BDS Project KJ: Suspension, Cage, & Drivetrain
It’s been a few weeks since we checked in on Project KJ, the ’05 Liberty CRD being overhauled in BDS’s R&D shop for this year’s Ultimate Adventure (UA). When it comes to building a rig for the UA, it’s got to be capable on any terrain; mud, rocks, dirt, sand, snow, and even asphalt. Reliability is key as each day of the week long 1000+ mile adventure is filled with trails, highway time, and varying weather conditions. The rig needs to carry driver/co-driver, food, camping gear, and spare parts.
At this point the guys down in BDS’s R&D shop are making progress on the Liberty. Cage is in and they’ve been going through finish welded all the seams. 1-3/4″ x .120 wall DOM tubing was used to secure the passenger compartment and extends forward into the engine bay to reinforce the frontend integrity now that the unibody and IFS subframe have been scrapped. Front and rear coil-over mounts are being built in as we’ll as we eagerly await the arrival of our new 14″ Fox 2.5 remote C/O and Fox 2.0 bumps any day now. Our PSC JK steering box is mounted to the front “framerail” after taking the time to sleeve and plate the unibody. OE steering shaft linkage bolted right up and won’t require much further modification. We’ll have more on this in our next post/video update.
Our wheels made it in from B.A.D. Wheels. They are a 17×10 with 3.5″ backspacing to get our desired stance and allow a bit more room for the suspension/steering components. They feature several cool design features for safety and rapid air deflation. For now we’re mounted them to a set of 40″ Maxxis Trepador radials to continue mocking up the rig. We’ve got a set of the brand spankin’ new 40×13.50×17 DOT approved Nitto Trail Grapplers on order with expected arrival at the first of June. We’ll have a closer look at the wheels and tires at that time.
For now enjoy a few pictures I grabbed while down at the shop today. As parts arrive we’ll see a quick transformation as this rig gets closer to being mobile again.
Stay tuned for updates as Project KJ starts taking shape. Follow along and join the discussion on Facebook, YouTube, BDS Blog, LostJeeps Forum, Jeep Forum and JeepKJ Forum.
