Mookie

Like the others have said, *Make sure they pull the plugs before any other attempt of turning the engine over* (That way when they do turn it over, water will be able to come out the plug holes...stand back though!) I've seen a few vehicle drownings and when the ECU went, the starter wouldnt work at all - meaning your starter is most likely fine. If there is any water in the cylinders and it does crank, things will bend/break fast as water does not compress so again, make sure they know how to deal with an severe water intake. Good luck.

If it stinks like rotten eggs, sounds like your cat may be plugged?

Have you tested to see if your stock clutch fan isn't slipping?

With the Stock front end, you have to baby it on hill climbs or anything that requires torque to the front end. Tie rod ends will bend fast and centerlinks will wear out fast. I bent my idler arm by sliding sideways on an off camber section. Do you have an idler arm brace? Check your idler arm to see if it's bent. The best way is to take it off and check because sometimes you can't tell until you put a straight edge against it. Once you lift the front end, the angles get tight as you know. Best solution is to lower it again an inch or so. Do you have new Upper A arms? The steering stabilizer woudn't have helped much as it's just the weak design of the front end. When I had IFS, my rule was as soon as the front tires started to spin I took a strap or winched through. To tired of replacing tie rod ends on the trail. On the straight and level trails, you can go anywhere. We have alot of cutlines with very steep sections so it was tough to always drive without hopping the front end.

What rims do you have now? Do you have the stock alloy lego or star wars style? From the picture as big_johnson stated, those are the steel chrome ones. However, they are only 15x6 as opposed to the 15x7 stock alloys. Not sure if that makes a difference to you or not.

Helps to have a buddy around. A second set of eyes watching the engine compartment for any thing that is being 'pulled' while you lift a side of the body up is always a bonus. That way they can yell 'stop!' so you can undo whatever line you forgot to disconnect

That's what I do. If I have done alot of water/mudhole crossings, I fill until all the water and contaminates come out.

I'm sure one of these days you just might find a good reason to justify some new wheels!

Sharp looking rig! Looking good.

Hi and welcome to the board. I think we need more details. What are you experiencing to conclude you need 'suspension work'? Rough ride, weird road handling, etc.? You can check the following to narrow down a few things: 1. Shocks -do they need replacing? 2. Torsion bars - are both or one sagging? Perhaps they need to be reindexed. 3. Rear coil springs. These tend to sag, tell tale sign is when you have rear passengers and you are bottoming out when going over bumps. 4. Rear control arm bushings...any swaying going on?

Yes, you should be able to get it aligned no problem with what you are aiming for. ...Whoops, back to original topic...

When I typed that out, I was just thinking what you said!

Just a tidbit of info, you can still get alignments with up to 2 - 2.5"" of T-bar cranks without new uca's. The angles aren't the best and that's where new uca's come into play. Just wanted to mention that new uca's aren't always necessary for an alignment.

Mine was alot! Lol. It really depends on the condition of the T-bars. You should be measuring as you go along to get the desired height. If you aren't already (but probably are) park on a level surface and then pick a spot on the frame (or another surface) and measure to the ground for both drivers side and passenger side. One side may need more turns than the other to get equal heights.

You would be replacing the newer MPI ('90-'95) with an older TBI ('87-'89). You would have to swap out ECUs, the wiring harness, etc, etc.

Same here.

It's common for either the drivers side or passenger side torsion bars to sag more than the otheras the years go by. When you crank them, one side may require more turns than the other to even it out as you know. If you are still having problems with one side sagging and not going any higher, re-indexing the bars should cure that hopefully.

Welcome, In addition to statikuz's post, if you have a Haynes or Chiltons manual, it will show you the steps. Like statikuz said, very straight forward. One thing to remember is to loosen the fill plug first before draining. That way if the fill plug is seized, it may take a few techniques to get it loose. This way you can still drive if loosening the fill plug takes longer than anticipated and you need your wheels.

I used a Dodge Caravan electric fan. Shroud/fan unit fits our stock rads perfectly. I paid a little to much for my adjustable thermo sensor. If I had taken the time and shopped around, or even mail ordered, I would have paid less...but I wanted to go wheeling right away.

I did a minimal install on mine so I'm not sure if it's worth the efffort unless you use an old AC compressor as you mentioned. On the good side, all the air lines are installed ready for a larger compressor and tank system for the future. I didn't use a York compressor or something similiar. I used a compressor out of a Caddy that was meant for airing up the air shocks. Because it's a tiny compressor, it's only good for airing up smaller tires. I used mine on my 35's and it starts to get warm. Combined with a small tank, it would be better. I took the air suspension out of my Subaru and will give that compressor and the tank a try as it's a bit bigger. It is handy however to just plug in your air hose, flip a switch and walk around to all your tires and air up. If you have a quadraflate, then it's a cinch.

Do you get swaying at highway speeds when you are not braking? Could be the rear link bushings are gone.

Yes. Alot prefer to use the 8" width as opposed to the 10" width with 12.5". There's the always ongoing debate of which is better.

I used to take mine to "tire" stores that had alignment racks. I'm surprised that Sears couldn't do it. I know of a few folks that have suspension lifts that use Sears for their alignments. Could be specific to the store/region and their equipment maybe? You may also want to try shops that specialize in Trucks. The last place I took mine before I started to do it myself, was a 'big truck' place. They were good at resolving problems rather than staying bound within specs.

Great write up! Like the pics. I guess I remove mine a bit different. After draining the oil, removing the oil filter, and undoing the starter bolts and wires, I just slide the starter forward as far as it goes, then back and up along the inside of the passenger fire wall. Takes just a few minutes to remove it. The trick is to wiggle it up and out. My starters kept filling up with oil and then I'd have to clean them out to work...so now I carefully cover the starter with a plastic bag when I do oil changes 'cause I always seem to be messy no matter how careful I am. :o