[1756]

Was thinking about which jeep to bring to the jam this year, and I needed new springs anyway, so after the winch and soft top I decided to go with a SUA lift on my 73 Commando. I know, SUA, but my teenager will be driving it and I wanted to keep it more stable. I ordered alcans (4" lift rear, 3" front), brake lines, wheel spacers, drop pitman, etc. My springs are 2" wide (front) and 2 1/2" (rear).

I've spent a lot of time using the search function, but still have questions.

Shackle bushings - I just want to replace the upper ones I have, but not sure of a good source to get them. Also, not sure what the spring bushings are going to look like, but I may need to shim/bush the gap between the spring and the shackle. Any recommendations? Should I just bite the bullet and buy heavy duty later CJ units? Are they the same length? I don't want lift shackles.

Shocks - I know I am going to need longer ones - any recommendations? Do I have to move the mounts with a SUA lift?

Driveshafts - With 3" lift up front, will I have to lengthen the driveshaft? In the rear, can/should I taper shim the perches to angle the pinion up and maybe not have to lengthen it?

Appreciate the help - thanks in advance.

 

[504]

Al, I originally put a 31/2" lift and 1" body lift in mine without changing drive shafts. I did shim the diffs to get a better angle. You may or may not have to shim if you don't have any body lift. Best to put it together and see how it sits and then check your drive shaft angles to make sure the joints don't bind and try it out that way. I now have a 4" lift from national and am not using shims, but I changed both front & rear shafts because I installed a different tranny. I think you can get bushings from ESPO springs. As far as shocks go most use rancho, but there are so many types available I can't give a reccomendation on these either way as I am currently running superlift. You may need to put a tower up front to get a longer shock and for the rear you might have to do some moving of the mounts in order to get more travel. I think cliffhnger has some photos of what he did. I'm still running mine with the stock mounts with no problems other than it does limit the droop because my shocks aren't long enough. That's on my to do list as well!

 

[2147]

My alcans came with new poly bushings, I had alcan make me a set of 4" shackles for the rear I think it was only $20, I went with 4" to get a little more travel.

I ended up reusing the bushings on the upper front, but I understand they are available new, and the lower bushing came with my springs.
I went with the 3 inch lift all around and did not change the drivelines.

I did change the brake hoses to longer SS ones.
and I built 2 inch extensions for my bump stops, to keep from pushing the tires too far into the wheel wells.

You will want to replace all the shackle bolts with new grade 8 SAE and steel locking nuts, while you are at it replace the four 3/8 x 1 bolts that hold your rear spring hanger on.

I went with Bilstein shocks 5100 series so there was no need to change shock location, on the front I used BE5-6253-H5 with 8.60" travel, and on the rear I used BE5-6248-H5 with 10.17" travel. I picked those two after I lifted one tire on each corner to determine the max compression and extension of the springs, these shocks allowed 1" to spare on each end of the travel.

I attached a picture of mine after the new springs with 32 10.50 x 15 tires on 8" wheels.

 

[clffhnger]

Any 4by shop should have bushings, or can get them. You can order them from Mountain off road enterprises. http://www.mountainoffroad.com/
Just call them up and tell them what size you need.
Most all springs come with new bushings, so if you buy new springs you can count those out. Also most spring shops can get you any bushing you want.
F250 shock towers seem to be the norm, for raising them on a Jeepster, I used them, see pic.

But I noticed that the 2003 f250 4wd even has a better shock tower, check it out , you should be able to see one in a parking lot somewhere.