Pics of the new lift!

Hey guys!

Ok, my XJ is finally starting to look less like a mall crawler and more like an offroad rig! Ok, maybe not...but at least I'm a mall crawler that can handle realllllly big speed bumps! :wave:

The install is still not finished..basically, every problem you have ever heard of going wrong on XJ lift installs went wrong on mine. The rust was unbelievable. Both shock mount bolts on the drivers side broke, and I have not been successful in drilling them out yet. I cut a hole in the floor and I'm trying to work from the top, but it's still slow going.

The bolts that hold the TC skid are just spinning in the body, and won't come out...this means we can't install the SYE kit because we can't get the crossmember out.

The ball joint on the trac bar was able to ward off about 30 mins of hammering with a joint separator and 5 mins of blowtorching...still won't budge. I have 17" arms and I was hitting that thing with all I had. hasta

So...we're a little more than halfway done. At this point I'm hoping the broken bolts all magically extract themselves. lol.

BIG, BIG thanks to Johnny, Mike, and Max for dropping by to help me. I never would have even gotten this far without their help! Johnny, see you in the afternoon for Round 3 with my big red beeyotch! :doh:

Nice looking XJ, Good Luck, and let us know how it comes out.

I see WD40 there, where's the PB Blaster for rusted bolt help?
Keep up the hard work, it's starting to look good!

Man thats one clean looking XJ!Looks brand new!Me likes.

3 cans of PB were on hand, but PB couldn't even cut through this muck. The car was a Fire Dept. car in Utah until earlier this year, hence the rust.

Yup, there was plenty of PB Blaster on hand. I've never seen an XJ with so much rust.

xL8 APEKSx said:

The bolts that hold the TC skid are just spinning in the body, and won't come out...this means we can't install the SYE kit because we can't get the crossmember out.

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Try prying a screwdriver inbetween the frame rail and the bolt head and apply pressure inbetween. But I believe that from the sounds of it, your best bet is to grind that bolt head off and then get new nutzerts in later.

xL8 APEKSx said:

3 cans of PB were on hand, but PB couldn't even cut through this muck. The car was a Fire Dept. car in Utah until earlier this year, hence the rust.

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My dad's rig came from UT. Yeah, they get RUSTY! I had to redo the nuts in the frame rail for the springs, had to cut the spring bolts out.... it was ugly!

Kejtar said:

Try prying a screwdriver inbetween the frame rail and the bolt head and apply pressure inbetween. But I believe that from the sounds of it, your best bet is to grind that bolt head off and then get new nutzerts in later.

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Yep...I think we're at that point too. :wow:

Oh yeah, forgot to mention one of the most interesting things! On the rear shackles...the rubber bushing had bonded to the bolt. When the bolt was pulled out of the frame, the bushing came out with the bolt. Crazy! :huh:

nice looking jeep!

air tools are your friend with seized trac bar bolts

Looks good so far. Good luck with the rust. I prefer deep creep over pb.

Did we mention what this lift consists of? Or did i just not see it. Looks like what i'm going for. I'm def. not going up 6" again. With 33's anyway. Took me almost a week to get mine done,re aligned and driveable again. But of course i did it all by myself... Ahh well new Cherokee, new mistakes to be made..........

It's a RE 4.5" Superflex kit.

nice rado back there

good looking lift.......

Looking good!!

Lookin Good Sean

hey, maybe I missed it but...we don't have to yank out the T-case skid for the SYE. We'll do it installed. We just have to crack off the back have and pull out the shaft, it's easy as pie to do in the Jeep....don't sweat that one bit.

SanDiegoXJ said:

hey, maybe I missed it but...we don't have to yank out the T-case skid for the SYE. We'll do it installed. We just have to crack off the back have and pull out the shaft, it's easy as pie to do in the Jeep....don't sweat that one bit.

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Well, I can't get the crossmember out either...does that matter? :dunno:

looks good!