Family Wagon 1996 ZJ BUILD Cantilever Rear Suspension

[dads5.9]

Kris,

All I can say is WOW! Your stuff never fails to amaze me.

[Kraqa]

Thanks for the props. This has been a fun build so far.

I got some time to finish the gas tank skid.







I needed to get this done so I can get the gas tank back in so I can drive this out of the garage and turn it around to work on the front suspension. The aluminum piece will be powdercoated black.

[Kraqa]

On to progress. Rear links are in. The truck is sitting at full bump on its own weight. Only about 1" higher than stock ride height with 37" tires. Woot Woot







I even got to drive it around with no rear drive shaft or rear brakes. Felt nice to move it.

[CRJEeP_wj]

Looks real good. I can't wait to see what you do up front. How much higher will your ride height be?

[Kraqa]

4" higher than this. about 74" at the roof.

[Kraqa]

material is all on order for my Air Bumps.


seals arrived today. Tubing and shaft material tomorrow. This should be fun.


2.5" diameter 2" stroke air bumps on all 4 corners.

[Kraqa]

i got some more progress this weekend.


drove it out of the shop and flipped it around to start on the front.
i got the passenger doors modified and the rocker all cut out
I pulled the stock front axle out and i also started on the front bumper.





the bar is rolled to follow the curvature of the body. hard to tell in the pic.


tried to keep it tucked close to the body.





i need to find a way to fit a winch behind it while keepign the AC system.

[Kraqa]

i got the passenger side all wraped up











just a bit of welding left. then onto the front axle.

[egg]

My bumper sticks out about as far as yours and I was able to keep the ac with a winch. Just need to remote mount the solenoid box in the engine bay. I have about 3/4" between my engo9000 and the condenser.

[Kraqa]

So I’ve been a bit distracted lately.

Made some progress on the air bumps.

All the bodies made


Honed ID with snap ring groves



Got them back from the surface treatment. Liquide Nitrite coated and surface hardened.


Started on the pistons


Still lots of turning to be done on the lathe then off to the mill.


And I picked up this a few days ago

Chevy 2015 3500HD 6.6 Duramax. Had all the chrome wrapped white.

[ELLLLLIOTTTTT]

Good looking Chevy... Definitely an improvement over that F-truck we drove from Seattle to Moab!

[Kraqa]

hahahah ya that ferd fteenthousand was a pile with no AC. this thing is PIMP!

[BLACKZJ]

Damn! You are one crazy talented dude. I don't get to these here parts much anymore but am gonna keep comin back to see how this is comin.

[Kraqa]

More progress on the air bumps. Got the bottom caps done. The top caps done. And started on the threaded locking rings.

[Kraqa]

i thought i posted this before but i guess i didn't here is a shot of the solid model for the air bump

[Ken L]

Two questions on the air bump. How did you figure out the valving, and also are you going to run a vent line to prevent crud from getting inside?

Great work, the stuff you do is incredible.

[Kraqa]

i got my spring steel in today 0.012" thick and 0.015" thick. tomorrow i will be waterjetting all the valve shims for the air bumps.


i also got a good jump on the front axle brackets. i just need the hydraulic ram in my hands to finish up the front end.













would be really nie to get these cut out before the weekend. even though my buggy is blocking my garage since i blew the atlas and can't drive it in and out to work on the ZJ.

[Kraqa]

Two questions on the air bump. How did you figure out the valving, and also are you going to run a vent line to prevent crud from getting inside?

Great work, the stuff you do is incredible.

hydraulic bump stops are just very short air shocks. the shaft displaces the fluid increasing the pressure inside. you fill them with shock oil when they are compressed so they are 100% full. that way the air pressure ramps up very fast when they compress. the valving is there to control how fast the bump stop compresses and rebounds. without the valving it would be like a small spring. the valving is a fairly standard set of 0.012 thick shims for the rebound and 0.015" thick for the compression. once i get them in there the tuning process starts and you end up adding or removing shims all over the place. thats the fun part of rebuildable shocks.

[Ken L]

Cool, thanks. I can see how tuning them specific for the vehicle is necessary.

[Kraqa]

most people just mount them, fill em with nitrogen and think "wow that's better than before"

tuning them is the fun part and hw you can really get the truck to ride like a Cadillac.

[zj-monster]

Holy cow Kraqa! Good to see you building again! I just logged on for the first time in a few years. Looking forward to more of this build!

[Kraqa]

thanks monster. i happy to be back building a full body rig again.

the airbump parts got back from the anodizer. i had to go with EPIC Orange.





95A urethane for the bump pads



compression side of the piston



bottom seal and buid bushing housing.



locking rings on it.





blamo!


orange



lock rings



bottom seal/guide retainers



you can see the rebound side of the pistons

[OverkillZJ]

You've come a long way since half-drunkedly typing in all caps

[Kraqa]

lol. yup hahaha

even peter pan had to grow up.

[Pearce]

Awesome stuff, thanks for keeping the build thread going for us to enjoy.