$400 Pioneer (Wilbur)

[JeepcoMJ]

I'm running YJ front lines and a dakota rear line. at full droop on the axle, the lines are more than long enough.

[mvusse]

I believe YJ front lines are 3" longer than MJ/XJ ones.

 

Thanks, that will help too.

 

Any idea on front shocks 5" longer than stock? Anyone?

 

I could get universal shocks, but they cost 2x or 3x more than stock type ones.

[mvusse]

Well, the new alternator is in. That is the worst design of how to fit an alternator in a vehicle I have ever seen. There are 2 bolts holding the alternator on, but to be able to remove it, the bracket in front of the alternator also needs to be removed :mad: I decided the easiest way to get to everything is to remove the front of the truck: bumper, header panel including grill and lights, radiator support and radiator. Took me some 5 hours.

 

I also got some new bolts and reinstalled the missing shock. Took it for a spin and death wobble is still there. I did make it through the potholes in town, but once out of town I hit a larger bump at 50mph and sure enough. :headpop: The new springs ride completely different too, and when you add the new lcas, track bar and sway bar quick discos it feels tighter as well.

 

So I still have to straighten up my steering wheel, as it is off by 1/4 turn now, install my new rear shocks, install some lift shackles (happened to run into a pair this afternoon, but they are on a truck that needs to get to Buffalo before they can come off), get new front brake hoses, figure out and install new front shocks (currently still running the stock ones with 3" extensions), and get the DW fixed. Got to check the sway bar frame bracket nut first, as I know for a fact everything else is tight, if that doesn't do it I'm shortening the lcas. Oh, and I need to get an alignment and rotate my tires.

 

3 1/2 weeks? Plenty of time...

[reson46]

Well, the new alternator is in. That is the worst design of how to fit an alternator in a vehicle I have ever seen. There are 2 bolts holding the alternator on, but to be able to remove it, the bracket in front of the alternator also needs to be removed :mad: I decided the easiest way to get to everything is to remove the front of the truck: bumper, header panel including grill and lights, radiator support and radiator. Took me some 5 hours.

 

Wow, that sucks that you had to remove the front of the truck to replace the alternator. For future reference, there is actually enough room to remove and replace the alternator by just removing the two bolts. I don't remember exactly, but you have to spin the mounting ears into the right spot. Not a lot of room to get it out, but it can be done.

 

Willy

[mvusse]

Before her cheerleading practice I had my daughter get in the truck quick and move the steering wheel left and right while I was underneath, and sure enough, the bolt holding the track bar to the frame bracket is flexing left and right. Either the hole in the bracket is oblong (again), or the nut is loose.

 

Once the rain quits I'll get underneath and tighten that up, hopefully fixing the DW.

[WahooSteeler]

Before cheerleading practice I had my daughter get in the truck quick and move the steering wheel left and right while I was underneath, and sure enough, the bolt holding the track bar to the frame bracket is flexing left and right. Either the hole in the bracket is oblong (again), or the nut is loose.

 

Once the rain quits I'll get underneath and tighten that up, hopefully fixing the DW.

 

Who do you cheerlead for? Pants or skirt? :D

[mvusse]

Before her cheerleading practice I had my daughter get in the truck quick and move the steering wheel left and right while I was underneath, and sure enough, the bolt holding the track bar to the frame bracket is flexing left and right. Either the hole in the bracket is oblong (again), or the nut is loose.

 

Once the rain quits I'll get underneath and tighten that up, hopefully fixing the DW.

 

Who do you cheerlead for? Pants or skirt? :D

 

Anyway, the bolt was somewhat loose, but it didn't fix the death wobble. Same bump as last night. I think the rubber bushing on the axle end is too soft, as it flexes a good 1/8" when my daughter moves the wheel. After taking the bar out of the bracket I can flex the bolt by hand. The stock track bar has a dense enough bushing I can't flex the bolt even with a pair of pliers.

[Wildman]

install some lift shackles (happened to run into a pair this afternoon, but they are on a truck that needs to get to Buffalo before they can come off), ...

 

 

:hmm:

 

That wouldn't be me........would it :roll:

 

 

:teehee:

[88JeepManche]

install some lift shackles (happened to run into a pair this afternoon, but they are on a truck that needs to get to Buffalo before they can come off), ...

 

 

:hmm:

 

That wouldn't be me........would it :roll:

 

 

:teehee:

I wonder where that truck came from?

[jtdesigns]

install some lift shackles (happened to run into a pair this afternoon, but they are on a truck that needs to get to Buffalo before they can come off), ...

 

 

:hmm:

 

That wouldn't be me........would it :roll:

 

 

:teehee:

I wonder where that truck came from?

I don't know, but rumor has it that its going by van...... so....

[mvusse]

install some lift shackles (happened to run into a pair this afternoon, but they are on a truck that needs to get to Buffalo before they can come off), ...

 

:hmm:

 

That wouldn't be me........would it :roll:

 

:teehee:

I wonder where that truck came from?

 

When Wildman didn't show up when I expected him, and I didn't hear from him, either, I was contemplating driving to Mansfield, trying to find you, and impersonating him.

 

Use the parts I want (shackles, roll bar), keep some spare parts, part out what's left usable and junk the rest. Figured i could break even no problem.

 

Then he showed up and explained the van trouble he had. That truck got quite expensive I hear.

[88JeepManche]

Lol ya there are 2" spacers in the front too.

[mvusse]

The shackles are in. After a trip from Ohio to New York and back to Ohio by DHL :roll:

 

Anyway, the stock shackles were 4 1/4"; these are 7 3/8" and lifted the back by 1.5" exactly.

 

I have before pictures, but not after pictures yet, as I ran out of daylight. Pictures should be up tomorrow.

[mvusse]

Problems with Photobucket last night prevented me from uploading pictures, but they are up now, so first two pictures of the truck before the lift, but with 1.75" spacers up front

 

These two are with the 3" rear springs and 4.5" front springs. Since with the spacers up front the truck still had just a bit of rake to it, I thought this would work. Well, the 4.5" front springs lifted the front 4.5", but the 3" rear springs only gave me 2" over factory specs:

 

Still the same setup loaded up to go to the compost site. This is the 5th (and final) load clearing the tree out of my lawn.

 

So longer shackles went in:

 

And here's my loyal helper providing moral support by licking my face whenever I was underneath the truck. He insisted in being in the pic with the shackles, but kept getting in front of them. Finally agreed to stand aside, but only if I took another picture of him:

 

And the finished product:

[chicofuentes0224]

So did you ever figure out why 3" springs gave you only 2"?

[mvusse]

Obviously because they were designed making a faulty assumption about the stock height of a Comanche.

 

Or designed based on 2wd stock height.

 

As to why my stock springs were higher than stock? After comparing them to another stock set very carefully, they are definitely stock springs. I guess someone must have had them re-arched at some point in their life.

[chicofuentes0224]

Anyway, it looks good.

So is your front higher or lower than the rear now with the shackles?

I can't tell that well from the pics.

[89eliminator]

looks good!

[Motion Offroad]

Our 3" leafs are designed to match our 3" front XJ/MJ coils that we use in our lift kits. We've designed our 3" leafs to match the front coils in both spring rate as well as lift height. So when you run them together you'll have a lift that will match front to rear.

 

Based on the measurements you have given us after installing the leafs, you've gotten 3-3.5" of lift in the rear. This is based on the average height of a MJ in the rear from the factory. I should also point out that prior in your build thread you state that you've replaced your leafs and netted quite a few inches over what you had. So, if you're measuring based on the "new old" leafs compared to our leafs your measurement is going to be off anyways.

 

Now here is where the problems is. 2wd, 4wd, and Metric Ton leafs all will ride at a different height from the factory. We've taken the average of this height and designed our leafs off of this, as well as to match our 3" front coils. So you measure prior to lifting, install a set of our leafs, and then measure after. The measurement is going to be directly related to what set of factory leafs you have in it from the factory as all our leafs are created equal. Someone who had 2wd leafs in it from the factory may measure 4" of lift, someone who had Metric Ton leafs from the factory may measure only 1.5" of lift. This does NOT mean that the leafs only lifted you that amount. Measuring like this is pointless and will only cause frustration.

 

Solution? Design about 4 different leafs based on what factory leafs you had. (that's not going to happen, sorry). But now here is the other problem with this solution. You now have a mismatched set of front coils. So now we've got to design 4 different 3" front coil sets to match the rear leaf packs. Now a 3" lift front coil really isn't a 3" lift coil, it's a 2" coil, or a 5" coil, etc. etc. This is not beneficial to anyone, including us, the manufacturer to do things this way. See where I am going with this? Measuring the rear lift height based on what set of factory leafs you had is essentially pointless and the numbers will vary greatly among the different models.

 

This is why we've designed our leafs the way we have, and matched them to our 3" front coils. Trust us, we've done our research on this and we've not "designed making a faulty assumption about the stock height of a Comanche". With over 50 sets of 3" leafs sold in the past 12 months you're the ONLY one who's complained about the lift height achieved from them. I'd also venture to say that it's more the fact that you put in our 4.5" front coils instead of what was intended for the 3" lift with the 3" coils. Putting a 4.5" coil in the front and a 3" leaf in the back will make it sit the way it did. Actually I'd say that a good percentage of customers who order our MJ 3" lift kit call back after installing it and order a 3/4" spacer for the front to level it out as they want it to sit "level" from front to rear.

 

Here is another example. A XJ with the "Up Country" package sits 1" higher from the factory than a normal XJ does. You purchase a 3" lift kit and install it on the "Up Country" XJ. So now did you put a 3" lift on it or a 2" lift on it? It's a 3" lift but it will only sit 2" higher than what it already did.

 

Hopefully this has shed some light to the topic and you now understand that a quality lift kit is designed the way it is for a purpose. We are sorry you are unhappy with the results of the rear leafs. As stated prior we have not had any complaints with our leafs matched with the correct set of front coils.

[offroader461]

Looks good but HOLY LONG SHACKLE :eek:

[mvusse]

This is only used for reference and don't "quote" us on this. As we measured a MJ without rear flares so we're somewhat "guessing" based on what the flare should be. Maybe some who's running our rear leafs who's still got flares can chime in to give you the exact measurement your looking for.

 

3" Leafs - 23.5"

4.5" Leafs - 25"

 

After installing your springs, I only measured 22.5". Being 1" off when installing 3" springs is a pretty bad job "guessing" as that is fully 33% of the total lift.

 

If stock ride height is supposedly 19" measured from flare to center of wheel, why did you come up with a guess of 23.5", instead of 22"?

 

Also:

I measured the way the FSM specifies, between the frame rail and the axle, and measure 11.25" on both sides after installing the 3" lift springs. Stock for 4wd is specified as 9.2" +/- .5". According to those numbers the springs also lifted me 2" over stock, not 3".

 

I know I'm being a pain the butt, but considering the majority of people would be lifting a 4wd truck rather than a 2wd, I believe the springs should be designed going off the stock 4wd specifications from the FSM instead of measuring a bunch of trucks and assuming the springs haven't sagged in 20 years of use.

[chicofuentes0224]

Guys, I didn't mean to start a fight here but isn't it completely possible that this ONE set of springs is somewhat deffective causing the 1" differnce.

[chicofuentes0224]

And here is a real good way to fix this.

Anybody have MO's 3" rear springs?

And if you do can you please measure to see what number you come up with?

[blackdiamond]

actually, looking at your pictures, i think had you put the 3 inch lift springs in the front, your truck would look level front and rear, which is probably what the 3 inch lift springs front and rear are supposed to look like. i think it looks good without the shackles in the rear, and had you gotten the 4.5 inch lift rear it would look level with your 4.5 inch lift front. maybe its just me.

[mvusse]

I think part of the problem is that my driveway is not quite level and makes it look worse than it does. The guys at work said it didn't look that bad, and if you look at the picture with the brush in the back, parked on the street it doesn't look bad. And that is before the shackles.

 

It's not that I'm unhappy with the lift, just disappointed that it netted me 1" less than I believed I would, both by what MO had told me, and going by the FSM specs.

 

Right now I'm battling a DW problem. I AM going to wheel it the 25th, but if I can't get this solved I will have to trailer it there and back. I don't want to have to, because I can drive it there and back for probably about $110 in gas, trailering it would be at least double that. Plus I'd have to find a trailer I can borrow for the entire weekend.