Now so far we've done upgrades on the electrical system, the cooling system, the fuel system, the brakes. Now we're moving on to suspension, and we're going to put on this 2-in lift that we showed you earlier.
To replace leaf springs you'll need to put a jack under the axle for support and then unbolt the old springs and shocks and toss them in the scrap heap.
Then install the new shackles and springs using the original brackets...and the new U-bolts. Follow that up with the shocks.
In the rear it's a same thing. Pull off the old single leaf leaf springs and shocks and replace them with the new multi-leaf springs and gas shocks. It's also a good time to put on our wheel spacers. This is going to widen out the stance and make those original wheels fit the wheel well better. They're also necessary to get a 15-in wheel to clear those new front disc brakes.
Okay while you're under here, now is a good time to check and see if there's anything else you need to repair. Now keep in mind we're going to replace this fuel tank so that's good, but look at this... there's dirt dobber nests all over the back of the rear end and the down the frame, so that'll all need to be cleaned up. Also as you can see there's some leaks in the rear end, so we'll have to take care of that. And then if you look forward, there's some leaks in the transmission and the transfer case, so we got to fix those. And then if you look to your right, we found some rust holes in the rockers which is to be expected... but we're not going to do anything with those right now because that is a level two and we'll talk about that later. All right let's get this thing down on the ground see what we have.
Okay with the original tires back on you can see what a difference this lift makes on this whole Jeepster. It's finally sitting level for probably the first time in 40 years! And now we've got room to put up to a 30 in. tall tire. Yeah. Now you got options here... you can do the original hubcap thing, or you can put a custom wheel on. Anything that you want to do! And options are a good thing with any project.
