Should I recondition suspension??

[Barry H]

Hi all,

I've had an '89 GW about two years now, it has 120,000 miles. The suspension (stock) has always felt kind of weak. SoCal Cruiser described part of it as feeling like you're "riding on marbles" in a recent thread. Interesting "clunking" noises have piqued my interest in bringin things up to snuff.

I've had everything "checked out" by a couple of different mechanics, but it seems to be hard to get these guys to look at it as a reconditioning project, rather than "fixing what's broke". Since nothing's "broke", not much has been done.

I'm thinking of tackling this myself, but want to make sure I can handle it.

I'm thinking of replacing all four srpings and bushings (the shocks are pretty new). IS this a pretty easy job? What do I need to get the vehicle raised enough to do this? What else should I look to replace while I under each corner? Wheel bearings? Other bushings?

Any advice on this project would be appreciated.

Barry H.

[GaWd]

The job of replacing the springs and bushings is, in theory, a relatively easy job, though in practice it's a bit more difficult.

It can be as high or as low as you need it to be, though the higher the better so you have room to work.

Sam

[reddog]

Not a difficult job to do IF the forward bolts that hold the rear springs on come out. There is a captive nut inside the frame rail that will spin sometimes. Yours being an 88 and hopefully living its life here in SoCal that won't be an issue. You will need a set of heavy duty jack stands and a jack to lift your wag up by the frame rails to just get the wheels off the ground so that you can let the axle sit right where it comes off. Make sure that the Waggy is supported very well - don't use jacks or concrete block to hold the thing up - use good jack stands! I would suspect that the bushings in the shackles are likely OK so the only other thing left to replace are the U-bolts that hold the axles to the springs. The basics here are the same even with a 4 inch lift. This will be enough of a job for you to do, I wouldn't worry about wheel bearings and the like at this point. Tackle them another day.

Kerry

[Sitting Bull]

I have changed the suspension system on four or five FSJ's, and I'd give it 2 bananas. The simplicity of the project only requires 1, but the second banana is due to the true grit and determination you'll need to get the bolts out of the bushings. If you decide to do it yourself, let me know and I can write something up. Only basic handtools, a jack and jackstands are required. Here's a tip, if your going to try it in the next few weeks, start soaking the rear bolts with PB Blaster now.

[bignblue]

I've done this on my dearly departed Cherokee, at least the fronts. Be prepared for a fair amount of frustration! Having said that, there is no reason why you can't do this job. All you'll need are: some good jackstands (very important--don't trust your neck to the cheap ones!), a bottle jack, a block of wood (I used a 6x6xroughly 14"), a LOT of PB Blaster/so forth and access to any emergency tools that might come in handy. The rearmost bushing on one of mine had deteriorated to the point that the bolt was spinning it around--those things are tight! I had to resort to grinding the bolt head off and chasing the bolt out with another, somewhat smaller bolt.

I didn't try to do the rears, because the skid plate wouldn't cooperate by coming off easily and I didn't want to have to drop the gas tank (it was about 1/2 full at the time). From what I've learned since then, dropping the tank isn't always necessary.

I would seriously recommend you get a buddy to help you. Those springs are fairly heavy, and it can get awkward trying to line them up on both ends. Go slow, be methodical and tighten everything back up to standard torque specs (=one half turn before it strips). Good luck!

[Ralph]

With only hand tools available at the time, I had a real chore getting the nuts off the u-bolts. Even with a breaker bar, it was like being in a rowing class!

[reddog]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Ralph:
With only hand tools available at the time, I had a real chore getting the nuts off the u-bolts. Even with a breaker bar, it was like being in a rowing class!<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>


Those anti loosing nuts are a pain!! CUT EM OFF!!