Spring Lift, BL, MML

I got a great deal on some Rough Country suspension parts thanks to www.jeepforum.com

The Body Lift took about 2hs to get the pucks in and there were no issues. I hit the bolts with liquid wrench a couple days before and blasted them off with an impact. No issues at all, but this jeep has lived a lot of its life in san diego. I loosened up all the bolts and then removed the passenger side bolts. I jacked it off between the middle and front body mounts on the cab sub frame, just enough to squeeze in the pucks. I pulled the mounts out and cleaned the dirt off them too. why? Just cause. I didn't pull the filler neck for the gas tank, or remove the radiator mount like they do in the rockman youtube install video. My fan did bind a bit on the radiator flashing, but it was ok.

The motor mount lift (shouldn't it be engine mount?) was a much bigger PITA. I supported the engine with a block of wood, on a floor jack, on the sharp point of the trans bell housing. The main support bolt was a minor PITA to get off, mostly because i used hand tools due to clearance issues, and the bolt never "got loose" until the nut came off. The 2 little bolts that hold the mount to the frame blasted right off with the impact. You need to cut a bit off the tip of the stock stud on the mount and i used a hack saw to i wouldn't have to clean up the threads. I worked on the passenger side first and had trouble getting the large bolt back in, so i decided to loosen the mount. Did that and it popped right in. Went to the driver side and had to remove the engine mount (easy) to get the bolt out. (clearance with the AC issues). Stupid me put it back in the same way, but oh well. I went back to the drivers side to tighten up the lower bolt, just to find out that there was NO clearance for ANY type of wrench. Yeah, you have to bolt the inside mount up with the engine raised up a bit to gain clearance. Then comes the struggle to get the main bolt back in. I give up after about 1.5hr of jacking, screwing, banging, prying (a small pry bar between the engine and mount does work well to get things in position). It was 11pm so i called it a night. The next day i conned my lovely assistant to help out. I found a piece of steel a bit thinner than the original bolt, and ground a point on the end so i could bang it thru (without screwing up the threads on the real bolt). She would wiggle the bolt while i jacked the engine up and down. We found the perfect place and banged it in. (this is WAAAY easier with 2 people, otherwise its move the jack a touch, walk and check, repeat). Got it in and tightened everything up. No clearance issue up front (don't need to move the radiator plastic with the mml) and it shifted into 4L with no issues. Putting it in second seems to be a bit tighter, but it never popped out or gave me trouble. I'd rate it a 4/10 on the difficulty scale, and you could get by with just a small socket set and a hack saw, even if you are new to wrenching.

The 2.5" Spring kit was a fairly easy install. All the bolts came out just fine, but i did hit them a few days before with some liquid wrench on the advice of some JF guys. You'll need a spring compressor to get the new ones in. The fronts were a PITA because i couldn't use the impact and had to tighten them by hand. The rears i could use an impact on so they were real quick. I had to muscle them in just a bit. The shocks went in easy too, but the rear shocks are too long. At full droop they extend another 4 or so inches (see pic) and they bottom out driving off a curb.

I built the cargo hatch out of some steel i bought at home depot. It turned out great and now i have TONS of space to store tools and stuff compared to the wimpy glove box. I welded nuts around the hex bolts to make sure any potential thief would need an allen wrench and couldn't twist them with vice grips or pliers. If they came prepared, then they are going to get my stuff anyway.