Hodges 2016 Bilstein Build

[hodge-xj]

Continued....
Plan B

Reinstall of my 6112s.

As we know I've been so so with these things. So I decided to try something out.

I did my research and found out all the bigger name shocks (ie KING) come in about an inch longer than stock extended. No biggie. Ordered a 1.5" spacer that measures out at 1"

Got ahold of an electric impact and after some EXTREMELY terrifying moments running the compressors way down I reset the 6112s to clip #6 (1" lift). In conjunction with my 1.5spacers I would be sitting about 2.5" which is a touch higher than before.

Slapped the **** together and took it for a ride. HOLY COW. I never ever would have thought that a preload change would have such a dramatic difference in the ride. Believe me, now I know why all the hemi guys on lower settings rave about them. These things are stupid buttery smooth. I should have done this before! Gonna be honest I don't think I'll benefit much from changing the Fox's. I'll eat my words, Bilstein, for once your shocks arent stiff piles of dog ****.

Now the bad. A spacer + a shock requires work. I had to clearance the LCA and the mounting ear on the 6112s for the cv boots at full droop. It was such a little amount I used a dremel and a file, but it's worth noting that long term this would have caused a failure of the boots. That being said, it's not 100% as I wasn't taking alot of material off, it will still rub past 3/4 turn at full droop, but that's not somewhere I plan on my truck spending alot of time so for my application it will work. I expected issues and I spent alot of time cycling this setup as best i could. Full droop, full turn is where I run into most of my minor contact issues. Otherwise, all is good.

Pics

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[ram1500rsm]

So it's been a long and aggravating couple days.

To start, my fox rear shocks come in tomorrow. Super stoked.

So long story short I grenaded the front passenger oem strut. I've never personally heard a gas shock explode, until now. Sounded like I blew my rim apart. That was Friday night. No biggie figured I'd call accutune and get my Fox's shipped out. No dice, they're closed weekends. Never having fully blown a shock I figured it was still maybe driveable. No way. The truck pogo sticked pretty bad on that front corner, couldn't get away with that for an undisclosed amount of time. So I had to go to plan B.



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Ouch, what were you doing when the thing blew up ? Was it from like a big impact ?

 

[MidwestExpress]

Dude, you're covering all the bases here. Sorry again about all the troubles. Are you still going to move forward with the 2.0s/Accutune setup? Or, are you just gonna rock the 6112s + spacer for awhile?

 

[hodge-xj]

Ouch, what were you doing when the thing blew up ? Was it from like a big impact ?

Hit a pot hole on the highway.

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[hodge-xj]

Dude, you're covering all the bases here. Sorry again about all the troubles. Are you still going to move forward with the 2.0s/Accutune setup? Or, are you just gonna rock the 6112s + spacer for awhile?

Right?! Some times I feel like I do it to myself. I'll be honest after all this nonsense in gonna run the 6112s and just continue to clearance as I need. The LCA is aluminum so it take a longer to get under the truck than to file it. I'll still call accutune but right now I'm leaving it be. Kinda aggravated and need to redirect my attention elsewhere.

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[buddy guy]

it will be good if you can step back and just enjoy the ride for awhile. thanks for documenting your experiences. they are a great resource on this site. the bad is as valuable as the good! It sounds like this quest has become like a search for perfect audio. you get so deep into it, its hard to tell sometimes where you came from and where to go and is perfect attainable..and what does perfect look like. i also remind myself it sounds like you are driving in much more strenuous conditions than many of us in terms of road surface so my suspension challenges, haven't really been a challenge at all. i don't tow, my truck only occasionally hits a dirt road. it's pretty simple for my needs.

btw, i keep meaning to mention that the offroad place i had my bilsteins installed mentioned that for our 4 season weather conditions, they've had much better results than some of the other well known names in terms of durability of seals and such. i don't have the experience to know if that's really an issue or not. but for me, aside from maintaining quality of ride, that's a valid concern. i don't want leaking shocks when cold weather hits!

 

[hodge-xj]

it will be good if you can step back and just enjoy the ride for awhile. thanks for documenting your experiences. they are a great resource on this site. the bad is as valuable as the good! It sounds like this quest has become like a search for perfect audio. you get so deep into it, its hard to tell sometimes where you came from and where to go and is perfect attainable..and what does perfect look like. i also remind myself it sounds like you are driving in much more strenuous conditions than many of us in terms of road surface so my suspension challenges, haven't really been a challenge at all. i don't tow, my truck only occasionally hits a dirt road. it's pretty simple for my needs.

btw, i keep meaning to mention that the offroad place i had my bilsteins installed mentioned that for our 4 season weather conditions, they've had much better results than some of the other well known names in terms of durability of seals and such. i don't have the experience to know if that's really an issue or not. but for me, aside from maintaining quality of ride, that's a valid concern. i don't want leaking shocks when cold weather hits!

Precisely! That's why I need to reel back and just enjoy for a bit. When is "good enough" equivalent to the perfect you're after......i think I'm there. The only tweaks I'm doing now are tolerance differences in the leftover casting material with the lca. Just little stuff I don't mind. I finally got the preload lowered enough these things really do ride alot better. The roads here are terrible, it's cyclic, they pave, it's nice until winter, than it's like the baja. My current job takes me down a 6 lane highway that I often see sedans with broken rims lined up on the shoulder in some areas. No exaggeration, there are spots on the highway where it's like a washboard section offroad at 75+ mph.

Your last paragraph holds some truth to it. In corrosive environments the more expensive setup is alot more high maintenance. You can opt for better coatings and I believe seals, at a premium since they aren't the normal build materials. Which is why I went with bilsteins, I have seen them last many many years, neglected in the corrosive winters here. Plus theyre cheap! Thats being said, they won't just leak as soon as winter hits, but it sure is hard on them and it's a sickening feeling looking at 2k worth of shocks look like hammered **** after a year or 2. There's never a perfect choice, just the best compromise for your needs. I'm just a jerk and can't leave well enough alone. Thankfully this whole endeavor has only cost me time thus far.

All in good fun and such is the nature of this hobby. But what fun is a cookie cutter lift. Thats like having a jeep built like everyone else's! Been there before. With a little tweaking this truck will do everything I could ever want, including drive me up the wall lol.

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[buddy guy]

Precisely! That's why I need to reel back and just enjoy for a bit. When is "good enough" equivalent to the perfect you're after......i think I'm there. The only tweaks I'm doing now are tolerance differences in the leftover casting material with the lca. Just little stuff I don't mind. I finally got the preload lowered enough these things really do ride alot better. The roads here are terrible, it's cyclic, they pave, it's nice until winter, than it's like the baja. My current job takes me down a 6 lane highway that I often see sedans with broken rims lined up on the shoulder in some areas. No exaggeration, there are spots on the highway where it's like a washboard section offroad at 75+ mph.

Your last paragraph holds some truth to it. In corrosive environments the more expensive setup is alot more high maintenance. You can opt for better coatings and I believe seals, at a premium since they aren't the normal build materials. Which is why I went with bilsteins, I have seen them last many many years, neglected in the corrosive winters here. Plus theyre cheap! Thats being said, they won't just leak as soon as winter hits, but it sure is hard on them and it's a sickening feeling looking at 2k worth of shocks look like hammered **** after a year or 2. There's never a perfect choice, just the best compromise for your needs. I'm just a jerk and can't leave well enough alone. Thankfully this whole endeavor has only cost me time thus far.

All in good fun and such is the nature of this hobby. But what fun is a cookie cutter lift. Thats like having a jeep built like everyone else's! Been there before. With a little tweaking this truck will do everything I could ever want, including drive me up the wall lol.

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wow, those road conditions are pretty wild. definitely don't see that here in Alberta on a 6 lane highway. i've driven a lot of US highways. Ours in Canada are generally in much better shape in my experience.

 

[hodge-xj]

wow, those road conditions are pretty wild. definitely don't see that here in Alberta on a 6 lane highway. i've driven a lot of US highways. Ours in Canada are generally in much better shape in my experience.

Makes you wonder where tax dollars go! I swear they're always paving here.

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[joshuaeb09]

Honestly those are probably gonna be better than the Fox's now that you've got it figured out. All that preload isn't good for any ride no matter how good the shock is.

 

[hodge-xj]

So I swapped over to BDS fox 2.0s for a 2-3" lift. 16.6/28" roughly. I can grab a PN if anyone was interested. Nothing wrong with the 5125s, just needed something a little firmer for running with my constant load. Didn't measure or anything, took it for a ride and it feels very balanced front to rear now.

The 5125s had a TON of down travel, 7" from shock eye to shock mount.... so I did give up a bit there, but i don't have to mess with bump stops. I didn't check the Fox's since I didn't cut the straps until I had them mounted but should be 1.7" less per the specs. Tomorrow I have a bunch of running to do on some really bad roads so it'll be a nice shakedown of what to expect.

I'll measure for giggles but am not expecting a change.

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[4eyedconekiller]

Man, I’ve missed a lot! Looks like good times [emoji12][emoji1787]

 

[buddy guy]

wow. what a difference

 

[hodge-xj]

So in a wild turn of events the kid I sold my old xj to just messaged me and I'm buying it back for 1k.

Twin locked, 4.56s, 35s, all kinds of upgrades on it. I'm sure it needs work but that 4.0 will run forever. Feed it 15w40 rotella and they are happy all day long. Gonna be my winter project. Not exactly sure what direction I wanna go, might make it a mild expedition rig.

We'll see what it needs when I get it in my hands this week. But this will ensure I keep my dodge nice. All my truck needs at this point is color match my upper bumper and I'm leaving it alone. Plus, jeeps are so cheap and with the jl/jt platform now available stuff for my xj is dirt cheap!

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[MidwestExpress]

Sweet, another toy! Don't bail out on us around here though.

 

[hodge-xj]

Sweet, another toy! Don't bail out on us around here though.

No way! I still plan on being here just as much. This just ensures I don't go overboard with the truck! There's alot of sentiment in this jeep.

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[hodge-xj]

So been a couple weeks since I really had any content. My ram is running flawless and I'm not doing anything but enjoying it. 25+ mpg and comfortable for hours on end, don't mess with a good thing.

As for my xj. I sold it 8 years ago to put money on my Cummins. I sold it off for dead as it drove away since the kid was 19 at the time and we all know how we were at 19. Fast forward, he put 8k on it and it's sat for about 3 years. Throttle body and intake manifold elbow were full of corroded aluminum ****. I swapped the TB, cleaned the intake out. Battery swapped, 1 can of gas stabilizer and octane boost, 8 gallons of 91 octane gas. Pulled coil wire, primed the systems with about 30 seconds of cranking and than fired it up. I swear the 4.0 is my favorite engine to ever exist. Dropped it in 4lo and popped the seized brakes free (4.56s and lockers helped with that) and drove it on the trailer. Aside from typical rust and normal issues from sitting this thing is just as I left it. Doing the A.C delete and alt swap today to get it running as well as Figuring out the triple fan setup. Piece by piece I'll take it apart and leave no bolt untouched.

Gonna be a full resto mod as I move forward. This was my rig in high school so theres too much sentiment to bash it into the ground as a crawler only. I built every piece on it. Front and rear bumpers, control arms, track bar, full custom suspension. With the solid foundation it still has, now I can have fun finishing all the things I couldn't take the time to do. Much to come once it's up and running.

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[hodge-xj]

Been a while since I been on here. Ram is running like a top so I won't be messing with a good thing. I love this damn truck.

Went and picked up a roller xj that was originally a southern truck. No rust and coming apart like a dream. Mine has so much rot on the sub frane i dont feel like attempting to ressurect it. That being said I'm still getting my ass kicked working solo. Doin a full drivetrain swap is a big undertaking. Motor, trans, t case, axles and suspension. As well as other things that I need to convert going into a newer model year.

So far I'm only into this about 1700 for both rigs and some tools I needed for tear down. So with it being this clean I really may flip this build when I'm done for a nice profit. We'll see how it comes out. I'll either use it as my adventure rig, or turn the money into mods for the 1500.

I'm still around, just trying to pick away at this in an orderly fashion and keeping organized is hard with fall and winter closing in. Need to get the tear down, cleaning and painting done before it's too lousy out.

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[ram1500rsm]

Been a while since I been on here. Ram is running like a top so I won't be messing with a good thing. I love this damn truck.

Went and picked up a roller xj that was originally a southern truck. No rust and coming apart like a dream. Mine has so much rot on the sub frane i dont feel like attempting to ressurect it. That being said I'm still getting my ass kicked working solo. Doin a full drivetrain swap is a big undertaking. Motor, trans, t case, axles and suspension. As well as other things that I need to convert going into a newer model year.

So far I'm only into this about 1700 for both rigs and some tools I needed for tear down. So with it being this clean I really may flip this build when I'm done for a nice profit. We'll see how it comes out. I'll either use it as my adventure rig, or turn the money into mods for the 1500.

I'm still around, just trying to pick away at this in an orderly fashion and keeping organized is hard with fall and winter closing in. Need to get the tear down, cleaning and painting done before it's too lousy out.

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That's a lot work but should pay off in the end.
Good luck with it dude.
I keep thinking overhauling my 01 WJ, got a slow oil leak thinking the rear main but i'm not sure i want to put up with the repairs and i'm thinking to sell it and get me an used motorcycle or Corolla or something like that to use it as my real DD. I'm around 10-11MPG city only with the RAM

 

[Nick@GotExhaust]

Awesome Jeep. Congrats on getting it back. I had a 92 and loved it. It was also my high school rig. I wheeled the crap out of it. Looking forward to seeing your progress with it. Let us know if you need any aftermarket goodies for it