I'm not a "poser" or a "hardcore" wheeler by any means but I have wheeled a crap load of trails with 33's and no lockers. The only thing that drives me crazy is when people post up runs and put limitations or restrictions on who can come. I say let everyone come regardless of their set up and lets have some fun. I have 35's now so I don't have to worry about it anymore because I'm part of the cool crowd now. IF YOU'RE NOT WINCHING, YOU'RE NOT WHEELING!!!!

 

Oh yea, definitely the second biggest poser I know! That Vince guy though, he is the epitome of a poser mall crawler! :P and whats with that picture huh? Trying to make it look like your in moab or something?

 

Really guy's,
Who cares I'll ride with any jeeper on the road or on the trail. It's a jeep thing, and I guess even some jeep owners don't get it..
And I don't care what you have or have not done to you rig. I like them all.
Everyone sit back calm down, then go for a ride,

 

The most trendy items I've noticed are remote reservoir shocks, Long arm suspensions (for JKs), 35+ tires, Sleeves/gussets/truss, true beadlocks, and there are many more. I feel like half the people who purchase these items don't have the supporting parts to run them, or dont use them properly.

I have a eye twitch when I see someone buy remote reservoir shocks because they are supposed to be the best. Some people I do think can benefit from them, such as the desert racing guys or full competition rigs. The reservoir is there to keep the damping fluid cool and reduce shock fade. Most who buy them don't need them, but I understand its their money. When I first started getting into 4 wheeling (late 90's), rancho 5000 were considered the normal shock, then they had the 9000s that you could adjust from inside the cab, all 4 shocks and remote control for $400. I know we have inflation like hell now and I wish I wouldn't have been a teenager in highschool and could afford stuff easier back then.

Long arm suspensions....... Unless you're running at 14-16 inch travel shock on a JK you don't need them. I've seen guys install them and run a 10 inch travel shock because they don't know any better. Again they read and are somewhat talked into buying these by people who have considered themselves forum experts when they have yet to do anything but read stuff. Go out and test different things.





Thats with the suspension tweaks I did in my signature, my driveside rear tire did lift off the ground and I think I will change to a different rear spring because I need a longer one. My rear coil spring retainers are actually limiting my droop, but if I didn't have them the rear springs would fall out. This is with a 12.5 inch travel explorer procomp ES1000 shocks that are only $38 each and ride pretty smoothly. I would like to build front shock hoops in order to run a 14 or 16 inch travel shocks, and have more up travel, right now I have 3inch bumpstops to keep from bottoming out the shocks. Those are stock control arms, which I know the bushings will not last as long with how much misalignment there is. My drive shaft diameter is lmiting droop on the drivers side, either I need to use a smaller diameter or route it above the drive shaft. I need to research more and do some math to decide which route to go. I know alot of people can get hung up on how to get the most travel out of their suspensions, but the more you can keep a tire on the ground with any weight on it the more traction you will have. I went up and also down that section without using my lockers.

Most people don't know to properly choose a shock for their jeep. It's turned into oh this company told me this size or these are for a 4-6 inch lift. Measure from shock mount to shock mount at full droop, and full compression. All the major brands (and most the cheap brands) have charts of their shocks (different valving, extended and collapsed lengths, different style mounts). I know there is more than one way to skin a cat, but I feel like to many people are doing it one way and forgetting about the other million ways.

35+ inch tall tires, Tire envy is a bitch and its in all forms of motor sports. Like someone has stated before in this thread, "I'm tired of seeing the it needs bigger tires comment". Its annoying as hell, but also it pressures people into putting bigger tires on their rigs without getting all the supporting modifications done to their rig first. With bigger tires, you need better brakes (noticed I didn't say bigger, just better), better axle shafts if your going bigger than 35's (but honestly with 35's if you're locked front and rear and tend to push your rig you should either carry spare shafts or get some chromo or bling axle shafts and U-joints), technically your shocks should be re-valved because of more mass is harder to control on your wheelends and their are others but I'm not trying to drag this out to long. I remember one guy was crucified for not having a procal or a programmer on his rig to compensate for his change in tire size. One guy said it was federal crime and he was committing fraud, wow. You see why maybe you should let someone buy the supporting mods first instead of pressuring them into buying bigger tires to fit in? Also going form 33's to 35's you speedo is 4% off, but most 2011 and lower rigs tend to over gear (5.13s+ because our minivan engine is a gutless dog) it will over correct it. Hell my factory tires have my speedo off by 3 MPH at 55 MPH... oh no I'm committing a crime even though I haven't even changed my wheels and tires.

As far as sleeves, gussets, and trusses go; half the people who have them don't need them. Granted they can spend their money on whatever, but around this forum if you don't have those things done, your axle will snap like a tooth pick going down the road. That might have ended with a little bit of sarcasm, but none the less its a general ideology around here. I have built some trusses for various vehicles, mainly to attach traction bars or link mounts to them. I understand the new generation axle housing are thinner tubes, but if you don't drive like a moron, try to avoid pot holes, and don't think you are ron hall/walker evans/robbie gordon when driving off road you should be ok. Normal street driving with bigger tires isn't going to bend your inner C's. I really think low speed rock crawling shouldn't have that much effect on them, but if you are driving like stevie wonder and just bouncing along a truss wouldn't be a bad idea.

True beadlocks.... my god..... bought and never used at all like they should be. I feel its more of a miss information when it comes to what a bead lock is used for. Some buy them because they look cool, some buy them because its a beefy rim for a beefy build, and some actually use them to their advantage. The purpose of running lower tire pressures offroad is to have a better foot print of contact patch with the earths surface to give you more control and more traction. The purpose of a bead lock wheel is to lower those pressures to below what a normal wheel can do, in order to have a bigger foot print and more traction. Most people I know who use them correctly have only 6-8 PSI in them when wheeling. I've been wheeling with alot of people who only bring them down to 15 psi. Hell on stock wheels and tires I bring mine down to 14 psi. Never have I ever burped a bead, spun a wheel in a tire, or had a bead pop off. The purpose of the beadlock ring is to sandwich the outter bead (granted some actually lock down both inner and outter beads) so it can't come off the wheel. Also it will not allow you to spin the wheel inside the tire because it has a greater grip on it. I feel like alot of people don't really understand what all you can do with a beadlock at all.

These are just some random things that kinda erk me that I've noticed floating around the forum. I am by no means the off road king or for that matter even remotely near them. I do feel like I've learned alot over my years of doing this whole 4 wheeling thing, and I have learned alot of the in's and out's. My best advice to new wheelers is research until you have reached the end. Granted magazine articles are there to sell parts for manufactures, but you can find some good tech. I've got a huge collection of petersons 4 wheel and offroad that was started way back in 1997, I still have almost every issue. I use that as a reference library when I see someone have a problem and is struggling to come up with a good solution. One of the people I wheel with rocks a 4cylinder TJ with 33s and locked front and rear. They feel they approach obstacles to fast and need lower gearing. One shop here in California qoute'd her $7000 to swap an Atlas II transfercase in, thankfully she ran it buy a couple people before she committed to it. I can't stand seeing people taken advantage of, but also when you don't research stuff on your own it makes you more easy to being taken advantage of. I enjoy coming up with no BS cost effective solutions to gain the performance a person wants in their rig. Some want to just get buy some want to over build just to keep from out growing their rig. I just really hate seeing people taken advantage of, and that is one of the main reason why I quit working at the dealership I was at before the Army. I know what someone spends on their rig is none of my business and more power to them if they hae a $250,000 rig when its all said and done. But I know even people with money like keeping most of it in their pocket and if they are educated to understanding what they are paying for, they are less likely to be taken advantage of.

I just wish more solid information was passed around here than internet buzz.

 

Ok so 35's are trendy. Thanks.

 

Nah not so much 35s or tire size in general. But the fact a lot of people don't build everything up to run a big tire. They just throw big tires on it and bitch about stuff not working like it should.

 

My 54" claws only net me 3mpg....what gives? The dealership said I should be seeing at least 10.

Sent from my DROID4

 

Probably the tire pressure lol

 

50psi is what I the number on the sidewall says.



I'm with you though.....seems like everyone buys just to keep up with the Jones' just for looks. Yep, I said it- most people buy for looks.

Sent from my DROID4

 

Haha wow sounds like someone has too much time on their hands. Lol. Truss and gussets are trendy?? . This was done on a stock d30 with 35" km2's on a trail I would consider moderate-difficult on 35's. Guy has been wheelin for years, knows what he's doing, and doesn't drive like a moron.

For $130 I'll take my truss and gussets