Project: Payback's a strech

Jody Treadway

Jody Treadway

Croc wearing fool
Moderator
Joined
Mar 20, 2005
Location
Hendersonville, NC
Sometimes you are fortunate and your in laws become just as close and valuable to you a your blood family is. Sometimes they teach you valuable life lessons, how to fix things and provide guidance. Sometimes you can't imagine where you'd be without them in your life...
@thebrotherinlaw knows those feelings as he is so freaking fortunate to have ME for a brother in law! :D

All kidding aside, after a few rides in a rusted out CJ5 in my teens, I was hooked. Austin and my sister let me hang with them on wheeling trips and I've been hooked ever since. The times have changed since those good ol' days of Ramsey winches, 33" tires being huge and Sam's Offroad being the cat's meow. That's where I get to (continue) offer some payback.

@thebrotherinlaw bought his TJ from one of my old customers and we addressed some issues before making it more capable. I added lockers, flat skid, SYE among other things and away we went. We wheeled The Flats, Durhamtown Tellico, Windrock and then there was Crawford's Cry at Harlan. After watching me and a buddy each walk up the trail in the pouring rain, he gave it a try. No matter the line, he was lifting the front end badly. The short of it is the wheelbase is too short and the rear suspension is due for an extreme makeover.

Fast forward to the last few weeks. Austin installed a Genrite stretch tank to allow room for me to move the rear axle rearward. We began teardown last night and noted the wheelbase, 92 3/8", shorter than stock. Weak sauce. After cutting the mounts off the frame and mocking things up, it looks like the rear stretch will net us 5 7/8" additional wheelbase. In order to keep the aesthetics (@REDLYNER an dhis TJ are Austin's idols), stretch corner guards and flat fenders at each end will give more room for larger tires shortly.

Cutting to the chase, I'm building a triangulated 4 link using Barnes4WD's DIY kit and Enduro joints. Links will be 2" x .250", long and nearly flat with a projected point of convergence in front of the front axle. Soon, I'll add a 3 link up front to compliment the rear.

On to the pics. I'll update as I make progress this week and next.

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Save all your measurements. I've got a TJ that needs the same treatment and I'm getting lazy in my old age.
 
Maybe I could save you guys some cash and or time- I've got some Clayton Offroad TJ stretch arms in my Garage. All they need is the Johnny joint screwed in and they are ready to run. Call/text/email/Facebook/PM me if interested :D.
 
You know there is a striking facial resemblance between Jody and his BIL.
Normally that would concern me, but yall are uphill from me so...carry on
 
Interested to see what you do with the exhaust. I had to do some real nonsense with mine to get out the back, and that's just with the Genright tank and the stock 5-link rear suspension. I think I used up three J-bends before it was done.
 
shawn said:
Interested to see what you do with the exhaust. I had to do some real nonsense with mine to get out the back, and that's just with the Genright tank and the stock 5-link rear suspension. I think I used up three J-bends before it was done.
Click to expand...
We have a friend in the exhaust biz. He may cuss me like a dog in about a week and a half. We'll see.
 
Took the long way into work today ( through the big city of Etowah as opposed to my own big city of Horse Shoe) and dropped by @Barnes 4wd to pick up my builder parts.
As expected, Brad had my order boxed up and ready to go.
Barnes4wd 4 link kit, truss, outboard kit for the rear shocks, new coil buckets and some new shock mounts too.
I ordered my DOM today and will have it Tuesday. Today is get acquainted with your grinder day at the shop as I prep the frame rails.
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Yes, my work as the BIL and mentor is never done. I've noticed some things slipping around the shop since Jody has gone into the lumber biz, and I thought it was high time to get him back to turning some wrenches! I hate to see all that time I invested slipping away so I took him my perfect Jeep just to let him "work" on it. That's just the kind of guy I am. I go and sit and watch him work and ask lots of questions. I tell him about all the ideas I've got from looking at stuff online especially if they are totally different than what he wants to do. I break lots of tools and spill stuff, etc. These are just a few exhausting things I do to keep him sharp. Constant, thankless work I'm telling you! Now I've got to go and get more of his sister's money to pay for all this. Man if I had only known what I was getting into 23 years ago when I said I do and joined the fam!

Thanks for the parts offer Redlyner. I'll see how Jody's fab work is looking before I commit. Major improvements have got to be seen before I let him off the hook that easy. And by the way, whoever offered $14 for the Jeep, I'm holding firm at $20, those are brand new stickers on the back.
 
Got a little more prep work done today. I ran the plasma for a couple of hours and @thebrotherinlaw came by with his grinder to lend a hand. We got the rear axle ready for me to weld perches on and he basically finished getting the frame rails ground down. @JK_Byron stopped by to supervise for a few.
The rear axle is in place and the wheelbase gain is right at 5.75". I will have to clearance the shock/ fuel tank crossmember to gain additional up travel. Right now I'll only have about 2.5" of up travel but I plan to cut the out the existing crossmember and build a new one as I need a shock mounting location too.
Here's some pics of this afternoon's progress.
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I can't wait to see and ride in the finished product. I bet the lift feels heaven sent. Hope to see you guys soon. After I figure out this awsome site I just joined I will try to ad some pics of some Okies at Disney. Take care guys!
 
All of the suspension bracketry is in place now either tacked or welded in.
Lowers will be 32" long and the uppers approx 28" long. In the pics you can see blue tape, that is my cut line for the @Barnes 4wd coil relocation kit. Hopefully I'll have that cut and rewelded this weekend (I have a few diffs to set up first) and be able to set it down on its own weight early next week.
I am very impressed with the Barnes 4wd kits I am using. His 4 link and relocation kits are easy to install.
I planned on using Barnes 4wd outboard shock kit but I may try to mount the shocks forward of the axle for fitment sake. We'll see when I get the PVC links made up tomorrow and check clearances.

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Rear frame is notched and ready for the coil relocation brackets to be welded in. The cut line is up against the rear shock/ fuel tank crossmember and really can't go any higher.
If my math is correct, the Jeep will sit at the same height as before which is what the client wanted.
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Guess it's time for an update! I've been pretty busy at the shop and finally got around to nearly wrapping up the mechanical side of the build this last week.
The 4 link and stretch is done and we ended up with a 98" wheelbase which equates to a 5.25" gain. The rear diff cover is about 3/4" from the tank, so that's about all I'll get out of the rear.
We extended the ebrake bracket and the adjuster to allow use of the stock cable for ease of repair down the road.
Tomorrow I'll cut out the frame side shock mounts and get them welded in. @thebrotherinlaw plans to come by tomorrow and get the front fenders on and start on the rear corners.
It should be a roller this week!
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Rear suspension is done! Just waiting on the paint to dry.
We needed some pretty unique shock mounts for a few reasons: the amount of stretch, the relative low amount of lift being used and also not wanting to cut into the coil relocation kit to french mounts into the frame.
Luckliy my buddy Neil over at Ujoint Off-road is still honing his skills with their new plasma table. I made a rough sketch and an hour later they were ready.

@thebrotherinlaw got the front fenders on and we plan to finish the rear corners tomorrow.
 
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