OldSlowReliable

Im gonna give you EXACTLY what I did, lifted for under 400 bucks AC Body Lift 145 UCA's w/bushings 205 Rough Country XJ 3" lift coils 45 I got the springs used, which saved me a pretty penny, and they worked GREAT

So I got my 33's, and I badly need an alignment now....but the guys @ belle tire said I had a bad drivers side tie rod......but my alignment was perfect before and had NO signs of bad tie rods when I was working on it...so they refused to do an alignment, and said if they had to use any shims for the alignment it would cost around 120 bucks... My mom's coworker (husband has a slightly lifted JGC and is a retired mechanic) claims belle tire ALWAYS says you have a damaged tie rod when asking for an alignment... and judging by what the clerk told me about the pricing, I have a feeling that they used this excuse to avoid having to fix the positive camber.... Now, during my lift, I checked the test thing, side to side for tie rods, top and bottom for bearing or w/e.....and I too felt the movement, BUT I also saw the power steering input rotating, and looked up to see the steering wheel moving too....which I know for a fact that my steering wheel after it locks, has about an inch of movement from side to side, as was being displayed with the TRE test... After thinking through all this, imo they mis-diagnosed or didn't want to put the effort forth (just like they said they would trim my flares, but didn't in the end) I'd prefer not to have to replace a TRE, but should I just go to firestone and buy the 130 dollar lifetime alignment and see what they say?

I actually noticed, alteast in my area.....that its not so much the 'tree hugging democrats' cause infact I am way far from republican....but more the 40-60 republicans who interpret wheelers as being teenagers with no regard for rules or the environment....

all I can say is "Welcome to Michigan" This same junk happened here, 20 years ago michigan had great wheeling, 2 tracks all around and you can wheel like you want..... Now, you can't go on ANY two tracks, even if they are labled as being ORV trails.....and the only wheeling is either private land (which they still harass about mudbogs) private ORV parks (which one that just opened is being harassed by the local community gov't) or MAYBE the occasional DNR sanctioned two track which are few and far between and rapidly closing.... It sucks, but there isn't much we can do....people don't realize that 90% of wheelers aren't ripping up trails and tearing land to shreds.

Well, my only chisels are ones that got handed down to me by my grandpa, and I just sharpened em a few weeks ago (what a pain in the butt!) Plus, since the sleeve wasn't cut the entire length, I doubt it would have budged with anything trying to pry it off.... Oh well, all is well and I can probably just grind down the screwdriver to refine the tip again..

I just left the stuck ones on there, sanded em off with some light sand paper to clean em up, and installed the new bushings over the old sleeves, they actually installed a LOT easier, no hammering on a socket over the bushing....just grease em up and slide em in! No more squeak!

No air compressor :S I tried really hard, then gave up......was looking into buying a new "control arm shaft kit" from local auto part suppliers....no dice... Had sprayed PB blaster on it, and then went back out to try and free it up, and FINALLY the vice grips caught the slice just the right way and freed it up..... Now both are stuck on my freshly de-bushing'd spindle....

So im installing my UCA's, and i finally get the spindle out by use of a torch and drill, and the metal sleeve will NOT come off of my spindle........ one side just slipped right out, leaving the bushing and sleeve in the UCA, but this side pulled it all out with it, and nothing I do BUDGES this sleeve!!!! I need to get this done today, so I grabbed the angle grinder (stupid me) and cut a slit in the sleeve, thinking that would help, but I just ended up cutting a little slice off my spindle both times.... (nothing serious) but this will not BUDGE, i already broke the tip off my favorite screwdriver trying to get it to break loose.... I've used my torch and everything......ideas? Its soaking in PB blaster atm..

Thought of using subwoofer wire hookups? My subs in my DD use 100 amp fuses and a big 0 gauge wire and a big (but not as big as power) ground cable.... Like, run the subwoofer purposed cable from the battery to the back end, then replace the wire from the fuse box (on the power line) to the short end with your quick connector's line, and run the other line to a decent ground...then problem solved? I know I got 2 fuses and a new fuse holder for like 10 bucks or something @ meijer or maybe walmart

I punched steel more than a few times doing my body lift....but my knuckles are so f'd up already that it doesn't make too much a difference! lol I was really planning on buying quality tools, mainly craftsman (family swears to them, grandpa had thousands of dollars in tools from them) and I adore their policy on replacing tools (no matter how old they are they will replace them or something like that) To tell you the truth, I can't remember a time that a tool has failed on me.....I don't usually push them too hard either, and most of which are tools that have been passed down, or tools my ma has bought for one reason or another (usually task force) so its not like I'm using complete junk....but none the less, aside from the occasional drill bit i don't see myself pushing tools hard enough to warrant $7 a piece combination wrenches, and $100 torque wrenches \ So yeah......

Im thinking that they would need to be drilled, but thats just a guess.... One thing you may want to do if you end up making one, is put a vertical piece of metal on EACH side of the frame, and then weld the nut onto the inside vertical piece, making it basically a captive nut for ease of install :-)

I have a click and pointer type torque wrench that I use for stretching screens (unfortunately I can't take em home!) The pointer is nice for things like stretching the screens, where its a nice slow process and I can constantly monitor the ft/lbs, and it doesn't REALLY matter where it is as long as its in the general vicinity.....

The only down side I found was it made it hard to do anything FAST......mostly cause it doesn't ratchet or anything, but then again its meant to just break that first spin of stuckness..... I am a fan of how it has a full range of motion, really helps maneuver and get it into position.

Oh yeah, i don't have any complaints, there is a little play back and forth when putting pressure on it, but because of the design, its expected and nothing unreasonable...they even put a spring in it to stop it from rattling or being obnoxious... The drive attachment is great, it really sticks onto the socket, and I even used a 4" extension with it so I wouldn't take the tire off.... Cool thing, is that it swivels BOTH ways....i'll make a little diagram! _________________________ I ______ I --------------_________ ________________ ________-------------------- I Ya digg? It is def hefty, I can get it ready to go on the bolt, and just sit it there w/o worrying about it falling off....its nice and stout, I don't think I could break it if I tried

HF for 12 bucks, got a 25" 1/2" drive Love it already!

I got my shiny new breaker bar specifically so I don't gotta do that

the only place i can think of that rents tools of any kind would be autozone...i'll go check

Yeah...its just a little hard for me to warrant that kind of money with how little I will use it, and in about a year I will be off to college.... I'll see how things go $ wise

Returned. After I went out with my 25" breaker bar and tested it on the shock bolt that that the impact wouldn't budge, and it only took about 6" of travel and barely any force (no big rust breaking feeling, perfectly smooth movement) I told myself that the impact obviously was not serving a purpose when I could hold it on the shock bolt for a good 20 seconds and NOTHING happen, and 3 seconds with the bar and its off easy..... I thought it had tightened down my spare tire plenty......the weight of the breaker bar practically loosened it on its own.... So thats 62 bucks back in my pocket, and i'll head back this weekend to see if they have the torque wrenches cheaper than 13 bucks, and look for a couple other little items Basically, don't buy the cordless impacts from HF unless you just wanna change tires (which they do great at btw)

Around here I haven't really seen a 'pick n pull' style JY, so I think I can live w/o cordless if I gotta.... I didn't see any U joint things, but i'll def look, especially if i go with the corded one, I can forsee some tight spots Primary tests- Cordless one was AMAZING for removing lug nuts on my tire carrier, but wouldn't budge my rear lower shock mount bolts.....rust was too much for it i guess? Another 90 ft lbs should help it that much more......

Im actually considering returning it and buying this corded one that goes up to 240 ft/lbs for another 20 bucks........im not entirely sure this one will get the job done @ 150 ft lbs.... Gonna try to remove a lower shock bolt on my rear axle tomorrow after the battery charges, and that will dictate whether I return or keep....

there was something the guy in the article said about this reducing the likelyhood of broken bolts because it just 'hits' them momentarily, which was my main reason because the last thing I want is a stripped/broken bolt on my UCA... :S Idk, I think I may try to grab a torque wrench or the breaker bar after a night of thinking about it

i remember thinking i was about to break mine too, I think the actual shift stick was twisting and i just held it there for a sec, and POP it came loose

not from what i've read, it has the ABILITY to be used for screws, but as you can see, the primary attachment is a 1/2" drive, and several of the reviews state "easily removes bolts" and this reviews states bolts also, they just supply the screwdriver attachments because i don't think you CAN buy impact-safe screwdriver bits... http://www.kk.org/cooltools/archives/000723.php

So with my UCA's comin in tomorrow (hopefully) I am starting to prep for the procedure, washing the spots ima work @, cleaning and organizing the garage, making a list of any tools or supplies I will need and so on.... So I was thinking about rust/bolt issues, and how I am going to conquer shock mount bolts and such, and I figured I would invest in some nice open end wrenches, and a very large pipe specifically for the side bolts on the UCA's and the shock mounting bolts....and since it was my birthday, I got a 15 dollar gift card to sears, so I figured i'd invest in some Craftsmen, cause they are really good tools that my family tends to frequent and have a good opinion of..... I don't usually look into new tools, so i jumped on sears site and check out prices....HOLY CRAP.....guess I won't be a craftsmen guy! HF and Wallymart it is!!! But i found an interesting tool- http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_0...ols#reviewsWrap From the reviews ive read and some blog thing, this seems like a highly-appreciated tool, and i figure for less money than a set of metric wrenches, its worth a shot right? What do you guys think? Its relatively cheap, and if it works, it will save me TONS of time and energy, with one hammer smack, this will deliver as much torque as me practically sitting on a wrench......and figure with the little energy it takes to swing a hammer, figure 3 or 4 times max per bolt and im smooth sailin... PS. What size are the bolts on the UCA's, Shocks, and panhard bar stuff? Gotta buy a set of impact sockets if i get these