Installing my lift...NEEEEED HEEEEELPPP

riptricket · **Posted:** Wed Oct 13, 2010 1:34 am

so I had to stop.... I can not for the life of me get the darn clevis fork holes to line up in order to get the bolt back through. That is the only thing holding me up!
I tried the ratchet thing that is listed here...
Carefully wrap the strap around the clevis fork and behind your CV shaft; and continue by anchoring both ends of the strap to either your skidplate or another fixed sturdy location. Very carefully tighten the ratchet strap(s) while using a hammer to lightly tap the sides of the fork to keep it in a good position to slide over the mounts on the lower control arm. (The lower control arm has to be as low as possible until the folk is aligned.) A long aligning pin may help to get the fork and the lower control arm together, but I managed just fine with the bolt that goes back through it. So after you get the lower fork bolt back in tighten the nut back onto it.

I might be doing something wrong, but I did just like the pic even.

but my holes will not line up for my bolt to go through.

rspratley09 · **Posted:** Wed Oct 13, 2010 2:08 am

use like a punch or something skinnier than the bolt to try to pry them to line up, like stick the smaller thing through the hole and work the ratchet strap at the same time then it will go, you will get it, it took me two days to do the front and back of mine, and that was durring that huge snow storm we got in february up here in new york. you will get it, just keep workin on it. good luck man

jmichaelsjeep · **Posted:** Wed Oct 13, 2010 4:58 pm

So I had a little bit of a difficult time with this as well.

What I did was first, choose hooking points for the ratchet strap that allows enough length that you don't get binding where it winds up.
Next, tighten it up as much as you can.
Then this is what I did next, it may or may not be an "approved" method, but it worked for me: Take a soft mallet (or a 4lb hammer against a block of wood (wood being up against your clevis fork)) and and tap it a little to move it a little further. I discovered the ratchet part of my strap was not strong enough to do this for me.
Then tighten the strap some more.

Keep repeating till it gets far enough to get the bolt through. If it is anything like mine, I tapped the bolt in with a mallet/ hammer. I kept doing this process until I could get the bolt all the way through. I don't know if everyone's does this, but the strap pulled one side closer and within alignement first. I wasn't able to get a straight shot with my strap to provide even pressure.

It took some pounding and back and forth between working on the clevis fork and the strap to get it to go. I also was careful to keep the CV joint seated, but still push down on the lower control arm a couple times to open it up a little. Again, don't know if this is an approved method, but worked for me.

Hope it helps.

Oh, one other thing, I noticed that there are a couple little bump outs on the clevis fork on what would be considered the top of the fork portion where the bolt goes through, my goal was to keep working the strap, pounding, and such to make sure those bumps slide over the top of the portion that is attached to the LCA. If it sat too low, they would bet caught up and would not allow my clevis to move closer to alignement with the holes.

tommudd · **Posted:** Wed Oct 13, 2010 5:21 pm

use two straps that way you control how far each one moves in

LoveLauren · **Posted:** Wed Oct 13, 2010 9:37 pm

hey i did my SKYJACKER 2.5" lift kit myself with my Dad and we had that problem too.. no joke you have to use all the force you can to push that back into place. it can be done. my dad pushed it then i put the bolt in... it took us a couple of attempts. it was hell. but i also had the CV joint pop out which was normal too you just have to use man force and shove it back in..correctly i might add. Ill show u some picks of my installation and maybe itll kinda help..idk... are you still stuck there? It might help if you have someone help you line it up. My dad pushed and I pushed too and I put the bolt in.. its hard to do both jobs on your own.. are you still stucker here? And also.. be very careful with your CV joint.. we werent as careful as we shouldve been and nicked the boot so i had to buy a whole new CV joint..it sucked

LoveLauren · **Posted:** Wed Oct 13, 2010 9:44 pm

I did the installation myself.. It wasnt bad if you have the right tools and a father like mine that knows what hes doing lol here are some pics..

This was before we started taking the front apart

heres my website that shows all my installation pictures from doing the lift kit if your interested...
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/3817800/4

JeepinJarhead03 · **Posted:** Wed Oct 13, 2010 10:49 pm

I'd suggest getting the bolt started through the clevis and lca, then working the other side, you may need to loosen the clevis to shock clevis bolt and loosen the upper plate nuts a hair in order to get it in the right position while using a jack under the lca to control the level

like ive said 100 times before, i put mine back in with my hands, it's just finesse, once in awhile things like ratchet straps will cause the assembly to twist, which is fine, if it's twisting it in the direction it needs to go, just fights you if it's twisting it in the wrong direction

riptricket · **Posted:** Thu Oct 14, 2010 12:32 am

okay, so here is the problem... I can't figure out how to get the uca to the ball joint.
I think that the cv joint is out and I can not figure out how to get it back in.

This pic^^^^^ show that I will be able to get the bolt in, but the pic below shows that something is not lining up when the hub is pressed in as far as it will go... no line-y-up-y

tommudd · **Posted:** Thu Oct 14, 2010 12:37 am

After you get the clevis bottom bolt in
Jack up under the lower control arm until it starts to lift off the stands, or should say almost, push the cv back in hard, it will pop in there push straight back in.
Then after it starts in get the UCA lined up and put a bar back into the spring and pry down on the UCA , have the nut ready to start on , keep pressure on it or the ball joint may try and spin around

or for a plane ticket,
motel room,
food
and 50 bucks
I'll be out and finish it for ya!

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Thu Oct 14, 2010 12:41 am

1st if you have the upper plate nuts tightened you will want to loosen them up some,2nd you will want to loosen the upper clevis bolt,bot will make getting the lowr clevis bolt in easier.

For the UCA.............

1st be very careful if you have both side torn apart as thius will raise the vehicle off the jackstands some.

1-place jack under LCA(use LBJ stud as lift point),place 90 degrees as looking at the side of the KJ.

2-jack up LCA untill the KJ starts lifting off the jack stand(where having the otherside still together with wheel on makes safer),now you will need to jack up a little past this as it takes some leverage to get the LCA to move up.

3-take large prybar and pry down UCA by prying on the coil spring,that should be more then enough to start the UBJ nut on the UBJ.

LoveLauren · **Posted:** Thu Oct 14, 2010 1:34 pm

tjkj2002 wrote:

For the UCA.............

1-place jack under LCA(use LBJ stud as lift point),place 90 degrees as looking at the side of the KJ.

2-jack up LCA untill the KJ starts lifting off the jack stand(where having the otherside still together with wheel on makes safer),now you will need to jack up a little past this as it takes some leverage to get the LCA to move up.

3-take large prybar and pry down UCA by prying on the coil spring,that should be more then enough to start the UBJ nut on the UBJ.

This is exactly what I did and it worked out... its not easy my friend

riptricket · **Posted:** Fri Oct 15, 2010 1:08 am

okay can't get the brake pad part to relieve pressure... help
it won't go over the rotor and that is all I have left.

JeepinJarhead03 · **Posted:** Fri Oct 15, 2010 1:36 am

pop the reservoir cap and c-clamp them a hair with a piece of wood or something non-damaging to the piston they probably re-expanded some after being uninstalled for awhile

if you don't have a c-clamp handy, take the outboard pad out, put the caliper on put the bolts in loose, get a screw driver in the outboard side and pull towards you a bit to compress the piston, remove the caliper and reinstall the outboard pad and reinstall

riptricket · **Posted:** Fri Oct 15, 2010 1:57 am

nothing happening

JeepinJarhead03 · **Posted:** Fri Oct 15, 2010 2:13 am

how much lack of clearance are we talking ?

if that piston isn't moving with a pull or a clamp.. the caliper is seized

riptricket · **Posted:** Fri Oct 15, 2010 2:13 am

okay we are tlaking not moving at all... so what's next

JeepinJarhead03 · **Posted:** Fri Oct 15, 2010 2:15 am

also make sure your rotor is seated, put a lug nut or somethin on it if ya have to

riptricket · **Posted:** Fri Oct 15, 2010 2:15 am

not the rotor part problem, it's the piston part for sure...

JeepinJarhead03 · **Posted:** Fri Oct 15, 2010 2:17 am

if you take a brake pad off and hold it against the piston of the caliper, is it pretty much flush with the rest of the caliper or is the piston protruding? if the piston is protruding and is not compressing, you have a seized caliper

which would require replacing the caliper (preferably both left and right calipers) and bleeding the brakes

riptricket · **Posted:** Fri Oct 15, 2010 2:18 am

shi8 are you serious!
there is nothing else that I can do?

Installing my lift...NEEEEED HEEEEELPPP

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