At last...LIFTED

kickit_in4wheel · **Posted:** Mon Jan 23, 2006 2:07 am

Well, after scrimping and saving and lots of waiting, my Frankenlift arrived, and it was installed on January 15th near my home by myself, and fellow LOST member Steve W. (camper). First I must give Steve more credit than merely helping to install the lift. He basically ran the operation, giving up almost all of his Sunday to make sure the job was done right. I am eternally grateful for all his wisdom, guidance, and physical labor. He told me exactly what to do and what not to do, and had me do as much myslef as I was capable of. What a great learning experience it was. And now he will probably forever be bombarded with my countless questions concerning maintenance. We started around 9:30 a.m. and it took until 5 or 6 to get it completed and packed up. We also mounted up my new moab wheels and MTRs. I am very happy with my Liberty right now, and I'm looking forward to some trail action, although I am a little concerned about my CV angles. There is some noise coming from the frontend during bumps and turns that I have yet to identify, and I'm going to get under there and check for tightness on all the fasteners tomorrow morning. Let me know what you guys think, this is the first time I've posted pictures of my Jeep. But then, it's not like y'all have never seen a Liberty before.

Pre lift

Getting started. Steve's Liberty has lots of cool goodies.

Much to Steve's dismay, that chair was empty for the better part of the day.

Poser shot during the disassembly of the front suspension.

Bye bye stock struts. minutes later we learned that lower clevis bolts do not like longer strut assemblies AT ALL.

Difference between stock and frankenlift strut assemblies.

Installed.

Finishing up the front. No easy feat with that lower clevis bolt.

On to the rear, sneak peak of the moabs mounted.

Bumpstop drilling action.

Steve's authoritative domination of the rear springs. That last one was the only time we used the compressers.

Rear suspension all done. Aside from the drilling, we had the rear done in like 20 minutes.

Myself, just before mounting up all the wheels.

WOW that's high.

LIFTED! WOOHOO!

I think it looks great! As soon as I get all this paid for (19 years or so), I'll be picking up a slew of other stuff to make it more capable. As a daily driver, I wouldn't want it any taller, and after the allignment the ride is wonderful. I am concerned about these CV angles. What do you guys think?

Driver's side, after 1 week.

Passenger's side, after 1 week.

After 1 week of driving.

brpn#1 · **Posted:** Mon Jan 23, 2006 10:31 am

looks good.. man i need to get a lift in springtime

l337fpc · **Posted:** Mon Jan 23, 2006 12:52 pm

that is exactly how liberty is going to look by the summer. Its good to see that the frankenlift with the MOABs and the MTRs look so darn good together.

Good work!

zeero · **Posted:** Mon Jan 23, 2006 4:08 pm

That looks awesome bro, hope its working as well as you want...sure likes like it does! :wink:

Someone has to put in a step by step with photos of a front and rear spacer lift install...I think that would be REALLY useful for some of the membership. :wink:

JJsTJ · **Posted:** Mon Jan 23, 2006 5:35 pm

Lookin' good. WTG STEVE!! Great job helping another LOST KJ-er out! Good to see your smiling mug too.

Well sorta smiling..... :wink:

the1jferg · **Posted:** Mon Jan 23, 2006 6:04 pm

Nice lookin deal there

W3CSX · **Posted:** Mon Jan 23, 2006 6:07 pm

Looks good! I think I'd worried about the CV's too. Mine are almost straight after 21/2" Daystar. No where close to what yours look like.

OBX KJ · **Posted:** Mon Jan 23, 2006 6:34 pm

Looks Great !!!

How much lift is Franken Lift?

camper · **Posted:** Mon Jan 23, 2006 6:40 pm

rick is a real nice fellow, college student....he has a preowned '02 that looks good....he lives about an hour up the interstate from me....I was happy to help....I wanted to get my hands into the frankenlift anyway to see what the job was like.....

because the front struts/coils come asssembled, I was hoping it would only take a few hours....we got jammed with the lower clevis bolt to the lower control arm when reassembling with the longer frankenlift....getting the holes lined up was a real challenge.....we finally knocked the lower ball joint loose so we could swing the lower control arm down a little further and arm wrestled the clevis with a couple pry bars....(thanks to the texan for the mid-day encouragement)...I whacked rick in the forehead with a pry bar and gave him a knot....but we made it happen without removing the lower control arm....

the rear was real easy....we went ahead and removed the rear sway bar and his axle had lots of flex to remove the old springs and stick the first new spring in.....we put the new lower bump stops in which takes away some of your install space so I put a couple spring compressors on the second spring and we slipped it right in.....we did find the upper rear shock mount to be slightly loose for the upper shock eye so rick placed one flat washer inside the mount and everything went together tight....

the remarks of others lately regarding the height up front is right on.....its a lot of lift on the front cv axles and upper control arms....but my rusty's front coils have settled and I'm sure this will also.....

I've now been involved with my rusty's coil lift, a rockfather kit for another florida member, and now a frankenlift....they all seem like good kits....

kollllllloj · **Joined:** Tue Dec 27, 2005 4:49 pm **Posts:** 29

Looks great!

LibertyCRD · **Posted:** Thu Mar 02, 2006 11:26 am

Looks awesome! But your ball joints are screaming in pain! :shock:

Hopefully that lift will indeed settle some over time and relieve some stress. Nice KJ!

Guest · **Posted:** Thu Mar 02, 2006 12:36 pm

W3CSX wrote:

Looks good! I think I'd worried about the CV's too. Mine are almost straight after 21/2" Daystar. No where close to what yours look like.

W3CSX - didn't I read somewhere that you have the 2.5" Daystar Font Pucks only??? If so, you really have only 1.5" to 1.75" of lift in the front unless you also have the Daystar strut top plates. I only ask, because my CV angles look EXACTLY like yours, and I only used the front Daystar Pucks from their 2.5" kit.

Another inch up front will force the upper ball joints to look like the subject posters, that's why I like mine(our?) setup.

tommudd · **Posted:** Thu Mar 02, 2006 5:48 pm

Kickit_in4wheel post some updated pics now that you have ran it some to see how everything looks. Has it settled down much?
Still dreaming of the Frankenlift, but hate to look at the ball joints and CVs like that for very long!
Keep us up dated !!

All in all though it looks great, I am just so jealous!

W3CSX · **Posted:** Thu Mar 02, 2006 10:47 pm

alljeep wrote:

W3CSX wrote:

Looks good! I think I'd worried about the CV's too. Mine are almost straight after 21/2" Daystar. No where close to what yours look like.

W3CSX - didn't I read somewhere that you have the 2.5" Daystar Font Pucks only??? If so, you really have only 1.5" to 1.75" of lift in the front unless you also have the Daystar strut top plates. I only ask, because my CV angles look EXACTLY like yours, and I only used the front Daystar Pucks from their 2.5" kit.

Another inch up front will force the upper ball joints to look like the subject posters, that's why I like mine(our?) setup.

Nope. I’m running top plates as well. I only used the Daystar front end kit. I didn't use the rear pucks I have OME HD 948 springs in the back.

Guest · **Posted:** Fri Mar 03, 2006 9:04 am

W3CSX wrote:

Nope. I’m running top plates as well. I only used the Daystar front end kit. I didn't use the rear pucks I have OME HD 948 springs in the back.

Things that make you go hmmmmmmmm. Looks like I'll keep the top plates on my future list, maybe after my struts need replaced. Thanks!

Video Guy · **Posted:** Fri Jun 02, 2006 3:37 pm

Hey Kick It,

Has your lift settled down in the front any more since this job was done? I'm comtemplating a lift, and this looks like a serious issue.

Your Liberty looks killer!

T.J.

SKIDOG · **Posted:** Fri Jun 02, 2006 5:55 pm

You must have missed my install post. Mutt and I found it very easy to get the lower clevis bolt in by simply taking a small tie-down strap (ratchet type) and hooking it to the skid plate then around the clevis then snugging it down to get it lined up and Bob"s your Uncle. Other then that awesome looking rig..

Mutt · **Posted:** Fri Jun 02, 2006 6:42 pm

Yep, I'll never do another clevis wrestling match, now that I know the secret of the ratchet tie down! Makes the install gravy.

Nice looking rig BTW.

JFortier777 · **Posted:** Fri Jun 02, 2006 8:28 pm

After getting my nuts handed to me when I installed my kit I came up with the ratchet plan too.

kickit_in4wheel · **Posted:** Sat Jun 03, 2006 1:59 am

SKIDOG wrote:

You must have missed my install post.

Actually, Steve and I lifted my Jeep back in January. I don't think you had posted about rachet straps back then...

At the request of Video Guy and tommudd, I will get some new pictures up soon. I'd say it settled a little, but not a whole lot. I did choose the heavy duty OME springs in anticipation of a new front bumper. I just am too broke to buy one, and not real crazy about any of the ones available.

At last...LIFTED

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