Rear Goes In
Had to make a t-case installer
modification to the floor jack to raise the t-case high enough to get in the
Jeep, but once that was in and the rear was basically positioned under the Jeep,
I could start to figure out the control arm mounting points. Once these
were located, I had to cut a notch in the frame since the kit I bought was again
for a YJ/TJ which have a box frame as opposed to 2 C-channels welded together as
in the CJ. Since the bracket is WAY stronger that the original frame, I'm
hoping no ill effects come from this, but it will be one area I look for stress
cracks in the future. Next came the control arms, which I cut down to
length, welded in the bungs and then put the joints in. I gave myself
about an inch of adjustment in either direction on the ends and then located and
attached the axle mounts. The first attempt at upper control arm mounts
was tossed in favor of the Tera Truss which for $100 was a 'no-brainer'.
Once the truss and upper control arms were set up, I mounted the coil-overs.
These perform best when mounted vertically, perpendicular to the ground and
because of their height, would not fit completely under the fender wells.
So I cut some holes there and brought them up into the back. These would
have about 4" of sag with the weight of the vehicle on them, so I raised the
Jeep to about 4" higher than where I wanted it to ride, and then built the
mounting locations. When the Jeep was lowered on the the springs, the Jeep
ended up about 1" lower than I would have liked, but BARELY noticeable.
The bottom row shows some shots of 'garage flexing' where I was trying to get
the rear suspension to cycle through its range of motion. Couldn't quite
generate enough force in the garage though, so this will have to wait for some
real rocks.
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JAlbum 6.0
