number9

....and left this from Morris 4x4 by my garage door
(actually, I picked up the muffler and tailpipe at Advanced Auto Parts on the way home)




OME930 - Old Man Emu Front Coils
CS034RA - Old Man Emu Medium 2.25" Rear Leaf Spring
26103G - Coil Spring Isolator Set (Front or Rear .75 Lift) Black

Expecting another package from Serious Offroad today

Bilstein XJ Four Shock Package, 2-3in. Lift
2 each Bilstein 24-185622 Front Shocks
2 each Bilstein 24-185639 Rear Shocks

Here's the intended target - 1999 XJ Sport with 172,xxx miles - been with the same lady owner since 2001.

BEFORE



AFTER



Started the rear spring install last night. Front leaf spring bolts were a PITA. I've been spraying every bolt I think I may touch for the lift with Liquid Wrench for the last week. All of the bolts on the rear came off ok with an impact, but the front bolts in the leaf springs, the impact wouldn't budge. I used a 1/2" breaker bar with a long extention to get the bar outside the body, supported it with a jackstand, used a 2' long boxed end wrench as a cheater and stood on it.

Passenger side bolt came out popping and screeching the whole way.
Driver side bolt came out about 1/2" and is corroded to the bushing sleeve. I googled to see what people do in this case and I ended up cutting the bolt in two just inside the hanger with a 4" angle grinder cutoff wheel. Then I cut the leaf spring in two right at the eye where the bushing is at. This evening I'll work on cutting the leaf eye off the bushing and getting the bolt out.

When the new bolts go back in, they are going to have a metric **** ton of anti seize on them, I know that for sure.

....

Dan91

Awesome man. Hey, let me know how the exhaust pipe fits. I need to redo mine but I've heard some are slightly different than stock and fit poorly.

stock95sport(for now)

NICE! exactly what i want to start with, OME. Also i have that muffler in 2.5" and have been slacking installing it. thats IT, lol, im doing it this weekend

ta2tony

Sweet! I got the same rear leafs sitting and waiting on me to install (tires show up Monday, lift install to follow shortly).

Post pics when you get the leafs on, and how much lift you got with them...also curious to see the shackle angle you (we) end up with on these leafs.

number9

I took before measurements at all wheel wells before starting the lift.

Trying to track down new leaf spring bolts right now, Fastenal says Monday but the local hardware store may have some to get my by until then.

Going to pick up a high flow cat after work.

...

ta2tony

Hey, that's what I'm going to do today as soon as I get done writing a paper for class (which I'm procrastinating completion of as we speak by typing this response). My lift shackles came with new bolts for the rear leaf eye and shackle mount, figured I might as well go find some for the front eye and rear upper shock mounts as I assume I'll be knock them out.

Gonna try the hardware store first then swing by Fastenal if I don't have luck. I know how much they are at Fastenal so I'm hoping the h/w store is a bit cheaper...

number9

Just picked up some bolts at Ace Hardware, they were $1 more than Fastenal but I've got them in my hands today.

Ran by the house to get one of the OE bolts to match up and UPS had just dropped off the shocks

All 4 bolts that hold the factory bumpstops on just twisted the head off, so I guess I get to drill those out this evening too

....

Xj88

Where you getting your leaf spring bushings?

ta2tony

Yeah, I've been worrying about that too...no good way to get in the unibody to get a spray on the weld-nut side of those...

Good luck!

ta2tony

Not sure about the OP, but I got Moog bushings for my OME leafs from rock auto. Too many differing opinions on the poly bushings so decided to go the traditional route...

Bht911sc

You can drill a 1/8" hole near the. Welded nut inside frame. Then use PB blaster, or other penetrant with the little red straw and douse the threads from inside.

number9

I had placed an order with Rock Auto a week or so ago for wheel hubs, axle ujoints, YJ brake lines and got them on that order. I just got the cheap bushings as I knew they'd be rubber and not poly. And I greased the heck out of them during the install so I could *hopefully* be able to remove them down the road at some point if I wanted/needed to.

....

number9

INSTALL TIP - when installing the leaf spring bushings, with the springs laying on their side like in the above picture D.O. N.O.T. lay your bare hand across the edges of the leafs when you are hitting the bushing with a BFH driving them in. The leafs seperated and then pinched the ever living hell out the palm of my hand.

....

ta2tony

Nifty thinkin' there...

ta2tony

Better install tip: use a c-clamp and large socket to press them in and don't worry about where you put your hand