So, yesterday it happened....
Thanks to Decklan's (dmcgee) help, we knocked this thing out and got the wagon in the air. Started with cutting the strut tubes and patching in 2.75" spacer tubes (cut from a spare set of strut tubes).
I made sure to mark the tubes before I cut them so I could clock the spring perch correctly. I used two pieces of angle iron and 4 clamps to hold the tubes in line with each other, tacked the tubes between the angles and then removed the bracing and welded them all the way around. This was a time consuming part of the project. I tried to take my time and make sure everything was done properly the first time and more importantly, made it safe.
After the strut tubes were modified and ready, I cut a 2.75" long piece of 1.75" od tubing to use as spacers below the strut cartridges so when I tightened up the gland nut, it held the cartridges tightly in place. I used stock strut cartridges to try and retain as much of a good ride as I can. After that, it was a matter of re-assembling the suspension. The control arm had to be pulled down quite a bit to seat the strut on the balljoints. This is the part I am not really happy with. The angle of the control arms is pretty steep and the design of the control arms is not conducive to this kind of angle. I will likely loosen up the radius arm bushings a little tonight to see if I can get them to relax a bit. Right now, the suspension is trying to rebound itself due to stress on the bushings making the front suspension very stiff.
While real work was going on on the front tubes, Decklan was screwing around with the rear springs out back. We decided to use the Jeep ZJ springs for this and added one hockey puck per side on top of the spring mount as well as the factory .25" thick spacer. Soon, I may decide to add a second hockey puck back there to facilitate heavier loading. The springs were pretty straight forward but note that the calipers had to be removed from the axle while doing this. The rear brake lines are not long enough for this much droop in the axle. Eventually, the brake line mounting bracket was removed from the body and a psacer tube was made to lower the attach point of the brake line and give it enough room to travel with the axle. The speedo wires have enough slack, but the attach point to the body was disconnected so it can travel with the axle as well. Shocks used on the back were from a '97-ish Dodge Durango. The eyelets had to be swapped out from the 740 shocks so the spacer tube would be long enough to be captured in the body/trailing arm. Washers could be used to do the same thing I suppose, but that would be extremely difficult to reach up into the body to add them to the top mount.
For the rear, I see the need for an adjustable panhard bar. If I could add about .5" to this bar, that would probably center it up very well, but an adjustable would let me fine tune it. The rear diff is currently being pulled over to one side more than the other, so while it rides nocely, I will fix the panhard one way or the other to correct this alignment.
After the tires were fitted, the real work started. The body had to be massaged quite a bit to fit these huge tires. In the rear, the wheel liners were removed and the arch was hammered in a bit to gain clearance to the front of the tire. Also, there is a body seam 'flange' (if you will) in front of the tire which we hammered flat to the wheel well. This seemed to help the rear quite a bit and only rubs a little when the axle is flexed.
In the front, more work was required. Of course, trimming the bumper was first and then the next problem came with the fender/rocker at the rear of the tire. There is a bit of dead space behind the rocker so after removing the wheel liner, the roker was hammered in so as to tuck it into the wheel arch and gain clearance. Next issue was the front of the wheel arch. When you steer hard over, the tire would rub on the body that houses the battery and the washer reservoir. Both of these hard corners had to be hammered in to clear the tire. Additionally, the fender arch rubs under hard cornering or braking so the fender lips still need to be rolled and I will then be able to stretch the fenders over the tires for added clearance. Later on, I plan to cut out the hammered sections and add flat sheet metal sections to make it look more asthetically pleasing. It sounds like we beat the crap out of the body, and I guess we did...and normally I do not like permanent body modifications such as these. I reminded myself that it was a cheap car I bought as a driver and not to worry too much about it. The hammering did the job quickly when it had to be driven to work the next day.
The 30x9.5 tires are huge. In hindsight, I wish I had held out for a set of 235/75R15's instead, and I will be looking for a set now for sure. Bragging rights come easy with 30" tires, but as a daily driver, I think many problems would be solved by running a slightly smaller tire.
Overall, the project took about 8 hours with two of us working on it. Fortunately, and possibly for the very first time in history, we did not have to run to the parts store for anything during the build. I had gathered everything I needed and had it at the ready. The result of the project is positive. I am very happy with the turnout and literally stood in the driveway for about an hour last night just staring at it. It is hard to believe what has been created in such a short time. There are still bugs to work out of it and that was to be expected but I am happy to have driven it in to work this morning without issues. As I mentioned before, the front suspension is very stiff and I will work through it to make it more palletable, but in the meantime, it is a bit harsh on the side streets, even where you thought they were smooth before. But once you get the rig up on the highway, it is a very nice experience. I was taking it easy this morning on the maiden voyage, so I was just keeping up with traffic. This showed me I was doing about 55-60MPH most of the way and this was at about 2250RPM. Realistically, I think it was about 65-70MPH, but I did not bother to gps it at the time so I could concentrate on the drive.