80Flareside
New Member
I bought the OME 1.5" springs (927 / 948) and shocks and UCA's from JBA a few months ago, along with some Mickey Thompson Baja STZ's in 245/75-R16, and finally got around to installing them over the last couple of days.
I live in CT, and with the new liquid calcium chloride they salt the state roads here with, there is a decent amount of rust on anything the factory didnt paint over (note to self, replace brake hoses before winter as the ends are rusting away to nothing). Being nervous about breaking a bolt, I sprayed everything with PB blaster several times over the last 2 weeks. Even with that, there were a couple nuts that the impact gun had to sit on for 15-20 seconds before anything would start to move.
From start to finish (tires off to tires on), it took me 6 hrs to do the fronts (4 for the drivers side, 2 for the passenger), including using a spring compressor to assemble the struts. (Next time, I will buy new top plates, and isolators so I can have a shop do it with a press.) The rears took me about 2 hours, again having to use the compressor to get the springs between the axle and body.
Prior to starting I was a 18 1/2" (-1") front and rear. With the new springs I am now sitting at 23" in front (+3 1/2) and 22" (+2 1/2) in the rear, which goes a long way in leveling the Jeep out.
The alignment after the lift was so bad (positive camber, toe-in), that I could smell the rubber burning after a 2 mile test drive. I had a local shop do the alignment, and mount the 5 new tires yesterday afternoon, and aside from having to torch my tie-rods they were able to get everything into spec (and the rear glass still clears the spare - by 1/8").
I drove 30 miles into work this morning, half surface roads, half interstate, and it rides beautifully. There is a bit of noise coming from the front left when going over bumps, but im cautiously optimistic that its something I either never paid attention to before, or that it will dissipate as everything settles in.
I live in CT, and with the new liquid calcium chloride they salt the state roads here with, there is a decent amount of rust on anything the factory didnt paint over (note to self, replace brake hoses before winter as the ends are rusting away to nothing). Being nervous about breaking a bolt, I sprayed everything with PB blaster several times over the last 2 weeks. Even with that, there were a couple nuts that the impact gun had to sit on for 15-20 seconds before anything would start to move.
From start to finish (tires off to tires on), it took me 6 hrs to do the fronts (4 for the drivers side, 2 for the passenger), including using a spring compressor to assemble the struts. (Next time, I will buy new top plates, and isolators so I can have a shop do it with a press.) The rears took me about 2 hours, again having to use the compressor to get the springs between the axle and body.
Prior to starting I was a 18 1/2" (-1") front and rear. With the new springs I am now sitting at 23" in front (+3 1/2) and 22" (+2 1/2) in the rear, which goes a long way in leveling the Jeep out.
The alignment after the lift was so bad (positive camber, toe-in), that I could smell the rubber burning after a 2 mile test drive. I had a local shop do the alignment, and mount the 5 new tires yesterday afternoon, and aside from having to torch my tie-rods they were able to get everything into spec (and the rear glass still clears the spare - by 1/8").
I drove 30 miles into work this morning, half surface roads, half interstate, and it rides beautifully. There is a bit of noise coming from the front left when going over bumps, but im cautiously optimistic that its something I either never paid attention to before, or that it will dissipate as everything settles in.
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