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Ok, spent the better half of the day on the front suspension, please tell me the rear is easier! I PB Blasted everything I could and still had a nightmare!
Any tips or tricks for the rear? It’s a 3” kit with all springs. Thx...

Can't promise you the rear will be much easier. On my 78 the both mounting locations (front and rear) gave me fits with seized bolts. If you experience the same, you will need a longer reciprocating saw blade to reach into the boxed front fixed location to cut that bolt. I think I had to cut most bolts to get the old stuff out.

Upon putting in my rear Rusty's leafs, I had to use a piece of 4x4 (wood) on the spring, and then a couple ratchet straps around it and the spring to flatten the spring out enough to line up with the fixed mount location and the rear shackle.

I actually think my front was easier than the rear, sorry to tell you that. A sawzall, a cutoff wheel and good blades and discs are your friend. Don't cheap out on the blades and discs. Patience as well. I had to get this blade to finally get through all my bolts:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Diablo-9-in ... /205426168

Also, get yourself some good cutting oil and apply it to the blade every once in a while to keep it cool etc.

I would not even fool with the u-bolt nuts, just take the cutoff wheel to the ubolt itself, careful not to cut into the tube wall of the axle though.

NOOOOOOOO! Not what I was hoping to hear, thanks for the heads up tho!

When doing lifts on vehicles with old rusty springs, a sawzall is your best friend. The kit should have come with all new hardware. I can't recall the last time I even messed with a rusty suspension bolt.

Are you aware of the captured nut and the possible need to remove or at least shift the gas tank? What year/model is your rig?

Even though you may never touch the lift again while you own it, be kind to the next person, use some antisieze on the bolt threads when re-installing.

I went out and bought myself all new grade 8 hardware when I did mine, used nylock nuts as well on all the leaf mounting locations.

Last but not least, inspect your stock shackle bushings while you are doing this. More than likely they are worn and will cause some handling inconsistencies if you re-install them. It will just feel like worn out steering. Good time to replace either the bushing, or just put new shackles with new bushings on altogether. The bushings can be a pain to remove and re-install from the old stuff. And I would recommend just standard rubber bushings. Poly ones will be harsher and may make some noise. Sway bar bushings and end link bushings are probably a good idea at the same time as well.

And the rabbit hole continues.......but might as well just do it all once and be done, right?

Thanks guys! No I was not aware of any castle nuts or the possiability of having to remove the gas tank! The Wagoneer is an 88 and I PB Blasted what I knew I would be removing about a week ago.

The front was about as expected. The front shackle had to be force spread a little on one side and a bit more on the passenger side. After looking at it this morning I’m not sure my drivers spring pack is setting in the hole and I may have to do it over.

Hopefully the back will just not be a pain in the butt, however y’all comments have me worried a bit. Think I’ll wait till the weekend to try the rear. Make my kid get her hands dirty and save my shoulder some stress!

Thanks again, and yes I have used anti-seize and white Lithium grease wherever I can!

Okay, an 88 waggy will have a 'captured' nut on the front of the driver side spring. The solid perch. If you are lucky you will be able to break the bolt loose without having the captured nut break loose of its capture. There is no way to get to the nut with the gas tank in place.

If you do try to loosen the bolt and it seems to spin freely then you will need to unbolt the gas tank. You do not have to 'remove' the gas tank, you just need enough room to get a wrench in. You can just shift it a bit to the side. The wrench will catch on the frame.

It will be a dirty mess and lots of dirt and stuff will drop down. Try spraying the heck out of it with PB blaster. I will pray for you.

Thank you very, very much! Crawler under a few minutes ago and was worried I would have to move the tank! You sir have given me hope! Thanks again!

Good luck! It is worth it in the long run, especially if you replace all the worn rubber bits while you are at it. Although it will be a bit stiff on the road since it is a "rough" country lift

Hey HUD, how did the lift turn out? I’m putting on a Rough Country 3” lift now. I think maybe Rough Country sent me a 6” kit and not a 3”. Looks good but much higher than I expected.
It has new 32 x 11.50 tires.

Do you have any pictures of yours?

Hey Paul, sorry, I havent been on here in a while, The lift went as expected and I was Lucky that I ran into ZERO rust issues.
Only problem I have is the track bar will NOT go back in. Its a 1/4 inch from fitting. Did yours fall back in place? Service tech was a joke. Explained my problem to him and he stated "You should have had a "Professional do your lift!" Things went down hill very quick. I even explained that we had put the Wag on a frame machine to make sure it was square, thinking it could have been in an accident. NOPE everything was where it belonged.
I do have pics but have no clue how to put them on here! PM me your cell# and I can msg. them to ya!
And yes, I got about 4 1/2 inches of lift due to the sag on the factory springs...

VERY beautiful ride you have there! Love it!

You can buy a track bar relocation bracket from BJs off-road.

If you lifted it much he track bar shouldn't line up. If you force the axle over enough to get the bolt in the whole suspension will be in a bind. The fix is to drop the upper track bar bracket down, raise the lower bracket up or get an adjustable track bar. The other option is to just leave it off. Not necessary on a leaf sprung rig but it does help the on road manners a little.