Lift kit installation

Ok so I've watched Lucky8's video (link below) enough to know roughly what i'm doing. Its not the first time i've worked on my own car, but is the first time i've installed a lift kit. My problem lies with what i need to install my 2" OME lift. Unlike his video I don't have access to a car lift, all I have is my 3 ton jack stands which give me about 17 inches of lift. As for tools I have what i need in my tool kit. But will my jack stands offer enough lift allowing me to get the new springs on up front? As for the back i'm just throwing 2" spacers underneath my SLS. I don't care if i need to throw wood under my truck to give me more lift I will, but any advice would be very grateful. I've heard it take about 3-4 hours to install these, but being i'm a newb at this I can see it taking longer, i just don't want it to be an all day thing. I also don't want to pay someone else to do it, cause I would rather use that money for other mods

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pkz0NTMFeYY

you are more then welcome to come up my way and i'll help you out. i'd say your pretty much good to go. i would try to get some cinder blocks to help you keep vehicle steady on them. ive done plenty with my floor jack you might have to add some wood in between floor jack and jacking point to raise it that much higher.

i can be your Kristin like in the video! ha

p.s. its NOT going to go that easy for you like in the video... they uninstall everything first then put everything back loosely to make video...

Yeah I'm doing my first lift kit install on my 97 with a terrafirma kit with just jack stands in the driveway, I'll be watching this thread to see how yours turns out. I'm hopeing my buddy helps me out I'm sure it's easier and faster with 2 people.

Doing a lift install is pretty easy and straight forward. Me and Jake did it in about 2 hours. We used a floor jack, that made it easier that using the bottle jack. Did the install in the morning and were wheeling in the afternoon.

jveen wrote:

Doing a lift install is pretty easy and straight forward. Me and Jake did it in about 2 hours. We used a floor jack, that made it easier that using the bottle jack. Did the install in the morning and were wheeling in the afternoon.

pretty sure that was the last time you were wheeling.. just saying.

floor jack, jack stands, ratchet and socket set, penetrating oil of your choice and also ratcheting wrenches make life easier.

Fern you welcome to be my Kristin, but you will need to fly out to Colorado

But sounds good, i'm talking with a friend to see if he will help me. But sounds like I have all I need, hopefully if the weather stays correct it should be 54 and sunny on Saturday. Just need to get a prime parking spot in my lot and I'll do it there. New shocks came in today as well.

I also know that lucky8 puts lifts in like he eats breakfast, but it gives me enough of an idea on how to do it. I'll give it a whirl and take lots of pictures of course. thanks guys for the advice

ajk150 wrote:

Fern you welcome to be my Kristin, but you will need to fly out to Colorado

But sounds good, i'm talking with a friend to see if he will help me. But sounds like I have all I need, hopefully if the weather stays correct it should be 54 and sunny on Saturday. Just need to get a prime parking spot in my lot and I'll do it there. New shocks came in today as well.

I also know that lucky8 puts lifts in like he eats breakfast, but it gives me enough of an idea on how to do it. I'll give it a whirl and take lots of pictures of course. thanks guys for the advice

I done about 5 lift kits by now from jeeps to rrc and discovery ...the one advice to make your life easier is this , use your jack the chassis area lift as much as you can ,remove the tire and your axle will drop to a point , this is the part where most people use a spring compressor to remove it because it wont come out by it self ......how ever get your LR bottle jack between the upper axle and chassis , watching your brakes lines or even removing the brake line bracket crank the bottle jack and watch the spring just fall off , repeat as needed .

So got to a slow start today didn't get started until 1pm. Decided to start with the back which I thought would be easier based on the fact I was just putting spacers in under my SLS and new shocks... i was wrong. Had 3 bolts that were stuck on the back wheel which took a while then had to figure out the sls system using some 'how to' guide on air bag replacement. Finally i was ready to do the spacers and my largest allen wrench was one size to small. So after a few calls i decided to bag it and hope for another sunny day. So ended putting everything back together with a few bumps in the road getting sls working again. Finally everything put back together and got the right allen wrench and sort of disappointed. But at least now I can wait for my front quick disconnects to come in and I already no the system so in theory it should go faster next time.

But all in all not a bad setup for having all but one set of tools with me and some jack stands. This was taken right after i put the airbag back in.

Didn't realize you were double bagging it still!

Hilltoppersx wrote:

Didn't realize you were double bagging it still!

Yep, until the system fails. Its nice, when your loaded to the gills with ski stuff and it stay level haha

Ok so I finally had a warm 50 degree free day where it wasn't snowing to install my lift (for the 3rd try) and I actually got half way through... until a random snow storm came in. It got cold and wet. So I only was able to get the front shocks/springs in, but the back spacers will go in tomorrow. Already could feel the difference though. Had to drive to my buddies house with the front lifted and not the back, it was an interesting feeling for sure.

Shock/shock tower pulled with old spring in place


Old shock in shock tower... notice how the old shock is stuck compressed. That is how the rear shocks were too.


Everything pulled out, waiting for new OME spring/shocks


New OME777 spring and OME sportcharger shock


Also I would have put in my quick disconnects but with the snow and darkness my gloves had already soaked through and the sun gone down so I was freezing and had to stop at the suspension. But here is a quick pic (note the snow) of the rear air bags raised to level it out. But the front is already noticeable higher and the whole car sits higher... can't wait to get the tires on and out of my room!

Awesome job man. Looking good.

Hilltoppersx wrote:

Didn't realize you were double bagging it still!

So I think you jinxed me. One of my airbags just popped and rather then pay for a new bag I'm just swapping out the air suspension for my springs that I bought. So looks like no more air suspension

ajk150 wrote:

Hilltoppersx wrote:

Didn't realize you were double bagging it still!

So I think you jinxed me. One of my airbags just popped and rather then pay for a new bag I'm just swapping out the air suspension for my springs that I bought. So looks like no more air suspension

that crap was cursed when it left the factory

Ok guys well this is long overdue being I finished the lift a week ago so here you all go.

Before:


Halfway (lift on, no tires):


After:


After all is said in done I have converted the rear self-levleing to springs for a full 2" OME lift. Plus five new 265/75/16 (32") Treadwright MAX TRAX M/T tires

I also wired up my new CB; Cobra 29LTD classic plus 4' firestik antenna mounted off the hood
(I know I still need to hard wire it in, just haven't had a chance yet, so the cigarette plug will have to do for now)

now you are ready for some trails!

I know, I'm so pumped to try out the new setup next week in Moab

hopefully I can squeeze in some last minute mods and get my quick disconnects and diff guards on.
Are the quick disconnects easy to install and do I need to pull the wheel off to do it or can i do it leaving everything on and just jack up the truck on floor jacks?