More lift for KJ CRD, OME kit + Extras

[CRDSTU]

HI All,

I know its cirtainly a few cartons between my visits here these days but I just thought i'd pop in to say HI! and update those of you who have read this thread, and/or provide new info on my latest developments ect.

Firstly, we had a baby girl a few weeks ago, yes, she occupies alot of my time these days, nearly as much as my new business!.....

Ive had a company going for around 12 months or just over now and I am the SEQLD Distributor and recommended installer for the Gibson Airflow Snorkels, KJ specific at the moment it seems! I have LOST count of the amount I have installed now, not to mention shipped out all around Australia & the US.
Feel free to contact me at angstu@bigpond.net.au to discuss snorkle and suspension options for your KJ.
Regarding the suspension, I have developed a few different lift kits for the KJ's range, all year models and all engine/tranny combos. If theres one thing i've noticed with the KJ's its that no 2 are the same and everyone's requirements/expectations are slightly different. I've set up KJ's for the outback, touring, towing, hardcore 4WDing, cruising, everything.......
I have a couple of different coils I use, all custom made for me via King Springs. The previous SO9xxxx number has been deleted and now a new different part no#s exist for specifically for me. You cannot just call up and get these anymore. You have to go through me, not only for the sake of ordering them, but I believe that if there are people out there who want to use my suspension engineering applications, they I believe I have to be responsible and take you through the options, tailoring the kit to your requirements. The last thing we want is Joe Blow ordering these and sticking them in his or her stock petrol and lifting the front 9 inches :P !!

So please feel free to email me on angstu@bigpond.net.au and i'll answer as many questions I can about KJ's, suspension and snorkels

Best Regards as always,
Stu.

[loric]

G'day everyone,

I have to admit, i was at first a bit hesitant to gather all these parts from random places to do this lift (king fronts, ome rears, ome front strut from US, rear shock from local arb...)

So when i rang King Springs to order the special springs - They then put me in touch with Stu...

Well, Stu called me yesterday and went through all my requirements, set-up and offered heaps of top advice!
As a result of being such a friendly and helpful bloke, i've put in an order with stu for a set of custom front and rear springs, front struts and the custom long travel rear shocks!

I'm a newbie on this forum, and from my dealings so far - i can give a two thumbs up recommendation.

I can't wait for these new toys! yee haa!

Eric.

[CRDSTU]

Thanks very much for the kind words Eric, i'll slip you that money later on :P!

I just thought i'd post a few pics of my kits in action as I hav'nt refreshed my photos for a while!!

[loric]

Yeah! I've finally got a lift into the KJ! Woohoo!

I ordered the stuff from Stu - OME front struts, the front CRDSTU special coils, the super long travel rear shocks and stu's extra long HD rear coils...



Thanks to Stu for the great service and all of your tips and tricks.
The lift kit went in on the weekend pretty easily. It probably took me 5-6hrs for the fronts and 2-3 and for the back.

Youse were not wrong about needing a BIG spring compressor to do the struts. The local susp. mob assured me that they could do it w/o a hydraulic press (they had a big mechanical one).
Anyway – they got the job done, but the dude was nervous coz his big press was making creaking & popping sounds (I stood about 25m back LOL!).

I've two questions to ask ya all!
1) Have you replaced the clevis bush on the lower control arm? I’ve attached a pic that shows the rubber bush being a little chewed out on the bottom. It’s not to the point where the bush is falling to bits (yet), but there is a definite deformation and some cracks in the rubber.

2) RE the rear brake line, when I had the car up on stands (post lift install, entire rear end of car off the ground and with the wheels on) the rear axle would hang free and the brake line only had a little bit of slack in it. (I’ve got the setup where the rear LHS has a brake hose going to the metal diff brake line)
As far as I could tell, the rear shocks were not quite fully extended as I could stand on say the rear LHS wheel and there was a little more downward travel. I think that perhaps the rear downwards travel is limited by the upper ball joint???

Is the case of the two back wheels hanging free reflective of the ‘worst case’ downwards travel? Or is it possible to flex the rear susp whilst driving such that one side of the rear diff is forced downwards even more? I hope this makes sense!



I took it out for a spin late last night after i fixed the chafed power steering hose. Boy is it high or what!! I totally forgot about how I was gunna get the car out of the garage!! LOL. Luckily I’ve got a few cm to spare!

The KJ rides like a dream! Everything feels heaps tighter and ‘in control’. I haven’t found the ride to be too harsh at all (even though I don’t have a front bar yet). There is way less pitching when the brakes are applied too. I’m not sure now whether I want a front bar coz I like the firmer ride up front…

My original ride height (ctr wheel to arch) was 460mm all round, now it’s 555mm all round (give or take a few mm). Holy cow – that’s nearly 3¾” !, my original springs must have been badly sagging!

I’ll try to clock a few hundred kms to get the stuff to settle before going to the wheel alignment.

When i get some daylight i'll post some pics of the KJ in action...

Eric

[cmohr]

Looking the Goods now Eric....

In answer to your questions.


1...... Yes, I just did replace both clevis pivot bushes on mine over the weekend. Was a bugger to do by myself. And getting them out is NOT EASY. I made a pull jig out of a High tensile 12.9 bolt, some spacers/washers and a BF 1 7/8'' socket. I used it to pull the bush though till it was flush with the control arm and then used a BFH to knock it out the rest of the way. Mine were well and truely shagged. Rubber had burst out the bottom and when I took them out, you can actually see they have a "Banana" shape to them, yes, bent down on each end. I post up a few pics I took later. It wasn't an easy job, as even with spring compressors on the struts and the lower ball joint dropped, my clevis fork still was lower than the bush , I really had to pry it around with a crowbar to get it all to line up.

I did have 545-550 lift in the front, but, with those bushes buggered, it had dropped to 530. With the new bushes in, back up to 540mm.



2..... I've had mine at pretty much full full full flex in every which way, and had no worries with the brake lines, but, as I always say, each KJ in different, so just test it out carefully.

[cmohr]

Oh PS,,, Did you get some rear bump stops????

[cmohr]

PPS....

When torqueing up that Lower Clevis pivot bush bolt.... Did you do it once the vehicle was bach down on its weight. The service manual states that you must onlt tighten the bolt when it is back in its running position so as not to twist the rubber and put stress on the clevis fork?????