Hey everyone! Greg from CARiD.com and in this video we're going Jeeping.
Well that was a lot of fun. There really is nothing better than tearing through
the trails no matter what you're driving. But out of all the vehicles that you
could be driving off-road there's just something different about a Jeep. And
this right here is our 2017 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon. Now I know most of you
watching are probably thinking to yourselves - a JK Wrangler? But what about
the new JL? Well as great as the new JL Wrangler is Chrysler Corporation did
manufacture the JK from 07 to the 18. And there are tons of these Jeeps still
out on the road. Too many of them still sitting on stock suspension and tires.
But the point being is that the JK is still very relevant in the off-road
community. So it was about time that we went ahead and built our own.
So this is our 2017 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon and in its stock form
I gotta say - this thing is pretty damn capable off-road.
Now because it's a Rubicon it's more than just a few steps up from the basic
sport model when it compares to what's underneath. This thing has upgraded Dana
44 axles front and rear with electronic lockers in 410 gears. Jeep also equips
the Rubicon right from the factory with a 4:1 low-range transfer case,
electronic front sway bar disconnects for better articulation and even factory
rock rails. Now all this is great. And really a bargain when you think about
all the great off-road gear that you get for the price. But this is CARiD. So we
can't leave this thing stuck. So the first thing that we have to cross off
our list is getting this thing up in the air and that's exactly what we're gonna
do today. So here is just a taste of what's to come. Now like I said - getting
our JK lifted is our top priority. So we're going to start by installing Teraflexes
4-inch short arm lift kit with 8 flex arms, springs, track bar and
optional one-inch spring spacers and of course all the necessary brackets and
hardware. Now I decided to go with the 4 inch kit because really these JK's
don't need to be lifting the sky to perform better off-road and I also want
our JK to still be easy to drive on the street as a daily driver. So to
accomplish both of those goals Teraflexes 4-inch kit was the perfect choice.
It's also going to give us just enough room to stuff some 37-inch tires
underneath. Now when it comes to the shocks we chose to upgrade from the
standard 9550 shocks that come with the kit and
bolting up a set of Fox 2.0 Performance Series shocks with external reservoirs,
tuned for this specific kit. And we also have a lot of other odds and ends to
bolt up in the process. But let's get to work and I'm going to show you what else
I have planned as we go.
All right guys, so we're gonna first start in the backend of our Jeep and start
with the rear suspension. Now the reason I wanted to do this is because the rear
is a little bit easier than the front and I figured it we can go ahead and
knock it out quick. Now what we need to do is essentially lower the entire rear
differential and axle assembly so we can get out our stock Springs and then start
installing our new springs as well as of course our Flex arms. Now to do that
we're gonna need to disconnect all of our hydraulic brake line brackets, ebrake
cable bracket, remove our track bar, sway bar links and then remove our shocks so
we can lower the entire rear axle and get our springs out. The first thing we
need to do is get these small wheels and tires out of our way. Remove all wiring
harnesses attach the rear axle which includes the ABS harnesses and the
electronic Locker harness.
Unbolt the hydraulic brake line brackets from the frame in the ebrake cable
bracket under the Jeep. Remove the sway bar links on both sides and then the
track bar bolt connecting it to the frame and disconnecting the differential
vent hose. With post jacks or four jacks support the weight of the rear axle. With
the rear axle supported loosened the lower shock bolt at the axle and then
remove both the driver and passenger side shocks.
Then lower the rear axle and remove the stock coil springs. Alright guys, that
didn't take us too long. We now have all of our stock components out including
our coil springs and shocks and now our rear axle is solely supported on the
post checks. Now it's time to get some of our Teraflex parts installed. Starting
with our new lower flex arms. Now remember - because the entire weight of
the rear axle is only support on the post jacks replace one at a time on each
side. So what we're gonna do is we're gonna start with the driver side lower
then move on to the driver's side upper and then vice versa on the other side.
Let's get started. Remove both the axle bolt and frame bolt
connecting the control arm. Thread in the grease fitting to the new upper arm and
install into the Jeep with the Flex arm joint on the frame side.
Remove the lower arm on the same side unbolting from the frame and then the
axle. Install the new lower arm with the rubber bushing on the frame side in the
Flex joint on the axle. And just repeat the exact same process on the opposite
side of the Jeep.
Alright guys, we have all of our new flex arms installed in the rear of our Jeep.
Now it's time to get our new lift coils installed. Now Teraflex
does give you the option to either keep or throw away your factory spring
Isolators. It's a good idea to keep them if you do plan to install and off-road
rear bumper or maybe an oversized spare tire just because of the fact they give
you that little bit of height that you need to support that extra weight. Now
we're also going to be installing a set of coil spring spacers. Now Teraflex
does give you half inch spacers that totals for the 4 inches of lift.
However we upgraded to their 1 inch thick spacers at all four corners. This
is gonna give us just enough lift that we want on our Jeep. After those are
installed we're going to go ahead and bolt up a set of our new Fox shocks,
get the weight of the rear axle supported on those, get these post jacks
out of the way and then finish up the rear installation. Coat the spring
spacers with a little bit of grease to make them easier to pop in.
Now you can lower the axle as low as possible and install your new coil springs.
You can now grab your new set of shocks and bolt them in to help support the weight of the axle.
Remove your stock bump stops, then apply a little bit of grease to the new bump
stop extensions and press them in.
Guys, don't forget when you're installing this rear bump stop block, just make sure the shelf of it
is actually facing towards the front of the Jeep. That's the orientation that it
needs to be in before you go ahead and bolt it down.
All right guys, I just wanted to pause for a second and talk about these coil spring
retainers. And this is a very important step within doing this installation. Now
when you're doing it can be kind of a pain in the neck, but they do provide you
with this tool - to actually hold the nut underneath this spring pad on the
opposite side. You can get in there just enough to hold the nut in place, put your
plate down and then the bolt through the plate and then bolt it into place.
All right Guys, so at this point we're pretty much all finished up with the
rear end lift on our JK right here. Now we got our new flex arms in, our new coil
springs in, our Fox shocks are in. We have a couple odds and ends that we need to
attend to. Now we're first get a bolt up our brand
new extended sway bar links, then get our new track bar bracket bolted up into
place and after that it's just reconnecting a couple of wiring
harnesses that we originally disconnected in our vent hose. And the one
thing I'm not going to do now and you can make your decision when you do your
lift if you do it now or later - is install the extended brake lines. I'm
gonna go ahead and wait till we have everything done and then do all the
brake lines at once and then do the entire system. Install the new extended
sway bar links into the sway bar, then the axle and bolt them into place.
Remove the track bar from the axle and only install the bolt on the frame side.
With the track bar hanging remove the driver side lower flex arm bolt and
install the new track bar relocation bracket over the axle and then bolt it in.
All right Guys, so as you can see - we went ahead and installed our new rear track
bar bracket, but if you take a closer look right here it doesn't quite line up
to that top hole that we need it to. So a good trick - get yourself a ratchet strap
or a come-along hook one end onto the frame itself the other end onto the axle
just to shift it forward enough to get that bolt on.
Now reconnect your vent hose and all the wiring that was previously disconnected.
All right guys, now that we have the whole rear end of our Jeep finished up
it's time to move on to the front. Now it's gonna be very similar to the rear
end disassembly that we just did. We need to get out everything that supporting
the weight of the front axle. So that's going to include our sway bar links, our
shocks, our front track bar, get that all out of the way, lower the front axle down
so we can get our springs out and then we can start throwing these new Teraflex
parts at it. Just like the rear support the weight of the axle and remove the
stock shocks and sway bar links.
Remove the track bar bolt connecting it to the frame in both hydraulic brake
line brackets. To make it easier to lower the axle loosen all the control arm
bolts. With the axle lower to remove your stock coil springs and bump stops.
All right guys, and just like the rear of our Jeep we now have our front end
completely torn down and it's now time to start building up some new parts.
We're gonna first start by putting in our Teraflex upper spring spacer with
the factory isolator and then move on to our new bump stop extensions. After that
it's gonna be all about getting these flex arms out and the new Teraflex flex
arms in. Now there's one thing that I want to make it very clear about these
Flex arms. Teraflex designs them specifically for an exact location and
orientation on your Jeep and each one of them are labeled with a sticker decal on
top. Just make sure to follow this exact instruction of where they go and in what
position they go on your Jeep to make sure your install is completely smooth.
Apply some grease to the bump stop extensions and using a block of wood or
rubber mallet press them into the factory mount. Unbolt the factory lower
control arms from the frame and then the axle. And just like the rear - install your
grease fittings and adjust the new flex arms to the appropriate length.
Then remove the upper arms in the same procedure and install your new upper
flex arms.
All right guys, so this front-end part of our lift is actually going very smooth.
Now at this point we're ready to go ahead and throw in our new lift coils.
Before we can do that we need to go ahead and bolt up our brand new bump
stop spacers onto our factory spring pads. Now to do that it will require a
little bit of drilling. What you're going to want - to do is locate the center of
the factory spring pad and drill 5/16 inch hole. Once that's done - take your
self tapping bolts that are supplied with the kit to both these into place
and then, and only then, you can throw in your new lift coils. But once those are
in we can then bolt up our shocks and we are one step closer to finishing the
front end of this build. Use a center punch to mark your hole. Then starting
with a smaller bit drill out your factory spring pad to a 5/16 inch hole
in both the new bump stop spacers into place. If you can't get your front axle
low enough to install your Springs using a spring compressor can make the job a
lot easier.
Install your new extended length shocks first bold into the body and
then the axle.
Take your extended-length sway bar links and bolt them first into the sway bar
and then the axel. All right guys, so at this point the majority of our lift is
installed on our JK. But we just have a few odds and ends that we need to attend
to before we can go ahead and get our JK out on the trails. Now due to the massive
increase in the lift type the first thing that we need to do is install our
extended brake lines. And because the brake system will be open that's also
going to include bleeding out the entire brake system once we're done. But there
is one component that should never be overlooked especially when you're
lifting in JK this high. And that's your front drive shaft. Plain and simple.
The front drive line simply can't handle intense off-road abuse. And because of
our new increased lift height it also creates an incredibly drastic angle. And
that's actually dangerously close to our front exhaust system as well. So, to make
sure that we don't run into any issues, we reached out to our friends at Adams
Driveshaft and we decided to go with their 1310 heavy-duty front drive shaft
with sealed U joints, that's specifically designed to handle up to a 37 inch tall
tire and a six inch lift. Now compared to the stock driveshaft the overall
diameter and of the tubing is also smaller (only 2 inches to be exact).
Which is definitely going to help us with our exhaust system clearance. But to
be 100% confident that we won't have any issues with exhaust contact out in the
woods - we're also going to install Teraflexes exhaust spacer kit. Now this kit
uses two exhaust inserts that will move the Y pipe just enough to give us plenty
of clearance from our front drive shaft under full articulation. Unbolt the stock
drive shaft from the transfer case and the front axle and using a rubber mallet
remove the stock yield from the transfer case. Swap the factory overing over to
the new yoke and installed on the transfer case splines. Coat the factory
nut with black RTV to prevent any leaks. And then torque down the new yoke.
With the new yoke installed at both of your new drive shaft in the transfer
case and then the front differential.
Spray all your exhaust bolts with penetrating well and loosen the band
clamp connecting a wide pipe to the mid pipe and chisel off the factory rivet.
Now loosen both exhaust flanges connecting the wide pipe to the mid pipe
and install your exhaust spacers.
Loosen the factory steel line from the brake
hose and unbolt the brake hose from the caliper. This job can get pretty messy so
make sure you have a drain pan on hand. Tighten the new hose to the caliper and
the stock steel line and use the supplied bracket to bolted to the frame.
Then it's time to play the brakes.
All right guys, bolt by bolt we are getting
closer and closer to finally finishing this project and getting to thrash this
thing out in the woods. But we're not there just yet. Now we're at the point we
need to get our Jeep back on the ground and finish up some suspension tweaks -
like bolting up our new Fox steering stabilizer, our adjustable track bar and
then torquing down all of our control arms. But to do that we need to set up
wheels and tires. And we have a set of wheels and tires. But let's just say
they're a little wider than normal. So they will not clear with these stock
bumpers. So to get a little bit more clearance we reached out to Westin and
we're gonna bolt up their Westin Snyper Stubby Front bumper. Let's get
started. Remove all the plastic trim under the front bumper, then unbolt the
four bolts holding the bumper to the frame.
Pop in the winch of your choice into place and bolt up the new fairlead and
d-rings. Then just remove the factory grille and run the wiring to the battery.
For the rear bumper remove your spare tire and carrier from the Jeep. And then
all of the bolts and bumper to the frame.
Grab a buddy to help and lift up the new bumper and bolt it directly to the frame.
With the Jeep back on the ground bolt up the new track bar on the frame side and
have a friend turn the wheel to line up the axle side bolt. Adjust your new track
bar to have a total length of 33 inches and make the final adjustments on the
alignment rack. Next unbolt your factory steering stabilizer and bolt up the new
stabilizer of your choice. With the weight of the Jeep on the suspension
tighten all of your new flex arms.
All right guys, so we got our new Westin bumpers bolted up to our Jeep and we got
it back on the ground. Which means we have our new wheels and tires bolted up,
and let me show you what we got. These right here are Dropstars 652 BM Wheels
in a satin black finish with milled aluminum accents along each spoke.
They're a massive 22 by 14 with a negative 76 offset and we wrapped them
in 37 inch Nitto Trail Grappler mud terrain tires. Now that we got our Jeep
back on the ground. All the final tweaks are done. Let's go take this thing out
for a ride.
All right guys. Well, that about wraps up our project JK Wrangler build. And if you
like how our Wrangler turned out and want to do the same to yours - head over
to CARiD.com - check out all the cool parts and accessories that we installed.
Now as for me - I'm gonna go ahead and do some wheeling.
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