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The victim. 2008 JKU with 240k miles, not in great shape, janky headlights, crappy top... but cheap First mod. Replaced the peeling steering wheel with a NOS version from a PT cruiser. 90 bucks, and came with cruise control! Body separated from the frame. Crap engine coming out. Ready for the junkyard. Status post pressure washing and degreasing.
Next up, frame surface rust removal, metal treatment and painting the frame.
Using factory location brackets and the poor geometry that almost all the long arm kits have. With the body off the frame is the time to do it since you need to move so many cross members and remove the factory control arm and track bar brackets. Cut the front of the frame off, relocate the steering box forward and up. Hope you ordered 72"+ WMS axles.
Last edited by TheDirtman; 01-11-2021 at 04:28 PM.
Using factory location brackets and the poor geometry that almost all the long arm kits have. With the body off the frame is the time to do it since you need to move so many cross members and remove the factory control arm and track bar brackets. Cut the front of the frame off, relocate the steering box forward and up. Hope you ordered 72"+ WMS axles.
Axles are 72". The main reason behind sticking with stock geometry is time. I'm shooting to get this all done by March. Again I'll probably tackle the suspension in round 2 next year or the year after that. Pulling the body off the frame takes a couple hours, no big deal for me to do again.
The Genright Elite kit is worth studying a bit. They still have limited separation in the frame links and I don't the orientation of the upper frame mounts. It does require a fuel cell though so you are likely not going with a double triangulated set up. Typically on a JK kit set up the axle side lower control arm and shock mounts are hanging too low. Move the lowers as wide as you can and up closer to the center of the tube so they don't hang down and it will flatten the lower links for better ride and geometry. French the frame and outboard some 14" 2.0 coil-overs. On the frame side lowers, mount to the outside of the frame and trim the body mount. You will want to keep them close to the bottom of the frame rail and put them as close as you can the the output shaft flange on the transfer case. Mount the frame side uppers as far up on the outside of the frame as you can. On the front clear run a 2.0 coil over. Move the steering box and frame track bar bracket forward and move the steering box up a couple inches. Cut off the passenger side frame front and reconfigure with smaller tubing for clearance on the track bar and drag link. I would try and line up the lower links with the bottom of the frame. Keep the uppers as again as high as you can get them inside the frame. You should be at a 10" link separation on the axles and around 5:-6" on the uppers.
And get some real tires, not the Lite Brite specials.
01-11-2021, 03:14 PM
2008 JKU LS swap, 40s, everything inbetween
