Installation Outline and Product Review
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From Lee
OVERALL THOUGHTS AND IMPRESSIONS
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I would like to start out with a thanks to Jaysn at Tuff Country for providing a great product and excellent service on this kit. I would also like to thank Jason B. at PavementSucks.com for arranging Tuff Country as a sponsor for the site.
This lift was fairly easy to install, complete installation took about 4 hours, while Tuff Country calls for 5-7 hours. Time to do this lift was greatly aided due to the use of a lift, air tools and previous experience in doing a Cherokee lift. The Tuff Country lift came nicely packaged with a good set of instructions. The first step was to lay everything out and take inventory of the parts.
Included at the end of this article are before and after heights and some images for the final product.
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REQUIRED TOOLS
Means of supporting the vehicle, jackstands or a lift
Hydraulic jack
Drill with 9/16" and 3/8" drill bits
Various sockets and wrenches
Torque wrench
FRONT SUSPENSION
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1) To start you will to take before measurements so you can get an idea of achieved lift once done.
2) Open the hood and remove the shock nuts and bushings on each side.
3) Raise the vehicle in the air and properly support it, after the vehicle is supported remove all wheels and tires. Now that the vehicle is supported on jackstands or a lift support the front axle with a jack. You will then remove the lower shock retaining bolts and remove the shocks.
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4) Take the swaybar endlinks loose from the swaybar on both sides.
5) You will then need to remove the trackbar from the axle end
6) On the driver side remove the stock lower control arm, repeat on passenger side.
7) On both sides remove the coil retaining clip (already removed in picture).
8) Lower down on the jack supporting the front axle enough to remove the stock coil springs.
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9) Reinstall the new lift coils on both sides and reinstall the retaining clips.
10) Raise the front axle back up to seat the coil springs.
11) Locate the new lower control arms, bushings and bushing sleeves. Install the bushings and sleeves into the control arms.
12) Install the driver and passenger side control arms loosely, you may have to raise or lower the axle or pry on the control arm mounts to get the arms lined up. After both sides are installed torque to 90 ft-lbs.
13) Locate the new trackbar relocation bracket and hardware, Install relocation bracket into the stock trackbar location with the open end facing down. Install the spacer sleeve loosely [img 15] into the upper hole of the bracket using stock hardware.
14) Ensuring that the new bracket is level and seated properly drill a 3/8" hole in the back side of the factory trackbar bracket through the existing hole in the new bracket Torque to 32 ft-lbs. Torque the original bolt to 45 ft lbs. Leave the trackbar loose from the bracket at this time.
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15) Locate the new front shocks and hardware. Install the new bushings and bar pins in the front shocks. The front shocks I received did not come with new bar pins, so I had to remove the bar pins from the old shocks and install in the new shocks. Install the shocks on both sides reusing factory hardware, leave the top mounts under the hood loose at this time.
16) Reinstall the swaybar links to the swaybar .
17) The front axle is done until the vehicle is lowered back to the ground at this point.
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REAR SUSPENSION
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18) Move to the rear axle, Start by removing rear swaybar . This vehicle had the swaybar removed previously for more suspension articulation.
19) Remove the rear shocks.
20) With the rear axle supported remove the stock u-bolts from both sides. Lower the rear axle down.
21) The new lift blocks have larger center pins than factory, the factory leaf spring perches will have to be enlarged to 9/16".
22) Set the new 3" lift blocks on the axle perches with the taper going towards the front of the vehicle. Raise up on the axle guiding the axle to where the center pins in the leaf springs line up with the holes in the top of the lift blocks.
23) Tuff Country provides two sets of lift blocks depending on which rear axle you have, Locate the correct size rear u-bolts and install through the factory spring plates. Torque to 85 ft-lbs.
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24) Install bushings and bar pins into the new rear shocks and install the rear shocks.
25) If equipped reinstall the rear sway bar, note if you are reusing stock rims with larger tires they may rub on the stock sway bar, you will need to either leave the sway bar off or use rims with more offset.
26) The next step is to lower the transfercase. Support the transfercase by the rear tailhousing. Remove the transfercase crossmember.
27) Remove the studs from the framerails, I found the by putting two nuts on the studs and locking them against each other tightly I could unscrew the studs.
28) Locate the transfer case drop mounts and hardware, install the drop mounts between the crossmember with provided hardware. Put loctite on new bolts. Torque new bolts to 30 ft-lbs. Lower the transfercase down and reinstall factory transmission mount hardware.
29) Reinstall the tires and lower the vehicle down.
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30) Go to front shock mounts under the hood and tighten down the studs
31) With one person in the vehicle have them steer the wheel back and forth until the trackbar lines up and can be reinstalled. Torque the bolt to 45 ft-lbs.
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WRAP-UP
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The lift is now complete at this point, an alignment is recommended and it is also recommended that all bolts are re-torqued after 500 miles.
This lift comfortably clears 31" tires and adds a little attitude to the vehicle compared to stock.
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HEIGHTS
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Before and after heights to the bottom on the fender, the before heights where with 235/75/15 tires and after was with 31/10.50/15 tires.
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Before
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After
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Left Front
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31-1/4"
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35-1/2"
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Left Rear
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30"
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35-3/8"
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Right Front
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30-1/8"
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34-1/8"
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Right Rear
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31"
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34-1/8"
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Tuff Country EZ-Ride Suspension was incorporated over 15 years ago realizing the desperate need for quality suspension products in the after market world. As well as supplying the 4WD enthusiast with the best quality, Tuff Country EZ-Ride Suspension also offers you the most competitive price structure in the industry.
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Last modified:
May 10, 2005 |
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