Hey everyone! New to the forum, and this is my first XJ. I picked up this 1996 XJ off the original owner out here in Norfolk, VA. He didn't drive it much over the last 14 years so it only has 122k on it! Thing runs like a top, but the suspension has seen the worst of the east coast's roads, and weather, for the last few years with little to no TLC. Without (much) further ado here are the steps that took me from day one to now:
The Tool Box himself:
Brake rotors were rusted, chipped in several places, and the brake pads were worn almost completely through:
Before -
After -
This was hit number one on my state inspection, so with that taken care of I took it back to try (again) to get my state inspection sticker. The tech at this shop told me that my suspension was toast, and that I might as well take it to a shop to be redone. I'm not a "take it to a shop" kind of guy so I got me one of these!
I crawled under the jeep to survey the situation, and found that pretty much every single bushing was toasted, everything was factory original (down to the shocks & steering stabilizer). Here is some carnage from underneath:
The track bar is already disconnected because someone had repaired it with the wrong size bolt, and it just slid right out when I pulled on it! I drove the thing 30 miles like that... Could've killed me!
Saggy saggy rear with negative arch leaf springs!
That brought me to the tear out/install phase. Not too many pictures from this part of the build; It was A LOT of rusty bolts, and once they started coming loose I went straight through. Seems like any time I take a break I lose all my mojo.
Here it is after I finished the front. I managed to pull it off without disconnecting the control arms with the use of a coil compressor, but I really suggest for anyone who hasn't done this yet/before to do this the correct way. My brother actually lost a little bit of his fingertip to a coil compressor, and I very nearly did the same thing. In both cases the coil flexed in the middle causing one side to be shorter than the other, and the compressors moved away from resistance. Luckily, it was only my shoe that got slammed in between, but my toes were pretty sore. If you do take this same route use a piece of wood/spare tool/tipsy friend's hand to push the coil in place.
Even though this was only a three inch you can really see that I had a considerable amount of sag with the old springs.
A cop ended up coming by to inform me its illegal to work on your car in the street in the state of Virginia (and then asked me if I knew the lift laws etc. turns out I knew them all, and he had to look them up online to see if I knew what I was talking about!) After I moved the jeep into the driveway, and started on the rear end. This was a MUCH bigger project than I had originally thought. Every single bolt in the rear ended up shearing off in the process of removing them, and while taking the last bolt out (front bolt for the leaf on the passenger side) I snapped my breaker bar's head off, broke the socket, and sheared the bolt head off all at the same time.
After 3 days of solid work, and one LONG evening/night I got it all wrapped up.
Thats how it sits today. I have to install a few new parts that are on their way from Rusty's, and Quadratec. As far as the lift goes I have to say that the Rusty's lift isn't the best for road handling (all though overall handling from my stock suspension is a vast improvement), but as far as off road performance its not leaving me wanting much. I've ridden in jeeps with RC lifts, RE lifts, and home fab stuff, and this one is really making me happy. It was a totally complete kit, all I had to buy was new hardware, and it was by far the best pricing I could find for a 3" kit.
Since I have a long weekend coming up I'm going to install some new OEM rear shackles (old ones are rusted, and I actually peeled 1/8" of rust off of one as if they were made of cardboard). Also putting in some new front sway bar links; I'm making some quick disco pins for these myself. New bump stops are going in the rear since the old ones are just plain gone. Then, I'm putting in some bar pin eliminators in the rear; I hate bar pins. After all this I'm doing a rear brake job that I finally have time for. Once all the maintenance is over with I'm going on to the fun stuff which I'm going to leave as a surprise for whoever actually scrolls through this rambling, long winded, gumbo of a thread.
The Tool Box himself:
Brake rotors were rusted, chipped in several places, and the brake pads were worn almost completely through:
Before -
After -
This was hit number one on my state inspection, so with that taken care of I took it back to try (again) to get my state inspection sticker. The tech at this shop told me that my suspension was toast, and that I might as well take it to a shop to be redone. I'm not a "take it to a shop" kind of guy so I got me one of these!
I crawled under the jeep to survey the situation, and found that pretty much every single bushing was toasted, everything was factory original (down to the shocks & steering stabilizer). Here is some carnage from underneath:
The track bar is already disconnected because someone had repaired it with the wrong size bolt, and it just slid right out when I pulled on it! I drove the thing 30 miles like that... Could've killed me!
Saggy saggy rear with negative arch leaf springs!
That brought me to the tear out/install phase. Not too many pictures from this part of the build; It was A LOT of rusty bolts, and once they started coming loose I went straight through. Seems like any time I take a break I lose all my mojo.
Here it is after I finished the front. I managed to pull it off without disconnecting the control arms with the use of a coil compressor, but I really suggest for anyone who hasn't done this yet/before to do this the correct way. My brother actually lost a little bit of his fingertip to a coil compressor, and I very nearly did the same thing. In both cases the coil flexed in the middle causing one side to be shorter than the other, and the compressors moved away from resistance. Luckily, it was only my shoe that got slammed in between, but my toes were pretty sore. If you do take this same route use a piece of wood/spare tool/tipsy friend's hand to push the coil in place.
Even though this was only a three inch you can really see that I had a considerable amount of sag with the old springs.
A cop ended up coming by to inform me its illegal to work on your car in the street in the state of Virginia (and then asked me if I knew the lift laws etc. turns out I knew them all, and he had to look them up online to see if I knew what I was talking about!) After I moved the jeep into the driveway, and started on the rear end. This was a MUCH bigger project than I had originally thought. Every single bolt in the rear ended up shearing off in the process of removing them, and while taking the last bolt out (front bolt for the leaf on the passenger side) I snapped my breaker bar's head off, broke the socket, and sheared the bolt head off all at the same time.
After 3 days of solid work, and one LONG evening/night I got it all wrapped up.
Thats how it sits today. I have to install a few new parts that are on their way from Rusty's, and Quadratec. As far as the lift goes I have to say that the Rusty's lift isn't the best for road handling (all though overall handling from my stock suspension is a vast improvement), but as far as off road performance its not leaving me wanting much. I've ridden in jeeps with RC lifts, RE lifts, and home fab stuff, and this one is really making me happy. It was a totally complete kit, all I had to buy was new hardware, and it was by far the best pricing I could find for a 3" kit.
Since I have a long weekend coming up I'm going to install some new OEM rear shackles (old ones are rusted, and I actually peeled 1/8" of rust off of one as if they were made of cardboard). Also putting in some new front sway bar links; I'm making some quick disco pins for these myself. New bump stops are going in the rear since the old ones are just plain gone. Then, I'm putting in some bar pin eliminators in the rear; I hate bar pins. After all this I'm doing a rear brake job that I finally have time for. Once all the maintenance is over with I'm going on to the fun stuff which I'm going to leave as a surprise for whoever actually scrolls through this rambling, long winded, gumbo of a thread.
uke::shhh::laugh3:
