2008 JK Rubicon Build - 37" Krawlers

[Creepy]

Jul 12, 2011 12:27:51 GMT -4 8 inches longer, again said:

I'm HOPING (fingers crossed) that with the 4.5" coils (and the fact that they are 4dr coils) they will give me enough lift to clear the 36's. But if not I will throw a 1" spacer on top of the coils. If the Iroks still need more room to move around I'll likely just change flares, but not looking to go there if I don't have to as I'm kinda partial to the stockers (and they give the best tire coverage).

I picked up the lift today, hoping to get it in this weekend!!!!

Tune your bumpstops. Stop the uptravel when the tires are trying to eat something. Hardly anyone does it, but it works wicked. Droop is more important than stuff.

Look at how the buggies run thier airshocks and coil overs. 2-3" up, 12-16" down.

Try it. You'll like it.

[Big G]

Lookin' good! And the Jeep's ok too.

[8 inches longer, again]

Jul 12, 2011 13:11:22 GMT -4 Big G said:

Lookin' good! And the Jeep's ok too.

Thanks, I've been working out.

[badwithcomputer]

I bumped stopped with hockey pucks and RTV

[lonny1]

Holy $%^& guys - I had no idea it was you two until I looked a little closer. Nice job on the old girl. Where did you get the front bumper ?

[8 inches longer, again]

Jul 13, 2011 19:01:27 GMT -4 lonny1 said:

Holy $%^& guys - I had no idea it was you two until I looked a little closer. Nice job on the old girl. Where did you get the front bumper ?

Thanks Lawrence! Yup, it's coming along good. We have a 4.5 lift and 36" Iroks for it sitting in the garage, putting it on this weekend.

I ordered the bumper from APJ's - it's a Rugged Ridge.

[8 inches longer, again]

I've been picking away at it a couple hours here and there. I started with the rear.

Comparison shot between old and new coils (rears)


Getting new coils in...SO close! Taking a little breather before the last bit of effort to get it seated in the perch properly.


Coll putting the bushings in the new rear endlinks


All back together! Putting the old shocks back on for now, the new ones aren't in yet.


The rear finished, and sitting on it's tires. It gained 2" on one side, and 2 1/4" on the other side (remember that it had 2" spacers in it before)


Here is where we finished off last night. The front end is all tore apart, draglink is dropped, and old coils are pulled.


I don't want to put the new coils in yet because I forgot to pickup new longer bumpstops, so we're going to be on hold for a few days until I get them.
Rough Country order isn't due in for probably a few more days anyways (that has my RC 2.2 shocks, extended braided brake lines, and steering stabilizer), so it's not a big deal to wait on the bumpstops.
Preliminary, I am VERY impressed by the quality of the BDS control arms 'with flex ends', as they call it. The beefiness of the arms themselves and the quality of the heims (aka 'flex ends') look to be excellent. Each BDS arm probably weighs twice as much as the stock arm. Here is a shot of the new coils, new endlinks, and new arms installed

[540rock]

That garage should be able to put lift kits it by itself by now. If Colleen gets a chance she can help on by jeep. Ian may need a hand.

[8 inches longer, again]

We got the new front control arms installed yesterday afternoon. 3 of 4 went very smoothly, but the passenger side upper is a huge pain. The CA bolt will absolutely NOT slide out all the way, it contacts the exhaust. I frigged with it for a while before I gave up and consulted with my good friend Mr. Internet. A little investigation told me that sliding that bolt out without either removing the exhaust or undoing an engine mount (to jack the whole engine up) is all but impossible. I guess the general consensus is to cut it off, and buy a new bolt. So I'll get a new bolt today. I'll post a pic later of my fight with that bolt, but I should be good to go.

In other news, anybody have any tricks or tidbits of info for removing a pitman arm??? Mine won't come off. I've got a puller on it and pulled so hard I broke a 24" power bar, have hit it with a 2lb hammer, hit it with the hammer while prying on it, and stuck an impact gun on it till the cows came home, and it still won't budge.
I thought about putting some heat on it, but I'm a bit nervous about heating it too much and wrecking a seal in my steering box.

Any ideas?

[justajeep]

I've heated them before to get them off. Usually doesn't take much, never enough to hurt the seal.

[Creepy]

No tricks really. Same thing everytime, beat on it until you think you are destroying any machined fit inside the box. But it still isn't off. beat it more. It sucks.

localize the heat to the back of the pitman, where it can expand, not the part with the meat.

Got a proper pitman puller? (solid cast arms) Or are you using a floppy arm puller? (they won't usually work)

[8 inches longer, again]

Well, I had an hour to work on it last evening and got a fair bit done!

I put some heat on the pitman arm, and, just like magic, it popped off. That's a relief! Thanks for the tips, I was a bit nervous about putting heat to it for fear of damaging a steering box seal but I was careful and I'm sure it's fine.

Jan, I do have a proper puller. It's nothing special, just one from PA, but it is solid (not a floppy one).

So last night I got the old pitman arm off, put the new drop pitman arm on, got the last of the 8 new control arms on, and got the new front coils in.
I don't have time to post any new pics right now but it's really coming along.

[Creepy]

Sounds like progress! I see you got the PA organizer thingie up on the wall too.

[itsajeepthing91]

Looking good. Can't wait to see it all done.

[Big G]

Let's see some pics slacker!