Lift Installation PROBLEMS

[Cherokeekid88]

ok got a rustys 2" lift and we got the springs out and the bumpstops off, now we need to get the spacer in and the spring back in, but thats the problem, we cant get this srping back into where its supposed to go with the spacer in place. we rented a spring compressor from autozone, but we can only compress one side and still be able to get the compressor back out of the spring. so what the hell do we do, one guy suggested that we unbolten the lower control arms, how much of a pain are those to get back together? who ever said putting a budget boost on was easy, needs to come over to my house and do this for me, because wit the help of 4 other people, this thing is not working, so any help would be greatly appreciated. thanks

[JonsXjProjekt]

unblolt the control arms... and you have to work the jack around the axle when working on the right side.. jack up left side of axle vice versa.... only takes a few mins to unbolt LCA's

[westsacxj]

try to have a buddy put all his weight on the side your workin on. that should get it down pretty low. if not unbolt the control arms. just remember to keep an eye on the brake lines.

[homebrew]

It was a pain in the arse to reallign my control arms when I undid mine. I had to use a jack to push the rightside forward. I think maybe disconnecting the control arms as well as the trac bar would help.

[Tre]

definitly unhook the trac bar.

i also undid my lca's

[old_man]

My technique is to remove the shock and sway bar first. Then take the XJ jack, invert it and place it to push down from the "frame" to the axle. You then jack the axle down, giving you tons of room and a quick insertion of the spring. It works like a champ. I now use a porta-power instead of the jack, but the technique is the same.

[BrazosRiver_XJ]

un bolt the track bar and shocks. then put the spring in place (as far in as you can) and use a big dang pry bar the pop the bottom of the spring over the botton spring seat. Very quick and easy. We do the all that way at our shop.

[Cherokeekid88]

ok WE FINALLY! got the spacers and the springs back in. we ended up having to unbolt the lower control arms, but that wasnt bad at all, but now weve got one more prob. when we were taking off the bolts for the sway bar, one of the bolts ont he passengers side broke off with some thread still in it, and the bolt is messed up kinda bad, not totally, but was wondering what we need to do about that? can we hook up the drivers side of the sway and leave the other side not connected or what? cuz we dont have another bolt that size and we dont know when we can get one and if it will even thread back onto the bolt

[BrazosRiver_XJ]

grind the broke off one flat, drill out and tap to a larger size.

[Cherokeekid88]

ok what if we dont have the tools to do that, what im asking really is , would it be a big prob, if i had the drivers side sway bar connected but the passenger side one wanst bolted on? cuz the bolt is done.

[90Pioneer]

Probably cost you $30 to have a shop fix it.

[Cherokeekid88]

ok well we got the front done, so im happy. so tomorrow we are gonna go for the rear, so is the rear easier than the front, because i hope it is, that front was a bitch.

[stupidfast]

forget the sway bar. if your doing a budget booster then yout looking for only more flex and more clearance for bigger tires. leaving out the sway bar will let your front end flex more, and becasue you didnt lift it very high, it will still handle well on road. if you dont remove the sway bar all together now, then you will end up doing it later when you go bigger. so just remove it now and get it over with. and yes the rear is easyer. but start soaking the bolts now in wd40. go, right now, even if you already are doing it. it needs more for over night. then do it again before you go to bed

[BRIANHO13]

forget the sway bar. if your doing a budjet booster then yout looking for only more flex and more clearance for bigger tires. leaving out the sway bar will let your front end flex more, and becasue you didnt lift it very high, it will still handle well on road. if you dont remove the sway bar all together now, then you will end up doing it later when you go bigger. so just remove it now and get it over with.

bad advice
Use disconnects.

[stupidfast]

not that bad of advice... belive me.. you will eventualy take them off

[old_man]

stupid fast, you are really living up to your name. Driving without a front sway bar is asking for trouble. All is fine until you have to do a panic manuver, then you end up rolling.

Never drive on the road without a sway bar. Offroad is a different matter.

[Cherokeekid88]

ok well this is what i need to know.... i have the drivers side sway bar connected and the passenger side is NOT connected, because of the broken thread on the thing that connects to the sway bar. now we have the sway bar on that thing with the bushing ontop of it, it just doesnt have a bolt on it. so i just need to know how bad it will be to ride on just the drivers side sway bar connected.

[Vlad]

Get disconnects, one of my end links was broken when I got my xj, after I put my lift on I got a set of disconnects. I could not believe how much better my xj handled with the sway bar connected. I never realized that pitching and rolling when turning wasn't the way it was supposed to be. Also, having only one side connected is no better than not having it connected at all. Wing nuts on top of the end links makes a cheap disconnect if you only have two inches of lift.

[BRIANHO13]

not that bad of advice... belive me.. you will eventualy take them off
True mine is gone, but....I trailer mine to the trail.

[stupidfast]

Never drive on the road without a sway bar. Offroad is a different matter.

alright ill take your word for it then. im still getting introduced to more things in this sport, i must just be getting mixed info

[Cherokeekid88]

ok so how much does a set of sway bar discos cost?

[XJSTANG]

JKS discos are about $120 which are the best. There are others for cheaper, but they are harder to reconnect. I believe that my old ones were Skyjacker ($80), but they were too much of a PITA to reconnect by yourself so I upgraded.

[xjj33p3r]

not that bad of advice... belive me.. you will eventualy take them off
x2

[ILLXJ]

ok so how much does a set of sway bar discos cost?
Just go to the JY & get another link. They might even give it to ya. JIM.

[yardape]

My endlink broke the same way yours did. I went the JKS Disco route which is a direct bolt in and EASY. If cash is a concern you can get a new endlink at the dealer probably for not too much or go to the junkyard. In either case DO NOT drive with your anti-sway bar disconnected. Your Jeep will feel the same until you get yourself into a situation where you have to do a quick emergency maneuver. At that point you will be jeopardizing the safety of yourself and others.

I'm a believer in anti-sway bars and in fact did an upgrade on my ZJ which now hugs the road. Having done the upgrade, the stock bars I believe are just adequate. Good Luck.

[black93xj]

You can buy those links for $21.00 or so new. You don't have to buy disconects if your budget is tight. I did my 2 inch BB without unhooking the track bar or the lowercontrol arms. The Spring compressors i used you could put two of them on. The trick is take off both shocks and unhook one swaybar link. Put a jack under one side of the axle and jack it up so the jeep is almost leaving the jackstands. Now put on your spring compessors and tighten snug. Relase the jack and the spring should come out. To get all of the way out and in use a flat pry bar like mentioned earlier. The front took mabie a afternoon. Our jeeps have great articulation use it to your benifit.

[Cherokeekid88]

ok we got the front and everything done, and now we are working on the rear, and we are running into some problems again. we are unbolting the shocks from the bottom and they will not slide off... do you have to unbolt them from the top as well? not using new shocks just trying to drop the axle. the rustys instructions arent helping at all, and all my buddies are gettin pissed, so i dont want nothing else broken. we just need to get those damn shocks off, and get that axle lowered and get the new leaf in.

[BRIANHO13]

ok we got the front and everything done, and now we are working on the rear, and we are running into some problems again. we are unbolting the shocks from the bottom and they will not slide off... do you have to unbolt them from the top as well? not using new shocks just trying to drop the axle. the rustys instructions arent helping at all, and all my buddies are gettin pissed, so i dont want nothing else broken. we just need to get those damn shocks off, and get that axle lowered and get the new leaf in.

if you got the nut off, use a crow bar and they will slide off. no need to remoe the top.

[Tre]

ya chances are if you remove the top nutts you'll end up snapping 3 out of the 4.

it happened to me when i did my lift.

[Superhonky74]

You took the words from my mouth. I was going to recommend an inexpensive pair of disconnects.

[Cherokeekid88]

FINALLY DONE! WOOOOPEEEE!!! got everything together, bolted it all back up and looking good. as far as the sway bar links go... i went up to napa and just got a new kit for 50 bucks, so ill be installing that tomorrow morning, so hopefully ill have it looking good for christmas, just want to thank everyone who helped me out, and gave me the info i needed to get this PITA done, but in the end it was all worth the cussing, and breaking, and throwing, and bleeding, because now i have a bad ass looking jeep that im proud of. so thanks to everyone.

[Vlad]

If you disconnect your track bar when doing the front, disconnect your shocks, and sway bar, your springs will almost fall out. The trick is when you go to reconnect the track bar you have to let the jeep back down on the ground and have someone slowly turn the wheel until the holes line up. That is the easiest way I have found. Last puck lift I did was on a TJ and it took two of us about 2.5 hrs. to do the whole thing.

[zfinger]

I used a 1" peice of pipe, slid it under the spring and over the perch, pryed it up as far as I could, and kicked it down the pipe and into place. It flew out a few times but it really does work!