Need help on finishing lifting project.

[kevin]

hi guys,

I got my lift installed. kind of at least. My friend works at a car shop which has one of those car jacks that lift the car 5 feet in the air, and he hooked us up with garage time yesterday from 5pm to 4am.(yeah i got 2 hours of sleep before school) we completed the lower control arms, relocated both front and rear track bars, slipped in the coils and front bump stops. We tried to drop the t-case but we had troubles. We called one of our friends and he said to jack the transmission up just anough to suport it then un-bolt the 4 nuts on the bottom of the t-case skid. (to disconect the t-case from the t-case skid i guess) Once the 4 nuts are removed you can unbolt the 6 bolts holding on to the t-case skid then slip in the t-case drop braket deal. Does this sound right? And , has anyone put in a engine mount spacer? Its part of my t-case drop kit that came with the superlift 4 inch package.

-oh , has anyone had any problems with removing the stock rear shocks. WE broke one of the bolts tring to remove the shock bolts. The bolts are on really tight and there seems to be no space to spray pb blaster on.

Any info or people who have done this before will be much apprieted.

ps i had to drive home this morning (4 o'clock am) with no shocks and no sway bars. I am glad it was in the middle of the night because i only could go 20mph set up like that. Very scary feeling like your going to tip over going 5mph.

Kbo /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif

[Dave Taylor]

I would suggest getting your rear swaybar re-connected; and getting shocks back on it so you can drive it realistically....then see if it has bad vibes or not before assuming you need to drop the t-case.

Before I installed my new Ford CrownVic springs which brought me up to about 6 inches total lift, I had about a 4 inch lift in the rear; and didn't need to do a T-Case drop....each Jeep is different; and depending on how long your rear-driveshaft is; and what the angle is; you might not need to do a t-case drop.

If it were me, I would get everything else in place first; then see how it drives then before going down the t-case drop road. Good luck in finishing up. And remember, for about $25 bucks; you can add another 1" body lift in about 2 hours time...real easy to do.

Dave 'Ford Jeeper aka GPW wannabe' Taylor

(HHHhhhmmm.....Ford Springs, Ford Axleshafts, Ford Disc Brakes, Ford Axle Housing, Ford 3rd Member, etc....kinda sounds like my Jeep is trying to get back to the old WWII GPW days when Ford used to make Jeeps)

[Fred]

$25! I Want that BL! Mine was like $65.
You did just hockey pucks right? I bought an actual BL it came with the radiator drop brackets, T-Case ****er relocater, and the little bump stops that go under the front of the jeep. The only thing I changed was I trashed the grade 5 bolts it came with and bought grade 8!

[Dave Taylor]

All you needed to do it was eleven longer bolts and eleven 99c polyurethane hockey pucks.

No need for drop-brackets....you just re-drill 4 holes in the shroud 1 inch from the old holes.

Depending on the price of bolts; or if you already have the bolts you need; you could do it for under $15 tax included.

[kevin]

sweet, so the front and rear shocks are not coming off. I have been having the hardest time ever with the shock shocks. Is there a trick to getting the front shocks off?
Oh and i have to call quadratec because they didn't send me the bolts for the rear bump stop extention and they didn;t send the nuts and bolts for the sway bars. This lift is giving me he11. Hopefully i will have it up and driving smoothly by the begining of next week.

oh, my steering wheel is turned almost upside down when tring to drive strait. Any quick fixes for that.


kbo

[Paul E]

http://www.4x4xplor.com/alignment.html has a write up on this. Easy fix.

[Fred]

Just take it to an allighnment shop, you'll need to get it allighned anyway!

[gmbtj]

/\ /\
Ditto on what fredrick said.

[kevin]

i know i need to get everything a-lined asap but i can drive anywhere untill i get some sway bars installed, shocks, and i still need to figure out how to drop the t-case.


kbo

[mawardjr]

To drop the tcase skid...
1)support tranny with jack or jack stand
2)remove 4 bolts in center of skid (these connect the tcase to the plate)
3)support skid with jack if you don't have someone else with you
4)remove 6 bolts holding skid to frame
5)lower skid from vehicle
6)install spacers from the tcase drop kit.

[Don]

Is Kevin just trying to install pucks between the TC skid and frame? This is how my TC lowering kit worked. Has something changed from 1998 TJ to an 2003? All I had to do was use a floor jack under TC skid, loosen (not remove) three bolts on each side, then lower floor jack and one at a time, remove bolt, install puck, then restart bolt.... once all six were installed, simply raise floor jack and tighen all six bolts. There was no need to completely remove the TC skid. Am I missing something here? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif

[Fred]

Scrap the TCase drop and get a 1" Motor Mount lift, supposeadly does the same?

[mawardjr]

No Don, your not missing anything.

Just have to be careful with that method if your jack isn't the smoothest one around. Without knowing how his tools work I felt it better to recommend supporting the tranny before trying to manipulate the skid.

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

[Don]

Okay... the IMPORTANT part is not to remove more than one bolt at a time.... you loosen all six, which allows TC to droop enough to install spacers, but yet it keeps everything safe and it keeps everything aligned up properly. I agree with ya,, last thing you want it Tranny to fall on you.... ouch.

[Don]

[ QUOTE ]
Scrap the TCase drop and get a 1" Motor Mount lift, supposeadly does the same?

[/ QUOTE ]

Some Jeepers get by with neither, others need one, or the other, and some need both.... I guess it all depends upon the individual Jeep.

[kevin]

ok i finaly figuered out what was going wrong with the t-case drop. We where following superlifts and you guys's directions but the only thing is those directions were for using floor jacks. I had access to a car lift that would jack the jeep 5+ feet off the ground. What was going wrong with dropping the t-case was when we removed the t-case skid(while supporting the transmittion with a trany jack) the t-case wouldnt drop. Well the probelm was the suspention was drooped and the driveshafts were in a bind. So we removed the front and rear drive shafts and from there we dropped the t-case with no problem,, well kind of. Whe broke the u-joint on the front drive shaft(i am going to ring and pinon warehouse in franklen to get a new one for cheap) and the t-case wount shift into 4wd-low. WE put in the relocator bracket deal for the shifter like the directions said. It will shift into 2wd, 4wd, neutral, but not 4wd-low. is the lack of a front drive shaft have someting to do with that?

If everyting goes good my jeep will be street drivable this saturday. I still need to pick up a tap and die deal to remove two bolts were the heads broke off. (the bolts that hold the rear shocks to the frame) and i am gonging to reconect my rear sway bar. But i have say i have been driving the jeep around town alot ever since i got everything a-lined and i handles quiet well and doesnt feel tippy even though it has been lifted 5 inche, still lacks rear shcoks and sway bar, and front sway bar. I even got it going 55 and it was stable anough to were i wasnt fearing for my life. Probily not the satest thing in the world but once everything is put on i wouldnt be surprized if the jeep will handle better than stock(

thanks

kbo