Suspension assembly

[MarksmanAkula]

I'm looking at getting the frankelinft from http://www.boulderbars.com/frankenlift.htm.

But I see they have an already assembled version for around $1,300, and an unassembled version for around $1,000.

My question is how hard is it to assemble front struts and springs? I've never had to deal with front or rear suspension before really. More of just seeing if the extra $300 is worth the assembly.

 

[sleazy rider]

A royal pain. It takes special tools and is highly dangerous if a spring slips out of the compressor. I’d call it worth the extra to have them shipped assembled.

 

[tommudd]

EASY
just take it to a shop and have them compress them,
You can not use most spring compressors due to tight coils
You do realize that you will get right at 3.75-4 inches of lift due to the way they use a spacer with 927 OME springs
They will come down some but takes a while and a lot of twisting them up and getting them to settle in
I've seen OME 790s come loose out of a commercial spring compressor fly 20 foot and take a nice chuck out of a concrete block
But yes take them to a shop and think about how much lift you want, plus would need JBA UCAs at that height
By the way takes 10 minutes to swap out two springs if they know what they are doing, only special tool is the spring compressor

 

[tommudd]

A royal pain. It takes special tools and is highly dangerous if a spring slips out of the compressor. I’d call it worth the extra to have them shipped assembled.

Have to disagree with this one
Never had any issues getting springs compressed for 25-30 bucks ( for both sides
had a great shop that did about 50 sets for me before I moved , then they also did the alignments after wards and all for under a 100-120, so much cheaper than 300

 

[sleazy rider]

You’re lucky, no one around here I’d trust. I could take them down to my old vocational college and do mine. It’s 2 hours round trip.

 

[tommudd]

You’re lucky, no one around here I’d trust. I could take them down to my old vocational college and do mine. It’s 2 hours round trip.

Where I used to live had a great shop with old school " mechanics " not techs about 5 minutes away
Box or two of donuts and coffee for everyone couple of times a month and they took good care of me
Miss those guys
Now I'm 5 hours away and lucky to find an old buddy who opened a shop so trust him

Just looking back through my books and they did 49 sets of springs for me, plus a few sets just for mine when I was still testing

 

[65Corvair]

I would recommend the pre-assembled option, If you don't already know a mechanic that well with a proper spring compressor. Everything else can be done at the home garage.
New upper A-arms will help with the lift and correcting camber issues, then an alignment will be needed afterward.

 

[tommudd]

Any good alignment shop that does suspension work has a spring compressor that will work

 

[MarksmanAkula]

Thank you all for the knowledge. I did not know new upper arms would be needed, but I have heard you guys swear by JBA upper arms.

I have to see if theres a good shop around me that will assemble front shocks that I can trust.

and @tommudd what do you mean by "They will come down some but takes a while and a lot of twisting them up and getting them to settle in" will I have to adjust the springs after I get them all together?

 

[tommudd]

Thank you all for the knowledge. I did not know new upper arms would be needed, but I have heard you guys swear by JBA upper arms.

I have to see if theres a good shop around me that will assemble front shocks that I can trust.

and @tommudd what do you mean by "They will come down some but takes a while and a lot of twisting them up and getting them to settle in" will I have to adjust the springs after I get them all together?

Just what it says, Frankys take longer to break in, just an OME by the time you have 700-1000 miles they are settled in well by just driving it,
Frankys take longer and you have to out and take it over uneven ground ( twisting it up ) to get it fully seated in and settled down to where it finally sit , until then it will sit pretty high
Also on the left side it will be a PITA to get the coilover into place since that spacer wants to hold it out making it hard to get the clevis connected . Sometimes you even have to cut some of the spacer ( shave it down where it touches the inner fender /body

If you do just a OME it will give you 2.5 inches of lift and you do not need the JBA UCAs altough they are a great upgrade

 

[MarksmanAkula]

Just what it says, Frankys take longer to break in, just an OME by the time you have 700-1000 miles they are settled in well by just driving it,
Frankys take longer and you have to out and take it over uneven ground ( twisting it up ) to get it fully seated in and settled down to where it finally sit , until then it will sit pretty high
Also on the left side it will be a PITA to get the coilover into place since that spacer wants to hold it out making it hard to get the clevis connected . Sometimes you even have to cut some of the spacer ( shave it down where it touches the inner fender /body

If you do just a OME it will give you 2.5 inches of lift and you do not need the JBA UCAs altough they are a great upgrade

Ahh gotcha. Doesn't seem too hard to do to get them settled. And I have no problem upgrading to JBA arms if need be.

I've never done suspension before so I'm just trying to get a feel for what I'm getting into.

 

[tommudd]

LOL, yes on some , well most it is hard to get the Frankys to settle in good, takes time and even 2-3 times to the alignment shop
As much as I like the owners of ALLJs , will never tell someone to buy their kit right off
Too many little things that make it harder to install and get right for a first timer
oh well I tried

 

[MarksmanAkula]

LOL, yes on some , well most it is hard to get the Frankys to settle in good, takes time and even 2-3 times to the alignment shop
As much as I like the owners of ALLJs , will never tell someone to buy their kit right off
Too many little things that make it harder to install and get right for a first timer
oh well I tried

It sounds like you recommend collecting the parts piece by piece and then assembling them that way? Instead of buying a complete kit. which I have no problem with, I'm just trying to take the easiest route and be happy with the ride quality of the jeep.

Sorry if I'm slow to catch on, not good at reading people off the internet