Zuk Buggy 2.0

LightBnDr · Apr 6, 2017

That's my good eye mistaking a d300 for a 205.

Looks sweet man. Should be a whole new animal

sleepsontoilet · Apr 6, 2017

LightBnDr said:
That's my good eye mistaking a d300 for a 205.

Looks sweet man. Should be a whole new animal

Speaking of 205s, I got a call back for a lowmax this week. Apparently they are in production again and wanted to know if I was still interested. I told him thank you for remembering, but that was like 5 years ago. So some of you may be getting a call back from a little company out of Sulphur, LA.

paradisepwoffrd · Apr 6, 2017

Re: Re: Zuk Buggy 2.0

sleepsontoilet said:
The last one had around 4.5" uptravel with a 16" belly at ride height. I'm considering running 2.5 air shocks on this one, but may get 2.0 like the last one depending on the budget. I can get some 2.5s for around $1500. I'd like to run a little less oil so it's not so harsh of a ride, and I "hear" running a 2.5 would help. The portals and 42s will make this one around 20-22" belly, even if it's "low".

You can about be in 2.0 coilovers for the price of 2.5 airs, just fyi.

clemsonjeep · Apr 6, 2017

paradisepwoffrd said:
You can about be in 2.0 coilovers for the price of 2.5 airs, just fyi.

What he said...

vogelj · Apr 7, 2017

I was wondering when this thread was going to pop up. You definitely have a good start. Can't wait to see what you come up with on the rest. You might finish two before I every get mine done!

hokie_yj · Apr 7, 2017

In! Wanna race to see who finishes first? Haha.

sleepsontoilet · Apr 7, 2017

paradisepwoffrd said:
You can about be in 2.0 coilovers for the price of 2.5 airs, just fyi.

clemsonjeep said:
What he said...

I'm aware of that, but then you add the cost of springs and start tuning them. There aren't as many tuners in Houston as there are out west. In fact there are no true tuners, just a few race shops that tweak their own. I personally like the simplicity of an air shock and every trail I hit in the Zuk, it was more stable than the coilover rigs that followed IMO. With 2.0s you have to sacrifice ride comfort for stability, not so much with 2.5s. I don't go fast, just vertical so I'm looking for simple and stable. There has to be a reason almost all cone dodgers run airshocks and not coilovers. So far with my limited rock crawling experience I feel they've worked better. I'm not opposed to them, just not likely on my rig. Brave Motorsports has had great customer service from ADS, so I'm strongly considering them or going back with Fox. Most likely have to buy new, because every used set I see is $100 less than new and 10 years old.

sleepsontoilet · Apr 7, 2017

hokie_yj said:
In! Wanna race to see who finishes first? Haha.

vogelj said:
I was wondering when this thread was going to pop up. You definitely have a good start. Can't wait to see what you come up with on the rest. You might finish two before I every get mine done!

Every one knows the chassis building is the quick part, haha.

I got all of my misc brackets from Barnes4wd in today, cut down both housings to put the Cs on, and got in my 3 low back wide seats. Hopefully I can keep tinkering a pinch here and there before I run out of stuff to do. Unfortunately the $3200 steering isn't gonna happen for a long time, so it's going to come to an abrupt halt. :****:

clemsonjeep · Apr 8, 2017

So what kind of secrets can you share on tuning the air shocks. All I've done with mine is try a few different oil levels, and once I tired a heavier weight oil. Have you played with the internals on them?

sleepsontoilet · Apr 8, 2017

Got the housings cut down, all of my link/shock mounts, and 3 low backs for the new whip yesterday. Guess I need to make some progress on the Cs.

sleepsontoilet · Apr 8, 2017

clemsonjeep said:
So what kind of secrets can you share on tuning the air shocks. All I've done with mine is try a few different oil levels, and once I tired a heavier weight oil. Have you played with the internals on them?

Mine had a broken Schrader valve in shipping, and I couldn't find the same answer twice on oil levels. So I bought some fork oil and completely filled them. It seemed to work nicely on my last Zuk, and was really stable. It was a combination of 4" uptravel, and stock Zuk seats I didn't like. I'm still considering them, just personally haven't seen a coilover rig that looked more stable than mine on airshocks. Definitely a smoother ride, I cannot argue that at all. For now I don't have the funds for steering or shocks, so I've got plenty of time to tinker and Web wheel.

I want to say there was a thread on pbb about tuning them with different valving, but I've never personally tried. My only complaint was the ride at speed.

paradisepwoffrd · Apr 8, 2017

Re: Re: Zuk Buggy 2.0

sleepsontoilet said:
Mine had a broken Schrader valve in shipping, and I couldn't find the same answer twice on oil levels. So I bought some fork oil and completely filled them. It seemed to work nicely on my last Zuk, and was really stable. It was a combination of 4" uptravel, and stock Zuk seats I didn't like. I'm still considering them, just personally haven't seen a coilover rig that looked more stable than mine on airshocks. Definitely a smoother ride, I cannot argue that at all. For now I don't have the funds for steering or shocks, so I've got plenty of time to tinker and Web wheel.

I want to say there was a thread on pbb about tuning them with different valving, but I've never personally tried. My only complaint was the ride at speed.

Getting super light makes it harder with coilovers. Esp when u have more unsprung than sprung.

But air shocks arent as friendly when you get much more than 4" uptravel. Im running 2.5s on a heavy rig with success, but really need a swaybar.

I say pick up some used 2.0 airs and piece together a steering system to get going. Once built you can swap to 2.5s/coilovers.

Fyi, fox 2.0 14" airs & 14" coilovers are basically same length.

sleepsontoilet · Apr 8, 2017

Re: Re: Zuk Buggy 2.0

paradisepwoffrd said:
Getting super light makes it harder with coilovers. Esp when u have more unsprung than sprung.

But air shocks arent as friendly when you get much more than 4" uptravel. Im running 2.5s on a heavy rig with success, but really need a swaybar.

I say pick up some used 2.0 airs and piece together a steering system to get going. Once built you can swap to 2.5s/coilovers.

Fyi, fox 2.0 14" airs & 14" coilovers are basically same length.

Josh Bertschy bought AGR last year and said he is looking to get into the offroad market soon. He recently brought the machining in house and is revamping a lot of how they do things to make it more efficient. He said his steering never broke 110* racing KOH, so he must be doing something right. We talked in depth about what things should cost, and where we both wanted to end up. So for now I'm tinkering with other stuff to see what he brings to the table, when he has time to get to it. I've also looked at KRC as a lot, and may go that route as well.

I got a little sidetracked today with something more important. I didn't make the 13 year old, but made a vow he'd always be my son even though his mother and I couldn't agree on life choices. He blindsided me at dinner with "Dad, do you think my mom is ever gonna come back around?" God give me the boundaries to discuss what he's mature enough to handle without bashing her...

fl-krawler · Apr 8, 2017

What are the specs on the 3rd member, and air locker you are running? I'm going to pull the trigger on a set of portal boxes for my new build. I've currently got a set of Strange 3.812 bearing ultra cases, and 10" 5.43 gears. While I comfortable with the strength of the portal boxes, I keep going back and forth on the 3rd member and air locker with the amount of HP and tire I am running. I would love to keep the Strange cases, but that pretty much forces me into 3.25" 10" gears and 35 spline ARB to have tall enough gears for street usage. I believe Jesse is running 31spline stuff isn't he?

sleepsontoilet · Apr 9, 2017

fl-krawler said:
What are the specs on the 3rd member, and air locker you are running? I'm going to pull the trigger on a set of portal boxes for my new build. I've currently got a set of Strange 3.812 bearing ultra cases, and 10" 5.43 gears. While I comfortable with the strength of the portal boxes, I keep going back and forth on the 3rd member and air locker with the amount of HP and tire I am running. I would love to keep the Strange cases, but that pretty much forces me into 3.25" 10" gears and 35 spline ARB to have tall enough gears for street usage. I believe Jesse is running 31spline stuff isn't he?

I ran 6.20s with the last buggy and considered going 6.50 on this one. I ran spools and loved the reliability, hated the turning. I tried a Zip Locker in the rear and loved it, but twice it leaked causing the compressor to cycle and not lock. This time I quoted spools vs Grizzly and it was $120 difference.

So this go round I'm going to try the 35 spline Yukon Grizzly locker. Jesse suggested a 4.56 gear would be perfect when I asked if I should go 4.88 or 5.13. Steve Johns runs a 5.29 in his yota diff JHF buggy. I sure hope he's right, we'll see.

Bebop · Apr 9, 2017

Can you install Competition Zip lockers ? That way if they leak, it is in a locked state

sleepsontoilet · Apr 9, 2017

Bebop said:
Can you install Competition Zip lockers ? That way if they leak, it is in a locked state

Yes, but one locker costs more than both of these complete diffs.

fl-krawler · Apr 11, 2017

Are the comp lockers available for the 9"? Last I looked they were only available for a D60

sleepsontoilet · Apr 11, 2017

fl-krawler said:
Are the comp lockers available for the 9"? Last I looked they were only available for a D60

I want to say they do and Hurleygo3 posted about it in a thread on pirate. But I don't think it's something just sitting on a shelf that just anyone can buy. Regardless I was told it was around 2k for just the locker and both of these were barely over that shipped.