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Lift - Self Install vs. Shop Install

FitchVA

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Roanoke, VA
OK, here's my situation . . . i'm kinda close to being in the position to lift my xj finally. but i've got a few questions. first, i've got a '98 sport with the np231. as of now, i'm looking at the RE 4.5" lift - the one with the springs in the back, not aal's. and i'm figuring on having to have the sye kit as well.

the big delima is weather or not to install it myself or pay extra and have a shop that know's what they're doing install it for me. i'm not really mechanically gifted. i just don't have the experience. but i can follow directions. if i choose to get a shop to do it, it's no big delima, just take it in then pick it up when done.

but if i do it myself, here would be the situation. i'd have to wait till i can drive to my hometown so i can have my dad's and brother's help. not to mention the enormous barn i'd get to use. and plus i could work it out to do it over a week's worth of vacation. but when done, i'd have to drive it back here - about 400 miles away. i'm scared of such a long trip to make on a fresh installed lift to work the bugs out.

on one hand, i'd like to have the satisfaction of doing it myself and save the $$. but on the other, the satisfaction of knowing it was done right would be good as well. what would you guys suggest? btw -- this is my dd'er so i can't work on it for a bit, take breaks, then get back to it. that's why, if i did it, i would do it when i take some vacation days.

sorry for the long post. and thanks in advance for any input.
 
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If you can do it over a week, then I would do it myself. This should be plenty of time to get it put together and get the bugs worked out. Just get all that you know you need ahead of time, and you should be fine.
Just because you have a shop do it, doesn't mean it will be done right. Make sure you have a computer handy that you can log into and ask questions here. With everyone's help, we should be able to steer you through it. it really isn't that hard.
Just start reading up on what needs to be done. If you are prepared, then it will be a breeze, and a lot of fun to complete. Nothing better than doing something yourself, and knowing how it goes together.
 
the lift itself it not a big deal to install. the center pics on the leaf springs will need to be massaged with a grinder to fit into the spring perch. the brakelines should be replaced with extended version, not hard but you will need to bleed the brakes, if you have never done an sye, and arent mechanically inclined and do not have the help of someone fitting those two catgories i would shim the axle to start and then pay the shop to do it.

my $.02 and i hope it helps.
 
Do it yourself. Having the peace of mind that a shop did it is absolutely worthless if you break something six months from now and have no clue as to what is going wrong. Plus, shops can mess up too.

I did my first lift (being my first experience with suspension) which replaced coils, spring packs, shocks, control arms, and other stuff in one (loooooong) night. If you have a week, then you plenty of time to put it all together and work out all the bugs.
 
Installing a lift is really just taking out old bolts; cutting, grinding, and cursing at them sometimes, putting new components in the right place and putting new bolts in.

For the rear, you will have to get out the main leaf spring bolts, front and rear, get the U bolts off the axle, and get your old shocks off. If you are doing brakes, then brake lines will have to be dealt with.

For the front, assuming you are getting new control arms, undo their bolts and replace control arms, get enough droop in the front axle to switch coil springs, switch out shocks, replace track bar perhaps, and brakes again. Not necessarily in this order.

It is possible to leave the driveshafts on and brakes assembled, as in not opening up the system forcing a bleed. You can take the caliper off the disc and just tie it up, then deal with them later.

If you take time to look at your suspension, it is easy to understand. Seeing that you have a relatively new jeep, most of your bolts probably aren't too rusted and will come out pretty easily. Regardless, soak all of your bolts in a penetrating oil like PB Blaster or Kano every day twice a day a week before you begin.

As far as working bugs out of your lift. I have no experience with R.E. but I know they are awesome; you shouldn't have any bugs except with your driveline, as long as all your bolts are torqued right and in the right place. ;) You can survive without an SYE for a while, but do it soon! With a new lift, your rear springs are going to sit high, having not settled yet, and your rear driveline is going to be horrible. Make sure your driveshaft doesn't slip out of the back of your 231 and fall on the ground. :D

When you get stuck just post your question here, and I gaurentee it will be answered. With a full week to do this, you should be fine! As long winded as this is, and as full as it is with gramatical mistakes, I hope this helped.
 
thanks for all of the imput so far guys. i'm leaning towards doing it myself. if i run into a snag, i'm sure one of my cousins/uncles would love to help. heck, they'll probably offer to help before i ask them. we're a farming family so we've got guys that can weld, grind, and are very ... how shall we say ... innovative. so i'm sure we can get buy doing it.

one other thing. with the 4.5" lift, won't i need a new rear drive shaft? that would be one thing that could snag it. cause none of us have any experience witht that sort of thing. i know we'd have to get a shop to fab us some new ones/lengthen my original one, but don't all of the angles of the rear axle and stuff have to be right first? i mean, the driveshaft isn't something that can be off by a few inches...doesn't it have to be "right on?"
 
If your gonna do it yourself, and since you're admittedly not experienced,

1. Try and line up a 'wrenching party' of local Jeepers, particularly XJer's who have done this.
There are several tricks involved, particularly the 'backyard alignment' that will be necessary to even drive it to an alignment shop for fine tuning.

2. Your best 'friend' will be a compressor with impact wrench, rachet, and appropriate sockets. Second best freind will be 2-1/2 ton floor jack. Rent the compressor if necessary, borrow a floor jack if you don't have one.
Have good HIGH jackstands.

3. Consider a 3-phase installation:
1st: Rather than rear kit, line up a reputable spring shop in your immediate area. In a day, they will:
* Remove existing springs;
* Dissasemble leaf packs, install AAL, and heat/retemper/re-arc the pack to 3.5 lift.
* Reinstall leaf packs, with extended MJ shackles and OLD short brake line; shimmed to proper angle if you so specify.
* Install extended length shocks that you supply.
* You'll now have a road-worthy, but rediculous-looking hi-in-rear, rig.
* Cost, installed: About the same as kit.
* Drive to folk's barn.
2nd: Have wrenching party at folks' barn.
* Install kit of front arms, track bar, springs, shocks, front brake lines, (rear brake line (so you only have to bleed once)).
* Backyard alignment (center axle, set caster, set toe-in, center steering wheel).
* Drive to pre-arranged alignment shop and have complete alignment done prior to returning to your place (school?).
3rd: Order SYE with driveshaft measurements taken from completed installation.
* Can be installed at any time soon after the lift.

It's not brain surgery, but there are a lot of tricks involved that experience can help avoid/overcome problems.
The kit directions are generally very good. IMO, they generally assume you have more wrenching experience than you indicate you have.
They generally have a mistake or two :eek:

Good luck.
-Rick
 
we've got tools that are beefy for heavy farm equipment use. but i'm not sure if my uncle has an impact gun. have to check on that one. but the jack and jackstands are there. if they can hold his combine, it can hold my xj.

and i'm not in school...two years removed from college lift. i have to wait till i can go home because i live in an apt have don't want to tackle a parking lot install. it's hard enough to not get run over when doing an oil change.

and unfortunaty, where my family lives, there aren't any xj'ers. it's too flat on nothing but fields or water. so not much offroading opportunities. the guys that are running offroad rigs are fullsize chubies or ferds.
 
Well damn man, too bad you weren't doing this back in August..I was in Roanoke then and could've helped you :)

I know there's a few people in your area, at least one in Blacksburg and there's somebody that's out in Floyd I think...

Anyway, not much to say here, just thought I'd shout out..hehe

Sequoia
 
I would do it yourself. I am going to put a RE 5.5 and plan on putting it on in one night and part of the next day. Start with the back and then do the front. Check out Jeepin.com, he has instructions on putting the lift on. I bought my RE from DPG and Dirk has been very helpful so far on telling me what is needed.

http://www.dpgoffroad.com/

www.jeepin.com

Curt
 
FitchVA said:
one other thing. with the 4.5" lift, won't i need a new rear drive shaft? that would be one thing that could snag it. cause none of us have any experience witht that sort of thing.

You will need a new driveshaft and an SYE - RE has a handy chart based on your current driveshaft length and lift size so they can sell you the right flanged driveshaft with your SYE and lift. Been there, done that and installed the SYE in less than an hour. On that, all you need is a circular saw with a metal cutting wheel or a grinder. Cut it where instructed, drill, tap, and bolt on.

As stated earlier, the lift is really little more than replacing parts. When I did my 4.5" I "massaged" the center pins like Dave pointed out, but found out later when talking to RE that they use a heavier center pin and expected me to drill out the spring perch that extra little bit to make it fit. Whatever....

The only snag I can see you running into on this install is vibration and wobble. If you have a week to do the install aim for getting the lift done early to give you a few days to drive around locally and track down alignment problems before taking it home.

Good luck, and enjoy!
4.5" lift - http://www.yuccaman.com/jeep/45lift.html
SYE Install - http://www.yuccaman.com/jeep/sye.html
 
You have to get an SYE no if ands or buts. Get a package deal with AA HD SYE and Tom Woods shaft. I did the same thing you are doing and I installed my 4.5" befor I installed the SYE and I took it for a quick drive in the neighborhood, wow you'll get seasick over 5 mph. ;)
 
Fitch, man, there are a TON of XJ'ers in Roanoke, and there's a bunch of us here in Blacksburg. PM Roanoke XJ on here and ask about the club that's based in Roanoke. I'm sure you could get a good install party going on up there, and I'm sure someone would offer up a driveway. If not, bring it down here and we'll do it in a day. We do parking lot installs all the time down here. Did my buddy's TJ two weeks ago and I've done 3 lifts of my own in parking lots. There's no reason not to do it yourself. I did the hack 'n tap on my T-case and I have also changed the output shaft, so I know how to do that regardless of what type of SYE you get. Also, all the driveline shops will send you a DS based on current DS measurements and lift height. No need to wait till after you lift. Anyway hope it all works out for ya, and feel free to PM me if ya got any questions. Peace

Ary
 
thanks for all of the great input guys. i'm really appreciating it.

Ary, when i was talking about not having any xj'ers around, i was talking about my hometown...where i was planning on doing the lift. sorry about the confusion. there are a butt-load of really bad-arse xj's around here and in bburg. we'll have to do a little get-together and after a few test runs i'll have the guts to tackle pott's mtn. hahaha...maybe after i get a winch. ;)

but i might have to consider getting a bunch of locals around the 'noke. the main reason for doing it while on vacation back east would be so i wouldn't be without my daily driver...i could aways cruze in the mom's buick :D but if i got a group of guys that already know jeep's and know lifts....it might not take as long...hhmmmm....choices choices choices
 
honestly if it's between doing it with a bunch of guys with experience in a 1-2 day period, or doing it with a bunch of XJ rookies over a week. I'd take the experience and shorter time period. That's just me. Good luck with it either way.

As for Pott's, as soon as I have gears in the front to match the 4.56s in the back and hook up the compressor for my ARB in the rear I'll be down. :D

Ary
 
We finished mine in 24 hours straight ... including lots of stopping for food, drinks & parts runs ... Had to crack open the T-case twice b/c we forgot something & were using hand tools.

I only had 2 folks with no XJ experience helping and only for a few hours. I ended up getting in one of those moods where I kept saying OK, I'll just finish this part then go to sleep ... never slept though.... well I did the next morning during church... everytime we were supposed to bow our heads & pray I was out ;)


That said ... make some friends and use lots of PB Blaster...

I referenced Jasons pics a lot during my install ....

Here are a few pics of mine and some tips for ya...
http://www.patricksnorton.com/cherokee/tech/re55lift.html
 
2ndlift ididPb blasted it every day for a week before hand and everything should come upart fairly smoothtooka day and half by myself my first lift idid just went right at it took four to five days and alot of bruised body parts but I would do it again rust bites good luck
 
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