what to buy first

[Swamprat]

yup. im tempted to pick up set of deaver springs and coils, used of course. chop the coils and build a bastard pack using deaver and XJ leaves. but that will come with time, for now im slowly growing my jeep using miracle grow

 

[MaxxXJ]

i know the feeling, i've so far bought all of my lift off my friend, he wanted 6.5" and long arm so i bought his RE 4.5" coils adjustable track bar and LCA's off him for a 100 bucks, his extended brake lines cuz he needed longer and i was going to buy his RE leafs for a 100 but now he wants to keep them so i need to either buy a new leaf pack or do a bastard pack and buy some new shocks cuz my old lift only had 3" shocks

 

[Swamprat]

im hopeing cause my jeep is rather unmolested that i wont have any problems, and can slap my BB in with in an hour or two

 

[MaxxXJ]

unmolested but rust free? coils up front shouldnt be an issue, took me about an hour with a buddy, just remember to take loose your brake lines from the fender well and although you dont have to, i'd suggest taking loose your track bar to make things easier. but the rear leaf eyes are kinda scary to think about if you break the bolt loose from the weld nut. rear shocks are not a problem, ive had to break loose and punch mine out to replace mine. im getting used to have to do everything the hard way. so i expect to break my rear leaf bolt on the front eye when i do my leafs. i actually expected to have to break my LCA bolts too but they came out with no problem.

good luck with your lift though

 

[Swamprat]

ok so i had some molesting to do to my XJ. i ditched the leather some some seats i cant actually sit in. and well that was about it. as far as installing my little lift, it shouldn't be a problem. all i need is a floor jack and im golden. but i do think im going to advanced and picking up some 70's chevy p/u brake lines though, and renting a coil compressor. i dont think i have enough lift to just unblot stuff and the coils fall out anymore. lol

 

[MaxxXJ]

i went outside to do the dirty method of measuring my lift height, and i got 3.5 one way and 4" another... so yeah, i'll be shafting this lift when i can afford a new one. hence the bastard pack so i wont be out a bunch of money.

 

[Darky]

Don't do the coil compressors. You won't use them. Just jack the front end up by the "frame" and take off your tires. Jack one side of the axle up and if necessary push down on the other side. Remove coil, do what you gotta do and put it back together. I've used that method on stock coils with stock control arms, same with 3"spacers, RE 4.5" coils with stock control arms no spacers, 4.5s with 1.5" spacer and RE fixed LCA, and then most recently long arms and 5.5" coils. This time I tried the compressor, didn't work, so I went back to my old style.

At the very least, make sure they give you the external compressors if you do em. AZ just asks if it's coils or struts then give you the external compressors for the coil.

 

[Swamprat]

i've never used coil compressors before thats kinda the awesome thing about LAs is that you just jack it up and drop the axle. unless you have hellasious droop. anywho i'm planning on doing my whole lift plus JK shocks in a couple hours. i've been soaking all the bolts with WD40 for a good couple of days.

 

[MaxxXJ]

Don't do the coil compressors. You won't use them. Just jack the front end up by the "frame" and take off your tires. Jack one side of the axle up and if necessary push down on the other side. Remove coil, do what you gotta do and put it back together. I've used that method on stock coils with stock control arms, same with 3"spacers, RE 4.5" coils with stock control arms no spacers, 4.5s with 1.5" spacer and RE fixed LCA, and then most recently long arms and 5.5" coils. This time I tried the compressor, didn't work, so I went back to my old style.

At the very least, make sure they give you the external compressors if you do em. AZ just asks if it's coils or struts then give you the external compressors for the coil.

dont forget to unbolt the brake lines from the firewall =) i made that mistake and they limited my droop alot. i actually had a buddy standing on the disc while we forced my 2" lift coils into the pocket... later i thought about my brake lines limiting my flex, i now have 3" longer lines so that wont be a problem anymore lol

 

[Darky]

I never used compressors before with stock arms or short arms either. The long arms are nice though.

 

[Darky]

dont forget to unbolt the brake lines from the firewall =) i made that mistake and they limited my droop alot. i actually had a buddy standing on the disc while we forced my 2" lift coils into the pocket... later i thought about my brake lines limiting my flex, i now have 3" longer lines so that wont be a problem anymore lol

And you can actually unbolt them, straighten the hard part and remount them lower. Kind of a free line "extension" if you aren't too big yet. That's what I did at 3". The RE kit came with longer SS lines. Now, with the mount still relocated lower and the longer line I can't over extend my lines, unless I take the shocks off.

 

[Swamprat]

yea i had plans to relocated my brakelines, later on once my jeep actually grows some. im getting stainless steel lines, probably from rusty's.

 

[Swamprat]

i got my coil spacers in. couldnt do the rear do to missing tools, i assume i left them in my old XJ when i sold it.