Jeeps Canada - Jeep Forums - '90 XJ, OME/BB Lift Install Report

Subject: 1990 XJ, 2 door, 4.0L, 200k north-east miles (read: rust)

It was getting really saggy in the rear end. It doesn't help that I
usually carry around 75lbs of tools, 150lbs of tube sand, and another
30lbs or so of miscellanious junk like oil and antifreeze and stuff.
Anyway the factory springs were pretty spanked, and the rear axle was
starting to hit the bumpstops on freeway potholes. And one of the rear
shocks was spanked. Not good.

I really want to install a complete OME lift. Someday I might, but in
the meantime I'm kind of poor, so I opted for getting JC2A heavy-load
springs in the rear, and N36 stiff shocks. For the front I got a
couple of 1.75" hocky pucks from Teraflex.

I opted for the JC2A springs, against the advice of some people,
because I usually haul around a lot of junk. And when I get my
fullsize spare and swing out tire carrier, it's only going to get
worse. They might not be the flexiest springs ever, but 90% of my
driving is on-road and I prefer stiff springs that offer more positive
control at high speeds. Also I really need the load carrying capacity.
Also I have heard reports of the lighter duty OME springs sagging
quickly when overloaded. Again with my heavy-load hauling habits in
mind, I opted for the stiffer N35 shocks vs. the softer N35C shocks.
Actually the N35's are the only ones speced with the JC2A springs. The
final reason I opted for the JC2A springs is that the advertised lift
is only 2", and I really didn't want to go much higher than that. I'm
too poor to deal with unfortunate side-effects like driveline vibes or
death wobbles.

Rather than buy OME springs and shocks for the front at the same time,
which would have broken the bank, and wasn't really necessary since my
front coils weren't badly sagged and my front shocks work okay, I
opted for a cheap pair of spring spacers.

The install was a total fsckshow. I sprayed every bolt with Parts
Blaster every day for a week before I started. I did the rear first. I
put the 2' breaker bar on the U-bolts, they came off no problem.
Shackle to spring bolts, first problem. I had to drop the trailer
hitch. Thank you U-Haul for doing a stupid halfassed install. I don't
know how or why they installed the hitch the way they did, but I
finally had to cut some of the bolts off with the angle grinder. The
shackle bolts were siezed in the bushing sleeves, but I was able to
hammer them out with a big punch and a big fscking hammer. Both the
left and right front spring bolts were also siezed in the sleeves,
however (thank you AMC) you can't get to the other end to hammer it
out unless you drill a hole in the frame and drop the exhaust or
something. So I ended up backing the bolts out as far as I could. They
were so siezed up that the sleeve actually bent the spring mounts out
a little bit. I cut the bolts off as much as I could with the angle
grinder, then used a big prybar to bend out the spring mount enough to
get the rest of the bolt out of the hole, and finally the leaf packs
fell out.

The next major problem was the left upper shock mount bolts. The right
side bolts came right out, but the left side bolts both broke off.
Again, captive nuts, no way to get to the other side of them. I tried
using an EZ-out on one of them, and snapped off the EZ-out inside it.
Great. So then I had to drill and tap to hardened steel bolts, one of
which had an extremely hard steel EZ-out embedded in it. 5 drill bits
later I had some really crappy holes. I tapped them, but broke the tap
on the second one. Thankfully I was able to use a punch to smash the
tap into pieces and push it through the hole. Hard steel is also
brittle. I jammed the bolts in and I've got my fingers crossed that it
will hold. Installing the new OME springs was relatively easy after
all that. I put the front bolts in first. I had an issue on the right
side, the captive nut broke it's welds. I was able to get the bolt in
anyway by getting it threaded by hand, then using a pry bar to pull
out on the bolt while simultaniously hitting it with the impact
wrench. It torqued right up. Then I got the spring seated on the axle.
Then I did the shackle bolts. This required jacking up the axle,
prying on the springs with a 4 foot prybar, and prying on the shackle
with a 2 foot prybar, just to get the holes in the shackles and
bushings to line up, and then using my 3rd arm to insert the bolts. I
couldn't get my swaybar mounts to line up on the spring plates. I
didn't feel like screwing with it so I just took it out. I saved it so
I can put it back in later if I want. I really dont' think I need it,
especially with the extra stiffness of the OME springs.

The front went smooth as silk compared to the rear. I disconnected the
sway bar links, spring retainers, and lower shock mounts (broke some
of those bolts, but they're easy to replace, no captive nuts). The
lower control arms still limited the amount of axle droop to the point
where I couldn't easily get the springs out and back in, so I put my
bottle jack on the shock mount and the frame rail and got the couple
of extra inches of droop I needed. It dented the LCA's a tiny bit, but
not significantly. I used some big ass channel locks to remove and
install the bumpstops. I removed the factory spring isolators. Now I
kind of wish I'd left them in, because even with my heavy load the
arse end sits up just slightly higher than the front. Oh well, it
looks kind of good like that. Plus the drivers seat never tilted as
far forward as I liked, so that helped it a bit On both sides I forgot
to put the bumpstops inside the springs before I put the springs back
in, but I was able to squeeze them through the coils by pulling out on
the spring to ------ the coils apart a bit, and hitting it with the
big fsking hammer. Now the shocks limit the downtravel, but hopefully
I'll be able to afford to replace them before summer brings wheeling
season.

Finally I got everything torqued up and I put my front tires back on
and realized that my 4wd was broken again. The tiewraps had moved and
allowed the collar to slip. See my other thread about the broken
disconnect fork. I put more tiewraps on it.

Time spent on front: 2 hours
Time spent on rear: 17 hours
Total time spent installing the lift and cleaning up the shop
afterwards: 9 hours on Saturday, 12 hours on Sunday.

So FINALLY I took it for a test drive... OH MY GOD I almost creamed my
jeans. The ride is SO nice now. It's amazing how much the rear end
affects handling. Yeah my rear suspension was spanked to begin with,
but now it's definately better than stock. Bumps that I would bottom
out on before if I hit them going over 25, I can now hit at 50 and I
hardly feel them. And the extra ground clearence is very noticeable
when driving over snow banks and such. I can't say much about
articulation yet, since I haven't found any ramp-like things to test
it on yet, and most snow banks crumble under the weight of the Jeep.

Today (Monday) every muscle in my body is sore and my hands feel like
they're going to fall off. Guys that do this kind of work for a living
must be wicked strong.

The nice thing about doing it this way is that I saved a bundle on the
front end. And when I can afford it, it will be easy to get the OME
springs and shocks for the front, and I'll only be out like $20 for
the spring spacers, which I can probably sell. Or just leave them in
and get some longer shackles for the back and get another inch or two.
One day later and so far I'm extremely satisfied with the lift. It
rides great, looks good, and handles well. Installing it was a royal
fsckshow and I could never have done it without my friend's VERY well
equipped shop. But, no pain, no gain.

Just a note for anybody installing new springs: BUY YOUR BUSHINGS AND
U-BOLTS FROM A LOCAL SPRING SHOP! SAVE TIME AND $$$!

When I ordered my new OME springs, I decided to get rubber bushings
and U-bolts locally. When the springs came and I got ready to install
them, I called around to all the local parts stores, and NONE of them
stocked the bushings. They all needed at least a few days to get them.
That was unacceptable. Finally the guys at Advance Auto referred me to
a local spring shop.

Holy smoke was that place awsome! Baily Spring & Chassis in Essex
Junction Vermont. He sold me the 4 bushings for HALF of what the parts
store quoted me, and pressed them in for FREE! Plus he sold me the
U-bolts for half of what the parts store wanted, he even crawled under
my jeep to measure the axle for them. He has a machine that MAKES
U-bolts. He takes the right size die, and the right length and
diameter of pre-threaded rod, and puts it in this big press-like thing
that comes down and bends the bolt in about 5 seconds. It was pretty
freakin cool.

Of course his machine broke after the second bolt. He tried to fix it
but to no avail so after 20 minutes he called his buddy across town at
Charlebois Truck Towing and Repair. Those guys work on the BIG stuff.
I mean at Baily they work on pretty big stuff, Charlebois works BIG
stuff. I followed on of those tractor-trailer tow trucks into the
place. He bent my last two bolts.

P.S.
It's been two days since I completed the install, and so far
everything is great. I find myself aiming for every bump and pothole
just because it takes them so much better now

--------------------

-73 de n1ywb

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Jeff Laughlin
90 Cherokee Laredo 4.0L
n1ywb@NOSPAM.amsat.org