There was plenty of commotion around the BDS R&D Shop when I stopped by Friday late afternoon. Seems the approaching deadline to have the KJ prepped in time for the 2013 Ultimate Adventure has brought the team together as they work to complete suspension, drivetrain, cage, body mods, fuel cell and more. I mentioned in the last post parts have been arriving on the daily are are prepped for install. There’s still a number of areas that require fabrication and finish welding. Suspension linkage is nearly completed and uses a 4-link front and triangulated 4-link rear. 14” stroke Fox 2.5 remote coilovers arrived and are awaiting a set of Pac Racing springs to be installed (will have more on the coil specs when they arrive). Fox 2.0 bump stops will be installed soon to help keep our soon to arrive 40” Nitto Trail Grapplers off of the fenders. Up front our PSC JK steering box has been mounted to a reinforced front “framerail” and accepts the OE steering shaft linkage. The “framerail” is being notched to allow the track bar clearance at full compression.
Parts awaiting to be installed are heavy duty ball joints and axle seals from Alloy USA, our Nitro 5.13 Gears, Nitro 30-spline front shafts and Air-Ox Locker front, ARB Air Locker rear and Nitro 35-spline shafts, JK NP-241 Rocktrac T-Case with 4.0:1 low range, and an ARB air compressor. A shiny new Warn 9.0 Rc winch is sitting on deck ready to get recess mounted into a front bumper that we will be built in the coming week(s) to protect the front end and the new radiator, intercooler, and electric fan we have to go in. Driveline’s Plus is building a custom set of driveshafts for us as we move towards having this Jeep Liberty CRD mobile again. The fuel cell is being built in CA and just for fun we opened up the sunroof hole to accept the larger 36×40” Sliding Ragtop. Plenty more to come on this project, stay tuned for updates and more.
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.
Beautiful weather and record numbers in Mesick, MI as more than 1200 Jeeps made it out for the 12th Annual Jeep Blessing. BDS made it out for the event and set up shop in the in the vendor corral to talk to event goers. For many this was the first chance to see the new BDS forged flex ends up close and see what other new products we have available. A big thanks goes out to Devin from Drive Train Specialists (DTS) who was nice enough to bring his bad ass BDS 6.5” Long Arm equipped JK by the booth to draw many to the booth.
The ever runs all day long with many coming to show off their Jeeps and wheel them on the obstacle course, while others came ready to shop for great deals at the event. Shawn and Jason had a blast out at the event and wanted to thanks everyone that stopped by to say hi. Despite being busy all day long, they did find the time to check out the show and snap some photos along the way. See some of the photos below and for al the rest of them, head to the Facebook photo album.
We love hearing how our distributors and customers use there rigs, how they customize them and where it takes them. Recently the crew from BDS distributor, Cabot Tire sent us some shot of a JK they built running the BDS 6.5” long arm lift kit, 2” coil spacer, and 2” body lift on 41.5” IROKs.
Check it out…
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