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Installing front lift - Shortcut?

DrinkBeer

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Minnesota
Well I have some 3" Rough Country lift coils on the way along with new shocks and a steering stabilizer. I've read that you need to disconnect a bunch of the front suspension compnents to get the coils in.

I was wondering instead of disconnecting anything, could I just jack up the front, put the side I'm working on a low jack stand, jack up the other side using my floorjack to compress the coil, use a spring compressor to get it off the rest of the way, and then put on the new coil. Then once the new ones on get the sides even again and throw on the shock. Why does everyone suggest disconnecting the control arms and track bar and all that stuff?
 
Usually because you are replacing those components, but the method you described works. Just be careful with them coils, like little bombs they are.
 
if you have aftermarket suspensions, its often easier to just disconnect stuff, and droop her out. if you have extended lower bumpstop bumps. or shorter brake lines you dont feel like disconnecting, a spring compressor helps that little extra bit. i dont like using the spring compressors more then a little bit.
 
I was able to put in the 4.5 springs without a compressor.. but I did disconnect the lower control arms at the frame end. (and track bar was off) I was able to even get them over the bump stop :)
 
its even easier with long arms. just support the frame rails on jack stands and lower the axle to the ground. in 5-10 minutes i can have both my coils out...
 
Are the coils attached to anything at the top? I know they have a little metal piece over them at the bottom. Is there anything stopping me from just unbolting the bottom piece, throwing on a spring compressor, compressing the spring and just pulling it right out, and then compressing the new one and putting it in?
 
Put the vehicle on stands by the cross member. Really get it up there.

Remove the DS from the axle side, the shocks (they tend to get in the way), the drag link, track bar, the sway bar, and your brake calipers (tie to frame with tie wraps). The front axle will droop to the point where the springs can be changed safely.

Just do it, don't ask why. Don't waste your time trying to find a short cut, that is the short cut. The upper spring towers are fairly deep and even with a spring compressor you will have difficulty getting them out if the suspension is not drooped.

If you play some game with trying to put one side of the axle on a stand and the other on a jack, you are going to F-up and end up wearing your Jeep. And I don't want to read about you in the funny papers.

Ron
 
I wouldn't pay for an alignment all they will do is set your toe and probably won't mess with the caster. Just do your own alignment with a tape and save yourself the 80 bucks.

http://jeep-xj.info/HowtoAlignment.htm


I tried this method, using the sidewalls of the tire, and it never got the alignment set right. I found that using a straight line on the tread gives a more accurate measurements cuz the sidewalls aren't exactly identical on both tires and can be uneven.

http://www.stu-offroad.com/steering/align/align-1.htm

To the OP:

Why would you want to skip disconnecting those parts to get the coils in? By not doing it, you make your job alot harder and force yourself to use coil spring compressors which takes quite some time to use if you don't have power tools. All you gotta do is disconnect the trackbar, sway bar links, steering at the passenger knuckle, and unbolt the calipers. It takes about 10-15 minutes to do that and you have plenty of droop to get the coils in and out. It'll take alot of time to compress one spring, remove it, compress another, install it, remove compressors, repeat, etc.
 
Well I have some 3" Rough Country lift coils on the way along with new shocks and a steering stabilizer. I've read that you need to disconnect a bunch of the front suspension compnents to get the coils in.

I was wondering instead of disconnecting anything, could I just jack up the front, put the side I'm working on a low jack stand, jack up the other side using my floorjack to compress the coil, use a spring compressor to get it off the rest of the way, and then put on the new coil. Then once the new ones on get the sides even again and throw on the shock. Why does everyone suggest disconnecting the control arms and track bar and all that stuff?
You could do it. I did it with OMEs that got me 3.5" of lift.

That being said, it was a major hassle. I jacked up one side to compress the other side, put the compressors on that coil, cranked them down even more, jacked up the side I was working on to loosen everything, put a jack between the axle and the frame and pushed the axle down, then wrestled the coil out. Remember that you'll have to use the compressors to compress the new coil because it won't be in the car yet. It was no fun at all to do that.

It took me about 4 hours and was quite frustrating. Unbolting and removing the lower control arms takes about half an hour max and would result in it being much easier... just make sure you have your stock jack and a few ratchet straps on hand for getting them realigned after so you can bolt them back in.

Don't tighten the control arm bolts down till it's at ride height or you'll put torque on the bushings and wear them out prematurely.

You'll want a 21mm box wrench and a 21mm socket + ratchet to get the LCAs off. Play your cards right and you can brace the box wrench against something and just go nuts with the ratchet.
 
Depending on the springs, it could be a piece of cake or a bear. Some lift springs are fairly soft, but quite a bit longer than stock and have a lot of compression at ride height. Others lift springs are about the same size as stock, but stiffer, so they compress less at ride height. The long soft ones are of course more challenging. I bought my 3" springs used, but I believe they are Pro-Comp. They were quite easy to install with the shocks unbolted, the brake line taken loose where it bolts to the uni-frame, and the bolt removed at the axle end of the track bar. It's a bit of a puzzle to figure out the easiest path in and out of the tower. Just be careful not to get carried away and hang it from the brake line. If you're not doing longer brake lines you probably want to take it loose from the frame and drill a new hole to bolt it to a little lower on the frame anyway. Just gently straighten out the existing bends a little..... Also, as long as your there it's the right time to address extending the bumpstops.
 
Put the vehicle on stands by the cross member. Really get it up there.

Remove the DS from the axle side, the shocks (they tend to get in the way), the drag link, track bar, the sway bar, and your brake calipers (tie to frame with tie wraps). The front axle will droop to the point where the springs can be changed safely.

Just do it, don't ask why. Don't waste your time trying to find a short cut, that is the short cut. The upper spring towers are fairly deep and even with a spring compressor you will have difficulty getting them out if the suspension is not drooped.

If you play some game with trying to put one side of the axle on a stand and the other on a jack, you are going to F-up and end up wearing your Jeep. And I don't want to read about you in the funny papers.

Ron

x2

its not really that difficult to unhook enough to drop your axle way down... i can completely remove my axle in 25 min or less... heck i have had my front end removed 4 times in the last week! take the time and do it right so noone dies
 
Oh yeah... another thing. Why do you need to take a shortcut? With your username, the longer you are working on the lift the more beer you end up drinking! I don't see a problem with it taking a long time to do the lift :dunno:
 
Just for future reference, I did it my way in post #1 and it tooks us 2 hours for the front drivers side. This was with dicking around the whole time, and testing out the spring compressor in about 15 different positions. I will time how long it takes us tomorrow, but it should take us under an hour from the time the front tire leaves the grounf to the time it's back down.

It was very easy. We did remove the lower sway bar link bolt (not the upper because the bushings are toast and dont have replacements). We didn't need to remove the calipers or anything else.
 
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