Johnson797

Will do. Thanks!

kerian

How'd this turn out?

Johnson797

It could have been worse. Only 1 leaf bolt turned out with heat, for the other three I had to cut the springs out and then dissect the eyes layer by layer since the bolt was seized to the bushing sleeve. It was a bear getting the new springs in but with a couple of pry bars and a BFH it was doable.

Surprisingly the upper shock bolts didnt break off and I threw in some Bilstien 4600s. I used dorman shackles and springs. I also used 9/16" u bolts just because they are a little beefier. Looking back on it, I should have just used the factory 1/2" to save a little time on squeezing the bigger u bolts through the plate. Ditched the rear sway bar also.

It's amazing how well this thing rides now. It's 1000x better than before. Only thing is,
my exhaust rubs on the spring now for some reason (see picture). I tried denting the pipe in a little but I'm not sure it's such a good idea to dent it any more. Any thoughts?

kerian

That's awesome! What year Jeep is that? My '98 has the same Sport graphic and I've only seen one other one like it.

Johnson797

She's a 1998. I think the decals only came on 97 and 98

kerian

Cool, yeah I pulled the Build Sheet on mine and I believe they're listed as Quartz Logo's or something like that. It's interesting to see yours without the side molding as I'm about to pull mine off and get it cleaned up and repainted.

Veeb0rg

Yeah the blue "sport" decal were 97-98 only, I also think the round circle drivers airbag was a 97-98 only thing too.

dmoe69

Phenomenal job getting that sorted out. I'm glad the ride is so much better. I would like to see that side view shot again just to see any difference in the stance. My exhaust made contact there as well. Believe it or not, changing out my rear transmission mount corrected that. That mount is the intermediate exhaust mount as well. Another "easy" job that is fraught with disaster, maybe you should relish your victory for a while.

I don't want to put out bad info. The reason my exhaust was able to hit the leaf spring before I changed out the rear transmission mount was because one of the transmission mount bolts was missing. With only one fastener holding the exhaust hanger it was allowed to shift considerably.

Johnson797

Thanks! I think ill just bend the tailpipe some more since I'm a little sick of working on it at the moment lol.

she's just a little bit taller in the rear

boxburn

I may be a bit late but just double check that none of the steel near the mounting brackets, or the brackets themselves have cracked. That must have been some stress put on those points driving around.

XJThrottle

Chop the tail pipe off just after the hanger.