Been in the garage a while, suppose I best fit them!

covers were full of mud

but the panels were like new under the dirt, no rust and the shiniest paint on the whole Jeep!

One side complete, just starting the other. All seams and holes have had a good coat of hammerite to keep the tin worm at bay. Have to decide if i am going to fit the covers back on or not.

https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4325/35188107044_9471232ee7_b.jpg

Installed a 242 into the grand, no need for a HD as I run the 4litre, so used an XJ 242j

Seems it may have been dropped on its travels, very carefully took the stud out, was more than 1/2 snapped

old 247 out

242 in!

just need to mark up the shifter until I find a new one. Had no vibes from the rear prop up to 70-odd mph (front prop not in until front axle regeared)

Front brackets first, they fit under the transfer case crossmember & bolt into the frame.

you need to drill 4x 7/16th (11mm ) new holes in the frame rail, so each bracket is held in with 8 bolts in total.

they come with a threaded bar to bolt into, getting them to line up in the rail can be tricky

I used some wire threaded through the holes and through the bar before inserting the bar into the frame rail, when the bar is in the rail it then lines up on one of the holes.

then spray the rail with frame sealer / waxoil

and bolt the bracket up, getting coated in waxoil in the process 🙄

Right, 4 hours of rolling around under the Jeep & I have them installed. No real tips, it is a straight forward unbolt the arms & bolt the new ones in, a bit of a pain on your own when setting the axle angle to install the Y arm as it is heavy, other than that, straight forward.. Oh 1 PITA is the bar pins that came with my shocks are too long, & I don’t want to feck up my old shocks as they are in good nick & someone may want a complete WJ BB soon.

shiney

frame end joint

Y arm installed

plain arm installed

Also installed the IRO 4″ front springs and the Doesh Tec shocks, which are much beefier than the Rough Country ones coming out, the the piston rod looks twice the diameter.

melted plug

soldered on some wires direct to the board pins

put back together and sealed up the plug hole

connected into the loom with bullet plugs, all working fine

Going metric, UCA’s set to 385mm, LCA’s set to 405mm

Easy job 😀

Hardest job was poping out the bump stop to take out the track bar.

Do the top arms first, body up on axle stands as high as possible then use a jack to tilt the axle & take the weight of the arm bolts

arm in

And some flex (could go further but still 2wd)

before the arms & discos

Right, back to day one I was sitting at 17 1/4″ front, 17 3/4″ rear. Now at 21″ front and 21 1/2″ rear (with spacers fitted in the rear only) I am currently thinking the so called HD OME springs aren’t so HD, maybe 70kgs of LPG kit in the back is robbing me of an inch of lift or the spring rate is too low. Either way I think a set of new 4″ coils are required.

The Jeep thinks its xmas

more goodies

IRO adjustable track bar

And a set of disconnects for the ARB, overgreased them though, a bit messy taking them off. #-o

Not a job I recommend doing on your own with just axle stands, the arm is very heavy!

First off build up the ball joint, allen bolts need torquing to 80lb/f, and the plastic bush is a pita to fit, very tight! Grease nipple goes on the top hole and a blanking screw goes in the rear/end hole

Jack up the body of the jeep as high as possible then support the nose of the axle with a jack (you may need to raise/lower the nose slightly) and remove the old A arm, 15mm on the front 2 body bushes, 21mm on the 3 on the axle & 10 & 13mm for the brake brackets.

DON’T do this!, I tried to fit the bracket before the arm and you can’t get the front body bushes into the body mounts, fit the A arm as one unit with the axle bracket already fitted.

Once the arm is in position bolt up the front body bushes first, then bolt the axle up (you need to be able to jiggle the arm around to get the body bushes in)

I just need to turn the hand brake cable brackets around so I can fit them to the a-arm and I think I will do away with the flexi-solid-flexi rear brake pipe and fit a one piece braided hose.

I worked out the length of the a-arm off the old one, on its shortest setting it is about 1/2″ longer than standard. The pinion on the axle is pointing up more than before which is good. When I lift the Jeep I will revisit setting the pinion angle, hopefully on a mates car lift!

OME 3″ springs, still running the +2″ Rough Country shocks, which are limiting the flex. Off to order some new shocks & disconnects from Llama in a bit.

rear right, shock out of travel

rear left, on the bumpstop

Decided against bigger offset wheels until I have fitted the 265-75-16 tyres, think I would have issues with them touching the rear arches

Front left, out of shock travel and needs ARB disconnects

Front right, not on bumpstops but the ARB is stopping flex

Same setup on my old XJ, +3″ OME’s and disconnects

and the XJ with the disconnects not fitted, flexes the same as the Grand with no disconnects

Too skint to get the garage to do it, will be on the phone to Lighthouse tomorrow to see if they have one in, next weekend pencilled in to fix/break the jeep

easier job than I expected, hardest job was removing the fan & housing. Took 2 1/2 hours and that included a trip to the local tool shop for a new 3 leg puller as I have lost 1 off my old one & you have to have 3 legs to remove the front pulley.

Just been out for a drive, no more rattle from the chain now, result 🙂
Wouldn’t like to do this job on an XJ, there is just enough room to do it with the radiator in on a WJ/Grand Cherokee, XJ would have to be a radiator out job.