k9sar Posted May 22, 2006 Share Posted May 22, 2006 Got my JGC's on and did the T-bars. horror stories to follow linky of install Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vengeful Posted May 22, 2006 Share Posted May 22, 2006 Hey, Look ma! It's not a lowrider anymore! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slick Posted May 22, 2006 Share Posted May 22, 2006 nice write up scott! hope they served you well over the weekend :cool2: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nige Posted May 22, 2006 Share Posted May 22, 2006 lookin' good brotha! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dagwoodzz Posted May 23, 2006 Share Posted May 23, 2006 Looks good. I want to do the Tbar adjustment. Have u installed aftermarket UCA's? That's my hold up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
88pathoffroad Posted May 23, 2006 Share Posted May 23, 2006 Sweeeeet. I wish it were easier to bend the coil out like I've been doing, you'd get another half inch out of that 3/4 coil. As it sits, it takes me about 30-40 minutes per spring to heat and reshape those damn things. I get 'em nice and round, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k9sar Posted May 23, 2006 Author Share Posted May 23, 2006 Sweeeeet. I wish it were easier to bend the coil out like I've been doing, you'd get another half inch out of that 3/4 coil. As it sits, it takes me about 30-40 minutes per spring to heat and reshape those damn things. I get 'em nice and round, though. yea, I thought about that. The only problem is that you lose some of the 'spring' in that part. I was looking to reshape it to sit flat like the stock ones rather than sit on the point of the JGC coil. Much easier to bust out the grinder than to heat and bend. maybe I'll go pickup another set of springs and experiment. I found a good source of jeeps about an hour from my house (and it's even legal) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k9sar Posted May 23, 2006 Author Share Posted May 23, 2006 Looks good. I want to do the Tbar adjustment. Have u installed aftermarket UCA's? That's my hold up. nope. I put the JGC springs in the rear and reindexed 1 spline and cranked 'em up. Stock shocks and UCA's. Still rides nice but we'll see how long the joints last. I'll fix it when it breaks. With my luck, I'd put in new ball joints, UCA's, etc and get in an accident on the way to work the next morning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k9sar Posted May 23, 2006 Author Share Posted May 23, 2006 ok... now for the story. As many of you know, I visited a local U-pull-it to find a pair of heavy duty jeep springs. There were a lot of the FJ springs (.520) and I only found one FN spring (.560). I bought 3 springs that day thinking tha tmaybe the .520's would work and that I could get a .560 from a dealer or used part place. Continuing my investigation into exactly what I had found, I gained a much better understandign of the whole spring thing and added the info to Aaron's thread about lift options. Now, I hit multiple junkyards looking for a spring to match the heavy duty one I had pulled from my local yard. No luck but much more information about available springs and sizes. Finally, I found a U-pull-it that had a satellite location fairly close to me. I picked up a set of Pittsburgh coil spring compressors for 9 bucks (harbor freight item # 3980) grabbed my spring clips and headed for the yard. When I got there, I looked at their price list and a coil spring was about 8 bucks and a dollar core charge. cool! Got any jeeps? "Sure," he replied, "got a bunch of them up over that hill". I paid my $2 to get in and as I went through the gate, there was this 98 JGC limited V8 with the front wheels off. I went over and looked... FN springs. SCORE!... well... maybe not. They guy told me that if I wanted anything off that jeep, I need to ask for a price since... well.. I have no idea why it was different. Anyway... I walked the entire yard. No pathfinders at all. Lots of Jeeps but they've been picked over fairly well. Then, there it was... a JGC V8 laredo with FN springs. Problem was that it was near the back of the yard and was quite a ways to carry my tools and then the springs. I went back to the office and asked how much for the springs out of the jeep sitting right up front. He said $40 each. BWAAAAHAAAAA! I couldn't help but laugh at him. So, I went out, grabbed my tools, and headed deep into the yard for my springs. "No jacks allowed since everything is accessable" was the rule. They had taken rims and laid one flat then welded one on edge in the middle of it then used them top sit the cars on so you had access to the suspension etc. Good idea but then I had to rely on the spring compressors to pull the coils. Dropped the shocks and other suspension components and got in there witht he compressors. Worked great and before too long, I was hauling my ass out fo the yard with a pair of FN springs. Now... recall that I had already pulled a pair of FJ springs that I decided were useless. 8 bucks each for the new springs, 1 each core charge but I got that waived cause I simply tossed them my FJ springs for scrap. Totalled $16 plus change for the pair of FN's. Ok, step one, pull one of the old springs in the pathy so I can see what I'm up against. Slap on the compressors, hit it with my air tools and compressed the spring. I had to fight to get it out since I never unbolted anything in the rear suspension. Once I had it out, I measured the length so I knew how much I needed to compress the JGC spring to get it in. Took out my new 4" grinder ($28 from Sears). Perfect size for grinding inside a 4.5" coil spring. I made my cut and grinds on the first spring and threw on the compressors. Grabbed the air tools and... Let me take a moment to tell you that the compressors were bolt/nut driven (see harbor freights web site). The bolts and nuts do not like to compress bigass springs without lubrication and I proceeded to shread one of the compressors and ripped the threads off the bolt. Among this, the thing slipped and I nearly lost my thigh as the spring decided to release it's compressed energy. It was late at night and there was no place to get a new one so I had to dance with clips and a single compressor just to get the thing ready to install. I finally got it shoved in place (lining up the end of the coil into the seat properly) and jacked up the rear axle to release the clips. No way to continue without a compressor so I had to wait till the morning to continue. First thing... drag the busted compressor back to harbor freight. It was under warrenty but it would cost about $20 in shipping to get the compressor replaced by Pittsburgh. I pleaded my case with harbor freight and they looked at my receipt. "Sir, these are over 30 days old and are outside of our return policy". Ok, not on sale anymore so I guess I'll buy a new set for $12. "...so I'll just change this date and swap them out even-steven for you" she said. Cool! This time, I'll oil the damned things and drive a piece of metal into the thing to hold the bolts in place (design flaw). Drivers side... Jacked up the axle and threw on my spring clips. Lowered the axle and the spring just dropped out. Used the copmpressors to release the clips and it was on to grinding the second spring. Threw on the compressors and cranked it down to the size I needed to get it in (14 -15 inches). I couldn't get it to fit and I couldn't compress the spring anymore or I'd never get it compressed enough in the vehicle to release my clips. As I looked at the suspension, I noticed these 2 nice opposing flat surfaces just next to the coil springs. I took my bottle jack and stressed the suspension a little by forcing a greater seperation to accomodate the spring. Slipped it in. Removed the bottle jack and jacked the truck up by the axle. With a little prying, I was able to remove the spring clips and the job was done. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrimGreg Posted May 23, 2006 Share Posted May 23, 2006 You used a spring compresser? Just undo the shocks and Panhard Bar(if you don't have extended shocks already), the rear axel will drop far enough that the springs will fall out. You can flex the JGC coils by hand enough to get them in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k9sar Posted May 23, 2006 Author Share Posted May 23, 2006 next time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Precise1 Posted May 23, 2006 Share Posted May 23, 2006 Not necessarily GG, thats what I did and still had to pry and compress to get the JGC springs in... B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FLApathy Posted May 23, 2006 Share Posted May 23, 2006 You used a spring compresser? Just undo the shocks and Panhard Bar(if you don't have extended shocks already), the rear axel will drop far enough that the springs will fall out. You can flex the JGC coils by hand enough to get them in. thats what i did, i didnt even have to compress or anything, they just fell out and went back in easier than snot, i had to hold the springs while i jacked the axle back up so they didnt fall out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slick Posted May 24, 2006 Share Posted May 24, 2006 You used a spring compresser? Just undo the shocks and Panhard Bar(if you don't have extended shocks already), the rear axel will drop far enough that the springs will fall out. You can flex the JGC coils by hand enough to get them in. not on my pathy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
88pathoffroad Posted May 24, 2006 Share Posted May 24, 2006 On mine and Rami's they dropped out and new springs went right in, no probs. Perhaps you guys weren't jacking it up enough? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaximumHP Posted May 24, 2006 Share Posted May 24, 2006 Thanks for the write-up. I will probably be doing this soon myself, along with some shocks too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Precise1 Posted May 24, 2006 Share Posted May 24, 2006 On mine and Rami's they dropped out and new springs went right in, no probs. Perhaps you guys weren't jacking it up enough? MaritimeMan and I did ours at the same time. I got his 'old' GJC ones and he put in 88's modified (read bent pigtails, not cut) units. We jacked up the frame, disconnected the shocks, pan hard bar, ebrake brackets and let it all hang out. That was not enough. We still had to use the spring compressors I brought along to do the job. I'm not sure what the difference is, but there was no way they were comming out or going in by hand. Cant remember if I looked to see if the wheels were touching after axle droop (doubt both of us would miss that) but leaning on the axle one side and then the other helped so I doubt that was the case... Maybe your springs were sprung ?? I got a solid 2.5" lift minimum out of the swap and MZ got my old stock springs (still running them MZ ?) to beef up his rear end that was sagging, so they couldn't have been in bad shape... I don't understand the difference... B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
88pathoffroad Posted May 24, 2006 Share Posted May 24, 2006 Did he have the rear swaybar on still? Rami and I don't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrimGreg Posted May 24, 2006 Share Posted May 24, 2006 I had to remove my tires to let it droop far enough, my jack stands wouldn't go up high enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Posted May 24, 2006 Share Posted May 24, 2006 I bought new JGC coils (HD replacements) and I was able to get enough droop to be able to get them almost in, then just had to pry on them a little with a 4 foot crowbar to seat them.....worked fine for me. Had to take the tires off the rear and let the axle sag all the way down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Precise1 Posted May 24, 2006 Share Posted May 24, 2006 Did he have the rear swaybar on still? Rami and I don't. I can't remember, but I do. I think that's what must make the difference... B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave_C Posted May 25, 2006 Share Posted May 25, 2006 Mine was somewhat easy as well...took it to the Marine Corps base at Ft Myer, paid $4 to use their 4 post lift...disconnected the shocks, and panhard bar after the truck was in the air...used an axle pole to hold the axle up while those were disconnected...then lowered the axle support until the springs came out...had one guy pull down on one side of the axle, slipped in the lift spring, same on the other side, and it was done in under 5 minutes It actually took me more time to raise the truck, disconnect the shocks and panhard bar, than it did to swap out the springs...if you have access to a local "hobby/auto shop", it's what I highly recommend. We did my body lift there too, and that took maybe about an hour and a half...with air tools, hydraulic lifts, and $4/hour to pay to use all the tools and bay, you can't go wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Precise1 Posted May 25, 2006 Share Posted May 25, 2006 LOL, lucky bastage !!! B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave_C Posted May 25, 2006 Share Posted May 25, 2006 LOL, lucky bastage !!! B It was lucky for me to be able to use that shop...I've done spring lifts before with my old Wranglers, and doing 4 coil springs in a garage at home is not an experience I want to go through again....and with no coil compressor, yeah, pretty much a nightmare Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedPath88 Posted May 25, 2006 Share Posted May 25, 2006 Good Job k9 @ the write up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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