Not Over the Under
I've been meaning to drop you a note for a while, but I've been way too busy as club president here in the Bagdad, Arizona, Procrastinators Anonymous.
I'm a fellow flatfender advocate and have been for about 40 years now. You know it's a flatfender thing, and Jeep owners just don't understand.
Anyway, I'm about fed up with my spring-over setup running 15/35X15 TSLs and was reading your most recent article about the Rubicon Express rear springs with great enthusiasm. Do they really work as well as you said in the article? I'm fixin' to run lots of horsepower, and I'm very tired of snapping off pinions. I've four-wheeled for many years in the past with Rick Pw and Ned Bacon, and am probably the mellowest of all.
Keep up with the flattie stuff and all your good work. Flatfenders are still the most awesome Jeep and require the most ability off-road because four-wheelin' is an art, and carnage is not a necessity. And please put Cappa on a tighter leash.Dennis Webster (PEE-J)Bagdad, Arizona
Hah, Cappa is my boss. I'm on the downhill side of the leash tightening.
Yeah, the Rubicon Express springs work extremely well. I'm actually a lot happier with them than I said in the article. When I wrote that I only had time to thrash the rig out at TDS and a little around my house. Since the article was written, I've taken it to Moab and Johnson Valley for some serious rockcrawling.
The springs aren't sagging, pinion wrap is still not happening, and I haven't noticed the pinion dragging on rocks. If you're into big horsepower, I can't really say how the springs will react. Also, keep in mind I'm still running the stock YJ springs on the front with a torque arm to keep pinion dive at bay, so I don't know how they'd perform on all four corners.
My flattie tips the scales at 3,000 pounds dressed for the trail, full tank of fuel, and my 175-pound butt in the driver seat. The engine puts out 270 hp/270 lb-ft of torque, I have 5.38 axle gears, an SM420, and a Dana 300 with stock 2.61 gears. The tires are 35x13.50R15 Krawlers. Hopefully, this will provide a baseline to judge how the springs will behave in your flattie.
One of the rarest Jeeps is......The '42-'43 Ford GPA, which was amphibious - yes, a Jeep for land and water. Nearly 13,000 were made based on the Willys MB and Ford GPW. Very useless, highly collectible.
Got a tech question you're just itching to get answered? Send it on in to Jp Magazine, Your Jeep, 6420 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90048, or e-mail christian.hazel@primedia.com.
Did you know...
American Motors Corporation bought the Jeep Corporation in 1970, and Chrysler Corporation hooked up with AMC in 1987. Chrysler Corporation and Daimler-Benz merged to become DaimlerChrysler AG in 1998.