Well, I am tired. I'm sitting here drinking a cold Sierra Nevada (thanks Jerry) and eating a steak, celebrating completing my project.
In the days prior to the lift I had put out all of the tool and purchased everything I'd need (Loctite, anti-seize, brake fluid etc).
The order was:
Lift rear
Lift front
Speedbleeders
Rock rails
SYE
Drink beer
I started Thursday at 4PM, got the truck in the air and rear wheels off. Loosened the eye bolts, front and then rear (I'd PB Blaster'd the heck out of the bolts for the past month and everything came off without a hitch, DO NOT skip that step). Drop shocks, droop rear, pull u-bolts and leaves and then change the brake line.
First issue: Bolt that functions as a mount for the t-fitting and axle breather strips. Out comes the tap and die kit (get one, mine proved invaluable on this lift three times) and things are rethreaded.
Now I am covered in brake fluid, it is dark, I am not-so-happy and thinking about cracking a beer. With my buds help we get the thing up and in, bolts loctited and everything in place. Good. Beer is cracked and I am done for the night. Rubicon wheels and tires go on and we drive around the block in Starsky and Hutch mode, with the rear end up in the air. I like being a stupid old man.
Friday morning I get up, drink coffee and admire the yesterday's work. My truck looks stupid but I have an idea of what it will look like in the future. I return some work calls and emails and watch the clock. I don't want to upset the neighbors off too much with air tools before 10AM, so I patiently tap my foot and drink coffee.
10AM and BARRRRRRRRP goes the impact gun. The front is going stunningly well. I am just hammering along and have the entire thing torn down in an hour and a half. Good times...for now.
Let me tell you right now, I hate working on brakes. I've always hated it. Fittings always give me grief, the fluid gets everywhere and ruins crap, springs are a pain in the butt and I tend to cuss more then when breaking cement with a sledge.
So, I am buzzing along, making great time and thinking I'll be done by three and then it happens. As I am getting ready to change brake lines so that I can droop my axle and pull springs, I go to change my driver's side bleeder. It won't budge. I put a breaker bar on it. Nada, shoulders start to round. I get vice grips and a "custom" breaker. Nada. More roundy. There are pieces of bleeder shoulder flying in my eyes and that sucker won't move. Fark.
Out comes the EZ Out kit and that snaps inside the bleeder. Chit. An hour of fiddling goes by. Fark. I walk away after a few kind words (you farking piece of chit bastard cork stopper!) and have lunch. I am losing time on my ambitious project. Carp.
After lunch I decide that it is a lost cause and try the other side. No go. Both bleeders are frozen solid. I call my bro and it goes like this:
"Dude. Farking cork stopper bleeders are farking frozen in my calipers. This puts me up chit river without a farking paddle. Will you pick up some calipers for me around the corner from your work and drop them by here afterwards? I'll put them on my card and have the mother farkers at will call."
He agrees and saves my sanity.
I pull brake lines and swap them with '95 Wrangler lines, droop the axle, pursuade the spring, spacers and bumps in and loosely bolt it up. Next are BPE's and shocks, LCA and track...hold on, problem. My freaking trackbar came without the heim joint. I call DC at DC4WD (the BEST pricing I've found BY FAR on my lift and all other parts. He beat the usual suspects by HUNDREDS of dollars).
"DC, Grant in CA here. I think I have a problem. Okay, I am farked. Dude, no heimy for me."
He calls RE and it is on its' way for tomorrow (Monday). Meanwhile back at the side of the house, I am snugging up the bolts for springs, LCA's, shocks and back on a roll. Smooth.
I get the front end done and am waiting on my calipers. My bro drops by with my calipers and I attack them like a miner in a whorehouse. Bing, bang, bam and they have speedbleeders installed and are bolted up. I put in the lines, get covered in more brake fluid and keep up the pace. Bro is in the car pumping the brakes and I am using my new bleeders. One, two, three and four they bleed easily. I am happy, beer in hand. I put my foot on the brake...soft. Recheck work. Ah, fluid on ground means no beer for the worker.
Back under the truck, I rebleed the system. Tighten everything down and I am done for the night. A buddy shows up with girlfriend in tow and beer in hand. We crack a couple as he is fondling my jeep (he has a tricked out YJ and my bro has a tricked out CJ). We hop in the rig and take it around the block. Vibes, which I expected even though I shimmed.
We drink more beer and laugh at my brake issues, finally deciding to take it down to the local pizza place for grub. I am worked.
We are back at the house BOMBED (gf drove my jeep) and air tools come out. We are going to do my rock rails, drunk. Yeah, right. We drink once, cut twice and measure three times. After an hour of drunken madness I call foul. Hey bro's, this is my CLEAN truck we are hacking on, you bastiges! Instead, we head inside the house for more beer, jeep talk and trip planning.
Saturday morning: 5:30AM, my alarm is going off and I am well hung over. Coffee. People are sleeping in my guest rooms. I have to get out of here soon. I pack the truck and drive it up the hill for trail work (mtn bike trails for my club). After six hours on the trail I am worked. Beat down.
I hobble home and pull the truck on the side of the house again. Carp. I tinker. I lay on the gound a lot. I battle a rock rail into place and call it a night. My friends come over and cook me dinner, bring a movie or two and put me in bed by 9PM. I am done.
Sunday, I sleep in. Ah, relaxing. Beautiful day and my mind wanders to rides I should be on, but I need to finish.
First chore, the other rock rail. I get it up and in place and my bit is thrashed. Break out the grinder and sharpen. Back to cussin' and drillin'. I finally wrestle the rock rail in place and bolt it up. Done. Time for hack and tap.
In my drunken state a few nights previous, I've come up with an ingenious plan to keep my cut on my output shaft straight. A simlple PVC sleeve with a set screw. Easy peasy. I make that, get it the right length and put in a self tapping set screw. It works like magic, but my new grinder is a different story.
I test fit the SYE mount on the existing shaft, it fits great!
Up to this point, my air tools have been great. I've also purchased a new 20,000 RPM die grinder for this, but it outruns my compressor. Chit. Cutting the shaft takes over an hour. BAARRRRRRRRRP, then it slows down and I wait for the tank to fill. Repeat. Repeat again.
Time to drill. I am bushed. With the help of a bunch of cutting oil, I finally get it down to the right depth and use my new "tap and drill" technique, which basically consists of putting the tap into the drill motor and slowly tapping it out. Again, it works like magic.
Test fit the bolt. Perfect.
Back to the SYE mount. Chit, it won't go on. Grease and a liberal application of a 5lb rubber mallet seems to make it think that the shaft is a friend. Loctite the chit out of the bolt and wrench it down. Done.
Now onto the JKS Discos.
Holy smokes, these things are easy to set up. Pull out the angle finder, set the heigth and done. Test drive. Perfect.
The one thing I left out is that I put my old wheels and tires up on this site as a for-beer trade. A very cool dude named Jerry comes by and we chat up jeeps for a while. He has a clean XJ and we admire each other's rigs. He takes my old wheels and tires and I take his beer. Seems fair, right?
So now, as I spend the next hour cleaning up the tools and putting everything away, I have a cold Sierra Nevada to drink thanks to my new friend Jerry. The truck looks smokin' thanks to DC4WD, Rubicon Express and Kevin's Rock Sliderz.
Would I do it again? Yep, in a heart beat. Would I do the same parts and companies? Absolutely.
However, a couple of notes:
My RE 3.5 Superflex rides better than my stock suspension, even though it isn't aligned. This is my daily driver and that was very important to me.
RE's self tapping screw for the extended bump stops sucks rocks, but their customer service is great when I called them to find out the correct size to tap it. Buy a tap and die set and use that to thread the metal and then easily screw your bolt in. Also, their instructions are lacking but people on here helped me out with a "build plan" that was spot on, look it up and use it for your build. I taped mine to my side windows and referred to it often.
DC4WD (dc4wd.com) was excellent to work with. If you've never dealt with him before, I'd strongly suggest you give him a try. He was MUCH lower than everyone else I priced parts with an knows his stuff. He is a good guy to boot.
Kevin of Kevin's Offroad is excellent and so are his parts. You can tell by your correspondence with him that he cares about your satisfaction AND his rock rails are stout as heck. I've already used them as a jacking point for my truck and they just look good.
Awaiting the DS from AZ, have to install my trackbar (once the parts come) and align and that is that. Then it is on to installing the 4 skids I have laying around and the bumper that should be done around the first of December.
Then battery relocation, cop car voltage monitor, wiring my aux fusebox, OBA and tank, stereo....
Jeez, what did I get myself into?
---------------------------------------
Now I have to look cool: Black '99 XJ sport, Rubi wheels and Goodyear MTR sneeks in a size 31, 4.0 HO with K&N FIPK and 2.5" to the rear with Flowmaster 40. RE 3.5 Superflex with full packs and a .75" spacer in the front, JKS discos, hack and tap with Woods driveshaft, Christmas tree air freshener, AM/FM cassette stereo that plainly blows, the last living Stealthbox in my garage for a future upgrade, stock gas tank skid, tc skid and front skid, engine and trans skid thanks to Johnny, Kevinz Rock Railz that look killerz, coffee stains on the carpet but Husky linerz on the way, limo tint on the back windows, Thule and Yakima combo bike rack, new wiper blades and oil change, beer thanks to Jerry and a bad case of crabs thanks to that chick I met last week.
In the days prior to the lift I had put out all of the tool and purchased everything I'd need (Loctite, anti-seize, brake fluid etc).
The order was:
Lift rear
Lift front
Speedbleeders
Rock rails
SYE
Drink beer
I started Thursday at 4PM, got the truck in the air and rear wheels off. Loosened the eye bolts, front and then rear (I'd PB Blaster'd the heck out of the bolts for the past month and everything came off without a hitch, DO NOT skip that step). Drop shocks, droop rear, pull u-bolts and leaves and then change the brake line.
First issue: Bolt that functions as a mount for the t-fitting and axle breather strips. Out comes the tap and die kit (get one, mine proved invaluable on this lift three times) and things are rethreaded.
Now I am covered in brake fluid, it is dark, I am not-so-happy and thinking about cracking a beer. With my buds help we get the thing up and in, bolts loctited and everything in place. Good. Beer is cracked and I am done for the night. Rubicon wheels and tires go on and we drive around the block in Starsky and Hutch mode, with the rear end up in the air. I like being a stupid old man.
Friday morning I get up, drink coffee and admire the yesterday's work. My truck looks stupid but I have an idea of what it will look like in the future. I return some work calls and emails and watch the clock. I don't want to upset the neighbors off too much with air tools before 10AM, so I patiently tap my foot and drink coffee.
10AM and BARRRRRRRRP goes the impact gun. The front is going stunningly well. I am just hammering along and have the entire thing torn down in an hour and a half. Good times...for now.
Let me tell you right now, I hate working on brakes. I've always hated it. Fittings always give me grief, the fluid gets everywhere and ruins crap, springs are a pain in the butt and I tend to cuss more then when breaking cement with a sledge.
So, I am buzzing along, making great time and thinking I'll be done by three and then it happens. As I am getting ready to change brake lines so that I can droop my axle and pull springs, I go to change my driver's side bleeder. It won't budge. I put a breaker bar on it. Nada, shoulders start to round. I get vice grips and a "custom" breaker. Nada. More roundy. There are pieces of bleeder shoulder flying in my eyes and that sucker won't move. Fark.
Out comes the EZ Out kit and that snaps inside the bleeder. Chit. An hour of fiddling goes by. Fark. I walk away after a few kind words (you farking piece of chit bastard cork stopper!) and have lunch. I am losing time on my ambitious project. Carp.
After lunch I decide that it is a lost cause and try the other side. No go. Both bleeders are frozen solid. I call my bro and it goes like this:
"Dude. Farking cork stopper bleeders are farking frozen in my calipers. This puts me up chit river without a farking paddle. Will you pick up some calipers for me around the corner from your work and drop them by here afterwards? I'll put them on my card and have the mother farkers at will call."
He agrees and saves my sanity.
I pull brake lines and swap them with '95 Wrangler lines, droop the axle, pursuade the spring, spacers and bumps in and loosely bolt it up. Next are BPE's and shocks, LCA and track...hold on, problem. My freaking trackbar came without the heim joint. I call DC at DC4WD (the BEST pricing I've found BY FAR on my lift and all other parts. He beat the usual suspects by HUNDREDS of dollars).
"DC, Grant in CA here. I think I have a problem. Okay, I am farked. Dude, no heimy for me."
He calls RE and it is on its' way for tomorrow (Monday). Meanwhile back at the side of the house, I am snugging up the bolts for springs, LCA's, shocks and back on a roll. Smooth.
I get the front end done and am waiting on my calipers. My bro drops by with my calipers and I attack them like a miner in a whorehouse. Bing, bang, bam and they have speedbleeders installed and are bolted up. I put in the lines, get covered in more brake fluid and keep up the pace. Bro is in the car pumping the brakes and I am using my new bleeders. One, two, three and four they bleed easily. I am happy, beer in hand. I put my foot on the brake...soft. Recheck work. Ah, fluid on ground means no beer for the worker.
Back under the truck, I rebleed the system. Tighten everything down and I am done for the night. A buddy shows up with girlfriend in tow and beer in hand. We crack a couple as he is fondling my jeep (he has a tricked out YJ and my bro has a tricked out CJ). We hop in the rig and take it around the block. Vibes, which I expected even though I shimmed.
We drink more beer and laugh at my brake issues, finally deciding to take it down to the local pizza place for grub. I am worked.
We are back at the house BOMBED (gf drove my jeep) and air tools come out. We are going to do my rock rails, drunk. Yeah, right. We drink once, cut twice and measure three times. After an hour of drunken madness I call foul. Hey bro's, this is my CLEAN truck we are hacking on, you bastiges! Instead, we head inside the house for more beer, jeep talk and trip planning.
Saturday morning: 5:30AM, my alarm is going off and I am well hung over. Coffee. People are sleeping in my guest rooms. I have to get out of here soon. I pack the truck and drive it up the hill for trail work (mtn bike trails for my club). After six hours on the trail I am worked. Beat down.
I hobble home and pull the truck on the side of the house again. Carp. I tinker. I lay on the gound a lot. I battle a rock rail into place and call it a night. My friends come over and cook me dinner, bring a movie or two and put me in bed by 9PM. I am done.
Sunday, I sleep in. Ah, relaxing. Beautiful day and my mind wanders to rides I should be on, but I need to finish.
First chore, the other rock rail. I get it up and in place and my bit is thrashed. Break out the grinder and sharpen. Back to cussin' and drillin'. I finally wrestle the rock rail in place and bolt it up. Done. Time for hack and tap.
In my drunken state a few nights previous, I've come up with an ingenious plan to keep my cut on my output shaft straight. A simlple PVC sleeve with a set screw. Easy peasy. I make that, get it the right length and put in a self tapping set screw. It works like magic, but my new grinder is a different story.
I test fit the SYE mount on the existing shaft, it fits great!
Up to this point, my air tools have been great. I've also purchased a new 20,000 RPM die grinder for this, but it outruns my compressor. Chit. Cutting the shaft takes over an hour. BAARRRRRRRRRP, then it slows down and I wait for the tank to fill. Repeat. Repeat again.
Time to drill. I am bushed. With the help of a bunch of cutting oil, I finally get it down to the right depth and use my new "tap and drill" technique, which basically consists of putting the tap into the drill motor and slowly tapping it out. Again, it works like magic.
Test fit the bolt. Perfect.
Back to the SYE mount. Chit, it won't go on. Grease and a liberal application of a 5lb rubber mallet seems to make it think that the shaft is a friend. Loctite the chit out of the bolt and wrench it down. Done.
Now onto the JKS Discos.
Holy smokes, these things are easy to set up. Pull out the angle finder, set the heigth and done. Test drive. Perfect.
The one thing I left out is that I put my old wheels and tires up on this site as a for-beer trade. A very cool dude named Jerry comes by and we chat up jeeps for a while. He has a clean XJ and we admire each other's rigs. He takes my old wheels and tires and I take his beer. Seems fair, right?
So now, as I spend the next hour cleaning up the tools and putting everything away, I have a cold Sierra Nevada to drink thanks to my new friend Jerry. The truck looks smokin' thanks to DC4WD, Rubicon Express and Kevin's Rock Sliderz.
Would I do it again? Yep, in a heart beat. Would I do the same parts and companies? Absolutely.
However, a couple of notes:
My RE 3.5 Superflex rides better than my stock suspension, even though it isn't aligned. This is my daily driver and that was very important to me.
RE's self tapping screw for the extended bump stops sucks rocks, but their customer service is great when I called them to find out the correct size to tap it. Buy a tap and die set and use that to thread the metal and then easily screw your bolt in. Also, their instructions are lacking but people on here helped me out with a "build plan" that was spot on, look it up and use it for your build. I taped mine to my side windows and referred to it often.
DC4WD (dc4wd.com) was excellent to work with. If you've never dealt with him before, I'd strongly suggest you give him a try. He was MUCH lower than everyone else I priced parts with an knows his stuff. He is a good guy to boot.
Kevin of Kevin's Offroad is excellent and so are his parts. You can tell by your correspondence with him that he cares about your satisfaction AND his rock rails are stout as heck. I've already used them as a jacking point for my truck and they just look good.
Awaiting the DS from AZ, have to install my trackbar (once the parts come) and align and that is that. Then it is on to installing the 4 skids I have laying around and the bumper that should be done around the first of December.
Then battery relocation, cop car voltage monitor, wiring my aux fusebox, OBA and tank, stereo....
Jeez, what did I get myself into?
---------------------------------------
Now I have to look cool: Black '99 XJ sport, Rubi wheels and Goodyear MTR sneeks in a size 31, 4.0 HO with K&N FIPK and 2.5" to the rear with Flowmaster 40. RE 3.5 Superflex with full packs and a .75" spacer in the front, JKS discos, hack and tap with Woods driveshaft, Christmas tree air freshener, AM/FM cassette stereo that plainly blows, the last living Stealthbox in my garage for a future upgrade, stock gas tank skid, tc skid and front skid, engine and trans skid thanks to Johnny, Kevinz Rock Railz that look killerz, coffee stains on the carpet but Husky linerz on the way, limo tint on the back windows, Thule and Yakima combo bike rack, new wiper blades and oil change, beer thanks to Jerry and a bad case of crabs thanks to that chick I met last week.
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