I forgot to mention in the last post, I am headed to the "Rubicon Trail" in two weeks. I actually feel pretty good about my progress and schedule. I have two weeks and all this weekend to play in the garage. Before most trips I have the wheels off Jeep the axles out and all parts scattered all around the night before.
But for this trip, I am doing the upgrades in small steps. I could just put the new springs in and go. All I would need is to just change the front pinion angle with the existing arms. But I want more long arms here I come.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
My new Jeep TJ suspension and Lift kit.
Yup, Once again I find myself in way over my head. I have a low, flat, squished Jeep with crappy squashed springs, and a mix of control arms that are loose and not adjustable. So I am going to fix it. Here are the steps I have taken so far to upgrade the lift.
Step 1) 650+ bucks at Tera-Flex for a belly up skid plate and the brackets for the Tera-Flex long arm kit. I shall be building my own arms outta some really expensive DOM tube and Johny Joints, and old RE control arms.
Step 2) A 6 mintue job, take off the 6 bolts holding the stock belly pan, and the 4 little nuts holding the transfer case. This simple job turns into at least 6-10 hours. The front two bolts, spin inside the frame. I spent hours cutting all nice with 6 sawzall blades, the next side wasn't so lucky the Plamsa cutter was call into action. So now the plate is off, I built 2 new nuts, welded to washers, plasma cut a big hole in the frame and welded these back in. Did I ever tell you how much I hate welding and cutting upside down under a jeep on my back. I told Brett I am sure of this.
Step 3) Put on new brackets, and skid plate. This was easy enough, then the next day I lined it all up and welded the long arm brackets in place.
Step 4) New springs. I collected a couple of sets of hand me down springs and attacked the front. I got the old springs out Tera 4 inch, and compared them to the RE 4.5 and the Other RE 4.5 I wanted to put in. Something didn't mix, I had two different 4.5 inch spring one set being at least 2 inches longer than the Tera 4 inch and 1.5 in longer than the other RE 4.5. I oped for the Taller spring and spent the last two night installing them. I should have bought new springs all around but, I am outta cash.
Step 5) Drive Jeep to work tis AM. WHOOO!!!, Death wobble, Serious passenger lean. The thing was leaning low on the passenger side, but these new front springs made it way worse. I will be putting on new rear springs this week and hopefully I will get the jeep to stop listing to the starboard side.
Step 6) Enjoy the death wobble. Yup got the front end pinion pointing way down and the front wheels did not want me to get on the freeway. Nope no way, keep her under 40.
Step 7) New rear springs. Gotta see how the set I have lines up vs. the old ones I will be taking out. This will consume the rest of this weeks nights.
Step 8) Build my new control Arms, cut of factory mounts and see what happens.
Step 9) Maybe replace the front track bar. With the extra lift I think the axle it not aligned correctly.
Step 10) Go on the Rubicon Trail. 16 Days and counting them down.
Step 1) 650+ bucks at Tera-Flex for a belly up skid plate and the brackets for the Tera-Flex long arm kit. I shall be building my own arms outta some really expensive DOM tube and Johny Joints, and old RE control arms.
Step 2) A 6 mintue job, take off the 6 bolts holding the stock belly pan, and the 4 little nuts holding the transfer case. This simple job turns into at least 6-10 hours. The front two bolts, spin inside the frame. I spent hours cutting all nice with 6 sawzall blades, the next side wasn't so lucky the Plamsa cutter was call into action. So now the plate is off, I built 2 new nuts, welded to washers, plasma cut a big hole in the frame and welded these back in. Did I ever tell you how much I hate welding and cutting upside down under a jeep on my back. I told Brett I am sure of this.
Step 3) Put on new brackets, and skid plate. This was easy enough, then the next day I lined it all up and welded the long arm brackets in place.
Step 4) New springs. I collected a couple of sets of hand me down springs and attacked the front. I got the old springs out Tera 4 inch, and compared them to the RE 4.5 and the Other RE 4.5 I wanted to put in. Something didn't mix, I had two different 4.5 inch spring one set being at least 2 inches longer than the Tera 4 inch and 1.5 in longer than the other RE 4.5. I oped for the Taller spring and spent the last two night installing them. I should have bought new springs all around but, I am outta cash.
Step 5) Drive Jeep to work tis AM. WHOOO!!!, Death wobble, Serious passenger lean. The thing was leaning low on the passenger side, but these new front springs made it way worse. I will be putting on new rear springs this week and hopefully I will get the jeep to stop listing to the starboard side.
Step 6) Enjoy the death wobble. Yup got the front end pinion pointing way down and the front wheels did not want me to get on the freeway. Nope no way, keep her under 40.
Step 7) New rear springs. Gotta see how the set I have lines up vs. the old ones I will be taking out. This will consume the rest of this weeks nights.
Step 8) Build my new control Arms, cut of factory mounts and see what happens.
Step 9) Maybe replace the front track bar. With the extra lift I think the axle it not aligned correctly.
Step 10) Go on the Rubicon Trail. 16 Days and counting them down.
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