Clevis Lifts and Bushings explained

[glend]

There are a number of new people on the KJ Forum and I thought it might be a good idea to document a few topics that tend to be scattered throughout old threads, or resting in the minds of the more experienced KJ owners - the Clevis Lift is one such topic.

A clevis lift should not be seen as a replacement or cheaper version of a spring lift, and is limited to a small amount of lift - usually used to regain lift height lost when weight is added to the already lifted front end (ie as a result of a winch, second battery, etc).

Here is a good explaination of the basis of the clevis lift (without using a washer, spacer):

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Jeep_Li...on/Clevis_Lift

On the subject of whether or not to use a spacer on the Clevis collar, during a clevis lift, here is what some US KJ owners had to say about the relevance of using a washer or spacer (and what they chose to do):

http://www.jeepkj.com/forum/showthread.php?t=43720


If your existing clevis bushes are crushed/deformed, which does happen over time, you can return a KJ to standard factory clevis height with the replacement of crushed bushings. Cmohr has posted up a link to a rudimentary clevis bushing replacement device here:

http://www.ausjeepoffroad.com/forum/...7&postcount=21

If anyone has other relevant Clevis lift related links, fell free to add them to this thread.

Cheers

[tkau007]

great info here glend
thanks

[CRDSTU]

Worn KJ Clevis bushings pic

[Mitch]

My Mrs just bought a 07 CRD KJ and the front end is low due to an ARB winch bar.We,re not sure of the best way to get the front back to standard height and maintain a good ride.What,s involved in a small front and rear lift?

[cmohr]

Mitch, you can do the clevis spacer lift in the front, wont change the dynamic of the coils/struts in anyway. 5mm packer will give you 10mm of lift. For the rear, if you are only looking for 10mm you can just use coil packers from a TJ, just cut the centres out of them a bit to go over the bumpstop mounts.

[glend]

Mitch I think you need to consider what you want to do with the KJ in terms of offroading. If its only going to be used for a daily drive on the streets around Newcastle then as cmohr has said a simple clevis lift would suffice to get you leveled up. If you want to use it off road then a 2" spring lift would be the go, and CRDSTU is the guy to talk to about lifting KJs.

[glend]

As an experiment I decide to put in a small (5mm) clevis lift (without a spacer) to see if it would hold up without a spacer there to support the weight.

The photo attached shows what the 5mm clevis lift looks like. I have been driving around on it for a few days and pounded it on every pothole I could find on what passes for roads in Sydney. I can say it did hold the height very well (checked with my micrometer) , although what happens on corrugations on an outback track over a number of days is another test.

The clevis lift (even this little one) did alter the camber slightly and the steering was a little to the right of centre for some reason, but this returned to normal when I took it back out later.

It is dead easy to drop it back out, a couple of turns with the 16mm socket on the clevis collar bolt and it just slides back to the collar stop - all of two minutes to remove it - that would not be the case if you used a spacer.

Putting it in however was the usual struggle with the clevis, especially the passenger side. Not something I would do on a whim but pretty easy.

So I have returned the suspension to its normal lifted height.