Two Days With TeraFlex

Upgrading The Lift System In Our Project Jeep

Our Project Jeep is actively used for Emergency Communications, but it is also a daily-driven vehicle. This means that we must maintain a reasonable balance between street legality and on-road handling versus off-road capability and durability. Finding the right balance on these - especially when you factor in various Federal and State laws - is a tricky thing.

Utah seems to be turning into more and more of a "nanny state", where a few people want lawmakers to legislate and regulate every aspect of their lives. The problem is that they want them to legislate and regulate everybody else's lives too. Some lawmakers are more than content to do so, and we are seeing more and more laws and worse - "administrative rules" - regulating everything from lift height to how many pieces of TP you can use at any given time when in the bathroom. Some states are even worse.

CA is muttering about banning incandescent light bulbs, and already has more laws on the books relating to vehicles than you can shake a stick at.

The end result is that the average street cop has no clue about what the law says because there are simply too many of them. Unfortunately, some of them are more than happy to pull you over and waste your time while they call their Sgt. to find out if you are legal or not - often over very, very nitpicky items.

We saw a lot of Jeeps being pulled over during EJS last year, and the calls we heard on the scanner were often along the lines of "Should this be ticketed" or "Is this legal?". It was a sad commentary on the way EJS - an event that brings in a ton of money to the local economy - is looked upon by the myriad of law enforcement that descends on the town for the event. Yes, there are some bad apples and there are some things that are clearly not street legal - such as a complete lack of lighting. But when you have LEO's calling in and asking if "X" square inches of mud flap is sufficient "Yes Sgt, I just measured it here", you are looking way beyond the mark.

It is even more critical for us. Working with SAR, one can be held to a higher standard. We want to keep everything well within the limits.

Aside from legal concerns, we are paying attention to functional and practical limitations. We have a Dana 30 axle in front equipped with an ARB locker. If we don't push it much beyond 33" tires (some say you can even go up to 35" tires, but in our experience that can be pushing it too far) we should be able to eliminate most of the potential for breakage. I'm not worried about the rear Dana 44. It has a really good LSD that has served us well so far, but an ARB locker would be a good upgrade there.

When we bought it, the Jeep had what appeared to be a roughly 3" suspension lift and a clear 1" body lift. The suspension lift was an interesting setup. We had what looked like older TeraFlex components (unmarked) in the front, and what were clearly Skyjacker components (well marked with their logo) in the rear. It had a 1" drop on the transfer case. In all honesty, that was a big problem. It tended to drag on some of the tallest rocks even when we picked a good line in all other respects. We wanted to get that raised up - which meant larger tires and/or a raised transfer case skid plate and a Slip Yoke Eliminator kit.

We also found a lot of sag in the lift, especially after adding the Grant 4x4 rear bumper, 2 full jerry cans, and the Kilby Gas Tank Skid Plate. All of these added a lot of weight in the back, and the lift was showing it. We wanted to get that fixed, and do something about the break over clearance - yet we did not want to go really high on the lift and end up sacrificing on-road handling or street-legality.

We made an appointment in September-2006 to visit TeraFlex in Murray, UT to have them look at our lift kit and make their recommendations. It took Gage and Rand all of about 5 minutes to identify everything on the existing lift and make their recommendations. They confirmed that we did have older 3" TeraFlex parts in front, and we discussed how the Jeep is used and what we want to do with it in the future.

Considering our finances, we could not afford to go with our dream lift - a TeraFlex 4" LCG PRO or LCG MAX. It would have been ideal but was well out of our budget range for this project. And so, by the end of the day we had a quote for a completely upgraded 3" lift with modular adjustable front & rear, upper & lower control arms, Belly-Up Skidplate, Extreme Short Shaft SYE and CV drive shaft, and replacement shocks. Considering that the existing rear shocks were pretty well dead, that was another necessary piece.

We were contacted by a number of folks on JeepForum.com and other forums after we announced our decision to go with TeraFlex. There were not impressed with some of the older products that TeraFlex released years ago and tried to warn us off. But they need to realize that times have changed.

TeraFlex has a real advantage with Moab and UROCK being their proving grounds. There are even some local trails that can dish out a lot of punishment - such as RattleSnake and Constrictor out towards Tooele - and it is not uncommon to see their employees out there on the trails. They have taken advantage of these local opportunities for product testing, and they have learned a great deal since the release of their initial TJ products. Their latest products are simply excellent - at least in my opinion.

Here is a shot of their #MST Adjustable Lower FlexArms Kit...

Those are built to last. I liked what I saw in their products and what I heard when I spoke with them, and we gave them the go ahead after working out the financial arrangements.

We made an appointment to take the Jeep to TeraFlex Plus - their storefront and installation shop in the other side of their building - on 12-October-2006 to have all of this stuff installed. The folks at TeraFlex Plus were generous enough to let us back into the work area in their shop where we were able to photograph and watch the entire process.

It was a great learning experience, and I was very impressed with both their staff and their facility. I learned enough that I would be comfortable doing most of this myself in the future - except that I don't have a shop equipped anywhere near as well as theirs. They have the tools to do just about anything, and they have pretty much seen everything that can be done to a TJ.

Here is the Jeep heading into the shop...

As you can see, they work on a lot of Jeeps. Those service bays are full!

Here are all of the parts. They were ready to go when we arrived...

The setup we got included the #3T 3" TJ Lift Kit, #MST Modular System Kit (Modular Adjustable Front & Rear Lower FlexArms, sway-bar disconnects, and steering box skid plate), #M296 Modular Front Upper FlexArms and #M298 Modular Rear Upper FlexArms, #BUT-03 TJ Belly Up Skid Plate, #231ESS Extreme Short Shaft Kit, #DSR1750 CV Drive Shaft, #34TF and #34TR Shocks, and a #TBAF Front Adjustable Track Bar.

#3T Kit

#M296 Modular Front Upper FlexArms

#M298 Modular Rear Upper FlexArms

#BUT-03 Belly-Up Skid Plate

#231ESS Extreme Short Shaft Kit

#TBAF Front Adjustable Track Bar

Sterling was the tech assigned to our job, and he got right to work. Over a period of several days prior to this, I had hit most of the bolts that would be removed with some good penetrating oil. Sterling appreciated this and said it would be great if more people did the same. Keep that in mind when taking your Jeep into a shop. This turned out to help in all but the case of the front shocks. They were beyond hope, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Sterling started with the rear, and pulled out the existing Skyjacker components. The rear lower control arms, shocks, and springs were removed. Again, that penetrating oil made a big difference.

We also compared the old Skyjacker arms to the new TeraFlex Adjustable Control Arms..

I'd say the new TeraFlex arms win. They are really heavy duty and have flexible, durable joints. There is a ton of thread in there, so you have as much adjustment as you can possibly use. Here is a close-up so that you can see how these are put together...

Sterling used the old arms as a basis for the beginning length adjustments, and then verified that each of the new TeraFlex arms was set the same. This would later change as the pinion angle and alignment adjustments were made, but it is a great way to get in the general ballpark. He followed the same procedure when it came to the upper control arms.

The rear shocks were pretty well dead, one of them had been leaking for a bit over a month and the other one was just starting to. The front shocks were not much better. Here is a photo of the old shocks.

They were replaced with TeraFlex 9550 (Model 34TF front and 34TR rear) shocks. This is another area where Tera Manufacturing goes the extra mile. The bar pins are installed at the factory so that the person installing them doesn't have to waste more time doing that. They are really good looking shocks, and they carry a lifetime warranty (barring visible damage to the shock canister). Combined with the rear shock relocator brackets - which move the rear shock mounts about an inch to the rear to clear the spring perches - this will really facilitate pinion angle adjustment..

When installing the rear shock relocator brackets, make sure you tighten the center screw first, then install the shock. That will make sure everything goes in easy. Installing the springs was facilitated by the use of a spring compressor.

This is one tool you don't want to buy from Harbor Freight. While some of their tools are more than adequate, if this tool fails you have pieces that can fly apart under a great deal of pressure. I'm still trying to find one of these to add to our own shop collection, but I have not been able to find the same thing they have at TeraFlex Plus.

The old springs had certainly seen better days. I suspect that they had been on the Jeep since shortly after it was purchased. The new springs look good, but most importantly they will allow the Jeep to sit higher and more level - something we lost after installing the Grant 4X4 rear bumper with 2 full jerry cans, and the Kilby Gas Tank Skid Plate. Those were both excellent additions, but they added a lot of weight in back. New springs should give us better backend.

After the new Modular Lower FlexArms, Springs, and Shocks were installed, Sterling then removed the old upper control arms and installed the new Modular Adjustable Upper FlexArms. These gave us total flexibility in getting the pinion angle set just right, and are much beefier than the factory original parts.

When it came to installing the rear anti-swaybar links, I noticed that the new TeraFlex parts were significantly longer than the older Skyjacker components. Again, this should give us a little more articulation. It is clear not all 3" lifts are equal - we had more lift from this 3" lift than the one that was on the Jeep before, and more articulation.

Installing the rear section of the kit went pretty quickly, just in reverse. Sterling then moved on to the front working in roughly the same order.

Removing the old front shocks presented the only real difficulty in the whole process. The nuts at the top did not want to cooperate. Sterling had a fix for this, which involved cutting the shocks just below where they went into the upper mount. Then he simply pulled through the remaining piece. The rubber that you have to cut through makes this a painful job in short sleeves. Here are a few action shots of this process.

Once that was done, the rest of the front end was relatively easy.

After the basic lift kit was installed, it seemed clear that we would end up gaining more articulation with this new TeraFlex system. and that the springs should fix our sagging problem. That was what we wanted to see.

The next step was to install the TeraLow Extreme Short Shaft SYE and rear CV drive shaft so that the Belly-Up Skid Plate could be installed. This setup would increase our break over clearance (the distance between the ground and the lowest point in the center of the Jeep) and would eliminate hitting most of the rocks on there.

Considering that the old factory skid plate was dropped by 1" below the frame, we gained several inches of clearance with this setup. For us, the benefit we realized in our gain in breakover clearance was like going from 33" to 37" tires - without having to go to the expense of 37" tires. That is a major improvement, especially when you look at the long-term investment. In order to have gone that far without the belly-up skid plate and SYE conversion, we would have needed a larger lift kit, more expensive (larger) tires, and everything that comes with them - being subject to more on-road handling issues and increased scrutiny during safety and emissions inspections.

TeraFlex does have two short shaft kits. The ESS is the shortest of them, and is as short as you can get. You can also get their Short Shaft Kit - but we all really want to be Extreme, don't we? "Extreme" may indeed be overused in some cases, but it seems apporpriate when you compare the ESS kit with the factory configuration and their other short shaft kit in the following photo...

The only disadvantage to installing the ESS is that it changes the way your speedometer operates. The speedometer on the TJ operates based on a speed sensing gear in the transfer case. This gear is replaceable, and there are multiple sizes that you can select based on your tire size and differential gear ratio. In our case, it was dead-on before we had the ESS installed.

Because the TeraFlex ESS is so short, there is no room for the speed sensing gear in the ESS housing. They work around this by supplying a new electronic sensor and an internal tone ring. The sensor reads the revolutions of this ring, and sends that signal out using the factory wiring. Unlike the speedometer sensing gear, where you can get different gears to match different tire sizes and gear ratios, there is only one tone ring available. This means that the signal can be off by a significant amount depending on your tires and gearing.

TeraFlex has a complete chart that gives you a guesstimate of where your speed will read out after installing the ESS kit. In our case (3.73 Gearing and 33" tires) it indicated that we should see a reading about 12% lower than our actual speed. At 100MPH (as if we would EVER go that fast), the reading would be only 88MPH. At an actual speed of 65MPH, the speedometer should read about 57.2MPH. At a speedometer reading of 65, we would actually be going 72.8MPH.

Why does this matter? Well, 72.8 MPH is in the ticket realm on many freeways. It also affects your overall odometer readings. You can always use a GPS to get your speed and note the difference, but it is better to be closer.

In SAR there are times when you may get an odometer reading from someone. Since the odometer reading is related to the speed of the vehicle, this can be off after installing the ESS. Of course, the person reporting it may have a similar problem, their tires may have slipped a few times making it seem as if they had gone further than they really did, etc. But, it IS nice to have it as close as possible to reality.

We measured the following differences in reality using a Lowrance GPS system installed in the Jeep..

Speedometer Reading

Actual Speed

25

26.8

50

54.1

55

60.1

60

65

65

71

70

76.2

The fix for this is to use a "back box", a signal converter in the line. It replaces the pulses from the tone ring with new pules that you dial in on it. It essentially sends more or fewer pulses than it receives from the tone ring. There are a few of these on the market. We will deal with that in another article.

Starting the ESS installation process requires supporting the transmission. Remember that the transfer case skid plate is what holds that up. You need to support the transmission before dropping the transfer case skid plate.

I won't cover the entire process since the TeraFlex instructions are very good. You can read them by clicking on the link at the end of article. I do want to note a few important points that Sterling pointed out.

Sterling worked until pretty late in the day getting this part finished. He took plenty of time and care when cleaning up the mating surfaces on the two halves of the transfer case, and cleaned and inspected the interior very carefully. He got it all ready for some RTV when he sealed it back up.

Our chain was in really good shape - considering that we have less than 60K on this 99 TJ, we expected that. I am thinking we might go with a TeraLow kit at some time in the future and will replace the chain at that point, or around 120K miles - whichever comes first.

Normally you need to raise the motor mounts or drill new holes in the fan shroud to clear the fan blades after raising the transfer case. This is because raising the transfer case also changes the angle at which the engine sits - changing where the fan blades sit and causing them to now hit the fan shroud. The techs at TeraFlex Plus all pretty much agreed that it is better overall to re-drill new holes in the fan shroud to relocate it versus going to the trouble of installing the included motor mount spacers. It's faster, easier, and less messy.

In our case, we had already installed a Flex-A-Lite electric fan, so there were no fan shroud clearance issues. We have the motor mount spacers just in case we need them in the future.

Another benefit of the ESS kit is that raising the transfer case and transfer case skid plate also slightly raises - or more correctly, levels - the motor and the oil pan. Anything that will help raise that out of the way is a good benefit - a good side benefit in the case of the ESS kit, and another reason that this was a better solution for us. TeraFlex also has an oil pan skid plate that we may install before EJS this year.

The next morning required a little time to finishing up installing the front anti-swaybar disconnects and getting a new TeraFlex Front Adjustable Track Bar put in. That addition allows us to have the front axle perfectly centered - an important part of correct alignment.

Sterling did stress the importance of keeping everything well greased - not so much that it is pouring out of the boots, but not too little either. In the past I have tended to use Mystik SX-6 Synthetic from Citgo. I'm not wild about Citgo as a company, but their SX-6 has great specs for heat and cold and water resistance, and it has worked very well for me in the past. It's available at Cal-Ranch and other farm supply and automotive stores. Sterling said that it is great stuff for lubricating all of the TeraFlex components. We lube them as recommended by TeraFlex and have had no issues yet.

Once the installation was done, it was time to take the Jeep to the other side of the TeraFlex Plus shop for the alignment.

TeraFlex Plus has the best alignment system I have ever seen. It's a Hoffmann Geoliner 660. It involves a vehicle lifting platform and two sets of Infrared LED's on the ends of a T-shaped mount on the wall in front of the lift. This T mount moves the sensor and readout heads up and down with the lift. This reads the positions of some reflective targets which are carefully placed on each of the wheels.

To check the alignment, the vehicle is moved backwards and forwards on the lift, and the front wheel is turned one way and then the other. Sensors in the lifting platform combine their readings with feedback from the reflective targets on the wheels, and the computer then gives the operator a complete list of what adjustments need to be made to bring everything into perfect alignment. It was impressive to watch.

The correct rear pinion angle was set and all adjustments were made of a period of several hours - checking and re-checking everything. The initial alignment on a Jeep with a SYE kit takes some time to get just right. The adjustable control arms (especially both upper and lower adjustable control arms) facilitate a wide adjustment range. The factory specs aren't even really good for a vehicle that is using only factory components, and don't apply at all to a Jeep with these modifications. TeraFlex Plus has the tools and experience to get the job done right.

Sterling had some help on this part, and each of the techs were willing to lend an extra pair of hands and eyes whenever needed. All of the techs there are Jeep enthusiasts. They were all very professional, but you can tell that they all enjoy what they are doing. I think that's what makes them so good at what they do. I don't think any of them came to work in anything other than a lifted Jeep. In the future, any alignments we need will be done up at TeraFlex Plus. We are lucky to be so close.

One note - it was discovered during the alignment that the included drop pitman arm was not needed. They put the stock unit back on.

The alignment took several hours, but proved to be well worth the time. When completed it was far better than the alignment had ever been on this Jeep before. The rear pinion angle was perfect, and the alignment was great. Taking the Project Jeep back home after the job was done, we hit I-15 at speeds from stopped to about 75MPH. There were no vibrations, the track was true, and the steering wheel was as centered as you can get it.

Here is a shot of the Jeep before the lift upgrade. Note that the Winch was also removed from the front bumper.

Here is a shot of the Jeep after the complete lift upgrade with the winch back on.

And here is a good shot of the breakover clearance from that Belly-Up Skid Plate.

As for performance on this new lift setup, we took it to a few local trails to see how things worked out.

The new front anti-sway bar quick disconnects are much more stiff than the ones that had been on there. I found that a rubber mallet is a big help in tapping them off of their mounting studs. They don't have any of the wear that was evident on the units that had been on there for a number of years, and that does translate into a bit more difficulty in removing them. They are very well made and they are a necessary off-road tool, but if we had the money we would be looking at something like their #975 S/T disconnect system. As it is, a pair of gloves and a rubber mallet are your best friends.

We took our tires down to about 14 PSI and hit the trails for some rocks and mud.

Following a "usual" order of march while on the trail can be an advantage. You get to know what is customary for the vehicles ahead of you and behind you. This can be helpful in spotting problems, and in our case it gave us some great feedback on the trail.

I noted earlier in the article that the rear sway bar links were longer on the TeraFlex kit than they were on the old Skyjacker kit. This did translate into more articulation in the rear, but no notable degradation on the road - and no rubbing at full flex, even on the 6" BushWacker flares that are required for street-legality here in Utah. There were sections on the trail where the differences in the kits were visible to the drivers in front of me, and behind me. That was valuable feedback.

I also noted the differences I could feel in the cockpit. I felt that I had better control in the mud, and more contact in some of the rocky areas. I also firmly solidified my opinion in our tire tests - but that's for another article.

On two local trails called Rattlesnake and Constrictor I also noted some improvement, and the fact that I didn't hit the transfer case skid plate on many rocks. Another Jeep with a 3" suspension lift but with only the factory transfer case skid plate and no ESS did hit his skid plate several times. I had to use my rock sliders twice, but performance was better all around.

We climbed - well, winched - up the waterfall at the end of Constrictor and didn't encounter any problems with breakover clearance. Everything worked flawlessly. This lift was indeed superior to what we had on before, and has increased our overall capabilities.

TeraFlex recommends checking the grease level before and after each trip, and a 500 mile check up. We check everything before and after each trip and give everything a good once-over during each oil change.

The only snag we hit with this kit was about 3 months in. We noted that the rear end was again sagging. The rear shocks failed on us shortly after we noted that.

We went up and spoke with Dennis at TeraFlex Plus, and he took a look at the lift. Here is the advantage of dealing with a company that both manufactures and installs kits. Dennis noted that with the weight we had from the Kilby skidplate and the swing-out on the bumper, we could bottom-out the shocks. That was what killed them. The 3" springs were just not quite enough for the weight we had in the back.

Dennis felt that a set of 4" Heavy Duty springs in the rear would take care of it. He said that really should have been done up front. He scheduled some shop time for us, and TeraFlex provided the appropriate parts - we just had to pay discounted shop labor. That was customer support, and it really helped that they had the know-how and parts to customize the kit as needed for our specific situation.

Once the 4" HD springs were installed in the rear, we had no sag AND we gained about another inch of lift. Not bad at all. Street performance feels great, and we really love the trails now!

TeraFlex has what I consider to be some of the best gear around, and they have the know-hot to tailor a kit to your specific Jeep. I have no regrets about putting their lift gear on. We are really looking forward to EJS this coming year, and to a lot of time on the trails with our increased capabilities. I was also very impressed with all of the folks at the TeraFlex Plus shop. If you happen to be in the area, I can't think of a better shop to handle installing any TeraFlex gear.

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Note:

We had the Jeep at the All-Jeep Show in SLC and tested it on a 30-degree ramp. We scored 752 with this lift. That's equivalent to a score of 1099 on a 20-degree ramp. This further illustrates why we are so pleased with the TeraFlex 3" lift! It works on the trail and it is proven in competition.

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James Bell Jr.

For More Information Contact:

Tera Manufacturing, Inc.

5251 South Commerce Dr.

Murray, Utah 84107-4711

Phone: 801-288-2585

Fax: 801-713-2313

http://www.teraflex.biz/

Click HERE To Read The #231ESS Installation Instructions

Click HERE To Read The Front Adjustable Trackbar Installation Instructions