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IRO ZJ Front Long Arm Install ( Step by Step Pics )

27K views 64 replies 23 participants last post by  YJMCBoy 
#1 ·
Ok so i got some time today to put my HP30 back in the front and put the IRO long arms on at the same time.

First i pulled off my stock control arms.... heres a picture for everyone to see what driving on stock control arms at 4.5" lift for a year will do. you can see how bent up they are from where they contact the axle...im lucky they didnt cave in on me completely.



Next i took off my KevinsOffroad.com Crossmember + TC Skid ( which is for sale.. pm me if interested ) so i could install the new IRO crossmember.



Below are pictures of where the holes for the crossmember need to be drilled... its extremely easy to drill since there is a lip that the bolts/nuts go through....you dont have to fish a nutplate into the unibody ( the rear has a nutplate )







the outer 2 holes are the stock crossmember mounting holes and the 4 other ones are the ones that need drilled



Next we bolted the crossmember on and connected the transmission mount to it.

Connected the LA's to the axle.....then connected them to the IRO crossmember







 
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#2 ·


The install went extremely smooth untill the end...where we ran into a few things that i wanted to make everyone aware of.
- I was at 4.5" of lift and my front driveshaft worked just fine...now that the axle is pushed further forward... my front driveshaft is about 2 7/8" too short. YOU WILL NEED A NEW FRONT DRIVESHAFT for the front long arms... i havnt ordered the rears yet so i dont know about the rear... i would guess that you would need one for the rear as well

- second... stock steering = the suck when it comes to this kit. I called IRO and they said they have ran into this problem before. Where the drag link and tie rod connect to one another was hitting the sway bar mount and the Steering Stabalizer (mount and shock ) when the wheel was turned fully left (SS) or fully right (sway)



The solution.... ( as recommended by IRO ) was the put a ~5 degree bend in the drag link. So we did so and now all is well



Overall im very satisfied with the kit... i havnt gotten a chance to flex it out yet cause ive been too busy with work and school but that will come soon along with pictures of it

I plan on ordering the rear long arms with my tax return and at the same time move up to 6.5" of lift instead of 4.5"
 
#8 ·
I dont know if the steering is a problem with all lift heights/axles/ZJs etc but IRO said that there OVK steering system works without problems with this kit
http://www.ironrockoffroad.com/Merc...=IROR&Product_Code=IR-TOTKS&Category_Code=ZST

Heres some up to date pictures of the ZJ ( Hanson Offroad front bumper is still off to get fixxed...might just be replaced with a tube bumper to match the rear that is gonna be built for it )













 
#15 ·
Lookin' great Matt! Sorry couldn't help out at all -- had to work. Be interesting to see how the rear axle lines up (will it be pushed back?) once the rear LA's go in.

Good work, now let's get it out on some trails and test it out!
 
#21 ·
thanks for all of the comments people. I work all day tomorrow (12-9) but im going to try to get some flexxy mall crawlin shots before work so i can post them up... i really wanna flex it out and see what it can do.

maybe ill just take some wood from the side of my house and make a little "tree stump ramp" to flex out on haha
 
#24 ·
oh yeah... ive driven it over a few roads that i dreaded driving on back when i had stock arms ( i would go alternate routes to avoid them ) and it was amazing... i felt them a little bit due to the rear end being stock arms still but overall it was night and day difference
 
#25 ·
Good to hear it drives so well, especially since the toe in is probably pretty far off now after we tweaked that draglink. I'm curious what the caster will end up being now too, post up the alignment spec's once you have them!
 
#32 ·
haha i was just worried my exhaust would scrape and get jacked up... didnt wanna mess up my shiny magnaflow tip :)

i found a good loading dock to mall crawl on today though so im going back later to take some pics all flexxed out ( there was a truck there earlier loading stuff into the store so i couldnt use it )
 
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