I love my Acura, but my Jeep is just fun to drive around.

 

very clean looking!!!

 

Thanks!!

 

Finally getting around to an update! So weekend before this past one I got the SYE installed, along with shims. Pretty much everything went textbook. The only hiccup I ran into were with the centering pins - They were too big of a diameter to go into the springs or shims, and the heads wouldn't go into the spring perch holes. I managed to find EXACTLY what I needed at Lowes the next day, and got them installed!

Here's the evidence!




Rear drive shaft out, clipping the steel retainers off the boot





Boot removed!





Noting the position of the speedometer gear assembly thingy....





Speedometer gear and tail shaft housing removed





Innards!





Innards becoming outards...





Empty t-case!





Old innards, set out to keep track





New tail shaft and new chain, all re-installed.





New tailshaft housing installed.





Yoke!





Front yoke back on.





No shims yet, but rear drive shaft connected to the pinion yoke.





Final attachment to the transfer case! VOILA!

 

Here's some information on the centering pin I managed to find. I haven't been able to find the details on Lowe's website, but it's basically a 3" long 5/16" dia internal hex socket cap bolt. It's grade 8, plenty strong, and pretty much perfection. It didn't require any modification at all, except to possibly cut it down once I'm sure I don't need any more modifications.

Here's the shims installed:






I got a chance to flex it out too. Tested it on some ramps just to see where I was at. I need to bump stop it but over all it's pretty cool!





Up on the ramps.





Tire stuffs nicely! Had a bit more room to go a little higher, but I might bump stop it for that position.





Droop, still has quite a bit of available down travel...





Rear tire could have come up more, but the ramp wasn't very high...











Two stage coil only beginning to open up a bit.





Clearance at full lock. Juuuuuust fits!





Was fun to look at, even though it wasn't flexed out too much

 

Looking really good!

 

Thanks brother! I broke a sway bar link bolt as I got on a trail. The second it broke I realized why... I forgot to tighten it and it had enough play to just snap. New one on the way though, then I'll take two haha.

 

Excellent work Brooks! I'm glad your removal of old components went as smoothly as it sounds.

Couple questions/requests

Questions
1. Did you leave all the leafs in the rear spring? (OME/ARB mentions removing a specific leaf to adjust rear height if needed)

2. What is the final lift height? (front and rear)

3. What is your opinion on fitting 32x11.5 or 33x10.5 tires using metalcloak's kit? Need a slight spacer/shackle or just trim / fenders?

4. Do you feel the net 4" backspacing is sufficient for your tires?

5. What made you pick the Copper tires over the competition (KO2, AT3, etc)?

Requests
1. Can you take a pic of your rear shackle angle (stock shackle?)

2. Can you take a pic of your LCA angle (off parallel from the ground/stock angle)?

Thanks for your time

 

1. Did you leave all the leafs in the rear spring? (OME/ARB mentions removing a specific leaf to adjust rear height if needed)
I didn't remove the adjustment leaf. They are supposed to be a 3.5" lift as a full pack, or 2.5" lift with the leaf removed. Right now they ride pretty high, but I'm hopeful that they will settle down a bit.

2. What is the final lift height? (front and rear)
It's pretty much spot on 3.5" up front, but closer to 4.5" on the back end.

3. What is your opinion on fitting 32x11.5 or 33x10.5 tires using metalcloak's kit? Need a slight spacer/shackle or just trim / fenders?
Well, I can get the 31x10.5 stuffed into the wheel well, but it required a bit of minor trimming. I also had to use 1.25" wheel spacers to clear the tires from the control arms. You might need to adjust your backspacing a bit, and do more trimming to stuff tires that big.

4. Do you feel the net 4" backspacing is sufficient for your tires?
4" back spacing fits the tires perfect, I can turn full lock without hitting my control arms.

5. What made you pick the Copper tires over the competition (KO2, AT3, etc)?
It really just came down to a gut feeling. The KO2's were the biggest competition in my mind. I went with the cooper mostly because they are a bit more of an aggressive AT tire. Probably closer to an AT/MT mix. They are also very well reviewed in the largest variety of conditions: Snow/Ice/Rock/Sand/Wet and dry pavement, etc...


As for your requests, I didn't see them till it was dark out, but I'll see about getting the pics soon here for ya! Just a note on the shackle angle - It's at about 90 degrees, so not ideal but the ride is still pretty darn good none-the-less!

 

You're making me wish I had more to do with my XJ

 

I wish I could AFFORD to do more to my XJ lol. My funds for this project are tapped and then some for now. I need to save up because I want a tire carrier bumper, but also need to do all my TREs.

What's next on your list doc?

 

Jeep is on the back burner(she still needs a cage, rock sliders, half doors, paint)

My current endeavor is my 09 TSX: getting new wheels and tires, ECU programmer, short shifter, lip kit, installing exhaust.

 

What driveshaft are you using after you installed your sye?
Did you reuse your front shaft?
I'm planning to do the same with my 2 door just want to make sure I use the right one....

 

My wife would KILL me if I had two project vehicles lol.

 

It's a used front driveshaft that I got off a junkyard XJ. It was like $30 at the JY, and then I put about another $100 or so into it, maybe more, I don't remember lol. I have SOME details about the rebuild in one of the earlier pages of the thread.


I replaced all the U-joints, the centering yoke, and the grease fitting at the slip joint. It was a big pain in the rear to separate the drive shaft, and putting it back together was worse so if you need info on doing it, feel free to ask!