From 2007 stock to BAJA Jeep! Ideas please?
06-06-2012, 12:30 PM
#21
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Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Rifle, Co
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Well if you dont have quite the budget for the double throw down you could also go with Teraflex Pre-Runner kit which is a 3 or 4 inch lift and comes with limit straps and the whole nine yards. Some bushwacker pocket flaires would give you that pre-runner fiberglass look and then look into some tube bumpers front and rear. Just my two cents.
I'm actually from Yuma! Small world huh? Hows the weather down there?
I grew up in the dunes, desert and Mexico mostly in prerunners. I love coilovers especially when coupled with dialed bypasses and good bump stops. Since moving to CO i found there isn't much open space bomb a built truck around so i may as well build a dual purpose rig, enter Jeep JK.
06-06-2012, 02:56 PM
#22
I started building a XJ Prerunner before I fell for the JK and sold it.
If you plan to jump and run at high speed in Baja racing fashion you might consider a cherokee as your platform to build up and preserve your JK for awhile.
I've jumped Wranglers before and it's flat out scary, they fly crooked and land terribly.
You feel like your going to roll it as soon as you hit the gound, fish tail wildy then come skidding to a stop sideways. Not very fun and passengers hate you after it.
I think it's combination of short wheelbase and centrifical force from the flywheel or transmission that make it tilt or twist in the air and land on the right front wheel.
Wrangler's just not a good jumper from my limited experience. Someone else may have a solution that costs less than 20K.
Cherokees for some reason fly great! We put the heaviest leaf springs Old Man Emu made in my 98 and added 1 more leaf in the pack. Extra thick front springs, nitro shocks and soft bump stops made the landings almost plesant.
Ride was alittle rough when Jeep was empty but loaded up it floated over high speed washboard, potholes and eveything we threw at it.
Unibody bracing, bumpers, trimmed fenders and misc parts were needed to keep the sheetmetal from suffering flex fatigue but all in all it was not an expensive build. Jeep was 5k with moderate milage at 70,000 mi, suspension, skidplates and all the strength mods were around 3K with most of the install and basic welding done at home. I could have bought a much cheaper cherokee to start with and saved a few grand but liked this one and I knew the PO.
Green XJ is mine, white one was just inspiration.
If you plan to jump and run at high speed in Baja racing fashion you might consider a cherokee as your platform to build up and preserve your JK for awhile.
I've jumped Wranglers before and it's flat out scary, they fly crooked and land terribly.
You feel like your going to roll it as soon as you hit the gound, fish tail wildy then come skidding to a stop sideways. Not very fun and passengers hate you after it.
I think it's combination of short wheelbase and centrifical force from the flywheel or transmission that make it tilt or twist in the air and land on the right front wheel.
Wrangler's just not a good jumper from my limited experience. Someone else may have a solution that costs less than 20K.
Cherokees for some reason fly great! We put the heaviest leaf springs Old Man Emu made in my 98 and added 1 more leaf in the pack. Extra thick front springs, nitro shocks and soft bump stops made the landings almost plesant.
Ride was alittle rough when Jeep was empty but loaded up it floated over high speed washboard, potholes and eveything we threw at it.
Unibody bracing, bumpers, trimmed fenders and misc parts were needed to keep the sheetmetal from suffering flex fatigue but all in all it was not an expensive build. Jeep was 5k with moderate milage at 70,000 mi, suspension, skidplates and all the strength mods were around 3K with most of the install and basic welding done at home. I could have bought a much cheaper cherokee to start with and saved a few grand but liked this one and I knew the PO.
Green XJ is mine, white one was just inspiration.