Frankenlift fail, Help Please!

NOVA_KJ · **Posted:** Sat Jul 14, 2012 9:21 pm

Good evening all. I think i may have a pretty massive issue. My buddy and I were installing the Frankenlift on my '06 KJ Sport 3.7. We got the clevis in place and got the lower bolt in... And here is where things got hinky - my buddy cross-threaded the lower bolt and nut-BAD. Does anyone know if/where I can get a replacement bolt and nut on a Sunday? Is this a simple matter of running to home depot and finding the right size bolt and nut (please dear God let it be that simple)? This is my daily driver and I have a rediculously busy week coming up. Thanks in advance for the quick support and guidance!

Tommy

tommudd · **Posted:** Sat Jul 14, 2012 9:35 pm

Special bolt from the dealer
BUT
you could possibly get by with a grade 8 the same size/length
as long as you don't let your buddy install it this time
How in the world do you cross thread that anyways ??? :shock:

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Sat Jul 14, 2012 9:36 pm

You can try home depot but might have better luck with ace true value stores.

I believe that bolt is a 14mm bolt so you could use either a 14mm bolt or maybe able to pount in a 9/16" bolt.The length I'm not sure about but it must be a grade 10.9 if metric or grade 8 if going SAE,lesser grade bolts will not last and break in short order.

NOVA_KJ · **Posted:** Sat Jul 14, 2012 9:45 pm

tommudd wrote:

Special bolt from the dealer
BUT
you could possibly get by with a grade 8 the same size/length
as long as you don't let your buddy install it this time
How in the world do you cross thread that anyways ??? :shock:

I have no idea how you cross thread it! I am thankful for him trying to be helpful, but thats the last time I ask a PE to help me on a Jeep lift! :dead:

Will the Grade 8 be a permanent fix, or just a stop gap until I can get the proper bolt from the dealer? I want to do this right, but I have to get it back on the road tomorrow, full stop. Thanks guys.

tommudd · **Posted:** Sat Jul 14, 2012 10:10 pm

I'd use it as a temp repair until you can get the correct bolt
Will be hard to find one with the correct thread length etc in a common bolt
If you need the length I can measure one of my spares
or more tham likely you have the bolt out anyways
ACE or most any good hardware store like Troy said would be best to try and find one
Good luck

NOVA_KJ · **Posted:** Sat Jul 14, 2012 10:17 pm

tommudd wrote:

I'd use it as a temp repair until you can get the correct bolt
Will be hard to find one with the correct thread length etc in a common bolt
If you need the length I can measure one of my spares
or more tham likely you have the bolt out anyways
ACE or most any good hardware store like Troy said would be best to try and find one
Good luck

Thanks, I still have the driver's side dropped, so I'll just take the one from that side to ACE.

NOVA_KJ · **Posted:** Sun Jul 15, 2012 6:53 pm

So, good news I managed to get to a salvage yard 10mins before closing (only one that was openand a managed to get two replacement bolts nd nuts. Problem number next is that when I was reconnecting the steering arm ball joint I can get the nut on, but the stud spins free and there isn't enough room to put a socket on the end to hold the stud - suggestions?

Also, when compressing the LCA with the bottle jack, the entire vehicle is lifting off of the jack stands. The spring and shock have been releasing and dropping down very quickly like the spring is hung up on something and then letting go. Is this normal? It feels like Libby is firing me on this at every turn. I have to take the day off work tomorrow to try and finish the lift by myself so I would appreciate your thoughts, comments, laments, and/or concerns. Thanks everyone!

tommudd · **Posted:** Sun Jul 15, 2012 7:08 pm

NOVA_KJ wrote:

So, good news I managed to get to a salvage yard 10mins before closing (only one that was openand a managed to get two replacement bolts nd nuts. Problem number next is that when I was reconnecting the steering arm ball joint I can get the nut on, but the stud spins free and there isn't enough room to put a socket on the end to hold the stud - suggestions?

Stick a bar back into the spring and pry down on the UCA to put pressure on it, should have no issues then, first though remove the nut and clean the threads so it will go on easier
Also, when compressing the LCA with the bottle jack, the entire vehicle is lifting off of the jack stands. The spring and shock have been releasing and dropping down very quickly like the spring is hung up on something and then letting go. Is this normal?
Should only put light pressure on the LCA with the jack, use a rachet strap from the skid over to the bottom of the front leg of the clevis, then one on the back leg same way, this way you can pull the clevis right back into where it goes

It feels like Libby is firing me on this at every turn. I have to take the day off work tomorrow to try and finish the lift by myself so I would appreciate your thoughts, comments, laments, and/or concerns. Thanks everyone!

If you have anyother issues I'll PM you my phone number I maybe able to walk you through whatever it is

Beer_me · **Posted:** Wed Jul 18, 2012 8:00 am

Inquiring minds want to know ... you ultimately have success at getting the lift installed and back on the road?

NOVA_KJ · **Posted:** Wed Jul 18, 2012 11:15 am

Well, since inquiring minds would like to know - the answer to that question has two parts, one of happiness, one of irritation.

Part one: the lift was finished yesterday afternoon and after an interesting and cross-eyed drive to get aligned, she rides like a champ. But this install was clearly not without some weirdness. The drivers side strut fork (clevis fork) would not seat in the lower control arm. The fork would make hard contact with the upper CV preventing the strut fork from meeting the mounting location (sway bar removed, tie rod ends removed, brake calipers removed, full flex). I called Jimmy at All J's who said that he had never seen this before. Jimmy stayed for an hour after work to make sure that everything worked out, and was very professional and helpful - can't say enough good things about his immediate support. This is not the first time my Libby has been "special" but it was quite frustrating.

With all the issues that I ran into, I decided against changing out my LBJs myself, as I did not feel confident that I had the right tools or experience, and will let a shop do the work. I know I let a good opportunity go since I already had everything broken down, but I didn't feel good about it, and decided to step away before I did something stupid - I have to drive a lot in the next two weeks and can't afford to have Libby deadlined, and the stock LBJs seem ok for now, but will be replaced with my MOOGs very soon. This has been a trying experience, but I'm very happy that I was able to do iit. If a wheel falls off though, I'm still going to blame it on my engineer friend who cross-threaded the lower clevis bolt and made me spend my Sunday at a salvage yard 2 hours from my house while he went to a baseball game!

Part two: So, after the lift was complete I decided that I would do something crazy - like put the wheels back on and drive it to get aligned. I know, crazy. She starts right up, all the exterior lights, interior lights, windows, locks, sunroof, and stereo work perfectly. The dash however is a different animal. The speedo and tach are pinned at 0 and do not move when driving(haven't paid attention to the odometer, but assume it is not working either), ABS, Stability, traction control, passenger airbag, check engine lights are all on. I performed the dash diagnostics and the tach a speedo do move during the test, but settle down to zero afterwards and stay nonresponsive when the engine is turned on. Now, my Libby is a 6 speed, but when I throw the clutch out and put the gear selector in neutral when coming to a stop from any kind of speed, the engine stalls (happened at 50mph yesterday on my test drive with my wife in the Jeep - that was exciting). I have searched around and what I have found is to check the speed sensor on the read dif. I have also heard that the speed sensor wire runs next to the parking brake actuator and can be rubbed through, so I will check that as well. If anyone knows if all of the failure and check lights are central to one wire loom, please let me know. I will be cleaning all of the connections in the engine bay that I had disconnected during the lift tonight with a q-tip and alcohol (or bourbon if I get my bottles mixed up).

If anyone can throw ideas as to why this is happening or can send fault codes I would be hugely grateful. Thanks everyone.

Beer_me · **Posted:** Thu Jul 19, 2012 3:32 pm

Wow, sounds like you're handling the challenges well. Not sure I would've done as well. I'm still trying to learn the Liberty but from what I read in the following post, it does sound to me like you ought to have a look at your speed sensor(s). viewtopic.php?f=3&t=69527

Wish I had some free time for you to help trouble-shoot.

Good luck!

NOVA_KJ · **Posted:** Mon Aug 20, 2012 10:35 am

So, the lift I installed last month has been riding great with two issues left over. As I mentioned after the installation, the speedo and tach are not working (I've been using a speedo app on my phone) and my dash is lit up like a Christmas Tree. Fuel econmy blows, and I have stalling issues when I coast in neutral (clutch out) or come to a quick stop. The two fault codes that I have are P0501, U1120, P0501, U1120 - the codes repeated on the code reader at Advance. Is the repeating code relevant? I know that the codes are for Vehicle Speed Sensor and Vehicle mileage (odometer) faults which makes sense to me given that the speedo and odometer aren't working. Why doesnt the tach work? During the Franky installation I tried to change out the passenger side rear brake disc. The disc wouldn't budge so I brought in the persuader (2lb hammer), still no joy and the daylight was starting to go so I finished everything else up and moved on.

Is there a speed sensor in that corner that I could have broken? If so, is this an easy fix? Do you know the part number for the speed sensor by chance? Would a drop in speed sensor short the tach as well? Thanks everybody!

_________________
2006 Sport 6 Speed
235/70r16 Firestone Destination A/T (stock steelies)
JVC Head Unit
Frankenlift
JBA UCA
MOOG Greaseable LBJ (in the box)

Allons!

swiftv8 · **Posted:** Thu Sep 06, 2012 8:45 pm

U1120 is a chrysler specific code - lost wheel distance message. This plus your other code indicate an issue between the CAN C bus wires between the ABS module or body control module if you don't have ABS brakes and the PCM. Do you have a wire going into your front hub/bearings? If so you have ABS. You most likely had to disconnect/move wires out of the way to change those upper control arms. Go through and pay special attention to those areas. Sometimes wires will back out of a connector when plugging them in. Also look for corrosion in these areas. The stalling should be completely unrelated I would think, I know for fact some vehicles will stall after the battery is disconnected until all adaptives for engine wear are re-learned. That should have went away by now after driving. Check all your connections at the PCM for sure, as well as MAP sensor, Throttle postion sensor, and your idle air control valve, actually try and check all of your engine connectors - a 3.7 will run without cam sensor signal but may cause stalling and no tach - not 100% sure on this. Also try cleaning your throttle body, be sure to spray the passage on the bottom that the idle air must pass through.

My best guess - all of this is PCM related and you were in that area when changing the UCA's - target all wires and connectors around PCM

Good luck - Dave

NOVA_KJ · **Posted:** Mon Jan 07, 2013 11:03 am

:::UPDATE:::
Sorry for raising this from the dead, but I finally have some good news! After playing with every connector, checking every wire, and pulling out all my hair, I discovered the ECU wasn't seeing the ABS computer at all. I rechecked the wiring harness and connector again, and noticed that the cover had broken off and the locking lugs were in the fully unlocked position. Even with the connected in place, it was not seating fully. I tightened up the locking lugs, turned her over again and, presto! Everything works. All sensors are back online, speedo, tach, odo, abs, etc. so happy for an easy fix, even if it did take several months!

Thanks to everyone who helped me out along the way. This is a great community and resource.

V/R

Tommy

Frankenlift fail, Help Please!

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