WAMPA Jr. Build

[JSparky]

Nice build! How do you like your Dobinson's coils so far? I have their progressive rate coils sitting in my garage right now. Plan is to install them when my cargo system arrives.

Hey, sorry thought I had responded to this already. They're great, super smooth with my setup. That said the weight capacity of the coils aren't quite up to what loads I typically carry. After my last trip the rear was hanging a little low. I weighed all my gear as I unloaded the 4Runner and realized I was carrying upwards of 700lbs. Now that figure includes everything: rear bumper/carrier, sliders, skids, fridge, recovery gear, rtt, extra fuel and water, food, etc etc. I'm going to try and slim down how much gear I carry but the killer is the extra fuel.

Anyways, communicated with Mike @ Dobinson's and their engineer's have already designed a new progressive rear coil for me that should be able to handle the weight. I can report back later on that.

Needless to say I dig the progressive nature of the coils, ultra smooth without gear in the back and if you match the load ratings up they handle the weight very controlled. With a partial load within the coil weight ratings they handle great. Hope that helps.

Side note, you may have to drop an upper control arm to get the coils in, the suckers are really tall uncompressed. I'd have a floor jack and a friend ready to help out.

 

[Magnetic4R]

Have you considered the Icon Overland, I think they handle upward to 6-700lbs

 

[JSparky]

New video from Mengel Pass. Cell phone capture so quality is what it is.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=R19lmvJg7mA

 

[JSparky]

Have you considered the Icon Overland, I think they handle upward to 6-700lbs

I did, they have the cargo weight and ride height measurements on their website and I was concerned about them sagging too much as well. I also have a general aversion to Icon cause their prices don't seem reasonable, there is no apparent or relative increase in quality compared to other manufacturers.. at least to me. I think those coils are close to $300, Dobinsons are only $180.

 

[JSparky]

Dedeckera Canyon/Steel Pass

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfU2V6voC6E

 

[JSparky]

Plus one of brother in his Grand Cherokee WK2 from the same trip.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lVnvtVRM-M

 

[JSparky]

Came off this one a little fast, still learning the angles on this bumper.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZphIJkwfC2Q

 

[JSparky]

Installed new rear coils today. I had been running Dobinsons progressive heavies but found them not heavy enough. Between the bumper, armor, and gear, I'm carrying upwards of 750 pounds.

Worked with Mike at Dobinsons USA and they shipped me a custom set, call them superheavies progressive? Measuring from the center of the wheel hub to the bottom of the fender flare the heavies set me at 22 13/16" driver and 23 11/16 passenger (uneven driveway). These new ones lifted me to 26 driver 26 6/8 passsenger. Keep in mind these are brand new and I expect them to settle over the next month.

Ride is great unloaded, firm but soft bump compliant.

Note, I had to pull both upper and lower control arms to get these in, as well as unbolting two abs brackets. At this height the factory rear sway bar links will not work, I removed the sway bar till I decide which direction to go with that.

I'm loading it up tomorrow for a trip so I'll report back on how they handle weight.

 

[JSparky]

Joined one of my friend's groups out to Sourgrass this weekend, north fork of the Stanislaus river. Had a blast and made a bunch of new friends. Unfortunately the camp's location was not ideal for fishing, but I heard from other folks that there's some good holes nearby. It was also my brother's girlfriend's first camping trip, I think his cooking got her sold on the whole thing.

 

[JSparky]

Ran into these Rover's, I don't know what it is about Rover owners but they always seem to find themselves without shirts on. My brother's Jeep had some issues on the departure, I'll post a video link but he got hung up on the underside trying to leave camp. There was a decent amount of traffic out there so we're thinking that stream bed had gotten rearranged. Either way combination of hi-lift, winch, and two straps had him free in about an hour.

One of the last section of trail: https://youtu.be/Q3nKz8Q44mM

Jeep getting hung up: https://youtu.be/PNdmRFrKNyQ

 

[JSparky]

Some footage of my friend's gx470:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3FCCSuPuqgY

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Rkh0wnb0Uuc

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=R8YVfQgT8MI

 

[Scharfschütze]

Awesome build up. Did you ever add the rear sway bar back? If not, how's it riding with the Dobinson super progressive and no bar. I'm looking for some height in the rear as well. Thanks!

 

[JSparky]

Awesome build up. Did you ever add the rear sway bar back? If not, how's it riding with the Dobinson super progressive and no bar. I'm looking for some height in the rear as well. Thanks!

Hey sorry I missed your post. I haven't been driving since June cause I broke my leg so no work has been done on it. It's not terrible without the sway bar but I'll definitely be putting one back on. I plan on putting it up on blocks and cycling the suspension to see if I can get away with the stock sway bar and longer links, if not I'll be going with either the All-Pro Antirock kit or a custom job. There's a member on here in Arizona that makes longer links but I forget his name at the moment. I'm not a fan of how the AllPro kit mounts the swaybar below the frame rails so hopefully the longer stock links will work.

Those super heavy coils are awesome for my setup, I just need longer shocks now. They ride softer than my friend's OME mediums and don't sag as much under load. Definitely a tall coil though, when I can measure an updated height I will, but it gets the rear up nice and high. Once I get the sway bar sorted out I'll update that as well.

 

[JSparky]

Just came across a video from Death Valley I hadn't posted. This is my brother sending a rocky section of Lippincott Mine Road, GX470 following up the rear.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YvESbdzZo4

 

[JSparky]

Updating some battery info for anyone running Shrockworks' dual battery kit. My Die HaRd Platinum Marine 34M finally bit the dust, it was my own fault.. left something plugged in for 6-8 weeks and completely killed it.

While shopping for a new battery I came across the X2 Power line from Batteries+. I'd never heard of it before but it appears to be a rebadged NorthStar, which from my knowledge is on-par with Odyssey. The X2 and Odyssey have the same CCA and capacity specs. It was $120 less and has the same warranty so figured why not. Both made in the US.

This update is more-or less so folks know that the X2 Power 34M is confirmed to fit the Shrockworks second battery cage (battery fitment questions seem to come up a lot with this kit). Dimensionally it appears identical to my outgoing Die Hard Platinum/Odyssey. The terminals are in the same location as well which was a big deal for me because I have everything wired up specific to the layout of the Die Hard/Odyssey.

Hope that helps anyone looking at batteries.

 

[JSparky]

Added a rack this week, Front Runner with universal track and 40/50mm feet to keep things low profile.

 

[rochmpr]

Joined one of my friend's groups out to Sourgrass this weekend, north fork of the Stanislaus river. Had a blast and made a bunch of new friends. Unfortunately the camp's location was not ideal for fishing, but I heard from other folks that there's some good holes nearby. It was also my brother's girlfriend's first camping trip, I think his cooking got her sold on the whole thing.

Sourgrass is a fun short trail. I have a place at the top of the hill. Let me know if you ever up there. I am there most weekends.

 

[JSparky]

Some of you may know that I'm running Dobinsons C59-701V rear coils. These are a super heavy weight capacity progressive coil which works well for what I'm doing, but it does tend to ride high when unloaded. Small price to pay for having a decent ride unloaded while not bottoming out on the trail. When running light I'm a full 2.5'' taller than my buddy's truck on OME mediums.

Anyways, I've had a slight rumble grumble when coasting and after inspecting everything noted the transfer case side u-joint on my rear driveshaft was not super happy, weeping quite a bit of grease. I've been down this road numerous times and went ahead and had a rear double cardan shaft made. 1310 Spicer non-greasable joints have held up well for me on two other vehicles so went with them, my driveline shop wouldn't recommend anything else either and I've had nothing but good experiences with them so I trust their call.

Quick trip around the block and things are smoothed out, waiting on CaliFab to get me some rear links so I can tweak my pinion angle. Not too many discussions on here regarding double cardan shafts for the taller trucks so thought I'd throw this out there for anyone else in a similar boat.

 

[JSparky]

Got a $90 Amazon bar up. My primary motivation was to reduce wind noise, so it was this or a trip to the plastic shop to have a custom fairing made. It dramatically reduced noise at high speeds so I'm happy.

I'm a big fan of the T-slots on this rack, mounting the bar was effortless.. made some custom brackets to get the bar as low to the roof as possible.

We compared it to my brother's Rigid bar, obviously not as bright but surprisingly not bad either. Works for now, maybe I'll throw a BD or KC light source up later on.

 

[JSparky]

Completed some wiring work the last two days. Thanks to [MENTION=112177]4RnR Grl[/MENTION] for her Youtube video detailing how to pull the dash apart, it was a big help.

I mounted a 6-switch panel in the lower dash and hooked up an LED bar on the roof. Also pre-wired all the switches with labeled leads so I don't have to pull the whole dash apart as I add things. I'm loving how the 6-swtich panel fits in the factory location, somebody at Toyota must have been paying attention.