[Jaxxa]

Here's what the bracket for the control arm looks like. I moved to 1/4" steel, 7/16" Grade 8 bolt -- as beefy as I could make it. I only have a hacksaw and a cordless drill, so it takes like three hours to make one of these.

Now the only thing I have to worry about is the strength of the subframe itself. My first idea was to put a bolt straight through with a section of steel pipe to sleeve it and give the subframe more structure, BUT 1.25" might not be enough space to clear the bushing on the control arm, so I may have to end up using a separate bolt top and bottom -- if that's the case, then there's no way in hell I'll drive long distance on it if it isn't supported at the subframe, but it will be a useful proof of concept and help nail down the geometry for a set of custom control arms, and of course the clearance needed for larger tires.

 

[Macgyver]

Oh wow cool. It looks beefy enough but I would be skeptical of what you are saying. Your Mod might be better than what it attaches to.

 

[Jaxxa]

There are a couple things on the Juke that are plenty beefy, the front subframe is NOT one of them. I did already warp a section of it just putting a jack stand in the wrong spot, so I'm not saying I'm without doubts. We will see what happens this weekend.

 

[Macgyver]

I reread what I said. It didnt come out right. You are right to be skeptical of what it mounts to.

 

[Jaxxa]

I was really dreading today, the phrase "we were so concerned with whether we could, we didn't stop to consider if we should" was really resonating, and on paper it absolutely shouldn't be done.
BUT taking the control arm off and test fitting the bracket was actually really encouraging, and really informative to some minor design changes before it will work. Since the mount only moved 1.25", there is actually a lot of overlap between the metal of the subframe and the bracket, so some steel washers should help spread the weight out nicely. I didn't get to bolt it up fully, or put the vehicle down on it's own weight because Florida weather patterns told me to wrap it up, lmao. I also didn't get to take good pictures of it, but I do have a more solid plan now.

 

[13r1an]

You need some proper tools to be undertaking this project. Cutting bar like that takes me more time to plug in my saw than to do the cut. Visit me. That and... a real welder with some fat beads to reinforce stuff.

 

[Jaxxa]

You need some proper tools to be undertaking this project. Cutting bar like that takes me more time to plug in my saw than to do the cut. Visit me. That and... a real welder with some fat beads to reinforce stuff.

I've just been treating it as a lesson in patience and deliberation, plus I get to catch up on podcasts while I do it.
Also you work like 4 hours away from where I live, and I'm not at a point where I can weld it in place yet, I'm still not 100% sure if the geometry works out correctly.

 

[Jaxxa]

Alright, the scariest part has been tamed for now-- The control arm bracket is ON. Speed bump and pothole tested and approved, rated to at least 65mph with no drama. Just a WICKED amount of toe out, and how hilarious that I don't even have open end wrenches to adjust my tie-rods, so I just very silently dropped it off at PepBoys for an alignment and hopefully they don't ask too many questions.

The cool part is now I have the only Juke in the world with a 101 inch wheelbase.
And hopefully tomorrow I'll put the 265/65r18's on it.

 

[Jaxxa]

Back from alignment. I spoke briefly with the head technician and the only question he had was "why." And so I pointed at the three Jeep tires still in the back seat "That's why".

He said the toe was out 4 full degrees on both sides, so he had to do an alignment first to be able to do the actual alignment.

But the alignment turned out great, I have to go in and adjust the camber on the coilovers to get them more zero'd, and of course I've got almost drift-spec 7 degrees of caster, but I'm impressed it aligned this well (and that I didn't need to change out my tie-rods)

 

[Macgyver]

WOW thats awesome.

Remember you can be near aligned. In the Red and its still "ok" if both sides are near the same. Its just not optimal.

 

[lne937s]

So, you don't need new axles pushing out the control arms 1.25"?... makes me wonder if you could go to a longer control arm. Like the forged aluminum control arms from an Altima.

 

[Jaxxa]

So, you don't need new axles pushing out the control arms 1.25"?... makes me wonder if you could go to a longer control arm. Like the forged aluminum control arms from an Altima.

Well, I double checked the maximum angles for the CVs before I decided to do this, and it seemed like it they could handle it. But as far as longevity, I have absolutely no idea. I did look at OE control arms from other vehicles, but without having one in my hand from like a junkyard or something it would be almost impossible to get those measurements.

 

[lne937s]

I wonder if anyone has access... Control arms seem to be a weak point on these cars.

 

[Jaxxa]

So I kept getting this really weird clunk from the coilovers going over some not very crazy bumps, and I finally figured out what it was (kind of obvious and stupid actually) The spring is too small, and it binds before it engages the bump stop in the shock.

Maybe that should have crossed my mind when they said the shock has 150mm of travel and they gave me a 200mm spring. I have no idea why Silvers decided to ship it configured like that, especially since the rear springs were 220mm and would have at least worked a little better.

Silver's has also told me that they don't make shocks with more than 150mm of travel, so I'm already doing research on whether I can modify their mounts to accept a Fox coilover so I can get 8" or 10" of travel, which on the surface isn't that complicated, but just really expensive.

So I just ordered 12" coil springs for the front, because why not. It's literally 12" of spring for like 6" of shock travel, but it's decent future-proofing.

And in other news I did some trimming and I went from like 70% of my steering to 90% of my steering which is good enough at this point to say f*ck it and start looking for 275/65 all terrain tires, because the Michelin's, while still decent tread are looking a little old and sun bleached. And because 32s on a Nissan Juke are better than 31s on a Nissan Juke.

 

[Nismo Offroad]

Just think of what you could do for tires with smaller rims!! I would be all over replacements for my current ones with larger tires...

 

[Nismo Offroad]

And you said you were only at 70% steering before? Omg the parking situations!

All I need to go taller is to start trimming my beautiful ground effects and go thinner tires. But not sure how bad I wanna do that

 

[Jaxxa]

And you said you were only at 70% steering before? Omg the parking situations!

All I need to go taller is to start trimming my beautiful ground effects and go thinner tires. But not sure how bad I wanna do that

Good to see you Nismo Offroad!
yes for about a week there, I had to three point turn and back into parking spaces, but I think that's half the fun of getting new tires. 18 inch rims are working pretty well because it gives me the most variety of "almost 33" sizes" I'm going to try moving to a 285/65 and live with that for a while before I decide whether to get new rims and go 305/60

I think you can do 275/60r15 that's a 28" and you might not even have to cut the fender liners for that. Jk, you might have to trim the side skirt a little bit, but I mean I made 29.5" work on the stock setup, so in my eyes 28" is a cakewalk!

 

[Nismo Offroad]

Nismos have a lot less clearance from bumper to sideskirt. Like literally 28” which mean no turning aloud. Remember mine stick out and wider means worse turning/rubbing. My next attempt will actually be more like 255/60r15 idk.

 

[Jaxxa]

Nismos have a lot less clearance from bumper to sideskirt. Like literally 28” which mean no turning aloud. Remember mine stick out and wider means worse turning/rubbing. My next attempt will actually be more like 255/60r15 idk.

Your rims are +21mm offset, mine were +47 -35mm spacer, making it effectively +12mm. So technically on center, your rims are about a centimeter less spaced than mine, so let's take my old wheels and add a centimeter in width to each side, that would take it to a little over 10" (extents if we shared the same +21 offset) the 275 is about 11", but even though it's a little less than half an inch more on each side, a 28x11 would still fit comfortably in the radius created by my 29.5x9.5 setup.

rough math, but yeah. I think anything over a 45 sidewall is supposed to be mounted to a rim that's around 75% of the section width, so even though 255 is about 10 inches, it may end up looking really stretched because your rims are so wide. Although 255/70r15 looks like the smallest widest size you can get an all terrain tire in! (but it's 29" lmao)

Tire math is all I'm good for at this point
yeah just trim the very edge of your side skirt and like half an inch off the leading edge of the bumper and front lip it'll be fine
#scumbagging real hard to get you to trim, lol

 

[Nismo Offroad]

I have found pictures of those size tires mounted on 10” wide rims. Not too bad but with my 295’s and the extra from mud flaps I currently rub a little at full lock front and back. One of the best results of my design I feel is the extra wide tires and I always get asked about them. So even though I would love to go taller. I’m not sure the sacrifice is worth it yet. Oh well keep pushing your limits and I can’t wait to see where it finally stops at.

Have I missed any action pics with the newest set of tires?