My Build Thread (year+) on 71 Jimmy 4x4

[Burt4x4]

Sweeet! I'll drink any cold beer you have, my wife only likes budlite...

I almost made it up to Idaho this year. My wife and I are prospecting states to move to after the kids finnish HSchool in about 6yrs and Idaho is on our list to check out. We were gonna take a drive up there for spring break but ran outa money so we traveld localy in Cali. oh well next time!
Keep up the good work!
Burt

[RckyMntnKng]

Teaser Pics....I think you know what they are gonna be.
Back almost there. Front more complicated angles and design so saved it
till after the warm up. Got some (4) huge ass 15 ton plus D-rings to go on each corner.

[Burt4x4]

BEEFY!!!!!

[RckyMntnKng]

Crap I let my thread go off the 1st page...guess that means I should work faster!

Bumpers are just finished and gonna look Shaaaweeet when they are attached and rhino-lined on the Jimmy.

The front is strate in the middle section and angles to match the grill on each side. The little stinger is angled forward to match the grill as well.
middle. Its all 3", gonna mount it high and tight and have a winch roller fairlead in the front middle

The rear is just strate. Will post pics when I get them mounted, painted and with the recovery points.

What do you guys think?

[RckyMntnKng]

Couple questions for the experts ;-)

I ordered a pair of solid steel shims to get my driveline angle to match. Unfortunately I welded my spring mounts to the new 14 bolt in the stock location and mounted it before measuring my angles. Long story short im adding 4 degrees into it. That will zero out the difference.

Also I ordered a pair of Add-a-leafs for the rear. It sits level now, without the rear seats mounted, without the cage, without the spare etc. I dont want saggy butt, so these should raise the load rating for the rear as well as add 1.5-2" or so.

I might as well do these 2 projects in conjunction with each other.

Has anyone done this? Do I need to take the spring pack apart? I know I have to pull the bolt, and add a longer one that encompasses the extra length of 1 more spring and block per side. Does the New leaf go in the center of the pack or just on the bottom? It is nearly as long as the leafs near the top of the pack. I was thinking of clamping the springs together and adding the parts while still installed on the truck hangers.

Any advice would be appreciated. - Regards-RMK

[Burt4x4]

Hey Dude!
I have used degree shims before and when I installed mine I used C-clamps to keep the spring pack from seporating when I removed the center bolt. I did this with the springs on the truck and the rearend droped out of the way.
Your add-a-leaf should go on the bottom of your pack.
By the way mine were aluminum and they did crack and spit out ~ I found out the hard way = trail carnage. My ubolts came loose and rounded my spring perches. But hey that forced me to weld on new stronger perches at the proper pinion angle.
So even though you are using steel I would re-torque your U-bolts from time to time

[RckyMntnKng]

Right on thanks amigo.

Dug up the directions on Rough Country website. This set of add-a-leafs is longer to be used in conjunction with already lifted springs. It states to insert them as a pyramid. Make sure the one above it is longer and the one under is shorter.
This means its going to have to be the 2nd spring in the pack, maybe 3rd. Looks like I have to take the whole pack apart.

How hard is it to compress the springs again with C clamps I wonder?

The Shims will be last step before I can lengthen my driveline.

The part im stuck on is that I want to go with a doubler eventually but I want to drive it now. I'd hate to rebuild the driveline 2x. *sigh*