Add a leaf lift

Okay, i finished the front suspension lift on my 88 but ran out of time to get the back. I plan on finishing it this weekend and was wandering if anyone had any tips to make it a little easier or less time consuming. Its a 3" RC aal system, also pics would be appreciated. (also didi a search already)

Spray all of your nuts/bolts down with PB plaster this week...do it a few times....

JNickel101 said:

Spray all of your nuts/bolts down with PB plaster this week...do it a few times....

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Yea that is really important unless you have new bolts and stuff to replace the ones that break (pretty much all of the will break unless they are lubed up enough). I found out the hard way with the rear shock bolts and had to over pay a local shop to get the severed bolts out because I did not have a way. Oh you might want to go to Lowe's or Home Depot to get some easy-out drill bits, they should know what you are talking about and be able to get them for you... just describe to them that you need to get a broken bolt out of a nut... I got mine at Lowe's, so that if you do end up breaking bolts, like the ones on the top of the rear shocks, you can get them out without to much hassle. Just make sure you lube the bit as you use them because they can get really warm and if they get too warm they can break and breaking them is hard to do since they are made out of some really tough metal. When you undo the center pin to put in the add a leaf you want some clamps like ones you would use on wood, like Bessy clamps or c-clamps, because once you put in the add a leaf the center pin will not reach through all the leafs. I found that the old metal c-clamps work the best because they fit inside the finder really well. The clamps should be set about 2" to each side of the center pin then start to tighten them down and realign the leafs until the center pin fits though all of them. Once it is though all of them put the nut on the bolt but don't take the clamps off yet... use the clamps to help smash the leafs together and make it easier to run the bolt down. After that is all done it just a matter of aligning the axle back under the leafs so that the center pin sits in its hole and attaching the axle to the leaf pack.

Hope that helps... that is for the most part a step by step list of what I did, I just left out the cursing and unneeded violence that happened when one of the clamps slipped and I had to start over.

Chris

Thanks for the advice, luckily i already removed the rear shocks without any breakage(to my surprise). So you dont have to remove the leafspring from the jeep?

benni302 said:

Thanks for the advice, luckily i already removed the rear shocks without any breakage(to my surprise). So you dont have to remove the leafspring from the jeep?

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You can drop the axel away from the leaf pack and then unbolt the pack. Use a C-clamp to hold the pack together while unbolting it. This will keep the pack from falling apart on you while wrenching.

Thanks, i wasnt sure about that- i've lifted a few rigs just never done an add a leaf lift. Hopefully all will go well and i'll get the rear up this weekend.