Rusty's 6" lift kit

[bchesley]

I am going to take the plunge and order Rusty's 6" lift kit on monday. I did call him last yesterday and got a break down of what all is in the kit. It will come with four new springs, all new U bolts, a rear block, new stainless brakelines, and new shocks. I am hoping to run 33's on my wag with this kit. I will let everyone know as soon as I get it and of course I will post some pictures.

Brad

[Millerluck]

A rear Block? What's that?

-Does it come with longer sway bar links?
-What abought track bar mounts?
-Drop pitmun arm?
-Need new drive shafts?
(mine used every bit of the stock's slip joint)
-Yes I paid extra for my s.s. break lines.

I have a Skyjacker 4" lift on my 88 GW.

Just trying to give some insight to things I wanted to know when I did my lift.

Also this captive nut on the left rear spring on my 88 was held by a clip. I didn't need to drop my gas tank.

Later

Larry Miller

[bchesley]

It does not come with longer sway bar mounts, and he said lose the sway bars. The trucks that he is running this kit on does not have them. He also said that he did not use a drop pitman arm. On the two vehicles that he is running them on one has bump steer and the other does not. He tried a drop pitman arm and did not like the results so he is going to cast one with less drop than the four inch and play with it a little. I am hoping that I wont need it but can add it later if needed. The rear block is a short one. I don't mind the block because the big arched springs ride rough. Second about the block is that the bigger the arch the longer the spring is so in turn you will need a longer shackle to get the equal amount of flex out of a longer spring. I hope that makes since. I had not thought about the driveshaft but I was going to switch to the CV style shaft to stop any vibration that might come up. I just cant wait to get it on and give it a test.

Brad Chesley

[Snakeyes_Tx]

Uhm..being an 89, you've already got a CV front shaft!

If you have a 229, you might as well go get them shafts lengthened before you even try to drive your rig lifted.

Pitman arm is a *must* !!! Rusty is a little misguided here... let me tell you! I ran a 4 inch lift with no swaybar *OR* Shocks, and stock pitman. Every bump jerked the wheel partially out of my hands. It gets a little squirrely at really high speeds too.

Get at least a 4" pitman arm and clock your wheel over to compensate the last 2 inches (the wheel will be cocked over).

Rusty better think about the driveshafts on 229 equipped rigs or he's going to have a bunch of unhappy and broken customers.

[Stuka]

Even my 75 chero has a CV shaft up front.

And Rusty says on his site that you need a longer front drive shaft. He never said that you didnt.

[JeepFreak]

The rear block is probably a pinion correction block and not really that much for lift. I hope rustry researched this kit well because even with a three inch lift on my wag I had pretty bad bump steer. Just like Snake said it will try to jerk you around on every bump. You are going to have to lenghten the front shaft. With a 4 inch lift there is very little spline engagement left. I used to run a 4 inch lift on my Chero and there was not much shaft left to play with. As long as you go into this deal realizing that you may need to modify a few things than you will be ok.

[jeepbob]

Actually the front shaft that you have is a Double Cardan Joint and not a true constant velocity joint. The CV shafts have a CV (or if your prefer, Rzeppa joint, as it was originally called) joint that looks like it came off a front drive car.

[Dome]

I would say with 6", dropped pitman is a MUST HAVE. I have a Spring-Over on my truck, which yeilded about 5.5" with saggy front springs. A Z shapped dragbar or crossover steering for me would have been ideal but I don't have the money for that yet so I just went w/ the pitman and the steering is still squirly. There is noticable bumpsteer and wander even w/ the dropped pitman. Less than 4" w/ a 6" lift seems pretty shady to me. I would say 3" lift is about as far as you should go w/ no pitman. With my old 3" lift I had no pitman and really no problems but it is recommended for all the 4" lift kits. You might need to have that front driveshaft lengthend too. I had to have an inch or two added to mine with my Springover, and my rear driveshaft is pretty extended, another 2 or so inches and it would probably need lengthening too. Also, I had to cut some metal out of my crossmember (and then reinforce it on the bottom) so that my front driveshaft would clear at full droop, if I had not cut some away from teh crossmember, it would definatly hit.

[JEEPRZ]

Just curious why you are not goin SOA??

I agree that you will need a drop pitman arm. I had slight bumpsteer with 3" lift and the stock arm.

Also, a double cardian is a type of CV joint, just like a rzeepa, and tripod.

[Stuka]

Oh ya, if you can get double steering stabalizers. Those help alot. Which is why you see alot of lifted GM's and fords with em. They help alot with bump steer.

[bchesley]

I though long and hard about doing a spring over. After I would have bought all the parts (for correcting the steering and etc.) I would have about the same amount of money invested. Second, this is my daily driver and I can't go with out it for a week while I tweek a SOA. The six inch kit get's me right where I can run 33's and it is a bolt on kit. I know I will have other modifications to make that is just part of the game. I have built several various jeep models and I know that I have opened pandoras box, but that is what is so much fun (tinkering and fine tuning). Any ways, I am tracking the kit via UPS and it is scheduled for a friday delivery. I will install it this saturday and post some pics ASAP.

Brad :D

[blt2krl]

Whats the pinion to front drive line angle on the front diff after the 6" lift is put on? I would think a spring over would be a better option. Since you have to weld on new spring perches you can rotate the axle to get a better pinion angle. Also a spring over isn't going stop your vechile from being a daily driver. Thats just my two cents.

[bchesley]

I guess I was not clear on what I meant. I meant that I need the vehicle too much to have sitting in my garage for a week while I work on doing a SOA. It takes some fabrication and time to do a SOA the right way and I need my truck to work with. If some one made a SOA bolt on kit I would do that, but since they don't I got rusty's kit. The pinion angle is a non issue because you can always add a shim of the desired degree to correct any problems.

Brad