Can anybody help/guide me throught the 2" daystar lift install on the WK

**compcrasher86** · 02-10-2010, 04:16 PM

I'm looking for information on installing the 2" daystar lift on an 05 WK limited. My friend just bought this kit and I am helping him install it but it seems much more complicated than doing one on my XJ.

Does anybody have any tips/pointers or any steps we should pay special attention to in the process? We're going to follow the instructions that came with the Daystar but to be honest they really suck and theres a real lack of pictures along the way. We invested in a dual rod style coil spring compressor (it compresses from the outside) because we were told we would need one. What else do we need?

**compcrasher86** · 02-11-2010, 02:12 PM

Bumpity bump. Does anybody have any experience with this lift, I'm shocked?

**BonesWK** · 02-11-2010, 02:14 PM

you probably need some air tools.. ball joint puller.. and a lot of time. the front it a PITA to do.

Took me and two other friends about 5-6 hours to do it.

WSPJeep · 02-11-2010, 03:55 PM

Look up some instructions on Rough Country's website or any 2" lift provider as they are all the pretty much the same.

**compcrasher86** · 02-11-2010, 04:46 PM

uh-oh... ball joint puller. Not liking the sound of that, whats involved there? I hope we wont need air tools. This thing is from texas and theres not a spot of rust anywhere so we don't have any seized bolts to deal with

555ctsv · 02-11-2010, 06:30 PM

I paid to have mine installed. Forget how much, i think $150? I planned to do it myself until i tried reading the instructions. I agree they are crap. Just save up for another week or two and pay a shop. You'll need an alignment afterward anyway

**compcrasher86** · 02-11-2010, 06:46 PM

yeah we're looking for shops around here but we can't find a darn shop in MA that will install the lift for us. We're trying to time it perfectly because he bought a set of BFG AT 265x70x17 and those are getting mounted up right after the lift and the tire install comes with allignment, etc

**compcrasher86** · 02-11-2010, 07:16 PM

The rough country instructions are really useful but they just use bracket spacers. I'm going to need to remove the strut assembly and throw the new front spacer and isolator into that... so I'm supposed to get the whole assembly out first and THEN use the coil spring compressor. Sounds much safer to me

555ctsv · 02-11-2010, 09:46 PM

Well good luck with it man. It seems like it'd be fairly easy but those instructions overwhelmed me. Looking at it installed it sure doesnt look like much. Hopefully you'll find a place to do it fairly cheap.

**compcrasher86** · 02-15-2010, 07:05 PM

We just gave it a shot by ouselves and... well... we hit a wall. The bolts were such a breeze because we had a 1/2" breaker bar and absolutely no rust whatsoever (thank you texas) so I was able to loosen them with only one arm on the breaker bar and a little tug. So we got the strut assembly out (the ball joint gave us a ton of trouble because we had already trimmed "the bolt" and had one of those, "ohhhhh thats what it was for" kind of moments. Vice grips were our friends for that. Anyways... getting the strut out was annoying cause the fork had to be hammered off. Then thats when we hit a wall. Even with an OEM brand spring compressor kit we couldn't compress the springs near enough to get the top bolt off. So we said to ourselves... what the hell are we doing with a high powered "missile" so to speak that was capable of holding up a hemi engine and a ton of other weight, trying to use a spring compressor meant for honda civic owners. So we gave up, unwound and put all back together.

In driving around, all of the local shops kept telling us they couldn't do it. Pepboys, although they would be happy to replace the struts, would not put the coil spacers in (ughhh same process) and so low and behold, the meineke guy had a smile on his face and said "hell, I'll do it for ya, as long as you got tha right parts" So thats an option... and then we also found a nice local garage here in town. The guy in town knew exactly what we wanted when he saw the daystar box. He says he's used to working on CJs and wranglers but would be more than happy to tackle a WK. I showed my preference to the in town guy because he seemed like he knew what he was talking about... however, my friends appointment for tires is tomorrow and he doesn't want to wait more than a couple days to get this lift on

so he's looking towards meineke because the local guy is booked till wednesday at the earliest

**BonesWK** · 02-16-2010, 07:32 AM

why not just wait on the tires, get the lift done by the guy who knows what he is doing... whats the rush n the tires? are they charging him to hold them?

We used a spring compressor for my install, but we used an air gun to compress it, that could be your issue.

555ctsv · 02-16-2010, 08:05 AM

Where did you have the jack placed when compressing the spring? What it on the frame/body lift point or on the swing arm? Just making sure the wheel was dropped all the way before you started compressing.

**compcrasher86** · 02-16-2010, 07:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BonesWK

why not just wait on the tires, get the lift done by the guy who knows what he is doing... whats the rush n the tires? are they charging him to hold them?

We used a spring compressor for my install, but we used an air gun to compress it, that could be your issue.

I didn't like the meineke guys one bit so we had a talk and we've come to conclusion the local guy is the way to go. Also the fact that the meineke guy said "I'll do it but I won't put a gurantee on my work cause I don't know the parts you're using, and if it don't fit you still gotta pay me" made me kinda nervous Made an appointment monday with the local guy and we called the tire place (town fair). They were real nice about moving the appointment and told us to just call them once the lift was ready and they won't sell off the tires until they hear from us

Quote:

Originally Posted by 555ctsv

Where did you have the jack placed when compressing the spring? What it on the frame/body lift point or on the swing arm? Just making sure the wheel was dropped all the way before you started compressing.

We actually took the whole strut assembly out of the Jeep beforehand because this seemed like the most logical and reasonable way of doing it (that and all the instructions said too) and worked on it in the basement.

To do that we supported the LCA body mount with a jack stand so that the tire was ever so slightly off the ground and took off tire. Then we unbolted sway bar and loosened the top 4 strut mounting bolts on each side by moving aside the power center and the coolant bottle under the hood. Then undid "the bolt" and tapped the steering knuckle with hammer to let the ball joint stud pop out and tied the steering knuckle up to the spindle (u shaped ball joint arm thing) undid strut bottom mounting bolt and the fork bolt holding it to the shock absorber. tapped fork off with a hammer and undid strut assembly top bolts and finnessed it out.

The spring was still way way way to heavy duty though and we dared not hurt ourselves once we realized it. Especially since everybody we've talked to tells us a drastic story about one of these things snapping and somebody getting pegged in the gut, springs shootin through the roof, etc