RE 3.5 Super-Flex install

Just finished installing the RE 6030 kit in my 2000 XJ. I spent the week before spraying PB Blaster on everything in sight once a day. I worked 5 hours Thursday, 10 hours Friday, 8 hours Sat and a few Sunday. I still need to bleed the rear brakes and torque the springs and lower control arms to spec.
True to what everybody said, the rear shock bolts snapped despite the PB Blaster. All 4 had to be replaced, but they are pretty easy to fish in after using my air chisel to knock out the old weld nuts. I just used a long box end wrench with either grease or duct tape to hold the new nut in place while I started the bolt. I replaced them with 3/8" grade 8 hardware.
The front track bar attatchment bolt at the axle end snapped also. It was a real pain to get out! I had to bend the mount out a little so I could get the blade from my SawZall in there to cut it off and then it took some time to fish the "flag nut" out of the mount. I replaced that with grade 8 hardware as well.
The other problem I had was with one of the rear springs forward eye bolts. I got it loose from the frame weld nut, but it welded itself to the bushing inside the rubber and would not come loose. As I turned it, it just turned the whole bushing. I finally just cut it off and orderd all 4 new spring bolts from the dealer.
I used Anti-Sieze on EVERYTHING!! I wish the factory had done that! Of course, I am working on a North East Ohio vehicle. A clean one, but from the "Rust Belt" none the less.
The new tires, General AT2 265/70R 16s are due in this week, and the alignment will be done then as well.
I measured before and after and the front was 30.75 and rear 30" before and now it sits at 34.5 front and 35.5 rear. I hope it will settle some!! I was afraid it would not fit out the garage door, but it will.
I ordered my RE kit through Red Rock 4x4 in Utah. Jason gave me great service, advise, and was very friendly to work with. His kit included free DT3000 shocks. I also sprung for adjustable track bar and adjustable lower control arms. The kit comes with the Gen 2 swaybar disconnects which look really good and were pretty easy to install.
I am pleased with the way this all went together, and the "Millenium Falcon" looks really good with a little air under it. Now you can see the Tomken gas tank skid and the Warn transfer case skid plate. The AJ's Armor Rocker Skids are up high enough to keep people from dinging my doors now too! I put 2.5* shims in the rear springs to tilt the pinion up a little, but am holding off on the transfer case drop kit until I see how it goes. I sure appreciated all the advise I found on the site and tried to follow it all. The most important piece of information was "You will be challenged". I did the entire installation by myself with the exception of a little help from my brother installing the rear springs. As a @50 year old, I am a little sore, but happy!
I will let you know how it drives, rides, and handles, and hopefully post some before and after pictures.

2000 XJ, 4 door, RE 6030 3.5 SuperFlex w/ adjustable track bar and adjustable lower arms, DT 3000 shocks, Warn T-case skid, Tomken gas tank skid, Rustys K&N filter tube kit, Jeeper's Creeper's Battery cable update kit, Mean Green hitch, tow hooks, CB, General AT2 265/70R 16s. Member of SUV4Adventure club of EC4WDA.

It's posts like this one that make me happy that I'm not doing my install.

I've got the same kit enroute as I type, and I'm hoping that it'll be here by Friday, but I figure it'll be more like Monday. The real plus is that a local shop experienced in 4X4 lifts and race car chassis is going to do the entire install for $200! Hey, for that price they can have all the agony. :firedevil

It sounds like you've got a great set-up. I'll probably end up doing an SYE on mine. I called Tom Wood's shop tonight for advice, and was told that I probably wouldn't have to shim the rear axle until I install the SYE. I'm also going to try to squeeze 32's on it.

M4Madness said:

It's posts like this one that make me happy that I'm not doing my install.

I've got the same kit enroute as I type, and I'm hoping that it'll be here by Friday, but I figure it'll be more like Monday. The real plus is that a local shop experienced in 4X4 lifts and race car chassis is going to do the entire install for $200! Hey, for that price they can have all the agony. :firedevil

It sounds like you've got a great set-up. I'll probably end up doing an SYE on mine. I called Tom Wood's shop tonight for advice, and was told that I probably wouldn't have to shim the rear axle until I install the SYE. I'm also going to try to squeeze 32's on it.

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There's no better way to get to know your jeep than install your first lift... But that's a good price on the install.

uncc civilengineer said:

There's no better way to get to know your jeep than install your first lift... But that's a good price on the install.

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Yeah. I just don't have the time or space right now to do it myself. I only have a one-car attached garage and don't have access to near the equipment that the shop does. Granted, if the install was going to be expensive, you can bet I'd work out a way to do it myself. But for that price, they can have it. I'd say that a majority of lifted vehicles in my town were done by either this shop or one other, so they come highly recommended.

I admire pleembob, as it sounds like he's got a lot more patience than I do.

yea nothing like doing a lift kit yourself, lol
i got my lift kit and stuff for my jeep when i got a vehicle inspection.. mainly cause my leafs were crap, had holes in the floors so i pretty much tore everything out of my jeep, all the interior, brake lines, axels...everything... and replaced it all or made the stuff i couldnt buy..

owning a 90 cherokee that by the looks of it has never been touched by a mechanic was quite fun to tear into, i had set aside a month to do everything.. after it was done, which i managed to finish in less than a month... i was around $4000.00 into my jeep...

Im about to order that kit from Red Rock. Did you have any problems with them
i havent heard anything good or bad about thier service
Thanks

funny thing..buddy of mine has a 91 cherokee with a 4.5" r.e lift kit and i have the 3.5 kit and mine sits higher than his, and his has 32`s on it and mine has 31`s lol


a little tip for you if you want order it without the shocks and then once your done the lift flex it right out on the front and rear and then order custom made shocks that way you can really flex it out really well.. thats what i did and i love it..

These posts always make me feel better about living in Ca. I had no problems with siezed parts when doing my lift

Yeah, Lucky you, no rust!! Oh well, we just have to deal with it. Ohio is not likely to fall in to the ocean any time soon though!! Ha!
My experience with Red Rock was great. Shipping was direct from the RE warehouse to me and took @ 1 wk even though it was the holidays. Jason Shields at Red Rock was prompt and helpful in his E-mail response and I highly recommend them as my experience was great! I would not hesitate to do buisiness again.

tnanks pleembob im going to order the lift this week

thats funny, my brother and i had no issues w/ the rear shock stuff. everything came out easily.......but then again we were also using air tools

In my experience, air tools do not help if things are rusted and going to break. Heat does sometimes. I used air tools as well. I am glad your install went well though.
I bled the brakes and finished tightening/torquing everything last night and took it out for a drive. It rides like a truck! No more SUV for me! There was a lot of vibration on accelleration and I had installed the 2.5* shim to raise the pinion. I took the shims out and tried again. Still lots of vibes. I put them back in with the thick part forward to drop the pinion and things got slightly better. I think that the lift is so much taller than I anticipated it would be that the transfer case drop will be a necessity. The general concensus seemed to be that 3.5" lifts might not need the drop or SYE. I will try that tonight if I get home soon enough. An SYE and drive shaft are out of the question financially right now. I put 200# of weight in the back to help settle and break in the springs. It still needs the new tires and alignment which I hope will be done this week.
If anybody has experience with this particular lift and the vibration problem, I would appreciate your thoughts. For example - how high is yours? what shims did you use? T/c drop? etc.
Still smiling!!

i have the 3.5" superflex lift and i had alot of vibration on acceleration, mostly in 4th gear though.. what i did instead of the sye is i got the t-case drop and the longer slipyoke, and i dont have anymore vibration.. the t-case drop from rubicon was only 30 bucks and i think the longer slipyoke was 50 bucks..or around there, what you can also do is use a front driveshaft on the back with the new slipyoke...


hope this helps..

Thanks, I have the transfer case drop kit from RE already so I will put that on this weekend. I am dropping it off tonight for tires and alignment to be done tomorrow. Are you using any shims at all? I will have to look at the longer yoke. Can't wait to sort it all out so I can try it off road!!

yea im using the shims that came with the lift kit, i also put in all new u-joints while i had the driveshaft out...

Well, the new General AT2 265/70R17s are on and the alignment is done. Much of the vibration went away with just that much. There was still some under acceleration from about 20mph to 40mph. Today I put in the transfer case drop! What a job. This should be a really simple job and could have been. According to the service manual, some XJ's have 2 bolts on each side of the crossmember and some have one stud and nut and one bolt on each side. I had the stud/nut combo. This required removal of the stud. I tried double nutting it, but no go. I finally called a friend and he had a set of socket type tools that are specifically for removing studs. I went to get them and he also loaned me a set of torches. I Need A Set of Torches!!!! Anyway, with the "hot wrench" and the tool, and some really hard work with vice grips, I got them out. I, again, used lots of Never Seize and put it back together along with adding the spacer that comes with the Warn T/C skid. After putting it all back together, I took it for a test ride.. NO MORE VIBES!!
It still has a bit of a wander in the steering. I will have to re-tighten everything this coming week after a few miles. I am running around with 280# of weight in the back. That helps in the snow we are having here in NE Ohio as well. The Generals are wonderful in the snow! The Jeep looks awsome. The tires fit well, it sits 6" higher than stock, and the tires are covered by but completely fill the wheelwells.
I don't know how to add pictures to this thread. If someone can tell me how to do that, I will put some on. Do I need to have a host server for the pictures? If so, where do you guys host yours for free? Let me know how.

pleembob said:

I don't know how to add pictures to this thread. If someone can tell me how to do that, I will put some on. Do I need to have a host server for the pictures? If so, where do you guys host yours for free? Let me know how.

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I use http://www.hunt101.com to host my photos for free. Just upload the photo to that site after signing up, click on the thumbnail of the photo to make it full size, then copy the address of the photo. Then come here to the forum and click the little picture icon (looks like mountains and sun) above the text box for new replies and paste the address there. Hope this helps.

Thanks for the topic, this was one of the threads I in the past couple weeks getting ready for my lift install.

I just finished installing a 3.5" Super-ride kit in my 2001 XJ, plus the Gen2 discos. currently sitting at 5" in the back, and 4.25" inches in the front (measured hub to bottom of flare for comparison with stock specs). the leafs and new, the coils are used. yikes. test drove it, had vibes, installed 1" tcase drop, vibes decreased. I think some of the vibes may be from the front driveshaft, all of the ujoints are new, plus a new ball in the cv joint, but I dunno. I'll pull the shaft tomorrow and see if it rides any better. Might be better if I had used shims to aim the pinion?

my rear upper shock bolts also snapped. cut access holes in the floor, drilled them out, and put in new bolts and nuts.

to do the t-case drop, used vise grips to grab the stud bolt and smacked it with a hammer to break it loose (it's threaded all the way up, just turn it left like you would any other bolt), and just kept turning until it came out. didn't have to use heat, but it probably would have made it easier.

one of the bolts through the leaf eye/shackle seized to the metal bushing, and wouldn't come out. since I wanted to reuse the stock shackle, we had to cut the bolt. PB Blaster was able to keep most things from breaking, but ended up breaking a bolt on the swaybar links, but I had discos ready to go, so it wasn't a big deal. oh, and air tools rock!

I didn't drill a new trackbar mount, as I decided to order an adjustable trackbar.

even with the stock tires currently under it (fedex has my bighorns), it looks awesome.

Here is the first picture of my Jeep after the lift was completed.



This is my first attempt at linking to a picture. I hope it works. The weather has been so bad here in Ohio that the Jeep has been too dirty and it has been too cold to take any outside pictures. I will get some as soon as I can.

Here are a couple more,

AJ's rails,

front suspension,

etc.


2000 XJ, 4.0 HO, AX5, 231, 8.25 rear, RE 3.5" Super Flex w/ Adjustable LCA & Track bar, DT3000 shocks & steering stab., Factory 16" wheels w/ General AT2 265/70R 16 tires, Rusty's intake w/ K&N filter, Jeeper's Creepers Bat cables, Tomken gas tank skid, Warn T/C skid, AJ's rocker skids, Mean Green SS hitch, JVC head unit, Infinity speakers, CB, Halogen light replacements.