First lift, Parts on the way. A few ?

[Headwithwings]

I have had my XJ for over 7 years now. 99, Sport, 4.0, AW4, NP231 C8.25. Daily driven to work and such plus weekend trips camping and light wheeling in the mountains of SW Colorado. Love the thing. Always wanted to fix it up but could never justify the cost so i ran it stock. Recently a tree fell on my house and by fixing the damage myself i have a little extra left over from the insurance check. :yelclap: Plus the rear springs are sagging to the point that i have to tell my budds to get out in order to go over anything more than a pebble. :doh:
So after much reading on and all the other forums like it i have the following on the way.
Zone 3 inch lift kit with full leaf packs and nitro shocks, Zone disconnects, t-case drop kit (if needed), and a new Zone steering stabilizer.
got the lift from Rockridge4wd as the shipping was reasonable and they had a -10% off deal going on.
Lift should be here Friday so i'm hoping to install on Saturday. Already started spraying all the bolts I can think off with PB Blaster.
Also ordered the double shear track bar and adjustable LCA from Iron rock Offroad but that will not be in till next week probably.

Can someone give me a list of bolt sizes that i should replace? I have always felt that you should replace and not reuse old hardware.

Where should I use anti-seize and where should I use Loctite?

If i install the lift this weekend and the track bar and lca's next weekend will it be safe it drive to work (30 mile round trip) for a week of so without a alignment? I'm not worried about my tires as they are already well worn and will be replaced with 31s after everything is on.

Any other tips or suggestions would be appreciated.
Thank you.

 

[MrShaft696]

I wouldn't be too worried about alignment but just make sure to adjust your drag link so or the wheel will be way crooked....

I would wait till next week till you had the track bar and lcas before i did anything....

 

[GordoSmasho]

An alignment on a solid axle front end is not rocket science. You can do it in the drive way with a tape measure and an 20$ angle finder from you local hardware store. Do some research.

Adjust your toe and then your steering wheel collar.

When you do the control arms and trac bar.

Adjust trackbar
Adjust caster angle(angle finder)
Adjust toe(tape measure)
Drive and then adjust steer wheel collar

Maybe someone has a link to a write up for a step by step.

 

[souske]

Locktite stuff with unattached nuts
antisieze stuff with welded nuts

locktite minimizes corrosion by taking up the spave between the threads
antisieze the rear leaf main eye and shackle bolts
Blue locktite the trackbar bracket bolts, and replace the toplock nuts. 12x1.75 iirc. Double check yours

 

[crazymaci]

I just installed my first lift as well, i re used my bolts and just replaced the all the nuts with flat washer and nylocks, the main reason i didnt replace is because the bolts are used as shear, rather than supporting , basically the threads dont really take any stress and if the bolt is staight its good, if anything run the threads thru a die

 

[Headwithwings]

Thanks for the replies! I want to get started this weekend because i have a pass trip in three weeks. I was thinking that if I start soon i'll have more time to deal with any problems the lift might cause. (need for SYE, or that sort of thing)

I will do more reading on doing my own alignment. I was under the impression that you needed a alignment machine to do it right.

souske, What is going on with the track hoe in your sigg?

 

[lazyxj]

An alignment on a solid axle front end is not rocket science. You can do it in the drive way with a tape measure and an 20$ angle finder from you local hardware store. Do some research.
Adjust your toe and then your steering wheel collar.
When you do the control arms and trac bar.
Adjust trackbar
Adjust caster angle(angle finder)
Adjust toe(tape measure)
Drive and then adjust steer wheel collar

Maybe someone has a link to a write up for a step by step.

The old Go Jeep site has a ton of XJ information, more than an evening's worth of reading. Highly recommended.
http://jeep-xj.info/
See the alignment page. Marcus lives in Australia, so his XJ is an right hand drive model but the alignment methods are the same
http://jeep-xj.info/HowtoAlignment.htm

Adjust the toe-in, next the track bar and then the drag link (to center the steering wheel) and you should be close.
The caster will also change and should be taken care of soon. With an angle finder, it isn't rocket science. Be careful to have no more than one degree (preferably less) of angle in the front pinion u-joint after adjusting the caster, too much and you will develop front drive shaft vibes. The pinion joint angle is more important than the caster.

I have used an inexpensive digital angle finder from Sears for several years and find it easy for my old eyes to read.
http://www.sears.com/craftsman-digital-torpedo-level/p-00948295000P

 

[souske]

Believe it or not, a guy I used to work with managed to flop.one

 

[Headwithwings]

Started the lift install around nine yesterday morning. At six in the evening i had only the front end done and a busted finger to show for a days work! I had read lots of horror story's about stuck this and seized that but i guess i did not think it would be this bad!
the worst one was the frickn steering stabilizer end on the middle of the tie-rod!
BFH? nope.
1/2 impact? Nyet.
Torch? Nothing.
Ended up drilling out the middle, cuting off the ends and then using a long breaker bar and that got to bust loose! Unfortunately i was very frustrated at this point and not paying attention to were my hand was going to go when the bolt came loose. Right into the brake disk!