We just got the kit on monday 1/14/2007. Talked with my Jeep Mechanic guy with the kit in had and he even said it is a complete kit with the shock extenders.
On the box it says "use wheel spacer kit #............... to stop wheel touching swaybar" I looked at the instructions and it says that at full droop the left rear wheel touches the rear sway bar. According to David @ Northridge 4x4 the kit is about 200.00 and spaces out about 1/2 inch for all 4 wheels.
My mechanic jeep guy said that if we were to totally remove the rear sway bar that it would hardly effect Ruby's on road performance and help with more articulation and thinking about dueing it because he will be the only one working on it.

Kat

 

You need to decide if you want to learn about the suspension or not. You can have a local mechanic instal the lift, but you will never have a good understanding of how the components in your suspension work. That said, My wife and I installed the Terraflex 2.5" w/shocks and sway bars in about 7 hours. Longer than most, but we took our time and enjoyed the whole process.

I would recommend you get a "long throw" floor jack (harbor freight has a great one for $119 or rent one for the install.) It will give you the confidence in the stability. You will also need 2 floor jacks (about $20 - HF again) and as someone else said, pop your tires under the frame for last resort security. If your on concrete and you slide your tires around to get them under the jeep, you will mark up your tires. Be careful if you want the side-walls to remain unscratched.

The long throw floor jack comes in handy when you need to press the inner bump-stop and upper terraflex disk into the upper frame. Blocks of wood on top of the axel help also. Use the power of the jack rather than trying to "pound them" into place. Just be careful with the brake lines as the instructions tell you.

The instructions are very good (from this site) Print out all 55 pictures full size and number them. They will be your friend when you seem to get stuck.

Get some long sockets and several drives to make things easier. An air ratchet would be a good thing to help speed things up. A torque wrench is a necessity and will double as a breaker bar (ouch!). Get some knee pads! (You will thank me!). You need a set of open box wrenches also. The instructions call for a 10" extension for your ratchet. You can get one (actually three sizes) at Harbor freight. Pick up a set of ratchet drive adapters (3/8, 1/4, 1/2) also so you can switch between drives and sockets and extension.

This is not a hard job but does have many steps. Give yourself a lot of time and don't hurry. I accomplished the install over two days and I'm glad for the break.

If your concerned about the axel shift, get yourself a BDS trackbar relocation bar. It works great, installs easy enough (one 1/2 inch hole to drill) and is very sold. Makes attaching the trackbar back up a dream.

If you know which way to turn a wrench, you can do this install. It is not that hard. It will also go a lot smoother with a buddy to help. My wife handed me tools as I was under the frame. That is a big time and energy saver.

Pay attention to which way the bolts are fed into the parts. There is a reason for the direction you insert the bolt. Most of the time it is pretty self evident. Sometimes, you will have to change this as you can't get to the bolt head if installed wrong. Also, line up the grease fittings so you can get at them several months from now. (grease fittings on sway bars) The sway bars will go on probably on the "inside" of the brackets. This is as opposed to the way they are installed in stock form. It gives more clearance for your tires and makes no difference at all in thier function.

Don't plan on drinking 12 beers while your working on this project. It will take you longer than you think. Your work will show it. You also have to test drive this thing after your done!

I honestly believe if you have someone else do the job you will actually be sorry as they may take many shortcuts to get the job done quickly. You alone are the only one who will pay attention to the details, the pounds of torque, and the best fit for the swaybars, steering adjustment, etc. I honestly believe I can now fix any problems with my suspension rather than take it to a dealer for them to screw up. That means a lot. It gives you a great feeling of accomplishment.

Go for it.

 

Very good point. Wish the instructions or write-up would mention this....

 

Although it is true that you should tighten your track bar to the appropriate torque setting only after your Jeep is back on the ground, your reasons for why it would cause death wobble if you don't isn't exactly accurate. The fact of the matter is, your track bar bushings are designed to allow for rotation or twising as your axle rises and falls with the terrain below. In fact, the reason why so many aftermarket manufacturers provide assembly joints or heim joints on their track bars is to allow for a greater range of rotation in order to provide better articulation. Now, while a track bar that is not tightened properly and loose enough in it's mounts to allow for shifting will definitely cause DW but, I have yet to see or hear of a factory track bar bushing that was worn out enough to cause DW or worn out at all for that matter. If I'm wrong, I'd sure like to see physical evidence of this.

If you follow my write-up step by step, you would see that your tires would be installed and your Jeep back on the ground BEFORE you to tighten up your track bar bolts to 125 ft. lbs. of torque. If nothing else, it's a hell of a lot easier to install your fixed lenght track bars once it is on the ground as you can use your steering wheel to help out up front and have someone lean on your Jeep for the rear. Also, doing this while your Jeep is on the ground will prevent any preload on your factory bushings (same is true of factory control arms) and should provide a more comfortable ride. With aftermarket components that have assembly joints or rod ends, it really shouldn't make a difference.

 

I had a friend completely screw up his Craftsman torque wrench's calibration doing this. It cost him almost as much to get it recalibrated as it would have to purchase a new one. Get a cheap breaker bar or, if you buy lifetime warranty tools, just put a piece of pipe over your ratchet and go for it (just don't tell the vendor how you broke that ratchet should it fail!).

 

Isn't it amazing how helpful this type of site can be, my thanks to one and all.

I am leaning towards the Teraflex 2.5 or 2.5 HD Budget boost. And because I am hmmm... lets use the word particular about things being right as possible. I will probably add adjustable track-bars at some point for centering the axels. Even though I am fairly comfortable with a number of comments on this thread indicating it isn't really necessary.

And with all the positive comments on installing this kit oneself I think I will do the installation.

I suppose my only issue at this point is the additional unexpected cost needed to avert the left rear wheel touching the rear sway-bar at full droop.

It seems that the 2.5 inch budget boost isn't quite as budget conscious as one might hope

 

I DEFINITELY AGREE! THIS KIT IS PERFECT FOR THE DO IT YOURSELFER. AND IT WHEELS GREAT!

 

TF is the easiest kit to install took about 2 hrs it's not a problem just make sure you follow the directions and you are safe about it and you can't go wrong. no problems here have the TF BB 2.5 and i love it.

 

I'm sure some of you have read my threads regarding this kit and the issue I was having.

I'm running the 2.5 HD kit which is pretty much a 3 inch in the front. If you go with the HD kit just pickup an Adjustable trackbar for the front and you're covered. The kit comes with a new bracket for the rear which was cake to install. I love how complete Teraflex's kit is too.

Teraflex is really a quality product and I get a lot of compliments on it from my friends when we're installing different parts.

My issues are all cleared up now and the springs being bowed were due to a spring not being seated correctly (USER ERROR haha) so after correcting the spring, the kit is now 100 percent and my axles measure perfectly.

Awesome kit and I would buy it again in a second

 

FYI we have updated the 2.5" instructions.