CJ Bolt-on SOA for 1976+

Thank you for your Rocky Road,llc purchase! We value your business and appreciate any input you might have on this product and/or its installation. Your SOA kit is one of the best off-road mods you can make to your CJ. Read these instructions thoroughly before beginning installation. If you ever have any questions on this or other modifications to your 4WD vehicles, please do not hesitate to call us. This suspension is an off-road suspension system. Modification of vehicles for off-road use, especially suspension modification & oversized tires, will affect the center-of-gravity & steering or handling of your vehicle. By the sale of these products, we are neither recommending that you modify your vehicle, nor are we assuming any responsibility for the consequences of such modifications. Summit Off-road llc/Rocky Road Outfitters, has no control of how these component parts are installed or utilized in the operation of a vehicle on which they are installed. We, therefore assume no liability for any circumstances connected with their use. The purchaser of these parts should be aware that he or she acquires, installs and utilizes these parts at his or her own risk, and agrees not to hold Rocky Road Outfitters/Summit Off-road llc, responsible. By installation of our products, you are agreeing to the above. This suspension system should in stalled by those 4 wheelers experienced enough to be able to perform their own mild level of fabrication, or a professional installation shop. Particular interest should be paid to such systems as brake lines, steering, shocks, drive lines, & other components which may be affected by large amounts of wheel travel.

The SOA kit can be installed by anyone with medium level mechanical skills. You should plan on having the vehicle down for a day and perhaps two depending on how meticulous you wish to be. Installation really is straightforward and hopefully our instructions will make the job flow more smoothly. Use your common sense as much as these instructions for a successful installation. Items you'll probably want to have on hand to complete the installation: A metric wrench set, hand sledge, drill, pitman arm puller, pickle fork, vice- grips, floor jacks and stands.

 Please note the following special considerations… -Slip Yoke Eliminator (SYE)/ Tailshaft transfer case conversion required for Jeep NP231 transfer case -Rear CV type drive shaft required as with any lift at or over 4" for the CJ -Front driveshaft may need to be lengthened -Rear axle kit is bolton for AMC20 axle only. If you have any other type of axle, you may need to modify the spring perches to make them fit and should weld then in place as well. -Note: Ubolts may be longer than needed. However, depending on your final drivetrain setup, you should wait to cut the Ubolts short to determine if you will want or need shims for your installation.

STEP1: Park your vehicle on a flat level surface for installation. You’re going to be crawling under this thing for at least a day & you do NOT want it shifting and falling. It is best to straighten out your steering so the front tires face directly forward as well. Your steering wheel should be centered. Keep the steering wheel in this position throughout the installation procedures. STEP2: Loosen your lug nuts, elevate your Jeep & support it with jackstands such that the wheels are off the ground. Remove wheels, shocks, and disconnect your sway bar links from the axle. Save all nuts, bolts, hardware. STEP3: Remove the steering drag link from the stock pitman arm. This may require a pickle fork for the steering link. Save all bolts, nuts, hardware. STEP4: Remove front brake lines. These have a mounting bolt up inside the top of the frame. Unbolt this for removal of the line. You will have two front lines and one rear. For the rear line, disconnect the top end of the brake line. Our extension will screw in on the top of the existing brake line when the time comes. You must also remove the parking brake cable from the frame, to be remounted with our new drop bracket. Pull the cables aside for later reinstallation. You will have 2 cables to remove at the ‘splitter’ assembly. STEP5: Disconnect the axles. Since your axle is over the springs at this time, be very careful. Removing the Ubolts may allow the axle to drop. First remove the ubolts and ubolt plates. Once the axles are unbolted from the springs, you can either move the axles to locate them under the springs (instead of on top). Or you can remove the springs, then slide them under the axles, and remount the springs. PLEASE NOTE you will want to flip the center pin on the springs. You will probably have to use some vice-grips to keep the round bolt head from spinning. Place that bolt head underneath the springs so they can now engage with the tops of the axles when mounted. You may also want to place a C-clamp around the leaf springs to keep them together as you remove that center-locating pin. STEP6: Your kit automatically sets up the castor/pinion angles for you. Note that there are three different spring pad assemblies. The smallest 2 are for the rear. The fronts are marked with ‘P’ or ‘D’ stamps for passenger or driver’s side. They are side specific and cannot be mounted improperly. Slide the spring pads over the axle above the stock spring pads. You will notice how they ‘key’ into place. Our kit is a bolt on system so no welding is required. For those who do wish to weld in place though, now would be the time to weld the spring pads in place. You should clean the axles well before installation begins. You should also remove any factory weld splatter or other material that would interfere with the new spring pads sitting tightly on the axle. STEP7: Starting with the rear axle. Please note the notch in the spring pads to allow for clearance over the steel brake line. Don’t crush the brake line. Make sure it slides up into the notch on the springpad. The skidplates go on the bottom with the shock mounts attached. The smaller plates go up on top. You simply pass the bolts thru and tighten everything down. The photo to the left shows a properly mounted Rear spring pad with the Ubolt skidplate underneath, spring perch, top plate, shock mount, and the brake line extension in place IT IS IMPORTANT to check the bolts after 100 miles and with periodic maintenance. STEP8: Brake lines. Install rear brake line extension hose. MAKE SURE and bleed your brakes before you finish up and drive away!!! STEP9: Now that your rear axle is properly mounted, install the transfer case drop kit. These are the two steel spacer blocks. First, place a jack under the transfer case crossmember and make sure it is securely located. Undo the bolts holding the crossmember. Lower the tcase slightly. Install the spacer blocks. Use the longer bolt supplied in your kit to remount the crossmember. You are done with this. Reference picture 2 below for this easy setup. STEP10: Move on to the front spring perches. The rear perches were both the same, the fronts are different. Note that the one spring perch has a slightly large diameter arch to fit over the differential area. These will mount the same way as the rear. The spring plates will act as skidplates for the bottom. Smaller plates mount on the top to sandwich everything together. Reference picture #3 for the proper placement of the bottom plate, springpad, and top plate. STEP11: Mount the Zlink steering. You may need to fine tune its length after getting the Jeep back on the ground and driving. For now, point the wheels forward, steering wheel straight, and adjust the Zlink to length as needed. It mounts directly in place of the original factory drag link. Picture 2 shows proper mounting on the passenger’s side end of the Zlink. Once you have the wheels/tires remounted and everything has been checked and double-checked for tightness, you can adjust your steering wheel from the steering drag link. Simply extend your drag link adjustment until the steering wheel is straight. You may have to fine-tune it a bit over a couple days as you drive the vehicle. You can do this by adjusting the drag link to length. STEP12: As with the rear brake line, you will be using brake line extensions for your front axle. You will install these the same as the rear. You NEED to place a twist in the line before you tighten it down all the way to make it so that the brake line pulls itself AWAY from the front tires. If you do not put this twist in your brake line, you will take a change on the tires rubbing and damaging your brake lines. This can be dangerous. Note in the picture below how the brake lines twist away from the tire. Those tires are 35x15.50 and so are very fat, but there is still a couple inches of gap between those tires and the brake line (hard to see form the picture). Doing the twist is critical! After installation of the lines, follow the manufacturer’s procedure for proper bleeding. STEP 13: Replace your wheels/tires. As with any suspension modification, we HIGHLY recommend you have a computerized front end alignment. This cost a couple bucks, but you get that back in reduced tire wear and better fuel economy. Gove over your brake lines, bleeding, steering connection, all springpad bolts, and tcase mounting bolts one more time. Give it a good “pre-flight” to make sure everything is on and works. Then go four-wheeling! Please call 435-654-1149 if you have any questions or problems. THANKS AGAIN!