Im gonna replace them anyways lol when driving down the road i have clicking in the front when driving and then when turning at random i hear a loud pop or feel a clunk underneath. So piece of mind and wouldnt hurt lol and yes i am a total noob with this stuff i did flush my cooling system recently then a while back changed the brake pads and such so basic stuff i can do and i havent done my own oil change as i take it to walmart and let my friends do it lol but i change it on many other cars so a jeep isnt any different (Btw **** chevy cavaliers) I just dont want to have it out of commission as NO ONE wants to wake up to take me to work at 4 am lol plus i dont get days off in a row usually its thursdays and mondays i have off or else more would be done on a 45 hour workweek

 

If your u-joints are clunking or making noise then you should replace them as soon as you can.
The front and rear driveshafts are super easy to take out, just a few bolts.
The axle shafts are easy enough, but you do need a 36mm axle socket to get the nut off (and an impact helps since the axle nut is torqued tp 150 ft/lb IIRC). The hubs have to come out, but a breaker bar and 13mm 12-point socket is usually enough for that.

 

Good timing for this question. I just bought all seven non-greaseable Spicers for my '00 on Amazon last week for $166. I'm still running the factory Spicers @ 160K miles, so I figure it's due.

 

Uhm.....



.....yeeeaaahhhhh

 

shouldnt of said strut tho more like coil overs

 

Lol... I kinda figured that's what you meant man, I just had to post a visual to get your attention.

I really don't see the benefit vs added cost of running a coilover type shock with your coils and leafs. Only way I'd run coilovers is if it's a complete suspension conversion... Ditching the springs, welding in shock hoops and putting in adjustable coilovers or ORIs (or similar) on every corner.

Bang for the buck-wise, just go with a high quality shock. Spring for a nitro monotube if you've got extra money that you wanna throw in to your shock setup.

 

thanks for the advice! Yeah while i can i want to go with quality parts so i dont have to go trudging under there again lol. this is hard now that im closer to what i need before its just gathering up parts for a price list now its app frickin specifics and what i need tool wise

 

Most of the stuff is doable with normal hand tools.
For the u-joints, you'll find it a huge benefit if you can have a bench vise. Snap ring pliers, C-clamp (or even better a heavy duty press tool).
To remove the front bearings you need a 36mm axle socket. The axle nut is torqued to 150 ft/lbs, so an impact (I have a 400 ft/lb electric and an 800 ft/lb air, the air hardly ever sees any use) is helpful. Since you're changing the hubs you can apply heat to the axle nut - I did this on the last one I did and the nut came off pretty easily with a breaker bar.
I'd have 2 breaker bars at your disposal if possible and a cheater (a length of pipe works well). You'll want a good set of needle nose pliers for all the cotter pins and of course a variety of hammers (at least a small one and a BFH).
An angle grinder with a cut-off wheel is helpful, having that and a reciprocating saw (sawsall) with metal cutting blades is even better.
A big adjustable wrench is important.
Spring compressors if you're replacing the coils.

I'm sure there's more, I have to review your original list.

 

Yes! thank you very much it sucks having your jeep apart and realize your missing a key tool or part along the way

 

I just did a lot of work in my suspension. Bought almost everything off of rockauto.

I did sway bar linkages (cause I broke them doing the job), front u-joints, front brakes, front coils, all 4 shocks, all 4 ball joints, leaf springs, bump stops, reupholstered the ceiling (super easy), found rust in the cargo area, so tore out the carpet and lined back there with truck bed liner, and the passenger door actuator

tools i used for my suspension:
Air chisel
6# short handled Sledge hammer (had it for years, favorite tool ever)
Air compressor
Harbor freight cold chisel set
1/4",3/8",1/2" sockets
Heavy duty 1/2" impact gun (drove to a friend's house and borrowed his, only used it to get the axle nuts off. Did it on a 94 xj and ended up with a ln 8ft breaker bar before they moved, had both of in minutes with the impact gun)
1/4" impact driver with 1/2" adapter (made everything so much quicker)
Harbor freight ball joint press (not the forked stick one, this one has three arms and a screw, it works better)
Wire wheel for angle grinder (used for scraping the rust off the floor pan)
Rust converter
Truck bed liner/and all the stuff for that
Grey fleece from Walmart
Spray on adhesive
Trim removal tools
socket extensions
U joint socket bit (not sure exactly what this is called, but super useful)
Coil spring compressor
torque wrench (had the cheap click style from Menards, they don't work very well, so I just borrowed the needle kind from AutoZone)
1/2" and 3/8" breaker bars
2 floor jacks (yes, two)
Jack stands

Anything you don't have, borrow it from AutoZone, if they don't have it, get it at harbor freight. If you break it, they'll give you a new one for free.

I bought an air chisel from Lowe's, nothing fancy, but that was super helpful with the leaf springs. An angle grinder is also needed. I got a $30 ?6.5amp? Lowe's one, it worked, not as good as my 10amp Milwaukee that I have now, but it worked. You take the rear bolts out, then cut the leaf spring off with about 4 inches of the flat before it rounds over. Take a pair of channel locks and rotate that around so you can cut the rest of the round off. Take a box cutter and harbor freight cold chisel/air chisel to cut the rubber bushing off, then use pb blaster, air chisel and heat (I didn't have a torch, so I didn't use heat) to get the sleeve off that is fused to the bolt. Then more pb blaster liberally to the bolt and carefully back it out. I read that doing it that way decreases the chance of breaking the weld nut off inside the frame. It took a while, but I didn't break the weld nuts. Get new bolts for the leaf springs. I had the ubolts custom made at a truck weld shop in town, cost me $40, just took the old ones in and asked them to match them. They did it in like 20 minutes, and saved me having to wait for shipping by ordering them online.

Be careful on the rear shocks. I found the rust in the cargo area because I broke one of the top bolts and had to pull the carpet to cut through the floor to put a new bolt in. Blessing in disguise because I caught it before it got too bad, but it also kinda sucked because it added about a week of work.
​​​​​
Be careful with sway bar linkages... I was dumb, kinda learned my lesson installing the third set...

U joints aren't hard, BFH, pb blaster and elbow grease and you're good. Way easier if you take a 2.5" socket extension, place it between the hub and the knuckle and crank your wheel to get the hub off. Google it, and look at your knuckle, it makes more sense after you pound on it for an hour with your BFH and then Google it... got both my hubs off in less than 5 minutes using the extension.

Front shocks are easy.

I used the Police edition shocks because they're cool and yellow and said Police. They ride fine. I got heavy duty leafs off of rockauto. I think the only parts I didn't get from rockauto we're the coils and rear bump stops. I did the coils because my shocks had been gone for a while, and I was told that the coils just tend to break when they wear our, and I figured the mileage was high enough, and I already had everything off that I needed to do it anyway, so I just spent the extra $100 to do it.

 

It's doable, just takes time. The non rusty shocks weren't part of the Jeep project, did my wife's at the same time.

 

Oh, get a ball joint press if you're messing with those. The harbor freight one gets them out easy, and the AutoZone one is good for getting them in.

https://www.harborfreight.com/tie-rod-and-pitman-arm-puller-62708.html

 

lol.... I was gonna say uhhhh.... dude there's struts in that pile that are DEFINITELY not from an XJ.

Or the 12 ton hydraulic press. Kind of a multi-tool press.

 

It's a secret custom upgrade... shhhh!!!