[gc1155]

(Scroll down for before and after pics - the after pic is a little dark. It was late when I finished. I sized the pictures so both shots are basically the same size and position. But the perspectives got a little messed up.)

I bought this '88 YJ from my brother-in-law who didn't really want to give it up. It had been parked for a while and he needed to get rid of it. After a well needed tune up, new vacuum lines and an EGR vavle it ran great!. Or at least well enough to drive from Pennsylvania to Texas to get it home.

You can see from the before pic that the stock suspension is in tired shape. Notice the rear leaf actually bends up to meet the axle. After trolling on the this forum for a while I decided to go with the 2" BDS box kit and 5/8" MORE shackes. The wheels and tires are a result of the fact that I'm pretty cheap, but it turned out looking nice. 15" Black Cragars and 31x10.50 Yokohama Geolander A/T's. The BDS kit and Shackles came from Bob Suplee in Oklahoma City. I'm in Fort Worth so he overnighted to my door and shipping was included in the quote he gave me.

A buddy of mine just bought a brake and muffler shop near by. So not only do I get steals on parts he lets me use his lift and airtools during off hours.

If you haven't done a BDS install then some of this won't make sense. But feel to ask questions if you're getting ready.

The BDS install took about 8 hours total, even with air tools. For the most part it went smooth with the exception of the inner spring eye bolts on both the front and the rear springs. The nuts came off fine but I beat on those bolts with a 5 pound sledge and they wouldn't budge. I ended up cutting the bolts flush with the spring mount, grinding them down, then prying the mount apart to drop the spring out. This probably added about 2 hours to the installation.

The front track bar relocation bracket was a sinch as was removing and installing the MORE shackles. The hardest part on the front aside from removing the old springs was relocating the break line mounting brackets. Not that it was real hard but cracking a 16 year old break line at 10pm on a Sunday would have completely ruined my night. I got it close enough to thread the nut and bolt through the adapter and drew it down from there. I was more comfortable with the steady slow pull on the line than me trying to yank that sucker another inch. If I had it to do over again I would add another hour to the installation and just buy longer soft brake lines and replace them. I would gladly sacrifice bleeding the break system out over stretching the existing hard lines.

The transfer case drop was pretty easy except those frame mount bolt holes were a little shady after all those years of Pennsylvania road salt. One mounting bolt was already broken flush, and one just spun and didn't come out. I ended up with two good mounts on each side, rather than the three. But I think it'll be ok.

The rear was basically the same only that the rear track bar relocation bracket was a little more difficult to install. It seems the BDS supplied bracket that is supposed to fit inside the original track bar mount is almost exactly the same width. I had to pry the original mount apart and hammer the BDS extension mount into place. Finally I had to use the supplied bolt to draw it in completely flush. Then it took a little more hammering to get the spacer bolt through. And that was it.

My only complaint is that the BDS kit didn't come with some hardware they assumed you would reuse. Normally this isn't a problem but if you're sawing off bolts don't expect to find replacements in the BDS box. Particularly shock mounting bolts and spring eye bolts. Luckily I was replacing the shackles at the same time and was able to use the old shackle bolts to replace the spring eye bolts I sheared off. It was late on Sunday, as you can see by the "after" pick, so going to the store for bolts was not an option.

I found out on the way home that my steering wheel is now rotated about 1/4 turn to the right. I suppose the suspension lift pulled the drag link over. A few turns on the drag link should fix it. I'm going to try and convince the guys at the alignment shop to do that before doing an alignment. I just don't feel like climbing under there for a while.

I get some vibration at idle, while not in gear. I'm pretty sure my transfer case mounts were bad to begin with, and the lift just made it worse. In gear and moving I don't get any vibrations. Compared to the old suspension and wheels the ride is pretty smooth.

I went with the 2" BDS lift and 31's because I didn't want to kill my 2.5l. But when I set the Jeep down for the first time I couldn't stop smiling. Compared to stock, it's huge! I had to go back and make sure it was actually the 2" BDS kit I installed.


Ok, here's some pics.
Parts:




Before:




After:




comments?

-gc1155

[bono426]

that lift makes your jeep look 10 times better! on a scale of 1-10 how would you rate this difficulty wise?
looks good
charlie

[gc1155]

Originally Posted by bono426

that lift makes your jeep look 10 times better! on a scale of 1-10 how would you rate this difficulty wise?
looks good
charlie

Thanks, I have to get a daytime picture and post it up.

Aside from being able to cut off the old springs (if the eye bolts are stuck) there's no special skill required other than turning a wrench. So I would say '6' only because it's a fairly long process that involves prying on things that are hard to get to, bloody knuckles and mild cussing. Having access to a lift and the right tools helped a ton.

-gc1155

[Macabre]

It looks awesome. Great work!

You might remember, you almost bought my 2" BDS about three months back. I still haven't got it installed yet. But writeups like this, and sentinal02's, will make it that much easier when the time comes. Thanks!

[phlex234]

ditch the rear trackbar and make the front disconnectable

[gc1155]

I've been reading up on the trackbar disconnect. But I don't know how much wheeling I'll be doing just yet so I'll probably hold off. I think I saw a quick disconnect kit but I don't remember if it was for the track bar or the anti-sway bar. So far the Jeep is just my weekend beater/grocery getter - but I'm working on that.

Thanks for the compliments.

[max3k]

Before pic looked like it was missing something.

Maybe something like this



I like your after much better...

Great Job!

[phlex234]

disconnecting swaybars is what your thinking of, but you can make one for front trackbar for like 5 bucks, the rear one you wont notice the difference. but i have BDS as well and your gonna love it, and its good you do this cuz it helps out peopel who are new, kudos to you

[gc1155]

Originally Posted by max3k

Before pic looked like it was missing something.

Maybe something like this

Ha! Rollin' on dubs! Where's the spinners man?

On a side note: Any reason why when I preview my post the before and after pics show up embedded (like yours). But when I actually go to the post in the forum they show up as links? I used the IMG tags.

[RAYMAN975]

...............

[gc1155]

Originally Posted by RAYMAN975

here you go

Thanks! I now enjoy having to climb into the Jeep rather than falling down into it.

So what did I do wrong with the images?
When I prevewed they showed up, but after I submitted they showed up as just links.

[phlex234]

hey rayman you need the 5/8 one to clear any military wrap

[Upstate Chili]

Looks GREAT How much lift did the 2" BDS give you?

[RAYMAN975]

....................

[JayJEEPguy]

Originally Posted by gc1155

Thanks! I now enjoy having to climb into the Jeep rather than falling down into it.

So what did I do wrong with the images?
When I prevewed they showed up, but after I submitted they showed up as just links.

You didn't do anything wrong. You just need to be here long enough, + a post count of over 50, I think.

Looks good.