lift kit check list?

[comanche13]

i never have lifted a vehicle before and don't want to miss anything when doing so i was wondering if we could all make a check list of whats essensial and whats recomended and so forth

 

I'm going to say this witH a 6.5 inch lift

 

so far i was told get a

 

SLIP YOKE ELIMINATOR

NEW REAR DRIVE SHAFT

ANTI WARP PERCHES

NEW 1 TON STEERING

NEW CHROMO AXLE SHAFTS WITH MY DANA 30

BUMP STOPS

SHOCKS

Brake Lines

Adjustable Trackbar

Steering

Tie Rod

Bumpstops

Coil Springs

Quick Disco's

Control Arms

SOA Perches

 

 

WITH A LOCKER WHAT OPTIONS DO I NEED

 

I THINK THIS LST WOULD HELP ALOT OF PEOPLE IF EVERYONE CONTRIBUTES TO IT.

 

THANKS TIM =)

[Catatonic Comanche]

i never have lifted a vehicle before and don't want to miss anything when doing so i was wondering if we could all make a check list of whats essensial and whats recomended and so forth

 

I'm going to say this witH a 6.5 inch lift

 

so far i was told get a

 

SLIP YOKE ELIMINATOR

NEW REAR DRIVE SHAFT

ANTI WARP PERCHES

NEW 1 TON STEERING

NEW CHROMO AXLE SHAFTS WITH MY DANA 30

 

WITH A LOCKER WHAT OPTIONS DO I NEED

 

I THINK THIS LST WOULD HELP ALOT OF PEOPLE IF EVERYONE CONTRIBUTES TO IT.

 

THANKS TIM =)

 

You forgot the "Big Ton Package" sticker to go on the rear glass and the "Metric Ton Package" sticker to go on your tail-gate simultaneously! :D

[89eliminator]

are you talking about things besides the actual lift?

[comanche13]

yeah things that you need when you get the lift like most lift kits come with the basics but what about the stuff they leave out.

[Drahcir495]

My lift did not come with shocks - 1) Shocks & 2) bump stops.

[comanche13]

ok everything people put down i'll add to the list

[89eliminator]

regear your axles for better performance

[Motion Offroad]

Adjustable Trackbar - Your going to want an adjustable one, and your going to want one that's heavy duty. This essentially centers the axle under your Jeep. At 6.5" of lift you really should consider getting one with a heavy duty mounting bracket on the body side as well, as the factory one isn't up to par.

 

Brake Lines - Get extended one's! At 6.5" you NEED them. Even if you don't think you do, you do! The brakelines are not something you want to "risk" tearing on the road or the trails. Just spend the money and get a good quality set of extended ones.

 

Steering - At 6.5" you really should consider doing something with your steering. A crossover setup is really recommended. T

 

Tie Rod - I guess you could call this part of your steering as a crossover steering kit should include it. But with 6.5" your often running 33" or 35" tires. If you wheel at all your stock tierod will soon become a pretzel. Several options available once again.

 

Bumpstops - Most kits leave this important part out. Not sure if it's simply overlooked or the manufactures think they really are not that important. Bumpstops allow you to maintain control of where the upward travel of your suspension stops and prevents over compression and premature wear to your springs. In our opinion they are a very important part of your suspension setup.

 

Coil Springs - You have many different options here. Different manufacture's offer different coil spring rates. Since your going with a SOA rear setup it's somewhat important to try to get as close to the same spring rate as your rear if you want your rig to perform well both on and off road. For instance you don't want to have a really flexy rear with your SOA and have a stiff front coil that does not flex well at all. A little plug for us, but we've matched our coils to the spring rates of the rear to give the best ride quality and suspension articulation possible.

 

Quick Disco's - Get some! Many different options on the market. They really depend on what you want to spend and what your looking for in a set. We just recommend you keep your front swaybar connected for any street use; especially at this height.

 

Control Arms - At 6.5" of lift your REALLY should be considering going with a longarm setup. Longarms have nothing to do with what type of wheeling you do. Better flex is just a by-product of having them. At that height (6.5") your control arm angle's are just way to steep and the ride will suffer greatly. Additionally if you ever try to go over anything, your jeep will be pushing itself over the axle, not pushing the axle forward with it. Having your control arms at that angle (short-arms) at that height your putting more abuse on your uni-body and just asking for trouble down the road. Longarms are the answer.

 

SOA Perches - I'm assuming your going SOA in the rear? Just make sure you get some SOA perches that are longer to help with axle wrap.

 

Shocks - Just make sure if you have longarms you have a set of long travel shocks for the front. We don't include shocks in our kits cause some people want to spend a lot of $$ on shocks since they are daily driving it, others want to get away as cheap as possible since it's just a weekend toy. But just make sure you get the correct length set of shocks for your lift height.

 

SYE / CV-Driveshaft - A Slip Yoke Eliminator (SYE) adapts the rear end of the factory transfer-case from a Slip Yoke style to a Fixed Yoke Style.

 

The origonal design for the MJ rear driveshaft is set up with what is called a single cardan rear driveshaft with a fixed length, fixed at the pinion, and slipping at the Transfer Case to make up for droop and compression of the rear suspention.

 

An SYE eliminates the slip yoke on the t-case tailshaft by changing it to a fixed mounting point for the rear driveshaft, moving the slip yoke to the driveshaft. This also allows some u-joint setups with higher angle capability for a more vibration free ride down the road.

 

There are two main types of SYE's, based on the output shaft that is used. The "HD" SYE uses a larger 32 spline output shaft, and is made by various top name vendors. The standard SYE kit provides a shortened stock 28 spline output shaft. One company offers a standard SYE kit without providing another output shaft, so the existing shaft is cut, then drilled and tapped for the new flange bolt. This kit is referred to as a "Hack and Tap".

 

The main issue with the Factory Slip Yoke is the increased angles on the rear driveshaft after lifting a MJ. The more lift, the steeper the angle. The increased angles can cause issues with yoke clearance on the factory slip yoke and increased wear on u-joints. A common fix to cure the yoke bind issue is to use a Slip Yoke from a YJ wrangler.

The increased angle also causes a need to Shim the rear axle to re-set driveline geometry and reduce vibrations. The problem with re-setting the geometry is that this causes the angles to be even steeper because in most cases, the pinion needs to move down and be parallel with the t-case out put. This increases the angles on the rear driveshaft more and more, and (the biggest issue) causes the slip yoke to be pulled out of the tail-cone more than is comfortable, and can cause the slip yoke to pull clean off the t-case mainshaft while at full suspension travel.

 

The fix for this is to run a Slip yoke eliminator and a rear driveshaft with a slip joint in it.

 

There are two main driveshaft choices - another single cardan (one u-joint at each end - two u-joints total) with a slip joint in it or a "Double Cardan, Near Constant Velocity" drivesahft with 2 u-joints at one end conected by a uni-ball and one u-joint at the other end. These are often refered to (incorectly) as CV driveshafts, and MOST MJ's have an example of one of these style shafts in the front end for a front driveshaft.

 

Most XJ/MJ owners opt for the Double Cardan style shaft due to the increased angle it allows, and the corect pinion angle geometry allowing for a higher clearance under the pinon. Most driveshaft makers (local or mail order) will have some system of measuring on the vehicle to determine the needed length of your new driveshaft once you have your SYE installed.

 

If you choose to go with a Hack and Tap SYE, you might need to have a flange syle driveshaft, and in talking with your drivesahft maker, you should mention this, and make sure he has all the adapters and will get you the parts you need.

 

When do I need one?

 

The general rule of thumb on lift height and need for an SYE on the MJ due to the longer wheelbase is at 6.5" of lift.

 

These are general guidelines, and you will hear people needing SYE's at 2" and you will hear of people running no SYE and 6" of lift - it is all dependent on the vehicle and the owners description of "Fine".

 

If you put on a lift, and then notice driveline vibrations, this is most likely due to the rear driveshaft, and could possibly be that you need a SYE and driveshaft.

 

While you may be able to live with your driveshaft vibrations and how that affects you, it is certainly not good for the t-case bearings and seals.

 

If a Lift Kit is sold with a "transfer case drop", a "motor mount lift", or a "high clearance slip yoke" - those are bandaids for a real problem - the REAL solution is to use a Slip Yoke Eliminator and a new driveshaft.

 

 

 

Whew, that's all i can think of at the moment based on lift. Anything else will be based on what size tire you run and that't a totally new can of worms...

 

We've tried/used a lot of different products at 6.5" on our MJ and we've built our kit based on what products we've been the most happy with and work well together. We've got a lot of RR time in putting our kit together. So above by stating what we did is based on those facts. Sorry if we came off the wrong way or trying to "sell" you on our 6.5" kit; that was not our intention!

[DirtyComanche]

What size tires? And what is your planned use of the truck?

 

 

Make the SYE a HD one. Not a hack'n'tap (oh, here I go ragging on the H&Ts again). PORC (Performance off-road center) sells a HD one that is very affordable. AA (Advance Adapters) sells one for slightly more. I have an AA one personally.

 

Bumpstops, as said, most kits don't include them. Hell, most kits are $#!& and don't include much. The stock rear ones can be lowered with some square tubing, which is probably the way to go anyways. The front ones can be built up with hockey pucks, but at 6.5" of lift, I don't know if that is entirely practical or not.

 

You may well need brake lines if the kit 'dun have 'em. Then, you might need the brackets for said brake lines as some come without them (why, I don't know).

 

Sway bar disconnects, often they don't come with a kit. You don't specifically need them, as you don't specifically need a sway bar.

 

'1-ton' steering is a good idea, but is a whole can of worms in itself.

 

The spring perches for the rear do not specifically need to be of an anti-wrapping type (which I believe means the really long ones) if you leave the overload leaf in the rear leaf pack.

 

You'll probably need new shock mounts for the rear. And, as said, if the kit doesn't have shocks you'll need those.

 

You might need limiting straps for the front. If you're going with a long arm style kit. You also might need shocks, if not included, and you might need to run shocks without the weird top (stud? I don't recall the name. Stupid setup). Which will require the upper brackets to do that.

 

 

But, it all depends on how hard you plan to wheel it or drive it.

 

 

 

And motion wrote so much that I didn't bother to read his post. :fs1:

[Pete M]

If the truck is rusty underneath, I wouldn't even try to undo the rear bumpstops. I snapped off all bu one bolt. I would recommend just adding something to the axle side (exactly how that's done depends on the situation at hand).

[DirtyComanche]

If the truck is rusty underneath, I wouldn't even try to undo the rear bumpstops. I snapped off all bu one bolt. I would recommend just adding something to the axle side (exactly how that's done depends on the situation at hand).

 

 

It shouldn't be THAT bad. They salt the roads here, but not like they do where you live.

 

But I guess that is a consideration. As trying to extract the bolts after that happens it really not worthwhile.

[comanche13]

man how long have you lived in pg theres so much salt on are roads =P i hate winters just cause of the road salt!

[comanche13]

ok well for me this check list is going to apply with 33/12.5 tires and a 8.8 rear end

[DirtyComanche]

I was here last winter... We don't have cheap salt like the guys out east. They're more likely to sand here than salt the all-hell out of the road. Look at pictures of Pete's red (er, desert tan now?) MJ and you'll see what real salt induced rust is!