Installation of a Teraflex 2.5” HD Budget Boost with Shocks…and the 5 Hour Spring
02-13-2008, 04:15 PM
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Installation of a Teraflex 2.5” HD Budget Boost with Shocks…and the 5 Hour Spring
Hi everyone,
I’d like to share with you all my experiences of a just-completed installation of a Teraflex 2.5” HD Budget Boost with Shocks, but before that, let me back up a bit and tell you the whole story from the beginning.
I bought my Jeep (2 dr Rubicon, manual tranny, Red Rock) in March of 2007, and had kept it completely stock until this past week. I was happy with it stock, but after doing a bit of research on the gains in ability from doing a few simple modifications, and seeing the plain badass vehicles many people on this forum build, I just had to make some changes. I did a bit of planning on exactly what I would do, and I decided to put on the Teraflex 2.5” HD BB with new shocks first. And so, with the purchase of the kit I had a major decision to make: pay a shop $500 to install it for me, and get nothing in return but a Jeep with a new suspension, or tackle the installation my self and spend that $500 on tools, gain knowledge of my vehicle and how it works, and have the self satisfaction of installing something on my vehicle I’ve never done before, and albeit a task that looked like an extraordinary feat. The choice was as plain as day… I had to do it myself, and let me tell you, I sure am glad I did.
So I set out installing this new suspension kit, and with new unexplored territory usually comes new problems, and rest assured, I had none less than I would have ever expected. The installation of my new suspension went on as smooth as I could have ever hoped for with the guidance of the Project-JK Write-up, until the gosh darn front 3” springs came into view, especially the passenger side one. The passenger side spring took me about 5 hours of work/figuring to get installed. I tried everything I could to install them, undoing the frame bracket that holds the hard line of the brake in place giving me a max of 2” extra droop in the axle, using spring compressors until the coils almost touched one another, and dropping the axle until I could no longer bear to see any more tension be put on the brake line hoses, but still there was not enough clearance for the spring to be installed. The front brake lines seemed too short, and the bump stop extensions seemed too long, an equation that equals less clearance in the physical height between the upper and lower spring perches, and also more of an angle to deal with when trying to fit the new springs in, and to make matters worse, I could only install the passenger side spring from behind the spring perches, due to the track bar mount being in the way in the front. With the help of Toad, and Doug from Teraflex we decided the best route for me to go (if I chose to do so) was to remove the brake calipers from their mounts to allow the axle to drop even further. So that’s what I did, and the amazing part I found was that even in doing so, I had my brake rotors touching the floor of my garage and with spring compressors on the spring I still had a tough time squeezing the passenger side coil in. To my relief, however, the driver’s side spring slipped in much easier because there was no track bar bracket in the front which meant I could use that angle advantage (or lack there of) to much more easily squeeze the new coil in, but still a lot of work was needed.
From there, things went pretty smoothly, until again I had a problem with the new longer rear sway bar links. As some of you may recall, some 07’ and 08’ JK’s have shorter than spec’d lower sway bar link mounts. If you don’t know, what happens when they are too short is when you try to install the larger diameter (i.e. thicker-walled) Teraflex rear sway bar links, there isn’t enough clearance for them to fit concentric with the existing mounting holes and they end up rubbing the axle mount and place the mounting bolts at a precarious angle, or worse, don’t fit all together. My vehicle just so happens to be one of those that has this “problem,” but I guess I’m sort of lucky as my links “just fit,” although the mounting bolt did not sit totally flush when untorqued, and the fit was very tight. With a quick call to Doug (again, he is SUCH a huge help) at Teraflex, he spoke with one of his engineers and gave me a couple of solutions: 1. try to torque down the mounting bolts and see if the gap goes away, and/or 2. use a file to elongate the hole from the mount just a slight bit, or 3. Drill a new hole. Me not being the fan of drilling if I don’t have to (just from my experiences, doing so can lead to bad things if the proper analyses aren’t done), I decided to try #1, and just snug down the bolt and see what it looked like. Once tightened all of the gaps were gone, except for a slight gap between the rubber grommet and the mounting bracket on the passenger side link. With it being very small (only about a pencil lead tip could fit partially into the gap), we decided it was ok. I may in the future, however, buy a file and elongate the holes just a slight bit to ease my mind.
My last problem came with the install of the stock rear sway bar links on the front. There was not enough distance, it seemed, between the mounting points on the sway bar and the axle mount to allow the link to fit. With Eddie’s help, I learned all I needed to do was manually push the sway bar up to allow more clearance! Haha, who would’ve though, eh?
So, with the installation of the Teraflex 2.5in BB completed, along with the invaluable knowledge gained, self-satisfaction, and friggin “free tools!!!” I am a happy camper, even though if it did take me 4 days to complete (hey I know I worked slow, but I wanted to make sure everything was put on correctly the first time, and me not being the master of under car operations didn’t help anything either)! My jeep is sitting pretty with about 3” more height in the front, and 2.5” in the rear, until I get a heavier front bumper and winch, which is what the HD (new springs) was meant for, when then it will sit level. I hope to take her off road and test her new found legs out very soon. I did take her to work and around town today, driving both on city streets, and the highway, and the lift is great! After about 50 miles on it, there are absolutely no problems (knock on wood), noises, or complaints to mention. The ride feels much more cushioned (but not “soft”) over bumpy roads, and the slack in the drive train that was there before seems to be lessened a slight bit.
I want to thank Eddie, for without all this great info he provides, as well as the ability for others to share their knowledge, my Jeep would still be stock, and I wouldn’t have the knowledge that I do today of my Jeep. My thanks also go out to Joe and Doug at Teraflex for helping me out on multiple times – you guys are doing great at customer service…keep it up! Lastly, Toad was a big help too, responding to several questions I had throughout my installation.
The picture time line of my installation can be seen below. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to e-mail, or pm me. Thanks.
ColinW
My Jeep stock
Tools I used to install the lift sans the floor jack, jack stands, and wheel chocks
The Teraflex 2.5in HD BB with Shocks
Front wheels off, ready to begin installation
New 5 hour front spring installed
New front shocks installed
New front end
Rear wheels off
Stock rear springs with 2.5in spring spacers installed
New rear sway bar links installed
New rear brake line relocation bracket installed
New rear shocks installed
New rear end
Stock rear sway bar links installed up front
Post lift!!!
I’d like to share with you all my experiences of a just-completed installation of a Teraflex 2.5” HD Budget Boost with Shocks, but before that, let me back up a bit and tell you the whole story from the beginning.
I bought my Jeep (2 dr Rubicon, manual tranny, Red Rock) in March of 2007, and had kept it completely stock until this past week. I was happy with it stock, but after doing a bit of research on the gains in ability from doing a few simple modifications, and seeing the plain badass vehicles many people on this forum build, I just had to make some changes. I did a bit of planning on exactly what I would do, and I decided to put on the Teraflex 2.5” HD BB with new shocks first. And so, with the purchase of the kit I had a major decision to make: pay a shop $500 to install it for me, and get nothing in return but a Jeep with a new suspension, or tackle the installation my self and spend that $500 on tools, gain knowledge of my vehicle and how it works, and have the self satisfaction of installing something on my vehicle I’ve never done before, and albeit a task that looked like an extraordinary feat. The choice was as plain as day… I had to do it myself, and let me tell you, I sure am glad I did.
So I set out installing this new suspension kit, and with new unexplored territory usually comes new problems, and rest assured, I had none less than I would have ever expected. The installation of my new suspension went on as smooth as I could have ever hoped for with the guidance of the Project-JK Write-up, until the gosh darn front 3” springs came into view, especially the passenger side one. The passenger side spring took me about 5 hours of work/figuring to get installed. I tried everything I could to install them, undoing the frame bracket that holds the hard line of the brake in place giving me a max of 2” extra droop in the axle, using spring compressors until the coils almost touched one another, and dropping the axle until I could no longer bear to see any more tension be put on the brake line hoses, but still there was not enough clearance for the spring to be installed. The front brake lines seemed too short, and the bump stop extensions seemed too long, an equation that equals less clearance in the physical height between the upper and lower spring perches, and also more of an angle to deal with when trying to fit the new springs in, and to make matters worse, I could only install the passenger side spring from behind the spring perches, due to the track bar mount being in the way in the front. With the help of Toad, and Doug from Teraflex we decided the best route for me to go (if I chose to do so) was to remove the brake calipers from their mounts to allow the axle to drop even further. So that’s what I did, and the amazing part I found was that even in doing so, I had my brake rotors touching the floor of my garage and with spring compressors on the spring I still had a tough time squeezing the passenger side coil in. To my relief, however, the driver’s side spring slipped in much easier because there was no track bar bracket in the front which meant I could use that angle advantage (or lack there of) to much more easily squeeze the new coil in, but still a lot of work was needed.
From there, things went pretty smoothly, until again I had a problem with the new longer rear sway bar links. As some of you may recall, some 07’ and 08’ JK’s have shorter than spec’d lower sway bar link mounts. If you don’t know, what happens when they are too short is when you try to install the larger diameter (i.e. thicker-walled) Teraflex rear sway bar links, there isn’t enough clearance for them to fit concentric with the existing mounting holes and they end up rubbing the axle mount and place the mounting bolts at a precarious angle, or worse, don’t fit all together. My vehicle just so happens to be one of those that has this “problem,” but I guess I’m sort of lucky as my links “just fit,” although the mounting bolt did not sit totally flush when untorqued, and the fit was very tight. With a quick call to Doug (again, he is SUCH a huge help) at Teraflex, he spoke with one of his engineers and gave me a couple of solutions: 1. try to torque down the mounting bolts and see if the gap goes away, and/or 2. use a file to elongate the hole from the mount just a slight bit, or 3. Drill a new hole. Me not being the fan of drilling if I don’t have to (just from my experiences, doing so can lead to bad things if the proper analyses aren’t done), I decided to try #1, and just snug down the bolt and see what it looked like. Once tightened all of the gaps were gone, except for a slight gap between the rubber grommet and the mounting bracket on the passenger side link. With it being very small (only about a pencil lead tip could fit partially into the gap), we decided it was ok. I may in the future, however, buy a file and elongate the holes just a slight bit to ease my mind.
My last problem came with the install of the stock rear sway bar links on the front. There was not enough distance, it seemed, between the mounting points on the sway bar and the axle mount to allow the link to fit. With Eddie’s help, I learned all I needed to do was manually push the sway bar up to allow more clearance! Haha, who would’ve though, eh?
So, with the installation of the Teraflex 2.5in BB completed, along with the invaluable knowledge gained, self-satisfaction, and friggin “free tools!!!” I am a happy camper, even though if it did take me 4 days to complete (hey I know I worked slow, but I wanted to make sure everything was put on correctly the first time, and me not being the master of under car operations didn’t help anything either)! My jeep is sitting pretty with about 3” more height in the front, and 2.5” in the rear, until I get a heavier front bumper and winch, which is what the HD (new springs) was meant for, when then it will sit level. I hope to take her off road and test her new found legs out very soon. I did take her to work and around town today, driving both on city streets, and the highway, and the lift is great! After about 50 miles on it, there are absolutely no problems (knock on wood), noises, or complaints to mention. The ride feels much more cushioned (but not “soft”) over bumpy roads, and the slack in the drive train that was there before seems to be lessened a slight bit.
I want to thank Eddie, for without all this great info he provides, as well as the ability for others to share their knowledge, my Jeep would still be stock, and I wouldn’t have the knowledge that I do today of my Jeep. My thanks also go out to Joe and Doug at Teraflex for helping me out on multiple times – you guys are doing great at customer service…keep it up! Lastly, Toad was a big help too, responding to several questions I had throughout my installation.
The picture time line of my installation can be seen below. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to e-mail, or pm me. Thanks.
ColinW
My Jeep stock
Tools I used to install the lift sans the floor jack, jack stands, and wheel chocks
The Teraflex 2.5in HD BB with Shocks
Front wheels off, ready to begin installation
New 5 hour front spring installed
New front shocks installed
New front end
Rear wheels off
Stock rear springs with 2.5in spring spacers installed
New rear sway bar links installed
New rear brake line relocation bracket installed
New rear shocks installed
New rear end
Stock rear sway bar links installed up front
Post lift!!!
02-14-2008, 06:51 AM
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Snags
I find it hard to believe that someone would NOT have snags. There are a few tough places to work around, But in the end, everything tends to work out.
Did you happen to get a rear trackbar bracket and choose not to install it? Are you running wheel spacers?
Great Job. I know you have self satisfaction as your knowledge has grown.
Did you happen to get a rear trackbar bracket and choose not to install it? Are you running wheel spacers?
Great Job. I know you have self satisfaction as your knowledge has grown.
02-14-2008, 12:43 PM
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I find it hard to believe that someone would NOT have snags. There are a few tough places to work around, But in the end, everything tends to work out.
Did you happen to get a rear trackbar bracket and choose not to install it? Are you running wheel spacers?
Great Job. I know you have self satisfaction as your knowledge has grown.
Did you happen to get a rear trackbar bracket and choose not to install it? Are you running wheel spacers?
Great Job. I know you have self satisfaction as your knowledge has grown.
Actually, I bought my kit back in January before they released the rear track bar relocation bracket, so my kit didn't come with one. I plan to get one on there soon though!
Right now, I have nothing on the wheel hubs. I can see how rubbing will be an issue at full flex, however, since the rear track bar is very close to the driver's side tire when it's mounted. I have a set of Spidertrax spacers that just arrived yesterday, and will be putting them on shortly. I really did not want to purchase them though because I have a set of new wheels on order, but it will be about another month before they arrive since they are on back-order, and I don't think I can wait that long to test her new off-road prowess!
EDIT: Wow, the Fedex Freight guy just called and apparently the wheels/tires, which were supposed to be 3-4 more weeks are coming tomorrow! So...I guess I be putting those on shortly instead of the spacers.
ColinW
Last edited by User 12721; 02-14-2008 at 01:05 PM.
02-14-2008, 01:12 PM
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looks good. hey i noticed you didnt have front swaybar disconnects. mine came with them so i didnt have to use the stock rear sway bar links. is there a different kit you ordered without them? btw i ordered the hd budget boost as well
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02-14-2008, 01:40 PM
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The reason I don't have the front sway bar disconnects hooked up to the sway bar links is because I have the Rubicon model, which comes stock with the electronic disco. My kit actually did come with the front quick disconnect/sway bar link set, but I ended up selling it to another member here on the forum.
Thanks,
ColinW
02-14-2008, 02:29 PM
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Do you think putting the bumpstops in after the springs are in place wouldve helped? I E have them in the spring while you wiggle the spring in place and then pushing them up into the receptacle. Im putting FT HD springs on mine in the next week or two, so I will have to try it that way. thanks for the write up and your jeep looks great! I bet you cant wait for the wheels and tires!