Need your advice on front suspension issue

[kjkotlar]

After getting some good advice from the members of this forum on what parts to purchase to lift my 03 KJ I have bought all the bits and started the work. The rear end went very smooth but I'm running into a problem with the front end that I hope someone can help me with. I'm using OME springs and Bilstein struts, got the spring loaded on the strut no problem, but when I go to install them I'm having a tough time getting everything to fit. I've got the strut attached on top, not quite tight but it won't drop down and I've got the fork that goes on the bottom of the strut in place but I'm not able to get the bottom of the fork up high enough to insert the mounting bolt that goes through the fork and the lower control arm. As you can see in the attached picture, the fork is about 2 1/2 inches below the mounting point. I've tried several ways of using leverage to try to lift the strut assembly with no luck. My last attempt was to try lifting the fork with a bottle jack in hopes that it would compress the spring and strut, but that just started to lift the whole car off the jack stand on that side. Do I need to use a spring compressor to be able to compress the strut enough to get the fork in place? I don't have one but can rent one if needed (I used a couple of pipe clamps to load the spring on the strut but there's not enough room to use that method with the strut in place. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[duderz7]

If you have the knuckle removed it will give more room to work. I find it easiest to on put 1 or 2 nuts on top (just a few threads) of shock so it's very loose, I'm talking floppy. Then also loosen top of fork so it can turn a bit if needed. Now push your lca down and line it up. Reassemble everything just until contact is made, but don't torque until jeep is back on the ground and you've bounced it a bit to settle suspension. Final step is to loosen lca cam bolts enough to let bushings reset as they will be at a new angle. It'll need an alignment anyway, but try to keep cams as close to original position as you can, you can premark with paint or marker.Some talk about using ratchet straps to pull lower shock inward, but I've never had to using above method.

 

[Gyro]

I used ratchet straps to pull it into place.
The fork legs have a lip on the inside top to help align and hold in place for bolt to be inserted.

Gyro

 

[Fnawesomeinc]

After getting some good advice from the members of this forum on what parts to purchase to lift my 03 KJ I have bought all the bits and started the work. The rear end went very smooth but I'm running into a problem with the front end that I hope someone can help me with. I'm using OME springs and Bilstein struts, got the spring loaded on the strut no problem, but when I go to install them I'm having a tough time getting everything to fit. I've got the strut attached on top, not quite tight but it won't drop down and I've got the fork that goes on the bottom of the strut in place but I'm not able to get the bottom of the fork up high enough to insert the mounting bolt that goes through the fork and the lower control arm. As you can see in the attached picture, the fork is about 2 1/2 inches below the mounting point. I've tried several ways of using leverage to try to lift the strut assembly with no luck. My last attempt was to try lifting the fork with a bottle jack in hopes that it would compress the spring and strut, but that just started to lift the whole car off the jack stand on that side. Do I need to use a spring compressor to be able to compress the strut enough to get the fork in place? I don't have one but can rent one if needed (I used a couple of pipe clamps to load the spring on the strut but there's not enough room to use that method with the strut in place. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

When I did mine I installed the fork to the control arm first. I then tipped the top of fork and bottom of shock towards the knuckle, put the shock into the fork as much as possible. At this point they will be at an angle to each other, kinda like your leg bending at your knee. With this picture in your mind ,think of it as straightening your leg by someone pushing on your kneecap. Push the shock/fork combo back towards the engine. Should slide right together.

 

[kjkotlar]

Thanks to all for your suggestions. I'll continue to work at it and give all of your suggestions a try. Hopefully the suspension gods will smile on me.

 

[tommudd]

Everyone I have done I use ratchet straps to pull the clevis in
make it way easy and no sweat
attach one to each leg and tighten easy peasy

Plus you are making it harder on yourself not taking the knuckle loose or the tie rods or sway bar, youre working against everything else in the front suspension

 

[kjkotlar]

Thanks Tom, I figured out the tie rod and sway bar part yesterday, it was one of those DOH! moments. Things moved along much easier after that. My Dad always said I had to do things the hard way before I'd learn, I guess he was right.