Lift Kit - Installed!

[tsm1@domain.elided (Tom Mandera)]

Hmm.. 200 new messages this morning.. ;)

24hrs of labor, lots of skinned nuckles, 3 or 4 gashes in my head, sore
hands with grime that won't come out for a week, one broken IMPACT SOCKET, a
couple cutting wheels, some new tools (die grinder)... It's DONE.

3 of the 4 shackle/frame bolts had the bolt stick in the sleeve, and
required burning with the propane torch, then cutting with a hacksaw, and
then pounding with my hammer and punch.  The fourth the bolt came out fine,
but I decided to just torch it all out anyhow.

The real pain in my butt was the passenger front rear (fixed) spring mount..
*that* bolt was seized to the bushing sleeve.. 3 cuts with my new die
grinder (which, BTW, doesn't work all that well w/o an air tank.. but it
worked!), one to remove the head (tied to punch it through), one cut on the
opposite side (to the middle of the truck) to try and "wiggle" it out, and
then finally another cut just on the other side of the mount from the head
(so I ended up cutting the bolt right around the spring).  Finally got it out.

I finished the rear on Sunday, and drove around for a while like that..
looked OK. :-)  Ride was fine.

Yesterday I finished up with the front end.. and it is VERY high!  

I took a tape measure and re-measured "body tub to center of hub" and, while
I *had* 32/33" before, I now have 37" or so.. front and rear.  There isn't a
huge difference between the amount of lift front / rear (I'll double check
later.. this was a quick measurement this morning)

I had problems getting the front shackles to line up.. I ended up flipping
the stabilizer bar upside down (as a unit) and bolting it in that way, since
the bar --> shackle bolts were hitting the frame.  I still ended up doing a
little "clearancing" on the shackles to make them "flip" backwards far
enough to get the bolts through.

I took it for a test drive at 11pm last night as I took Julie out for some
grub.. and it rode like CRAP.  It felt like I didn't hook up the shocks!  I
hadn't tightened up the front shocks *real* well.. so I re-tightened them
this morning.. still rides *very* stiff and bounces a LOT (Julie wasn't
wearing her seatbelt last night, and as we crossed a side street and hit the
runoff channel, we bounced BAD.. and she hit her head on the roof)

Also on my test drive.. trying to get out of the driveway, I couldn't turn
RIGHT!!!

Thought I'd broken something, but then it worked.. I now have a "catch" just
to the right of dead-center.. upon inspection, my front shackles are almost
laying against the frame going backwards.. and the pitman arm/drag link is
rubbing against the shackle/spring!

So....

Any suggestions on this steering problem?  It's a bit of a priority at the
moment.. :-)

I was thinking of breaking the shackle/bar bolts loose (they didn't want to
budge yesterday) and re-installing the shackles the right way, getting it
all lined up, then attaching the stabilizer bar... and letting the
bar/shackle bolts hit the frame to push the shackle down and away from the
pitman arm.

I'm also assuming the the springs will sag a little???  Those front springs
have a LOT of arch.

Oh.. I torqued up the U-bolts to 80lb-ft, and all of the spring mounts
(shackle and fixed) were torqued to 30lb-ft, with lots of silicone lubricant
all over the new bushings.  Everything to spec.

-Tom Mandera, Helena MT (Man, am I sore after all that!)
http://www.tmcom.com/~tsm1/scout
'72 Scout II - P.O.W. - court on Thursday!
'77 Scout II - 196, 3spd, 4.09s, 31s, 4" Skyjacker Softride!!