...cars dirty, I know.

A few days now on the Pedders and they feel great!...dont ask about the cabs install

If you look hard you can kinda see my rear tow hook bracket. I dont keep the rear hook in while daily driving.

 

My springs were delivered today... About how long did it take to install them?

 

I did it in my garage and went sorta slow as to make sure I re-torqued all the bolts to right number and made sure everything was installed correctly...sometime just staring at things on the car

Rear took about 1hr.
Fronts took about 2hrs

Total of 3hours ...I bet I could have done it in 90min but I wasn't in a hurry.

Make sure you have air tools, spring compressor and a needle nose vise grips to hold the back of your stock endlinks while you take of the nut.

 

The rears took me like 2 hours because of the bumpstops not fitting in the Pedders. Make sure you have a small torch or strong heat gun ready, though I think the torch is better.

Make sure you have a spring compressor, and the right socket to turn it with. If you're going on the cheap, the Craftsman one is designed well, and isn't that expensive. The other thing I would advise is that you should loosen the front top strut nut just a little bit to get it off the locking portion of the nut. DO NOT LOOSEN IT TOO MUCH. Just enough so that you'll be able to turn the nut without having to use a torx key when the spring is unloaded. This will save a lot of time, since the locking portion prevented even my impact from spinning it off.

And yes, if you can get access to an impact, either air, or electric, it will make the job MUCH easier.

Oh, another tid bit of advise. To remove the strut bolts up front, loosen the nut, but don't take it off, and then whack the nut with a hammer to back the bolt out. This will prevent you from messing up any threads.

To get the bolts back in, don't try hammering it all the way in. Just get it out the back side, and then put the nut on to pull the bolt through.

 

Rear took me 30 minutes, and that's with me fiddling with 20 different things and posting on the forum, all you need is a pair of accurate measuring calipers, some water based lubricant, and some man strength.

 

I've got air tools and a stocked tool box in my garage so none of the tool things are issues. I just have to pick up the spring compressor from O'Reilly's and make sure I have the right nut (I should...).

I did suspension work on my Jeep myself, so I'm not that intimidated, it's just that I've never done anything with a MacStrut...

 

We'll have to agree to disagree on that bump stop thing. After forcing it through while in a heated, and slightly melty state, the metal ring on my bumpstop is significantly bent. The end coil on the Pedders is not round. It's D shaped.

Anyhow, if I had to do it all over again, I could knock out a spring change in no time. Now I just need to get my cabs and delrin bushings installed. No press, so I'll probably drag that up to a trusted shop of mine.

 

Yeah, Press is a must....I tired to use the c clamp tool that works for normal cabs...Big mistake

Right now Im running one stock cab and one Powell cab (Powell cab is only 80% into the control arm). The cab now looks like I put it into the garbage disposal and turned it on for 15sec

oh well I guess...learn the hard way. I'll have them pressed in soon.

 

Way to go Jeff...car looks good.

 

Got 'em installed. Took me about 3.5 hours - almost 1 entire hour of which was devoted to cussing out my driver's side end link nut. It was literally 2 threads away from coming off and the damned thing wouldn't budge! I ended up having to take a torch to the nut to get it off.

But now she's back on the ground and I really like the stance and it seems to handle quite a bit better. Body roll is almost non-existent and a HUGE improvement over the FE3 springs. I also installed FE5 shocks and struts so I'm sure that only helped things as well. I decided to say F*#% it and won't be installing the FE5 swaybar. Just too much bullshit to deal with changing it and I'm happy so far with the handling. I'll be taking her in tomorrow to get an alignment and my new Star Specs mounted. Should be a night and day difference over stock

I'll take some pics tomorrow

 

sorry don't have time to read all the past posts but i have a couple questions. im looking to drop the car a little, not to much tho still have to drive it in the winter, without hurting any handling performance. are they ok to put in the ss/tc? would i be able to run a 245/40 18 tire without rubbing? how much ground clearence after they settle? any wear and tear on other suspension components?

 

Flip the rear spring the other way around and it would have went on much easier, ask me how I know lol.

 

Before:


After:

 

What size are your tires? There is still a lot of wheel gap there.

 

Since Pedders are drop springs...

 

225/45R17 tires. I don't care about drop, I care about handling and so far I'm liking it

 

well I got the rear pedders on...makes my front feel like ass :P

 

we'll get the fronts put on soon!

 

Where are you guys getting the springs?

 

OTTPerformance.com

 

i just cant decide how to spend my freakin money. i have 1k andmy mom being a mom said to put it in a savings....for what its not like ill get much interest i wanna just have my grampa invest it hes the stock guru and could make me a few hundred on it in weeks i want pedders though. are they really worth it?

 

let you grampa make you some cash and with that buy some pedders and you will still have your 1K

 

That's what I wound up doing for a week...I know exactly what you mean.

 

I'm in the same boat. Talk about riding level lol. I'm afraid that before I can get the fronts on the rears will settle and I'll be riding nose high

 

If I was to get pedders springs for my sport, should I get the FE5 struts from the ss/tc as well?