Hodges 2016 Bilstein Build

[ram1500rsm]

Congrats Hodge.

 

[hodge-xj]

Have some sample Monstaliner colors coming. 2 shades of white and 2 black coming for the truck and 2 shades of green for the jeep. Once I figure out my house situation the truck is gonna get some love.

I'm hoping to decide on bumpers, bedliner the truck and get those decked drawers. Somewhere in between that nonsense I need to decide on a tune/ if I'm gonna delete it as well. It'll be paid off soon which makes spending some coin on it alot easier to stomach.

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[hodge-xj]

Spray paint and boredom to change it up. Not really worried much since I'm planning on bumpers this summer. $5 can of paint is enough to satisfy my desire for now

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[hodge-xj]

Flares are off and I got bored and spray painted the front bumper cap white. Was doing my normal spring cleaning and decided I'd color match that piece. Strictly influenced by boredom and a can of paint I found in the basement from another project. Looks good enough it'll do until I get myself some new bumpers this summer. Also on the hunt for headlights since the cheap Amazon ones just don't allow good light output and the stock quads I put back in are both broken and rigged in place. Lol. They're solid, but need replaced. Adjusted perfectly fine thankfully so add it to the never ending list.

My paint is pretty much shot at this point and the cost of a paint correction vs doing bedliner color matched is a no brainer. 5 years of no wax or coating has taken its toll lol. Hopefully the sample colors come in and I can decide what I want and figure out how much I'll need. Thinking of some 2 tone ideas to break up the white blob that this truck is.



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[revitupmoto33]

Flares are off and I got bored and spray painted the front bumper cap white. Was doing my normal spring cleaning and decided I'd color match that piece. Strictly influenced by boredom and a can of paint I found in the basement from another project. Looks good enough it'll do until I get myself some new bumpers this summer. Also on the hunt for headlights since the cheap Amazon ones just don't allow good light output and the stock quads I put back in are both broken and rigged in place. Lol. They're solid, but need replaced. Adjusted perfectly fine thankfully so add it to the never ending list.

My paint is pretty much shot at this point and the cost of a paint correction vs doing bedliner color matched is a no brainer. 5 years of no wax or coating has taken its toll lol. Hopefully the sample colors come in and I can decide what I want and figure out how much I'll need. Thinking of some 2 tone ideas to break up the white blob that this truck is.

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I like the upper fascia being color matched rather than the black. I would love to do my entire truck with the raptor/custom coat liner, not sure if I would just do GM white to match existing or go with the aircraft gray I used in the trailer.

 

[hodge-xj]

I like the upper fascia being color matched rather than the black. I would love to do my entire truck with the raptor/custom coat liner, not sure if I would just do GM white to match existing or go with the aircraft gray I used in the trailer.

I had this can of paint laying around and it says it bonds to plastic so I said screw it. It's close enough in color I like it.

I'll post up the color chips when they get in. I'm doin the truck mostly in white so I don't have to change the title or deal with cops. I'm not sure if I wanna do black since it can get storm-trooper ish. In my head the roof and lower body line/fender flare arches will be done black/a contrasting color with the rest white. Still researching if I'm better off spraying it all or rolling the majority and spraying uneven spots. I'm trying to time it to coincide with bumpers and body lift so I can do it all together. I've never been a big "wax my truck" guy so this is my perfect answer.

That grey you did the trailer looks awesome and is one of the colors I'm considering for a contrast color. Monstaliner is the company I'm looking at using.

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[hodge-xj]

Pretty much been consumed with helping my buddy drop one tons under his xj. Unibody stiffeners, suspension and everything. Between this and my own pile of dog poo I call my jeep the truck hasn't been touched and will probably be staying as is. I'm not goin anywhere, just won't be as exciting Any more. The truck performs perfect as is so I see no need to really mess with it much more. Boring I know!

My little green xj is currently sitting on 33s, once I get the last bit of mechanical and functional pieces sorted, it's getting a fully plated frame, 3link and I'm tubbing the wheel wells for 35s as well as some mini boat sides/2x6 boxed rockers tied into the frame.

 

[danielmid]

So what's the "final" suspension setup for the truck?

 

[hodge-xj]

So what's the "final" suspension setup for the truck?

Icon Front coilovers set at about 2" lift (ecodiesel settled them a little more compared to hemi)

Ready Lift UCAs

Synergy 2" Gladiator Rear multi rate coils

BDS Fox 2.0 rear Shocks for 3" lift (28" extended)

BDS Track Bar Relocation mount on the axle

285 75 17 Toyo At3 on Fuel Anza 17x8.5 -6 offset

Overall it's a pretty basic setup, but it performs AWESOME. Unloaded it's more comfortable than my Fiances Subaru and on my most recent dump run I had 750lbs of junk crammed into the 3.5 feet of useable bed behind my tool box and it sat level and drove like there was no load back there. In hindsight if I could have gotten the heavier coils for the 6112s and messed with the lower preload settings I would have had no reason to ditch them since the truck pounds pavement, but for the cost the icons have been amazing. For a daily driven truck that gets loaded to max payload a decent amount of time I couldn't ask for more.

I took a long winded approach to a simple build, lol. At the time I wanted to make the truck an offroadable daily driver, but that's just not ideal for east coast stuff while carrying a monthly payment on it. So I have really fancy stuff on a pavement princess......but man does it rail train tracks like BJ Baldwin!

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[danielmid]

I think I read a few pages back about you turning the Icons up to a higher lift then turning them back down? I like the Icons but I'm pretty happy with the Bilstein 5100 and the 2.7ish front lift so I'd hate to lost that .7", just curious.

 

[hodge-xj]

I think I read a few pages back about you turning the Icons up to a higher lift then turning them back down? I like the Icons but I'm pretty happy with the Bilstein 5100 and the 2.7ish front lift so I'd hate to lost that .7", just curious.

So having the ecodiesel has been a bit of a pain in the butt. Every single manufacturer swears it weighs the same as a hemi, yet every setup available ends up at least 1/2" lower than hemis, unless diesel specific coils are used. So this is why I always end up cranking up my springs just to get to the advertised lift.

Aesthetically I prefer a slight rake, say about 1" or so on these trucks, but I ended up needing to crank the icons to almost max preload to get there. This had the same effect as the 6112s being maxxed out and caused the small bumps to feel alot harsher than I prefer, so I spun them back down to 2" iirc. It's personal preference and honestly nobody but me would have noticed the difference in ride and it was still extremely nice, but the icons feel plush at 2" and felt much more sporty at the max lift for me which was 2.5". There's alot of energy stored in coils preloaded to their max and even though that does not change spring rate, effective spring rate is affected and this translates into the ride. It's more of a rebound thing than being a stiff compression, feels like the tires shoot down into holes pretty aggressively vs just floating over things. .....mind you I'm very picky with my suspension setup and can't leave anything alone. It's hard to make sense of it on the internet, and it's really a minor thing most wouldn't notice, but I spoiled myself with a custom tuned Thuren setup years back and now things will never be the same.

Under a hemi this would most very likely be a non factor as they seem to give the advertised 2.5" lift out of the box and would most likely ride similar to mine since the preload would be the same.

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[hodge-xj]

Well, just ordered both front wheel bearings, CVs, an intermediate shaft in case the drivers side is stuck again, and lower BJs. $600 on totally boring stuff. Just rolled 155k.

Have some noise starting in the front hubs and while I had it jacked up I checked the BJs. There's enough vertical play in the lower I'm just gonna change it out. CV boots are all cracked so I'm gonna change them out with new CVs and I'll reboot these and keep them as spares. Truck still drives nice and tight with nothing out of the ordinary except for a light hum out of the hubs, so I'm hoping this is a nice easy job with nothing hiding in the shadows.

 

[ram1500rsm]

Well, just ordered both front wheel bearings, CVs, an intermediate shaft in case the drivers side is stuck again, and lower BJs. $600 on totally boring stuff. Just rolled 155k.

Have some noise starting in the front hubs and while I had it jacked up I checked the BJs. There's enough vertical play in the lower I'm just gonna change it out. CV boots are all cracked so I'm gonna change them out with new CVs and I'll reboot these and keep them as spares. Truck still drives nice and tight with nothing out of the ordinary except for a light hum out of the hubs, so I'm hoping this is a nice easy job with nothing hiding in the shadows.

Didn't you replace those CV's already ? they didn't last very long, what brand were they?

 

[hodge-xj]

They were Advanced Auto Ones, I'll have to look them up and put them on the wall of shame. The CVs themselves are still fine but the boots are about totally dry rotted and splitting. Pretty aggravated about it so I'm either gonna re boot them and keep them as spares or I'm gonna return them.

 

[ram1500rsm]

They were Advanced Auto Ones, I'll have to look them up and put them on the wall of shame. The CVs themselves are still fine but the boots are about totally dry rotted and splitting. Pretty aggravated about it so I'm either gonna re boot them and keep them as spares or I'm gonna return them.

How much more expensive are the factory ones assuming we can get replacements from Mopar for both sides ? Have you considered that option ?

 

[hodge-xj]

How much more expensive are the factory ones assuming we can get replacements from Mopar for both sides ? Have you considered that option ?

$263 as of my Google search just now. I'm gonna try these ones off parts geek and see how the rubbers hold up. If they start cracking again on me I'll get an OEM boot kit for the ones I'm pulling off now. Down the road if this is a recurring issue I'll likely go back to oem, I'm just currently laid off and pinching my pennies.

Part of me wants to sell the XJ and throw the money at the ram, but I just can't bring myself to let it go.

 

[hodge-xj]

Still waiting on my BJs to show up and I'll get this thing torn into. I power washed what I could and I'm planning on painting the frame and underside. After 5 years it's time to freshen it up. Since I've not taken to the dirt aside from parking on job sites clean up was nice and easy, though still lots of mud packed into hard to reach spots. Was toying with the idea of selling it for an updated gasser model but I cant bring myself to pay the current prices for trucks. Fingers crossed my little ecodiesel continues to do me right.

It's still tempting to toss on a 1.5 BL and slap some 37s on it, just i just put myself in time out, remind myself I have a wedding to pay for and a Jeep to play in, and leave it alone. With my itch to go fast more than rock crawl I think I might be looking into some 2.0s or 2.5 kings for the xj....ya know a nice balance of flex and reckless.

@ram1500rsm know anyone with big shocks on a jeep?

 

[ram1500rsm]

Still waiting on my BJs to show up and I'll get this thing torn into. I power washed what I could and I'm planning on painting the frame and underside. After 5 years it's time to freshen it up. Since I've not taken to the dirt aside from parking on job sites clean up was nice and easy, though still lots of mud packed into hard to reach spots. Was toying with the idea of selling it for an updated gasser model but I cant bring myself to pay the current prices for trucks. Fingers crossed my little ecodiesel continues to do me right.

It's still tempting to toss on a 1.5 BL and slap some 37s on it, just i just put myself in time out, remind myself I have a wedding to pay for and a Jeep to play in, and leave it alone. With my itch to go fast more than rock crawl I think I might be looking into some 2.0s or 2.5 kings for the xj....ya know a nice balance of flex and reckless.

@ram1500rsm know anyone with big shocks on a jeep?

Oh yeah, 1/4 of my Jeep group runs 2.5 race shocks or bypass shocks with regular 3-4" coils and couple are on coilovers front and rear. I don't see my Jeep running desert washes like my RAM does so for me a set of Accutune 2.0 shocks res shocks for 2-4" lift would be in my future. I like to Jeep to go slow but keep things more in control. For now i've ordered have OME 4" front shocks, RK 1.5" springs (progressive), Clayton front LCA's, Clayton trackbar. i went with a custom DS from driveline shop, same price as the commercial offerings but seems beefier

Remember if you add 37's to the truck you'll need to regear. and regearing our trucks is not a cheap as our Jeeps.

 

[hodge-xj]

Oh yeah, 1/4 of my Jeep group runs 2.5 race shocks or bypass shocks with regular 3-4" coils and couple are on coilovers front and rear. I don't see my Jeep running desert washes like my RAM does so for me a set of Accutune 2.0 shocks res shocks for 2-4" lift would be in my future. I like to Jeep to go slow but keep things more in control. For now i've ordered have OME 4" front shocks, RK 1.5" springs (progressive), Clayton front LCA's, Clayton trackbar. i went with a custom DS from driveline shop, same price as the commercial offerings but seems beefier

Remember if you add 37's to the truck you'll need to regear. and regearing our trucks is not a cheap as our Jeeps.

That's gonna be a solid setup for sure on the JK! I love my OME stuff and the jeep does super well for what it is. Especially with the sway bar unhooked, the front coils on mine are like 140 in/lb rate and the stupid thing just floats, but I need more shock lol. I'm not looking for a dune whopper, but running fire access roads with bigger washes and g-outs is working these little nitro shocks to the max. Considering I'm sticking with under 35s to keep my axles alive I'm really thinking a set of kings would be the bees knees on it. The jeep does 1/2 crawl 1/2 exploring, though I need to really speak with accutune and see what they think. I know 2.0s with resis are more than capable, I had a set of Thuren Fox 2.0s on my Cummins and that things saw alot of punishment and even some air time, but a set of 2.5s on a light rig like the XJ would literally float through some gnarly hits. Even with only 10" travel. Plus, like you said, I don't really mind whipping on my jeep, the truck can handle some good punishment, but it's not cheap to fix. I know 2.0s are likely the reasonable answer and would most likely do me fine, but I really WANT 2.5s and know I'll wish I had done them, so I'm just gonna hold out and go straight to the kings. It's only 2x the cost...*****. Right now stinks cuz it's like 6 months for kings at least, so this won't be a thing for a while, which gives me time to research before I put money out.

With king and Fox offering OEM replacements that are tunable through filthy or accutune I think it'll be hard to beat. Unfortunately, I have ZERO input from the jeep community, most guys running xjs are the cheap peasants of the jeep world and think white body shocks or 5100s are the best things ever.....so I'm on my own with this one save for the little info I can find on jeep speed searches.

Even with my truck looking boring I love how it runs and being as comfortable as it is, I am not looking to change much or really abuse it more than it needs. Again, in the perfect world it would be the coolest daily out there on 37s and all the fixings, but really it's money I can use to throw into the toy and not hold back on when I get into the skinny pedal.

 

[ram1500rsm]

That's gonna be a solid setup for sure on the JK! I love my OME stuff and the jeep does super well for what it is. Especially with the sway bar unhooked, the front coils on mine are like 140 in/lb rate and the stupid thing just floats, but I need more shock lol. I'm not looking for a dune whopper, but running fire access roads with bigger washes and g-outs is working these little nitro shocks to the max. Considering I'm sticking with under 35s to keep my axles alive I'm really thinking a set of kings would be the bees knees on it. The jeep does 1/2 crawl 1/2 exploring, though I need to really speak with accutune and see what they think. I know 2.0s with resis are more than capable, I had a set of Thuren Fox 2.0s on my Cummins and that things saw alot of punishment and even some air time, but a set of 2.5s on a light rig like the XJ would literally float through some gnarly hits. Even with only 10" travel. Plus, like you said, I don't really mind whipping on my jeep, the truck can handle some good punishment, but it's not cheap to fix. I know 2.0s are likely the reasonable answer and would most likely do me fine, but I really WANT 2.5s and know I'll wish I had done them, so I'm just gonna hold out and go straight to the kings. It's only 2x the cost...*****. Right now stinks cuz it's like 6 months for kings at least, so this won't be a thing for a while, which gives me time to research before I put money out.

With king and Fox offering OEM replacements that are tunable through filthy or accutune I think it'll be hard to beat. Unfortunately, I have ZERO input from the jeep community, most guys running xjs are the cheap peasants of the jeep world and think white body shocks or 5100s are the best things ever.....so I'm on my own with this one save for the little info I can find on jeep speed searches.

Even with my truck looking boring I love how it runs and being as comfortable as it is, I am not looking to change much or really abuse it more than it needs. Again, in the perfect world it would be the coolest daily out there on 37s and all the fixings, but really it's money I can use to throw into the toy and not hold back on when I get into the skinny pedal.

I've been checking options on the 2.5 Kings for the JK and they're literally double the price but as you said having the piece of mind to go all out is just so damn nice hahaha. i think i'll go 2.5 as well.., you guys know some of me always trying to cheap out on some to redo it again and pay more ******** it. I'll focus myself on the getting the height i'll have first, then add the right shocks and call it a day.

My Clayton arms showed up today so i took 20 min of my afternoon to get them in.
Pure ******* beef, literally 14lbs each
2021-07-08_07-45-49 by RAM RSM, on Flickr

Compared to the Synergy fixed arms i just replaced @ 8lbs. Damn it they have just one month
2021-07-08_07-46-31 by RAM RSM, on Flickr