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New lift worries...

Mr. Pickle

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Lake Forest, CA
Hey gang, so I spent all day yesterday installing my new lift. It went really well, no one was injured and nothing broke that wasn't supposed to. Now I know all of you really like the RE kits and I will be razzed for my kit but I have a problem and I need your advice.

In the rear my kit came with new springs, shackles and shocks and in the front it came with new springs, coil spacers, shocks, quick disconnects and track bar. In the rear I ditched the spagetti style swaybar. I also installed a trans drop kit that came with the lift. So I installed everything except for the track bar and disconnects when I called it a night. My windows were half down so I jumped in it and fired it up. Just for kicks I decided to roll it back and forth in the dirveway to see how the bleed job was on the brakes. Well when I put it into reverse the ass end sank/preloaded 3-4". I then put it into neutral and it went back up. I put it into drive and it went up 1-2". I know what is causing this, the driveshaft, but i don't know why. Before the lift it acted like this but on a much smaller scale. I didn't have any one there to put it in drive for me so I could watch what was going on so I couldn't diagnose it myself.

First question: Is this normal?

Second Question: Are the missing track bar and front sway bar the culprits?

Any suggestions or help is much appreciated. Thanks in advance.
 
What lift and are you running an SYE and CV Driveshaft?
 
might want to give your rear leafs a chance to settle but how does your rear pinion angle look?
 
I am running a Rocky Road lift which consists of Old Man Emu springs, their own track bar and shackles.

No SYE.

Pinion angle looks ok.

Has this happened or currently happens to anyone else?
 
OME leafs tend to be really soft, that may just be normal. Finish the lift, drive it a week and then evaluate again.
 
How many times did you try this? If you do not have a trac bar coneected, I would not move the Jeep at all, or very little.

Did you tighten all of the nuts/bolts with the suspension hanging or did you leave it loose and let the Jeep down to put weight on the suspension? If you tightened all up and then let then Jeep down, that could be part of it. The other part is the softer rate of the OME springs could allow for a little more movement, but not a lot. 3" is a ton of movement when you put it in gear.
 
First thing that comes to my mind is check the rear shackles. With new/different springs, the shackles sometimes tend to lock forward or rearward depending on the situation. This happened to mine for a couple days, til it worked itself in then it acted ok. It wouldn't quite dip down like yours is doing, but it made all kinds of noise and did dip quite a bit.

The front end should really have no effect on any of what is happening to your Jeep, I'd go over the rear with a fine-toothed comb first bud. Good luck, and keep us posted!
 
ok... here's my thought on this: this will happen with soft springs and longer shackles. Did you drive it around the block? When you put torque to the wheels before it starts moving, it will react in a fashion you've described. Heck: I think mine does something similar: when I give it gas from stand still I feel front lifting a bit and rear settling a hair. Then it evens out when I drive.
 
Did you tighten down the rear shackles so tight that they are binding? They should move freely with the spring.
 
Ya I can feel the torque in the vehicle when I switch it into different gears as well. I never really gave it a second thought.
 
Stumpalump said:
Did you tighten down the rear shackles so tight that they are binding? They should move freely with the spring.
Actually..... the more I think about it, the tight shackles would actually kind of prevent that as they would limit the travel on the leafs. In any case when you're feeling the height change the shackles are traveling and you might be getting some axle wrap as well to go along with it. Actually I'm pretty sure you are getting axle wrap.

Btw, Mr Pickle, where in OC are you?
 
I live in Aliso but I am doing the lift in HB/Westminster.

Thanks for the feedback guys I will be sure to triple check everythingn again. I didn't drive the truck more than 10 feet, I figured it would be bad if I drove it around.

I am taking the night off and I will be back in HB tomorrow night to start buttoning things up.

The stock steering is still on the Jeep and needs to be re-aligned before I can drive it right? I would think so due to the geometry of the "inverted Y" and raising the height of the pitman arm. Am I correct?

Anyone have any info on the Rusty's tie rod conversion? It's a 1" dom set up. I was told today that my g/f's parent's bought it for us and it will be here later this week or next. Any reviews? I asked the earlier question because I want to take it out before the steering gets here and I want to know if I need to align it first.

If all goes well then I am going to go to azusa this weekend.
 
Mr. Pickle said:
I live in Aliso but I am doing the lift in HB/Westminster.

Thanks for the feedback guys I will be sure to triple check everythingn again. I didn't drive the truck more than 10 feet, I figured it would be bad if I drove it around.

I am taking the night off and I will be back in HB tomorrow night to start buttoning things up.

The stock steering is still on the Jeep and needs to be re-aligned before I can drive it right? I would think so due to the geometry of the "inverted Y" and raising the height of the pitman arm. Am I correct?

Anyone have any info on the Rusty's tie rod conversion? It's a 1" dom set up. I was told today that my g/f's parent's bought it for us and it will be here later this week or next. Any reviews? I asked the earlier question because I want to take it out before the steering gets here and I want to know if I need to align it first.

If all goes well then I am going to go to azusa this weekend.
Yes, you need to do an alignment, but you can do that yourself with a tape measure ;)

Also if you do run into any problems or have any more questions, PM me and I might swing by tomorrow (depending what time you'll be up in HB area) to take a look at it for you.
 
Ok guys, thanks for all the feedback and help. So I returned to the scene of the frustration and i found that one of the rear shocks was loose, that was it. so i tightened it up and then decided to install the new trackbar. Wow, i wasn't expecting that pain in the butt. Is it just mine or are they all a biotch to install. The bushings on the new bar were a good 1/16 of an inch too big. i ended up getting it on but not without plenty of sweat and a bottle jack to help.

I jumped back into the driver's seat and started it up. I threw it into reverse and it dipped down but not as much. I got out, measured and sure enough it was 3/4" higher. Then I went into drive and it didn't jump up nearly as much. Nice, the problem is now less and I don't know why. It stumps my to see why the front track bar would affect the dropping of the rear suspension. Hhhmmm, must be a unibody thing.

So to sum it up, thanks for the help and I don't think it will be an issue any more. If the situation worsenes I will be back though. Take it easy guys.
 
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