One year and a half ago I ended the coil conversion on my rig, a Wrangler YJ. It was a major test of my skills soldering and designing the suspension links. It went so well and I was very happy with it, but I always had the impression that It would had been done better. It seems to me like a draft, so I started to improve it.

I already have a D44+D66 out of a military W200, but I think they are good on their still place until I can build them.

So I concentrated on the current suspension system. The front is a radius arm with coils and procom dampers, and it doesnt flex very well. I like the manner the Jeep has to follow the front axle, but in certain places can be uncomfortable.

The plan is to replace the rear arms, that has rubber bushings with johnny joints new links and put 3 of the old ones at the front. But while I try to make Currie send me some joints, Chris from FOA sent me a set of 14" coilovers and their springs.

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z2/Rapoza/20080323%20-%20Coilovers%20Delanteros/DSC03910.jpg
Men, this stuff seems pretty tough! The customer service of FOA is awesome, and Chris (motochris) was greatly kind and helped me a lot on deciding what options I would choose. It's not easy to sell to Foreigners and normally shops break contact when they realize that you're from Spain, but FOA seems to be not of this kind.

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z2/Rapoza/20080323%20-%20Coilovers%20Delanteros/DSC03911.jpg
I ordered 250/200 coils after a long research here in pirate, going to weight the front clip and using the calculator. Perhaps they are a little stiff and the jeep will settle so high, but that is a first try aproximation.

So hands on the work, I ordered some custom bent DOM on my local "ship constructors" shop :laughing: and cleaned that ugly coil buckets I made before.
Test fit after cutting the excess tube
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z2/Rapoza/20080323%20-%20Coilovers%20Delanteros/DSC03904.jpg

I also ordered some oxy-cut tabs and inserts at the machineshop.
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z2/Rapoza/20080323%20-%20Coilovers%20Delanteros/DSC03906.jpg
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z2/Rapoza/20080323%20-%20Coilovers%20Delanteros/DSC03909.jpg

Welding the reinforcement tabs
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z2/Rapoza/20080323%20-%20Coilovers%20Delanteros/DSC03914.jpg

And the COs archs
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z2/Rapoza/20080323%20-%20Coilovers%20Delanteros/DSC03916.jpg
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z2/Rapoza/20080323%20-%20Coilovers%20Delanteros/DSC03917.jpg

I ended the work today doing some custom misalignment tabs, and testing their fitting.
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z2/Rapoza/20080323%20-%20Coilovers%20Delanteros/DSC03919.jpg

pics of the front suspension?

pics of the front suspension?

These are pics from the suspension build. I done this and the engine swap (2.5L->4.0L) and axles (stock->Toyo 8")
Keeping the toyota stock radius arms was by the time a shorcut to end the build on time for the season. Also it allowed me to test and tune the other more deep changes. Now its time to rip all off.
http://fotos.miarroba.com/fotos/9/e/9ecba873.jpg
If you look close maybe you can see the provision for the 3rt arm on the axle.

This was the rear axle before the radius missed the flex test, but the front is the same thing.
http://fotos.miarroba.com/fotos/e/3/e33f7275.jpg

Part of the front arm
http://fotos.miarroba.com/fotos/c/6/c6c0e6cd.jpg
http://fotos.miarroba.com/fotos/1/9/19b9fc1b.jpg

Sorry Jeeper, but I'm surprised I don't have any better pic of the front suspension. Thats what I like it.


This morning I had time to weld the upper mounts to the archs:
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z2/Rapoza/20080323%20-%20Coilovers%20Delanteros/DSC03920.jpg

Note: My apoligies for the nasty and dirty garage. Thats the better I can rent here for doing "my experiments". Soon I'll be posting some pics of the brand new one that has 168sqmts :)

Some progress yesterday, a little but done some cleaning of the mess on the axles.

Before:
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z2/Rapoza/20080323%20-%20Coilovers%20Delanteros/DSC03932.jpg

After:
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z2/Rapoza/20080323%20-%20Coilovers%20Delanteros/DSC03933.jpg

Last weekend I ended the work on the Jeep.
While I was cleaning the mess on the front frame I also build new engine supports. I ordered some custom milled tube that mate the standard YJ bushings so for now I can use the rubber blocks from the old springs.
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z2/Rapoza/20080323%20-%20Coilovers%20Delanteros/DSC03934.jpg

This is how finally looks:
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z2/Rapoza/20080323%20-%20Coilovers%20Delanteros/DSC03935.jpg
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z2/Rapoza/20080323%20-%20Coilovers%20Delanteros/DSC03936.jpg
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z2/Rapoza/20080323%20-%20Coilovers%20Delanteros/DSC03939.jpg

And the engine mounts:
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z2/Rapoza/20080323%20-%20Coilovers%20Delanteros/DSC03938.jpg

I'm waiting for a new chromed steering link and bushing from quadratec to add the required bling. ;)

The fact is that the welds seem so bad on the photos, I suppose is becouse of the darkness in the garage and the texture of the paint. BTW they are the best welds I done for the moment.

The only work is left is to relocate the water reservoir as it was mounted through the fender between the stock horn and the steering pump, and now its full of tube.
Anyone has a suggestion? The stock place is now occupied with a big and ugly air filter, part of the snorkel.

The only other thing I must address is a new mount for the York compressor, but the better solution I think will be remove the stock sanden and mount there the york as its on AMC v8s.

After that I think I will build some tube fenders and removable fiberglass fender "masks" to put over for the black ribbon travel.

Aaahhh I forgot show you the pile of yunk I amputated from the frame:
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z2/Rapoza/20080323%20-%20Coilovers%20Delanteros/DSC03940.jpg
It doesn't fit in the box! I don't want to think about the weight of this shit, sure the Jeep rides better now :laughing:

Wating for your pics showing the flex.

lookin good, im lookin at FOA as well... only good things about them so far

Yes, they are a good product. More than needed for us 4wds. Beefy and robust, I think they would looked more apropiate for a 1Ton and ahead than in my modest rig.
I'm always talking about the structure, as I didnt tested them intensively. I've only done the seals break-in.

Thats the last picture I took of the work, featuring the new steering shaft:
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z2/Rapoza/20080323%20-%20Coilovers%20Delanteros/DSC03960.jpg
This shaft wasnt as pleasant to mount as the COs, as it doesnt fit perfectly, and you have to trim the steering column receiver a little. The application is correct so it must be machine work fail.

Unfortunately I didn't took the advice from Chris at FOA about the high rate I choosen for the coils, and now I have a flex issue at the front clip. The height is correct, but it sits with the COs adjuster full at the top. The coils exceed height in 7" aproximately.
I dont really understand it, as I weighted the rig and compared with several ones I found here using the search butt. I also used the BB calculator.

Perhaps running 3" vs 2.5" Coils is the cause? R-Arms?
I'll chop the front support of one radius arm during the week to see if it improves.

Sorry Benja, finally I dropped the last weekend trail, so no pics. I had severe pain in the back due to hard working on the new house and a bad posture while trying to replace the cracked header the night before the trail.
You know me, I'm always doing the work at the last minute. :shaking:

But perhaps the next weekend I meet with Miguel to do some madness. :)

nice gorilla welds.

nice gorilla welds.

Let me see... Ah no, I haven't post in the hardcore section.

The black paint I used is a mix of polyurethane and regular body paint, it makes the welds look worse in the camera, and I don't grind or wire blast anything.
If you look closer, you may also find "gorilla" welds in the radius arms mounts, welded from the factory.

What ones are you talking about? Perhaps I may redo them...

While the welds don't "Look" the greatest, they look fine to me, you can see there was good heat penetration, and the weld actually cut into the medal in some places. In my limited experience im guessing you were using a stick welder? Reguardless it definetly looks alot stronger then the stock welds you find on a Jeep. I think you were cutting it a little close cleaning your prep area but that could just be the pic too. Looks good overall, keep it going.

nice gorilla welds.

shut up. anyone with a "Rig Rater" score in their sig isn't allowed to critique others:laughing:

While the welds don't "Look" the greatest, they look fine to me, you can see there was good heat penetration, and the weld actually cut into the medal in some places. In my limited experience im guessing you were using a stick welder? Reguardless it definetly looks alot stronger then the stock welds you find on a Jeep. I think you were cutting it a little close cleaning your prep area but that could just be the pic too. Looks good overall, keep it going.

I always use my vintage AC stick welder. The one that dad left back... :laughing:

For structural things like this I prefer to stand in the line of cut in the metal. But I don't understand you in the "cutting it a little close cleaning your prep area" statement. Can you explain, please? You are saying that I left a little gap between the metals for the weld to penetrate? Its possible.

Another thing you would consider is that in Europe we don't have the same rods than yours in the USA. 6011 doesn't exists anymore. People use "basico" (basic rod, I don't know whats the nomenclature) and that one isnt compatible with machines that have the fall current value so low, like mine. They prefer big DC machines.
I use 2,5mm 6013 rods. And sometimes 29/9 when it requires more rigidity.

Thanks for the welds valoration, I always love consctructive critic.

Ah, you were talking that I wasnt cleaning enough!

I meant that your welds weren't the "prettiest", they look strong enough and id be happy with them if i laid em down with a stick like that on my jeep so a :beer: for you good sir.. Ive seen shitty welds that looked like a million bucks fail. My prep area commment, i was just saying it looked like your welds were getting close to the uncleaned painted areas. Again this could be the pics