install help

[FRMNJJ]

If anybody is extremely bored and wants to come up to Big Bear sometime in the middle of next week or the weekend and help install a RE 4.5 SF kit I would love to have you. I have any extra room if you need to stay the night or so.

Installing;

RE 4.5 SF...shocks are already on
Tom Woods drive shaft
Currie Anti-Rock
U-turn steering system

[loop choke]

I told you I would help you out when you got it.

Jason

[FRMNJJ]

why you got to be mean and yell at me ? jk....kit is arriving Tuesday....and the rest Wednesday.

[Rubiconman]

If anybody is extremely bored and wants to come up to Big Bear sometime in the middle of next week or the weekend and help install a RE 4.5 SF kit I would love to have you. I have any extra room if you need to stay the night or so.

Installing;

RE 4.5 SF...shocks are already on
Tom Woods drive shaft
Currie Anti-Rock
U-turn steering system

I just got my RE 4.5 /monotube shocks and CV shaft delivered yesterday .....anyone have nothing to do this weekend?... and a floor jack>?... and how bout some spring compressors?.. or maybe a couple extra jack stands? Damn I wish I had some more tools.

[FRMNJJ]

Come on over, I did the rear end yesterday ( wow that sounds bad ), Jason ( Loop Choke ) came up today to help with the front end. The rear was easy, the front is alot more work. We have all the tools needed. Hopefully we will have it done this weekend. Still waiting for my drive shaft.

[seapahn]

The u-turn will go in pretty easy. Not sure if your lift uses a drop pitman arm but if it does, don't bother with it. Just leave the stock one on there for the u-turn. Also, if you're keeping your stock wheels, then you won't have any clearance problems ... but in my case, my 15x8 was rubbing on the u-turn bracket on the passenger side so I had to grind a notch in the bracket about a 1/4 inch.

Edit: By the way, not sure if you've through about running a steering stabalizer or not with the u-turn but just an FYI, I went with the Monroe and it's been working great so far. I picked it up about $25 from checker.

[FRMNJJ]

Great, thanks for the advice. I plan on running Truxus MT's in 34x12.5x16's. Think i will need wheel spacers if i plan on using my stock moab rims ? If not, guess its an excuse to get new wheels.

I just read ORO's instructions for the U-turn, seems pretty easy and no drilling. How do you like yours ?

[seapahn]

The kit is great. The steering is very solid and there is pretty much no bump steer anymore as the toe doesn't change. The downside is that the turning radius is hurt by the kit since the Ackerman angle seems to be messed up. But IMO, the solidness of the steering and the better on road manners are much bigger advantages than the reduction in the turning radius.

I didn't have much vibrations either but with 35s, you get that anyway since the tires are so hard to balance. So I slapped on the Monroe stabilizer using the bracket that comes with the kit and that took care of the slight vibes at high speeds. Now I don't know how exactly it'll behave with a short arm lift but the jeep rides like a cadillac on the freeway now

Oh and I seem to have smashed the tie rod on something and I have a slight bend in it now. So even though it's beefy, you have to be careful as the weight of the jeep will bend it. The one downside with the tie rod that I see the way the u-turn is set up is that overall it is lower than the stock setup (especially in the center parts of the axle) since you don't have the Y setup anymore. That makes it more susceptible to banging on rocks.

[seapahn]

One more thing that I just remembered with mine was actually something that the alignment shop found ... the nut on the tie rod end on the passenger side had run out of thread when I installed it but the tie rod was not fully tightened on the bracket. So he had to put a washer under the nut to get it tightened down and then aligned.

I talked to Steve at ORO and he said it's a problem with the hole or bore or something and offered to replace the bracket but since mine was "fixed", I didn't bother with it. So just make sure your tie rod ends are TIGHT on the brackets and just because the nuts are torqued doesn't necessarily mean it's done. On mine, the only way you could tell was by jacking up the front and having someone wiggle the wheels side to side and someone else watch the tie rod ends closely for play.

As far as the tires, I think you'll be fine with the 12.5s but I can't be sure. Mine are 15x8 with 6mm offset and I'm running 35x12.5 MTRs. The tires have plenty of clearance and it was only the balancing weights on the insides of the passenger side rim that was rubbing on the u-turn bracket. Here are the pics:

Before and after:

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Here is where the contact was:


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Here's the notch I had to grind on the bracket:


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And here is the pic after grinding and painting with the wheel back on:


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[FRMNJJ]

Great !!! thanks again....I will post some pics when its done.