Bradywgn71 798 Posted October 4, 2012 Thank you, everyone! Grunt- From what the manager at the welding supply told me, Hobart is now owned by Miller so consumables are no issue. It seems to be a good quality machine so far. The first weld pic above was my first pass on the bracket. I did go back and do a second pass as requested in the installation instructions. The stitch welds on the reinforcement rails I left at single pass. I usually push my welds but you can't always get in a decent position when working on your back or in a confined space. Welding two clean pieces of steel together on a table is a lot different from laying on your back and welding a custom trailer hitch on the rusty frame of a motor home an inch away from the fuel tank... not fun, did it for 5 years. I say do it which ever way works for the situation you're in and you'll be alright. Keep practicing welding on your back! It seems that where we end up the most when working on our Jeeps! Russell84 - I don't know why it would take so long to receive your lift, I had mine in about a week or so ordered directly from Clayton (free shipping). The only thing that was back ordered was the JKS disconnects and they had those drop shipped directly to me from JKS and arrived a couple of days after the lift. In the installation instructions in my kit, they had 4.5" arm lengths listed which were about 1/4" less length than for a 6" lift. As far as pinion angle, I'm still working on that and not really sure where it should be yet. I did some adjusting of the rear last night but still have vibes. I'm going to remove the front shaft when I get a chance to see if that eliminates them and go from there. I bought a cheap magnetic angle finder from Harbor Freight. It was like $6 or so. Oh, and Welcome to the Forum! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Russell84 1 Posted October 4, 2012 Kolak said Clayton just finished up the arms a little over a week ago, so hopefully the kit will be getting here soon. I didn't know they had 4.5" measurements in the instructions. That'll def be helpful, thanks. My front ds had some really bad vibes at stock height, so I just took it out and I'm running without the front until I get the lift in and can get measurements for a new TW shaft. Post up what you settle on for pinion angles front and rear when you get things worked out if you don't mind! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bradywgn71 798 Posted October 4, 2012 A few additional tips I learned from installing my Clayton lift: The rear upper arms have two issues to deal with. 1) I couldn't get to the front jam nut, to tighten it with the arm installed, due to it being blocked by the bracket itself. Tighten the jam nut on the front Johnny Joint before you put the arm up into the bracket. I may modify my brackets to allow clearance for a wrench. Make sure the grease fitting is pointing up and not down toward the bracket. 2) Speaking of those grease fittings, change those to 90* fittings, you'll thank me when you try to get a grease gun up in there. It's an inch from the floor pan. I found mine at Ace Hardware for like $1.80 ea. WJs have a goofy length tube spacer in the rear upper shock bushing (why did they do this??). If you don't add something in there with your new shocks, they'll rattle. No way you're going to bend that mount tab in that far to take up the slack. It's about 1/4" extra space. My new Bilsteins had 3 tube spacers included in the package. I installed the two that I needed in the shock bushings and took the third and cut a piece long enough to take up the extra width of the upper shock mount. I suppose you could also use a few washers in there to take up the space. Also while at Ace Hardware buying 90* grease fittings, I noticed in another bin nearby that they had tube spacers available too. Save your bolts and nuts for the lower arm to axle mounts, you'll be re-using them. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bradywgn71 798 Posted October 5, 2012 Before lift: After lift: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Number7 87 Posted October 5, 2012 Sweet! George:cool: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
theksmith 4,148 Posted October 5, 2012 looks great! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
J.R. 1 Posted October 5, 2012 Sexy! Its a good thing that you didn’t have to give that GC away at the cinders this year. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
crgeorge 1 Posted October 6, 2012 Looking great! I havent posted in a while, been really busy with work and planning Ryders run. Im liking yous and ksmiths fender trimming, Ive gotta get started with that when I get back from vaca. Chad Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bradywgn71 798 Posted October 9, 2012 The front springs try to make an exit at full droop so some sort of spring retainer is necessary to keep them on board. I was looking for solutions and found the Iron Rock Offroad spring retainers. They're 5" long by 2 1/2" dia. aluminum with a long bolt through the middle. Nice. What I didn't like was the price at $49.99 plus shipping for the pair. I looked around my garage and spotted my old tail pipe I had taken off back when I replaced my muffler. It's heavy gauge, 2 1/2", and there were some straight sections I could cut out. I cut out a couple of 5" lengths and broke out the welder to stitch them into place. If they don't work out, I can always cut them off and buy the aluminum ones... I'll have to try them on the trail. Next, I had to address the exhaust situation. That third cat was hanging down well below the frame rails. When I cut it off to move it, I looked inside to find that it had a few spots that were starting to plug up. I decided to create a "test pipe" by cutting up more of that old tail pipe I had left over. The curved sections worked out great here. Since this WJ has California emissions, the two forward cats have the O2 sensors. Temporarily removing the third cat won't throw a code. I bought some 2 x 4 x 3/16 steel tubing to create some front bump stop extensions. Also, made some cable retainers for the front disconnects (shamelessly stolen idea from theksmith) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
