Well, the shock-mount hole on the shock-bracket has to be enlarged, but aside from that, no cutting or machining required!
I can now use all 14" of travel that the shocks afford; that is, if I can get the springs to flex that much...
I made up a web-page detailing the install (not that there is much to detail about it):
http://www.drbob.tqhosting.com/cherokee/shock.htm
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I guess it is sort of a misnomer to say this is a "bolt-on" upgrade. It works perfect for a truck that has a Dodge D60 front axle installed 3" forward of its stock location, but might not as easily for others. So I'll simply say it was a bolt-on FOR ME.Originally posted by youngjeeper:
i cant see from any of the shots you took. but is the shock going to hit the spring plate/spring when you flex? that is the problem i am having now. i notched the spring plates and moving tower mount forward.
I flipped my front-springs, so my axle sits about 3" further forward that stock, and the shock sits almost completely behind the spring-plate, so there is no interference, even when I've got it drooped to the max.
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With the Sky Manufacturing high-steer arm on the D60, the drag-link is almost parallel with the original tie-rod, even with the axle moved forward 3", not only when viewed from the front, but also when viewed from the top:
You can kind of see that as well in the lower right-hand corner of this shot:
As you can see, there's little chance of the drag-link hitting the tie-rod
There might be a problem if I moved the tie-rod up over the springs and used a steering-arm on the driver's-side knuckle as well, in which case a shorter pitman arm would probably resolve the issue.
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I'm using the stock-length pitman arm and the regular-length Sky Mfg. high-steer arm on the passenger-side only, with the tie-rod in the stock location. I'll only mount that up high as well if I find myself bending the tie-rod. Then I'll look into a shorter arm, but I wouldn't need it to be 2" shorter; something 1" shorter should do the trick.
