How To Install A Lift *Many Pics*

[XJK]

How To Install A Lift On An XJ

Hey guys, when I decided to do my lift I also decided that I should make a “How To” write up for installing a lift. I don’t think that I have ever seen something like this before and I figured it would be a good edition to my “Every XJ Lift” thread. Once again it probably won’t be perfect the first time so please correct any errors that I may have to make this write up as good as possible. Thanks for your time, Enjoy!!!

~ ~ ~

Well to start off I have included a couple of pics of what my rig started off looking like so we could get a good comparison to its end results.
Before


Front Height (From Center Wheel)


Rear Height (From Center Wheel)


As you can see I had a lot of sagging in the back which I was more then happy to get rid of.


The Front
We started off with the front of the Jeep because it was deemed the “harder” of the two, so why not get it done first.
1. We jacked up the jeep and used two jack stands under both sides of the unibody.


2. Remove the tires and put two additional jackstands on there lowest settings on either side of the front tube.

3. We went to the removing the previous swaybar so we could get as much droop as we could out of the axle. But right in the beginning we encountered a bolt breaking but we didn’t really need the full length because of the gen2 disconnects, they don’t use the full bolt, infact they give you an extra (which we decided not to use and save for a rainy day)


After that I thought of the great idea of just cutting the bolt to get the sway bar off instead of breaking it again. So we used an angle grinder to just cut the bolt off on the closest side to the nut and it worked like a charm.
*Important* if you decide to do this be very careful for your tie rod because it is very close.

[XJK]

Pic of the old sway bar/bolts after they have been cut up.

4. We used a Dremel grinder tool to smooth out the ends of the cut/broken bolts to make sure that the sway bar end link would screw in there just right.

5. Dismantle your steering, there are two castle nuts/cotter pins holding it up, one at the drag link and one at the trac bar. Remove both, then using a pickle fork take the bolt out of the holes.


6. You need to unscrew the lower shock mount bolts, and the upper shock mount bolt to remove the shocks.
Removing the Lower shock mount bolts


When they are removed


7. Now that your shocks are removed your front end should look something like this.


8. Its time for the LCA’s, first you need to remove the stock LCA’s then you need to replace it with the new ones. In my case I got the RE Superflex LCA’s which have a Johnny joint in the front and a rubber bushing the in rear. MAKE SURE that the rubber side goes towards the back of the car.
*TIP* if you are having trouble lining up the holes and the axle needs to be pushed away from the car then you can use your jeep jack to put in between the LCA mount and the axle tube itself for leverage.
Something like this, sorry about the darkness but if you look hard you can see what we did.


9. You need to install the LCA’s like so


10. Put a jack right by where you have your jackstand on the tube closest to you so you can remove the jack and lower the jack enough so you can remove the coil spring. Once the tension is off of the coil then you can remove the coil retainer and then fully remove the coil spring.
*Note* when you lower the axle tube enough to remove the coil spring watch your breakline to ensure that you don’t over extend it.

[XJK]

11. Then your going to need to drill a hole where your Bumpstops are going to go, once drilled and tapped put the bumpstop inside of the coil then slip the coil on and screw in the bumpstop while the coil is still on.
*Note* I did this all without a spring compressor.


12. That is how you complete the front and you repeat the same instructions for the other side. Here is the finished product.
Driver Side


Passenger Side


All of the front done



The Back
1. Put jack stands on the unibody near the back, then take the tires off and put jackstands on there lowest setting on either side of the axle tube.


2. Take the rear swaybar off by taking the bolts off of the undercarriage itself and on top of the u-bolts.


3. Its time to remove the rear break line and replace it with the new one that RE provides, first you need to remove the left/right rear breaklines from the center T-Module.


4. Unscrew the t-module from the top air hose


5. At the top of the rear breakline you will need to remove a plate that is holding the breakline on, once the plate is removed then the breakline comes out easily. Follow the same instructions to install the new breakline that RE provides.


6. Remove the shocks, there is two upper screws holding the top up and one at the lower shock mount.
*Note* Be careful with rear lower shock mount because they are known for breaking.

7. Put the jack under the pumpkin, lift, then remove the jackstands, then lower so there is no tension from the rear leafs.

[XJK]

8. Remove the u bolts, they will be replaced with new ones that RE sends you.

9. Remove the front and rear leaf mounts in order to get the leaf springs off.
Front


Rear


We encountered a couple of problems here.
One, We had to bend that lip you see in this picture in order to get the bolt out, but it bent right back.


Two, the rear bolts were facing my hitch and the bolt was too long to pull out so the options were to remove the hitch or remove the shackle. We decided on the removal of the shackle.

10. Remove the rear leafs (pretty self explanatory)


11. Drill a 5/8 hole on the spring perch because the RE center pins are bigger then the OEM ones.

12. Install the rear leafs, Put the front leaf mount on first, then hand tighten the U-Bolts, then do the rear leaf bolt. We thought this would end up being the easiest and it wasn’t that bad.
Somewhat finished


13. Install the rear shocks, not very difficult just put them on the same way you took them off


14. Put tires back on and make sure that every bolt is tight, then triple check your work. BE SURE TO BLEED THE BREAKLINES BEFORE DRIVING.

15. Congratulations your done!!!

Thank you all for reading this and please correct any mistakes that I may have included, and be sure to post suggestions. I would also like to thank my cousin Matt and Sharpie for helping me with this lift i couldnt have done it without them.
-Kyle

[Snacks]

Great job! I think this could be made a sticky.

[XJLI]

Great write-up! Nice to live in Cali and only break one bolt. I think almost every bolt on my XJ broke when I did the lift.

[WMW0505]

didnt break any of the rear upper shock bolts? and if you didn't, i hope you didnt put any of those bolts back up there

[Arcticcat843]

Wow you make alot of great writeups, you must have alot of extra time on your hands

[Snacks]

Originally Posted by WMW0505

didnt break any of the rear upper shock bolts? and if you didn't, i hope you didnt put any of those bolts back up there

I broke one of those, those suck.

[WMW0505]

Originally Posted by snacks2181

I broke one of those, those suck.

We broke all 4 of them on my bros 97' last weekend...and that was with 2 weeks of PB Blaster

Best solution i found was air hammer the weld nuts out and fish the new bolts back though with some wire.

[Arcticcat843]

Whatever you do dont drill a hole up all the way though the floor and use a big long bolt and a huge washer, it will just make problems later. Trust me

Oh and these were in my pre-jeepforum days

[WMW0505]

Originally Posted by Arcticcat843

Whatever you do dont drill a hole up all the way though the floor and use a big long bolt and a huge washer, it will just make problems later. Trust me

Oh and these were in my pre-jeepforum days

same here...i'm going to do mine right this weekend...what problems did it cause you? Mine have been like his for a little less than a year...those were my pre-forum days as well. I, believe it or not, did the whole lift myself...w/o the forum...who knew?

[XJK]

hey guys thanks for all of your posative responses its much appreciated. i dont really have "alot" of time on my hands, im a student who works 30 hours a week, has a girlfriend, and all of the rest of my time goes into my jeep, JF is part of my time that goes into my jeep . and i do these writeups because JF has taught me an incredible amount on my jeep and has saved me tons of money because i dont hve to take my jeep to the shop when i need something worked on. i just d it myself

o and FYI i did reuse my upper shock bolts because i inspected them and they were still in perfect condition, but i did but anti sieze on nearly all of the bolts that i reused on my jeep.

-kyle

[Dassc612]

This is a great write up, great pics too... congrats on the lift, love the way it came out.

[WMW0505]

i would consider myself lucky to not break any of them...and replace them with either Stainless Steel or Grade 8...but thats just me i guess.


Whens the new Rubber gettin put on?