years. Some guys take this time to all out rebuild their rigs, new engines and drivetrains, adding more lift, or maybe even a whole new suspension, or a custom roll cage. For me I have locked myself into a complete new build before spring, and haven't even unstrapped the new Jeep from the trailer from when I bought it back in October!

Whatever the project, this is the time of year that we all swear we are going to get it done, and that we "Won't wait until the last minute like i did last year" But the truth is that the rig is probably sitting in our shop, maybe in some level of disassembly... meaning you put it on jack stands and pulled the tires off before walking away from it. But soon the pressure will be on, as the days get a little longer, and we get that unseasonal warm day we all get the itch, and then we look at the calendar and remember that spring is right around the corner!

Our club has been doing an annual Easter trip to Windrock Park in Tennessee for the past couple of years, and it's been a great way to shake off the winter funk. But that also means that we have all locked ourselves into a solid date to get our shit together! This year the trip is a full week, so that means making sure that whatever you have planned for upgrades better be reliable!

So let this be the reminder to all of you guys like me that have been putting things off, and thinking you still have all the time in the world... GET OFF YOUR ASS, GET IN THE GARAGE, AND GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER!