[sdotson52]

I am installing my 4" lift this weekend. We ran into a few problems. First, the pitman arm WILL NOT break loose. We tried hammers, a pitman arm puller with air tools, and to no avail. Any ideas? We thought of heating up the arm but was wondering about damage to the seals and everything up in case. Also, stock sway bar links will not release from sway bar. We got them free from axle, but they won't budge from sway bar. Tried pickle tools and hammers, am thinking about heat for these too, but need some input. Thanks. Hopefully the back is much easier than the front. 8 hours on paper has turned to 8 hours and front still not done

 

[4Jeepn]

1st what lift are you installing? Do you have a front adj track bar? If so no need for the drop pitman arm. If not then try soaking it with something like PB blaster and see if that helps. As for the sway bar links.. heat might help, and again PB blaster. Also if you have not tried it yet, remove the whole sway bar as that might make it easier to get the links out,(more room to pound or pull or cut or etc, etc) again a big hammer always does wonders too. Keep us posted.

 

[1BLKJP]

Man, that sucks. I've been there on the pitman arm. Last one I had to break loose wouldn't come down with any air tools. I didn't know I was stronger than the air hammer, but a 3ft. breaker bar and me using all I had on the pitman puller. When it broke loose I thought I tore my bicep. If you're absolutely sure you need to get rid of it as Jeepn states above you can also cut it off. I've had to do that before also. Just use a cut-off wheel down the center. It will break loose that way.

 

[sdotson52]

Almost Done

Well, 2 1/2 days and almost finished with install. Finally got the pitman arm off and also the front sway bar links. What a job. Now my question is this "If I can't get the rear upper arms to be the required 14" of length, will this affect my pinion angle and screw everything up. It states in the directions that these measurements are just a starting point and might have to be adjusted during allignment. I asked the tire shop that is installing my new tires and they say they don't do that. Are they supposed to or do I need to make sure that they are the required length before I take it in. I'm at 13 9/16 now, supposed to be 14". All the other arms are fine (both fronts and lower rear) Thanks for any info.

 

[jeeperman]

Well, 2 1/2 days and almost finished with install. Finally got the pitman arm off and also the front sway bar links. What a job. Now my question is this "If I can't get the rear upper arms to be the required 14" of length, will this affect my pinion angle and screw everything up. It states in the directions that these measurements are just a starting point and might have to be adjusted during allignment. I asked the tire shop that is installing my new tires and they say they don't do that. Are they supposed to or do I need to make sure that they are the required length before I take it in. I'm at 13 9/16 now, supposed to be 14". All the other arms are fine (both fronts and lower rear) Thanks for any info.

Most tire shops won't touch aftermarket stuff... Do you have adjustable uppers? If not, you can adjust the lowers so that the pinion angle is correct, but it may shorten your wheelbase a touch...

 

[1BLKJP]

You really want your pinion angle to be 1 or 2 degrees below center of your TCase yoke. Check that measurement and if you are fine there then don't worry about it. Otherwise you will have to adjust the lowers like Jeeperman states above.

 

[bluvikng]

Nth Degree makes real nice adjustable upper control arms for your problem. It will fix you right up. My 4" lift came with different control arms to correct the distance. Did your lift not come with longer control arms? A friend of mine put a 4" lift and kept the two inch spring spacers on, which gave him a 6" lift. He had to get the adjustable rear upper control arms, which fixed the driveshaft problem, slick as a whistle. Look up Nth Degree on line.......they have some really neat stuff. If you go this route, make sure you get the nine inch bar, the 10 inch bar is too long when you measure bolt hole to bolt hole. Like I said, it is adjustable, and has johnny joints on each end. Great for flexing.

 

[sdotson52]

We got it to spec

Went back today and took everything off back end and crowbared our way to the 16" lowers and 14" upers. Take it tomorrow to get the tires and rims put on and fix my shifting problems, 2nd. 4th, reverse not too smooth. Hopefully all is done cause I need a break. I guess I should have started with something easier than the lift. But I learned soo much from doing this. Wonder what's next. Hope to get some pictures up soon. Thanks for all the information form here.

 

[bluvikng]

Just get the rear upper adjustable control arms at;
http://www.nthdegreemobility.com/index.htm
This will solve all your problems.

2nd and 4th gear are hard to get in because of the drop you had to do to the skid plate. I went through all of that as well. Because of having a yoke at each end of the drive shaft, I took the spacer out of the skid plate and now all is normal again. If you don't have a Rubicon, you will have to get a SYE kit, and longer drive shaft. Then place the skid plate back up tight to the frame. Because of the 1.5" drop, your shifter is hitting the bottom of the cut out.
The weird thing about that is that it only effects some Jeeps, some never have to do anything with the shifter cut out. You would think there was a way to extend the shifter, or cut out the bottom of the hole for the shifter. Good luck on a problem that drove me nuts for awhile.

 

[sdotson52]

All the arms are adjustable, uppers and lowers. We just weren't sure for the lengths. Heard different opinions for how long they should be. One directions said 16 1/2 and 14 1/2 then I downloaded new directions and they said 16 and 14. Hopefully the axle is back far enough to be centered good in wheel well. Mine are a tad to the front. Is this ok or do they need to be directly centered. I'm going to 33" tires

 

[bluvikng]

That is what I put on ours........33" tires, just watch the travel of the axle as you extend it..........should be fairly straight. It sounds like you have it all under control though.