Destro

So I finished my lift last night. I still have to put on my steering stabilizer (tonight if I don't get rained out), but I have my lift completed.

Ended up with 4.5" on the rear end with my 1995 Dodge Dakota 4X4 Bastard pack. I had to rebuild the rear 3 times to get it right, but it came out fine in the end. First time building the packs I used XJmain (left in place on Jeep) then Dakota/Dakota/Dakota/XJ Helper spring. However when I went to the other side the center pin was stuck solid in the XJ lower leaves. Ended up they were so rusty they broke in half rather than let go of the center pin. I then put it together without any helper at all and took apart the other side to remove the XJ helper. XJ helper on the first side was cracked (after only 40 miles of on road driving) so it must have been very weak. I then drove it to work one day and thought the rear was a bit too flexy. Round trip is about 40 miles. Rebuilt the BP one last time, adding in the 1/2" Dakota helper spring. Rear is sitting at 4.5" over stock now (Vs. the 1.5" of sag I had before). Front was sitting right at 3" of lift from the RC lift springs. I thought the front needed a little boost so I started looking for some 1" spacers. I found a set of 3/4" stock isolators on CL and they were very close to me so I picked them up. Added to Jeep last night and now I am at 3.75" front and 4.5" rear. Sitting nice and pretty on my new 31s. Still a touch more rake than I would like and am considering having a piece of plate burned to fit between the two isolators, maybe 1/2" plate (I work for a steel company, we have a HUGE plasma burner CNC machine). Still deciding on that one as the burner guy I know is on vacation all this week. If I can find some 1/2" scrap then I just may do that.

I got lucky on my install- no major issues. Even managed to get all four upper rear shock bolts out without them breaking, which surprised me as this is a rust belt Jeep. Replaced the bolts with new grade 8 hardware with anti-sieze in case I need to remove them in the future. Only issue we had with the install was one of the coil spring holder bolts stripped the hole when taking it out. I just got a slightly larger self tapping bolt and replaced it.

Rides a bit rough, but I expected that with the RC cheap shocks. I will probably roll them for a while while I work on other things and eventually replace them next year.

Up front my brake lines were plenty long enough without any modifications needed at all. Out back I just un-clipped them from the holder and zip tied them back in place. Will figure something more permanent out soon (probably new stainless soft lines). At full droop they will be tight so no off-road adventures until I come up with something else.

Pics soon - Keep forgetting my camera in the new Jeep that my wife takes to work.

Next items up on the list are: Radio issues- I have a new head unit but am getting horrible engine noise through the speakers. Bad ground I think. also only one of my speakers works. I ordered 4 new speakers yesterday for the Jeep. Also going to install the CB soon. I have a magnetic base antenna but not sure if I want to use it (maybe short term, no worries about scratching the paint at least!).

New custom bumpers are in the works too- up front a 2X6 piece of square tubing, out back a piece of 3X4 square tubing. Both are 3/8" thick (overkill). Have 1/2" frame stiffeners/bumper mounts made for up front, rear I have 1/4" thick nut strips made to mount the bumper to. Both bumpers will have recovery points - two D rings up front and a rear hitch. Front bumper also will have a 1.5" square tubing light bar/grill guard.

Drewdertuder

nice job man,cant wait for the picts.