Im lifting my xj tomorrow

[XCastleXJ]

i picked up a brand new RE 2 inch lift from a guy in highlands ranch last night for 100 bucks and im gonna do the install tomorrow. i know its not a huge lift, but my xj's stock right now and somethin's better than nothin!

1st of all, any general tips or advice? this is the first lift im doing so it'll all be pretty new to me.

2nd, im un-sue of where the add-a-leafs go in the spring pack? do they go on the bottom or somewhere in the middle?

3rd, i know its supposed to be balls cold tomorrow and the nuts/bolts on the jeep are pretty damn rusted up, so i know that im going to be breaking a few of them. im wondering where i can get replacement bolts. do i need to go to 4 wheel parts or another off-road store (if you know of one near thornton i'd love to know!)? or would ace or auto zone have them? i figure since i need to take alot of them off, and there are some that'll be likely to break, i should take the opportunity to replace them all. sopund like a good idea? im thinkin i should replace the shock bolts and the leaf spring eye bolts. maybe the u-bolts too?

thanks guys.

-michael

[.40CalPatriot]

First off TAKE YOUR TIME, and go slow. It will probably take a lot longer than you think. And second I would start spraying down all the bolts tonight to help loosen them a little. And lastly take your time, and go slow

[XCastleXJ]

so the best way to do it right is to rush through it and get it over with?:gee:

haha.

yeah ive started spraying things down with PB. and im hoping it works some magic.

thanks!

[Hypoid]

If it's not broke, don't fix it! Those front spring eye bolts have broke many a heart, including mine.

http://www.rmftc.com/gallery/data/549/front_eye.JPG

[jeepfreak1020]

Hey if you need a 2nd set of hands tomorow i wouldent mind coming and helping. I like in thornton as well

[XCastleXJ]

wow, i hope that i dont get the chance to take a picture like that.

come on guys, over 30 views and only 3 responses?

i need some advice here, can anyone help me out???

[XCastleXJ]

Hey if you need a 2nd set of hands tomorow i wouldent mind coming and helping. I like in thornton as well


thanks man, i'll PM ya.

[bluejeepkid]

have fun lol and expect things to NOT go as planned

[XCastleXJ]

have fun lol and expect things to NOT go as planned


haha thanks

[Skully]

wow, i hope that i dont get the chance to take a picture like that.

come on guys, over 30 views and only 3 responses?

i need some advice here, can anyone help me out???

......here is some advice, DON'T DO IT! ONCE YOU START YOU WILL NEVER STOP!


There is another response for you. :D

Seriously you want to do this when it is cold outside? Being cold will just increase your aggravation level by x10.

Like XJBOY said; Take your time, have plenty of tools and when you here a snap and a pop and the bolt gets really easy to turn......you won't have a good remainder of the day. ;)

............and make sure you have another vehicle (or good friend) to go get stuff and not be stranded.

[XCastleXJ]

......here is some advice, DON'T DO IT! ONCE YOU START YOU WILL NEVER STOP!


There is another response for you. :D

Seriously you want to do this when it is cold outside? Being cold will just increase your aggravation level by x10.

Like XJBOY said; Take your time, have plenty of tools and when you here a snap and a pop and the bolt gets really easy to turn......you won't have a good remainder of the day. ;)

............and make sure you have another vehicle (or good friend) to go get stuff and not be stranded.


i know its gonna be cold, but luckily i do have someone who will be helping me.......... with a heated garage. so hopefully things wont be too bad. do you guys think it'd be a good idea to warm the bolts up a litle with a heat gun first?

as far as not stoping... im afraid of what i may end up doing with my tax returns when it comes time. haha.

and if (probably when) i break a bolt, where can i find replacements?

[xjnco]

:shiver:Where are you gonna do this at, in your heated garage?:sunshine:
A buddy lent me a kerosene heater for my garage this weekend so I can replace ball joints on my XJ on monday, but Lowes and Ace hardware want $45 for a 5 gallon can of fuel. The girl at the local Coop store said kerosene hasn't be available in bulk since Hurricane Katrina and suggested maybe using their Grade 1 Clear Diesel fuel, as others have, she said. I think it would stink up the garage.

I don't know if I stole this thread or not, sorry, my bad... but for your lift, yes, take your time. Did you get new coils for the front or spacers? For the add a leaf install you will need to open the leaf pack and so will prob need new spring wraps(?) or keeper straps(?) or whatever they're called to include the added leaf,
I've participated in a couple of lift parties, but it's been years. Thornton isn't to far away so I'll also swing by and at least give a second hand. Be sure and have at least a large pry bar, and a hand winch (coffin hoist) to push / pull the axles back in place. You also will be disconnecting driveshafts and may want to upgrade u-joints at this time.

Mikev in Mead

[Patriot4x4]

yulp those leaf bolts can be a bitch:

http://www.patriot4x4.com/gallery/ryvsanglegrinder5small.jpg

take your time... only bust out the angle grinder as a last resort.

The leaf bolts, upper rear shock bolts, the sway bar torx, and lower track bar bolts are all a PITA!

[xjnco]

I stepped away and missed your lastest reply. Ace will be a good place for bolt replacements. also have you thought about sway bar disconnects? You can modify your existing ones real cheap until you lift the rig up more and these parts are at Ace also.

[YELLAHEEP]

Castle,

The lift you're putting on is a piece of cake.

Go buy PB Blaster and spray all the bolts you're gonna be working on before you start, let them soak in it for as long as you can.

You won't end up with a pic like Hypoids because you won't be removing the leaf packs - DO NOT remove the leaf packs. Your add-a-leaf goes on the bottom of the leaf pack between the axle and the leaf pack. You're going to have to remove the original center pin bolt, add the new leaf and replace the center pin bolt with the one that should have come in your kit.

Before you remove the original center pin bolt, use a couple of c-clamps to hold your leaf pack together tightly. Then cut the bolt using a cutting wheel or brute force with a socket and breaker bar - they usually break pretty easily.

If you didn't get a new center pin bolt, you can make one fairly cheaply. Measure the thickness of your spring pack with the add-a-leaf held in place then add 1" to that measurement. Go buy the appropriate grade 8 bolt, and nut. Use a grinder to round off the hex head of the bolt so that it can be the centering pin.

Once you've tightened the leaf pack all together just reverse the process to put it all back together.

This write up pretty much shows the processes you'll be using:

http://www.jrfarrar.com/jeep/xj/roughcountry/

[Kiefer316]

my lift install actually went really smooth i thought i was going to break some bolts but i was lucky... like everyone else said take your time and that write up looks very useful...so use it

[in4aride]

ya the 2" should be a cake walk...
dont worry about putting axle back in place as youll have no need to disconnect control arms(unless you got new ones?)
if you jack up the opposing side of axle....it will flex the side your workin on down...making it a lil easier to get a pry bar in and get coils out....
make sure you disconnect top bolt on shocks for that added movement of your axle....
be ready to take forever on the first side and the other side will be a lil shorter....
its not hard but you learn a LOT while under there....

[in4aride]

oh ya...lots of pics....
and dont pry bolts off...if its stiff.....hit your ratchet in a short sharp burst motion (like an impact would.....) the jerking motion helps not strip/break bolts/nuts or strip the heads....

[Hypoid]

Go buy the appropriate grade 8 bolt, and nut.
IIRC the centering pin is 5/16"


The girl at the local Coop store said kerosene hasn't be available in bulk since Hurricane Katrina and suggested maybe using their Grade 1 Clear Diesel fuel, as others have, she said. I think it would stink up the garage.


BTDT, less odor IMHO. If you see the phrase "No 1 fuel oil" in the list of suitable fuels, pump diesel from your corner gas station is compatible.

[XCastleXJ]

hey guys, thanks so much for all of the responses. im starting to feel alot better about doing this tomorrow, especially with the info from yella. knowing i dont have to take the leaf packs off completly is going to make a huge difference!


i'll post up with pics of before/during/after tomorrow. and if i run into any trouble, im sure i'll let you all know. haha.


thanks again!

[YELLAHEEP]

Another thing when doing the front spacers........

Disconnect the track bar at the axle - remove the bolt and pull the bar out of the mount. This allows the axle to drop much farther down and you "shouldn't" need to do much prying to get the coils out. Definitely disconnect the shocks (easier to disco them from the bottom than the top) and be sure to watch your brake lines to ensure you don't pull on them too much. It wouldn't be a bad to go ahead and relocate the hard line at this time anyway if you plan on running sway bar disconnects off road.

Here's a link to how to re-locate the hard brake lines for the front: (Scroll about half-way down)

http://www.lunghd.com/Tech_Articles/Suspension_Steering_Axles_and_Brakes/Budget_Lift.htm

[Big Kev]

Good luck with the front leaf bolt. Get a can of PB Blaster, and then buy another one, you will need it. The bolts on the top of the rear shocks are a PITA. I broke all 4. Had to drill and tap new holes. Front leaf bolt was the worst. I got it out and it seized up in the bushing. Had to cut both sides and then fish the end of the bolt out of the hole.

I planned on doing it in one day. It took 2 and about 15 hours of work, mostly because of the front leaf bolts. I was only able to get new one at the stealership. Every time I have taken off the leafs since then I buy new bolts before starting any thing. I am at work on saturday and sunday, but if you need a hand shoot me a pm, I am in Lakewood.

[Big Kev]

Another thing when doing the front spacers........

Disconnect the track bar at the axle - remove the bolt and pull the bar out of the mount. This allows the axle to drop much farther down and you "shouldn't" need to do much prying to get the coils out. Definitely disconnect the shocks (easier to disco them from the bottom than the top) and be sure to watch your brake lines to ensure you don't pull on them too much. It wouldn't be a bad to go ahead and relocate the hard line at this time anyway if you plan on running sway bar disconnects off road.

Here's a link to how to re-locate the hard brake lines for the front: (Scroll about half-way down)

http://www.lunghd.com/Tech_Articles/Suspension_Steering_Axles_and_Brakes/Budget_Lift.htm

Very cool, I guess you learn some thing new every day. Thanks. I will be doing this when it warms up.

[Jawa]

Hmmm... maybe I just didn't know what I was doing when I installed my 2" lift, but it took my father-in-law and I about 9 hours to do the install (that includes breaks for food and several trips to the parts store). We ended up having to rent some coil spring compressors and unbolt one set of the control arms in order to get the coils off. Maybe we should've just unbolted the track bar - sounds like that would've been easier.

Even though some people are saying it's a piece of cake, if you're brand new to this kind of work and you've got lots of rusty bolts, be safe and count on it taking ALL day...

[FlexdXJ]

i picked up a brand new RE 2 inch lift from a guy in highlands ranch last night for 100 bucks and im gonna do the install tomorrow. i know its not a huge lift, but my xj's stock right now and somethin's better than nothin!

1st of all, any general tips or advice? this is the first lift im doing so it'll all be pretty new to me.

2nd, im un-sue of where the add-a-leafs go in the spring pack? do they go on the bottom or somewhere in the middle?

3rd, i know its supposed to be balls cold tomorrow and the nuts/bolts on the jeep are pretty damn rusted up, so i know that im going to be breaking a few of them. im wondering where i can get replacement bolts. do i need to go to 4 wheel parts or another off-road store (if you know of one near thornton i'd love to know!)? or would ace or auto zone have them? i figure since i need to take alot of them off, and there are some that'll be likely to break, i should take the opportunity to replace them all. sopund like a good idea? im thinkin i should replace the shock bolts and the leaf spring eye bolts. maybe the u-bolts too?

thanks guys.

-michael


I have the same kit. Hopefully your trackbar bushing isn't seized to the bolt that makes it a job for a torch. As for the AAL's they go under the main leaf. They are all silghtly shorter than each other so you should be able to figure it out. Make sure you clamp the leafs to gether as tight as possible and clean them up real well. You are probably gonna have to cut the old center pins off of the leafs My kit came with new ones so should yours. OH and USE LOTS OF PB BLASTER or an equivalent!:D have fun!

[XCastleXJ]

Your add-a-leaf goes on the bottom of the leaf pack between the axle and the leaf pack.



im in the process right now. and with the concept of longest to shortest, the add-a-leaf goes in between the first and second leafs in the pack.

does that hold true or does it actually go on the very bottom?

[FlexdXJ]

im in the process right now. and with the concept of longest to shortest, the add-a-leaf goes in between the first and second leafs in the pack.

does that hold true or does it actually go on the very bottom?


Mine is under the main leaf. Not sure why Yellaheep is saying it goes on the bottom!:dunno:

Edit: I have the full length AAL!

[Rockken]

Depends on which kit you have. RE has two AAL's that give around 2 inches of lift. There is a short AAL that give you 2 inches of lift and a long AAL that gives you 2.5 inchs of lift.

http://www.offroadtoystore.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=RELeafSpringsAAL

I would think they go in order of length. longest to shortest from the top to the bottom.

[YELLAHEEP]

Yeah, my bad.......... the short AAL "should" go at the bottom or between the last 2 leafs. The long AAL goes under the main leaf.

You didn't get instructions with this "Brand new kit"?

[XCastleXJ]

quick up date. we got the rear completly done, adds and shocks in under three hours. and were workin on the front now.


NO BROKEN BOLTS SO FAR!!!

[XCastleXJ]

it came with the instructions.

but IMHO expierence instructions are the best way to go

[Yucca-Man]

NO BROKEN BOLTS SO FAR!!!Now you've gone and done it...

[Big Kev]

quick up date. we got the rear completly done, adds and shocks in under three hours. and were workin on the front now.


NO BROKEN BOLTS SO FAR!!!

Nice work, the front should be fairly easy. I did mine in a couple hours.

[XCastleXJ]

DONE!

front and rear done in 5 hours!

[Big Kev]

Pics or it never happened...

[Hypoid]

Good job!!!

[XCastleXJ]

pics will come tomorrow. i forgot my camera at my house so ive only got a couple that i took with my phone.

no broken bolts at all which was really awesome.

but after a busy day, ive got a busy evening too. i'll write more tomorrow.

thanks for the advice and encouragement guys!

[XCastleXJ]

also have you thought about sway bar disconnects? You can modify your existing ones real cheap until you lift the rig up more and these parts are at Ace also.

i didnt see your post untill now. is there a write up somewhere on how to do it cheap?

[Hypoid]

This is the one I used:
http://jeep.off-road.com/jeep/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=257851

Keep an eye on the classifieds, great deals pop up every now and again. :D

Edit: So where are the pics?

[XCastleXJ]

thanks for the link.

i'll got shoot a couple picture in a few minutes.

i forgot my camera at home yeterday so all i have from the install is 1 or 2 pics with my camera phone.

[Patriot4x4]

oh shit that is a snap didnt see that you were doing a 2" lift

Pics! we like em...

[in4aride]

very nice! props on no hang ups!!!
def pics or it didnt happen

[XCastleXJ]

ok ok ok here are some pics

this is from my camera phone, its hard to see the diference in clearence because of the angle of this pic but its the best i could do. this is BEFORE installing the lift.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v655/XOneMoreRomanceX/xj-before.jpg




here is a picture of doing the passenger front coil spacer. it shows how uch we had to compress the spring to get it out.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v655/XOneMoreRomanceX/springcompression.jpg

we did NOT compress the spring this much on the drivers side as we knew is was crazy dangerous and we were really hesitant to go this far on the first one. but we didnt see how else to do it. we did it much safer the second time around. and it went alot better.

those above 2 pictures are the only 2 i took yesterday. these next three are from today.

This shows the new shock and spacer.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v655/XOneMoreRomanceX/P1010123-1.jpg

This is the rear add-a-leaf. going longest to shortest, this is where it was placed; between the first and second stock leafs. We had to cut off one of the metal spring clamp/wraps things on the front.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v655/XOneMoreRomanceX/P1010125-1.jpg

and this is an after picture of the jeep!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v655/XOneMoreRomanceX/P1010122-1.jpg

th picture doesnt really show the difference that seeing it in person does. the back add-a-leafs gave closer to 3 inches of lift than 2, but im sure that will setle some. and the front is about 2 and 1/4 incehs of lift.


im lovin it so far and i'll definitly be going bigger. haha.

ive got 4 30inch wrangler tires sitting in the garage right now that i got for free. and im pickin up some 16" aluminum rims this week for them. i want to paint the rims black first so i wont be putting those on for couple weeks.

[philip_g]

what did you use to clamp the leaves back together? You really don't want those fanning out and rubbing against a tire.

[XCastleXJ]

i was told that the u-bolts would keep them lined up?

[philip_g]

i was told that the u-bolts would keep them lined up?
I'll let the others chime in but my personal experience is otherwise.

[YELLAHEEP]

In this same link I posted about the brake line relocation...... If you scroll down further, there's info on leaf spring clips to replace the ones you removed.

I think you can get 'em at NAPA. Philip is correct - without these in place, normal driving will cause the leaf pack to fan out - at least the lower leaf and possibly the add-a-leaf and they can cut into your tire.

http://www.lunghd.com/Tech_Articles/Suspension_Steering_Axles_and_Brakes/Budget_Lift.htm


http://www.lunghd.com/Tech_Articles/Suspension_Steering_Axles_and_Brakes/Budget_Lift/spring_clips_1.JPG

http://www.lunghd.com/Tech_Articles/Suspension_Steering_Axles_and_Brakes/Budget_Lift/spring_clips_3.jpg

[FlexdXJ]

Hey YELLAHEEP! I wasn't trying to make an ass of you i just forgot the RE kit came with either short or full-length AAL's! :cheers:

[philip_g]

Philip is correct

Oh that's right bitches, new sig time.

[jdogg4]

Looks good I got a BB lift for the 98xj more of a DD rig but still wanted a little extra for lift for those back trail camping fishing roads. have some BFG AT 30" to go with them should be a nice fit.

[YELLAHEEP]

Philip is correct

Oh, I'm quite sure you didn't intend to be correct........ something like this isn't impossible - but there's no way it was intentional. Kinda like a sneeze.

I'm sure you'll do a print screen and stick it on your fridge anyway.

:D

[philip_g]

Oh, I'm quite sure you didn't intend to be correct........ something like this isn't impossible - but there's no way it was intentional. Kinda like a sneeze.

I'm sure you'll do a print screen and stick it on your fridge anyway.

:D

I'm always right, even when I'm wrong.

[Skully]

I'm always right, even when I'm wrong.

http://www.jazzwithjan.com/images/Thought_for_the_Day/Resampled/archive/Delusions%20of%20Grandeur.jpg

[kujito]

i was told that the u-bolts would keep them lined up?
They will. Long enough for you to get the clips on.

[XCastleXJ]

They will. Long enough for you to get the clips on.


haha im hoping so. my office is only open untill noon today so hopefully after work i'll be able to go get some.

[philip_g]

haha im hoping so. my office is only open untill noon today so hopefully after work i'll be able to go get some.

carry a hammer, check the leaves every day and hammer them back in line until you get clips, it really won't take long for them to fan out.