almost forgot one thing. here is the shackle angle at just about ride height

 

and i know there is a lot of speculation about if it will fit down the trails and stuff. yes it is wider and may be a little tighter on some trails. but i have seen much wider rigs fit throu every trail around here. and it may take a little more maneuvering in some spots but the fact that my stance is wider and less top heavy makes it all worth it. a lot less butt pucker factor

 

Looks good, so far. Did you think the front shackle thing through. Just a little curious about that as that is a popular upgrade with the CJ, YJ and FJ guys to do the shackle reversal and put them in the rear of the leaf spring. I was wondering why you put the shackle up front? Can't wait for you to get that thing going for the first wheeling trip.

 

i thought about that for a while brian. the way the cherokee body is shaped it is really hard to put a shackle in the rear because the leafs wouldnt be sitting flat they would be at a steep angle toward the front of the cherokee. dont get me wrong, i have seen a few guys do it. the point where the leafs are mounted to the body sits waay lower than where the new crossmember is located. the shackle in the front brings the leafs down to a level plain. at ride height the front shackle is almost at 45 degrees so it should be plenty soft and have plenty of room to move back and forth when flexing

hope that answers your query

 

I guess you could just bounce those beadlocks off of trees and be good. I saw a 4runner today that had a shackle in the front and it seemed to work fairly well.
So when you still had the 30 were you ever able to keep your tires out of your fenders.

 

with the 30 i had major bumpstops so they would clear the fenders by about an inch or so. with the shocks im putting in the front and a nice long bumpstop i should clear the fenders with this setup too

 

I figured the shackle set had something to do with ease of installation and a better ride. I was figuring that the shackle in the rear would cause a lot more stress in that frame bend area too and you don't want that.

 

my D44 install kit from Nitro Gear came today along with my Spicer 760x u joints for the front. when i get some time this week i will drop the front end off to get gears and locker installed.

 

You must have wide trails around you.

 

no most of them are pretty tight trails through the trees. but with the amount of full size rigs going throu them nowadays i dont think i will have that big of a problem. but we will see once it is done

got a few miscellanious things done today. bolted the crossmember back up, pull the front driveline off to change the ujoints, wired my little fog lights back up, then stared and day dreamed about what she is gonna look like

 

looks f in sick dude!!

 

thanks man

 

thought i posted this already but maybe not.

all the front suspension parts are sold. i keep getting messages and emails and texts and i thought i posted this already but i might be mistaken.

on another note. dropped off the front end today and going to pick up my wheels from the sandblaster to start painting them

 

so i found out today that the front end wont be done for another week or maybe even two. so im pretty much at a stand still. i dont want to pull the rear out until i have the front in. so in my spare time i have been working on my new beadlock wheels. i got them sand blasted and then used a combination of black gloss paint and Herculiner to coat them.

here is how they turned out compared to the old ones. i think they turned out pretty damn good

 

looks good. keep takin those pics.