Lil Sports guide from Marketplace Mojave to a Raptor hunting journey

[Bdoza10]

New springs means more testing this time Johnson valley to run whoops for hours at a time.

The whole point of this build was something my wife could drive and keep up with the UTV’s

Mind you she’s 4 months pregnant at this point and rarely isn’t snacking while driving. So anyone else looking to build a jeep to keep up with side by sides. It can be done and it doesn’t need to cost an arm or a leg. Just some nice shocks , adjustable arms and springs will get you there.

She noted a kick in the rear which I diagnosed as coil bind. After some debate I decided to add metalcloak bump stops to the rear and we were back on track. And on to our next major test.

could this keep up with a new $65,000 Colorado zr2 bison and a $$$$$ shop built gladiator?

Sponsored

 

[Bdoza10]

Thanks to a boisterous family member a friendly competition had started. Between his inlaws shop built gladiator and our lil sport. and after finally seeing the light at the end of the Subaru love tunnel. He had joined in with his new AEV Zr2.

We heard “but it’s a f*#%ing sport” nearly every stop we made. They had bet big that a rubicon dropped off at the local jeep shop with an open check book would make them happy. Our little sport had been fully assembled for less than what they had in just the front shocks.

A full Clayton kit, Fox 2.5 DSC tuned twice over wheels tires all the farkels. And it was getting passed by a pregnant gal with a bagel in one hand, cream cheese in her lap, singing Taylor swift. And again we had people crawling around Sam’s little commuter.

The biggest mistake I saw was they specd out overlanding springs for the gladiator, the ride was stiff and bucked constantly. But the second they hit a whoop the shocks blew through their travel and bounced off the bump stops. They were constantly needing to stop and make adjustments in hopes of making their trip survivable. The difference between the Clayton arms and metalcloak was also clear as day. They felt all the small chatter and gravel, where we rode smooth and composed. The gladiator also wandered about on the hwy or the trail. Making it taxing to drive.

The Zr2 faired much better with its dssv shocks and hydraulic bumpstops. But it still struggled to keep up with lil secondhand sport. We finished the trip with a few converts to build ethos and our new friends went home and ordered king bumpstops and synergy springs. And have Since reported back it saved them from trading that gladiator in. They were convinced jeeps just ride like shit and drive terrible because jeep.. glad we could covert at least one person. But weeks later we got another message

After a full week of wheeling we ended the trip off with a podium finish out at our local hare and hound desert race.

 

[Bdoza10]

After a week of hard wheeling I noticed a slight dog walk when getting back on the road when running trail (18psi) tire pressure back to camp. It bothered me a ton and my wife literally none at all. But I had to fix it, back to the facebook saved archives I found someone who had been sitting on a synergy track bar in decent condition. Plus after having to adjust the metalcloak bar a few times the idea of not yanking it out of mounts that support my stabilizer and no jam nuts I was sold for the low low price of

I pull everything apart now and add antiseize after what I went through with the metalcloak arms. Never know where your build my take you. Or who might need your parts next

also my wife got me my best jeep tool yet the 1.5 ton bad lands has been a godsend when working on this jeep. Literally cuts all my time in half setting up the jack stands. The next would their icon Long reach flex head wrenches, those make removing the shocks a ten min job while leaving the tires on

 

[Bdoza10]

Ballin on a budget sometimes comes down to sheer dumb luck. My wife is utterly obsessed with king of the hammers but with a baby on the way we decided best to not buy tickets this year. Thankfully luck was on our side time around.

Baby’s first annual King of the Hammers trip. My wife’s first trip is actually how i convinced her to buy a jeep and that we could make it fast because she’s no fan of going slow.

We smashed our tie rod on a rock not far from this photo one of the nights out there. It’s one of the many times I’m glad I was the one that built our jeep. I was able to spot it and fix our stabilizer before we ripped it off. Those Fox clamps like to rotate when smacked just right.

I think I can see the exact rock in this photo.

see people do actually win those dumb instagram contests.

Her happy place really is out on the lake, water not always required tho.

 

[Bdoza10]

Some times you shoot your shot thinking zero chance… why would they even consider that. But also it’s Valentine’s Day and the base roses just won’t cut it. Something shiny is on deck

My original offer went out 4 months prior and we bonded over our builds and how he sold his last setup to try a route like this build. Just with a much higher budget.

Obviously that ugly anemic old exhaust went straight to the scrap guy at my shop

Did the full swap in under an hour so we could make our reservation in the morning without the wife knowing what I had done. Actual pro tip, valentines brunch is ten times better than dinner and way cheaper

Some times you start a project and think man I hope I finish it.

And some times the treasure is the friends you make along the way

First mod I might have

had regrets about at first but the jeep now had spunk! It felt like a 2stroke, it would leap from lane to lane, the sponginess of the throttle was gone and this thing scooted. We started chirping tires around most corners. And I fully understand without a tune there isn’t more “power” but man there was far more response.

It also rattled all our pots and pan’s whenever we remote started it before our usual 9pm run to the gym. And before my wife’s literal 300yard commute to the office. We had become a larger neighborhood nuisance, if the constant cutting grinding hammering, impacting, dirtbike tuning, jet ski tuning wasn’t getting to the neighbors just yet this definitely was gonna. To be honest, though once the cold start was over it was fine other than the slight headache out on the trail cause she was loud.

 

[Bdoza10]

After a few days of trying to manage the noise of the new awe exhaust I went plan b and sound deaden the rear of the jeep. It helped mildly. I should’ve done it when we bought the jeep tho, much less road noise.

Anyone on the fence should just do it, the interior comes out the easiest of any vehicle I’ve ever owned. And it was only $40 in materials. Great way to spend an evening working on your arts and crafts skills .

 

[stretch-bsn]

I watched them sit on marketplace for well over two months. Thought worst case they say no they needed a few bolts but I have an ace hardware across the street from my warehouse And I was really worried my wife would smash her rockers and doors. She tends to hit stuff out in the desert

well I guess she does!!!! Hahahaha

 

[Bdoza10]

I ended up breaking a metalcloak lower arm trying to adjust it, as dumb as it sounds I never got around to rebuilding the lowers, and even tho they were working well my noodle had to play with it. I was able to find a set on marketplace for $200 new in box never used. The newer arms are actually a lot nicer, seems like they’ve made some changes. If anyone is in the market for a single arm hit me up .

 

[Bdoza10]

Sometimes you swing for the fences and it just works

now I might have stretched the budget with this swing but I planned on listing my Mojave rears to cover my gap. But when a deal is this good you just go with it. The seller couldn’t have been better dude, also with a baby on the way and a killer build that just out grew the 3.0’s.

Excuse me while I mildly freak out about how absolutely impressive these shocks are. I’ll never forget buying the Mojave shocks and being in awe of their size

now normal people might never out pace the Mojave shocks. We were experiencing shock fade on a few of our desert trips. These should eliminate that issue all together.

after my metalcloak arm incident I’ve adopted a new policy of refurbishing everything I buy. Even if it’s just for the piece of mind down the road. And I’ve heard horror stories of the adjusters being difficult on the Fox shocks so I packed them with superlube. So far these have been easy to adjust every time

These were the 2-4 in lift versions from Fox, I thought they would be perfect for our build.

Absolutely massive units

So glad to be done with the washer set up. I’ve had these on and off our jeep a dozen times.

I might have spent a full night cleaning and admiring these works of art.

The amount of droop we gained was insane. But also added a whole host of new issues to solve. First parking brake was working as a limit strap so I had to reroute it. I ordered a synergy mount, that I’ve yet to put on. Right now it’s held up by zip ties and honestly works fine.

The next issue was our sway bar was now smacking our big beautiful shocks. So I went ahead and removed it til I could source longer links.

Washer set up for those that might need it in the future.

With this much droop I’m in need of new taller jack stands.

 

[shagles]

Dude, your marketplace finds are insane. And I thought I'd done well so far. Loving the build

 

[Bdoza10]

Dude, your marketplace finds are insane. And I thought I'd done well so far. Loving the build

I can’t wait to share what my wife found next!

gotta set alerts, it also helps my wife has been along for the ride since day one. She probably knows more about suspension now, than I did when we started. I truly believe it’s because we did it piece by piece. She really respects the changes we make and is full ham on getting her jeep faster and smoother.

 

[Bdoza10]

The loud awe got old for even myself. Local muffler shop quoted me $350 for magnaflow install. So off to summit racing I went 120$ delivered next day

 

[Bdoza10]

Well I’m convinced that why I was able to grab those 3.0s for so cheap was because they get poo poo’d on a lot by a few companies that struggle to set them up. Well they were harsh at first but after all I’ve learned so far in this build I wasn’t gonna let that slow us down. I made some notes and came up with my own solution

Fox likes to use heims in the rear on these shocks. I thought if I could just swap them for something rubber mounted it would help get rid of all the new chatter these shocks were giving us on our terrible freeways.

From our original struggles setting up the Mojave shocks I went to work getting us back out of the firmer bypass stages. I noticed Fox sent these out with massive eyelets. So Cal has its benefits of being mecca for off road parts. A few exits down a small shop Kartek helped me source some eyelets from a ford raptor. They doubted it would solve my issues, but I’m happy to report that we’re back to floating over the freeway cracks once again

Thanks to years of scrolling forums I remembered this old trick for loosing red lock tite.

$40 soft jaws and 60$ on eyelets and bushings seemed a lot cheaper than a revalve. And a lot more appealing than forcing my 8 month pregnant wife to climb even higher into her jeep.

This was probably my easiest mod on the whole jeep. Pressing the bushing in was tricky at first but I just tossed it in the instapot and it pressed right in. I also added a ton of super lube

you can really tell in this photo how dramatic the changing of eyelets was, and the raptor ends fit perfectly on our jeeps. This might actually be a better solution for those looking to use the Mojave shocks on a wrangler. Or even those looking to lift something with Mojave shocks. Just swap the eyelets. It’s a 20 min job.

The larger bumper was a suggestion from a desert racing forum. The guys use them when the rules don’t allow for more than one shock. And it works wonders. Nice middle ground between hydraulic bumps in the rear. These are some random set king uses on their coilovers. I have plans on trimming them down once we get a few things sorted out.

really glad I went with those Mojave wheels right here.

So stoked on how much this improved the ride. It’s 10x’s better instantly

 

[stretch-bsn]

Killer work!

 

[shagles]

Are you running without a rear swaybar?

Sponsored