Would be interesting to hear the thoughts of @mrblaine since he is quite knowledgeable on builds like this one.
That does look really clean, so if it looks that way in person - that's some decent bonus.
The balance of the arms is an interesting thought process. Too steep (short arms) you get hop and lose traction. Too shallow you get front end lift. Try to imagine the thrust vector and how the jeep would rotate around whatever that is with the rear arms pointing at a center point as the lines extend.
While this is imperfect, I think about it as if there's a radius that the rear triangle makes until they intersect - this is the center of a circle. If it's steep, traction is lost because the thrust vector and weight balance are in a smaller circle and more "up". If it's flat the thrust vector and weight shift to make a much larger circle and is more "forward" toward the center, which causes front end lift (which is especially prevalent on steep climbs).
The math is cool here if you want to just talk circles ignoring anything else about a jeep. A 9" pizza is only 63.62sq" while a 10" pizza is 78.54sq" (which is 23% more, despite only being 11% larger diameter). That is to say, 1" diameter of this circle seems small, but it really isn't. Flattening the arm angle (longer and longer arms) is increasing the diameter of the pizza.
If it makes you happy, buy it. Don't think too hard.
The builder of that rig and myself have diametrically opposed build philosophies.Would be interesting to hear the thoughts of @mrblaine since he is quite knowledgeable on builds like this one.
Here’s a video that doesn’t probably add a lot more insight, but maybe it does.
What he said sometimes you just say WTF and live.
I wish. But if I’m simply calculating what I would spend to put the axles under my jeep with a front half kit, with wheels and tires - assuming I get top dollar for my wheels, tires, and axles (which I probably won’t) I’m still going to be over the price point of this one - without accounting for time or labor.
I’ll admit, this is the easy way out.
It hurts my brain that a nice stock(?) TJ was undone and built like that, rather than one that was already past the point of bad mods that would have been chucked aside for the build.
It hurts my brain that a nice stock(?) TJ was undone and built like that, rather than one that was already past the point of bad mods that would have been chucked aside for the build.
Update. I bought it. I didn’t bother haggling him down anymore. I’m beyond happy with the buy. It drove great, was as clean as the photos suggest. Talked through the build for a few hours on decisions they made and why they were made that way. Also had decent road manners for being full hydro on 40’s.
Shipper didn’t show up though…
I’ll be much happier when it makes it home in one piece.
The take away from this is to follow your heart.![]()
I bought my TJ in California and had it shipped to where I live in Connecticut in 2019, and it was a PITA then. I've heard it has become even more of a nightmare. My friend bought a BMW E39 M5 last year in Virginia, and shipping it back became such a nightmare we just drove down and got it instead. Definitely call around, a lot of these shipping companies are just dispatches that send out bids to the cheapest guy with a car hauler. Good luck!
Also. His wife is like the premier falconry expert in Delaware. So that was pretty freaking cool. View attachment 660229
I think for that price it ought to have a V8 and a 4L80E.
![]()
