Calbah susp??????

Joined: 24 Oct 2002

Wooders I had a good look at Dennis' long arm kit a on Sunday I can't see where th $20k price tag comes from it wouldn't be that hard to make.
He seems to be running standard steering with just the dampener swapped to the other side.

Posted: Thu Nov 28, 2002 8:21 am

Sam,

The RE 5.5 long arm kit sells for about $2500US in the US.
A rule of thumb when buying US stuff from a local shop is to multiply that by 4 to allows shipping and conversion to Aussie.....So that's about $10k.
The front dana30 diff was swapped out for a Dana44...then the regear and lockers plus the labour etc...Yup it was about $20k....(mind this was drive in & get it back completed including fully engineered.

Also it's worth keeping in mind that a lot of local fabrication was required to get the LHD RE kit work for RHD

Personally I WOULDN'T spend $20k like that to just run 35's...but hey each to their own....

Joined: 19 Nov 2002

Both Wooders and I are probably the most $ focussed (read: cheapass Smile

) jeepers around I think.

He is running 36" TSL's and I am running 34" Simexs.
We can both ramp around the 1000 mark on a 23 degree ramp. Nothing to write home about but works perfectly well on the trails.

My suspension consists of:

OME shocks $126 each
3.5" coil springs $500
2" body lift $250
1" motor mounts $250
Teraflex lower adjustable control arms $700 or something
OME rear track bar relocation bracket $45

Wooders is something along the same lines.

I did all the work on the jeep myself using your average garage tools.

While I am planning a long arm of some sorts in the near future, I am happier to spend a bit less on suspension and get some gears and lockers instead.

All depends on your budget, but I could of either bought a long arm kit and have a really flexy jeep with stock gearing and no lockers, or I could have one with detroits front and rear that didn't flex as much but could drive a lot more places than the long arm by itself. hehe Smile

Do it yourself - you will learn a lot more and be better prepared on the trails when you get into trouble.

Posted: Thu Nov 28, 2002 8:51 am

Well said Zach....

Joined: 25 Nov 2002 Location: Sydney

If you want a good balance of drive in stock drive out modded and the $$ prob Craig's white TJ is the best ballance but as he got all of the work done it is still big $$ He also has a 2" body lift.

I think that Craigs sits on the road at high speed better than most high trucks and corners pretty flat with sway bar on but still gets enough flex off road with teh sway bar disconnected.

For straight bang for bucks either Zachs or Wooders truck it all depends on how much you want to do yourself.

As everyone has said decide on the max tyre size and work from there as those who went 33"s then 35"s have spent wasted money on re gearing in most cases

At the end of the day even in a 100k truck if you can not drive then you wont get to the end of the track Smile

Joined: 28 Nov 2002 Location: Melbourne

Hey Zach,

What sort of Detroits are you running front/rear? What's it like on road?

Cheers,

Ben

Joined: 19 Nov 2002

full detroits.

no spin they are called.

Onroad - who cares Smile

They work well enough offroad for me to forget the hadnling on road. I just want lockers front and rear and not have to think about them.

Seriously - you get a few quirks on road. Tyres bark when you turn tight and get on the gas a little. pulls sideways if getting on or off the throttle mid way through corners. Makes a nice axle breaking sound if you have your tyres at enough of an air pressure difference. (that scares the crap out of you when you first hear it. hehe Smile

)

But again. it is all liveable and a lot cheaper than ARB's.

If you have 31's or something and drive it on road a lot, stick with arbs.
If you really only use it for off road or don't care too much about on road then do detroits.

I drive everyday in mine, in melbourne CBD to work and back and live with it.

Funny when people give you a bit of room because you just merged into their lane when changing gears. bwahahaha Smile