removing body lift kit on 97 fzj

[ghostofamerica]

hi mudh8ters
i put my nice new toyota radiator in my fzj yesterday. it fit a lot better than the chinese one that was in there. at least it fit the factory configs better. you know, the holes for the bolts lined up and all that.
when i went to install the shroud, it got weird. the fan was too low and i couldn't get shroud and fan to cooperate. this must be why the shroud was missing in the first place. previous owners put a 2" body lift on her. geez. not only does the shroud not fit, but the fan is within striking distance of one of the radiator atf nipples, quarter inch of clearance. i'm not comfortable with that.
i want to remove the lift. i'm going to look at it today to see what's obvious. does anyone have tips or things to watch out for? is there a bushing that goes between the body and the frame, or does it just fit snug?
all replies appreciated.
thanks,
david

 

[LongDuck]

I'm curious how a suspension lift would impact where your fan shroud and fan sit...? More than likely, your engine mounts are shot and allowing the angle or tilt of the engine to affect centering of the fan in the shroud. Have you looked at those recently?

I wouldn't get too far into a lift removal if that's not the root cause, but maybe I'm missing something.

ETA: Just,read that you have a BODY lift, and yeah, that makes sense, then. Free bump!

 

[ghostofamerica]

I'm curious how a suspension lift would impact where your fan shroud and fan sit...? More than likely, your engine mounts are shot and allowing the angle or tilt of the engine to affect centering of the fan in the shroud. Have you looked at those recently?

I wouldn't get too far into a lift removal if that's not the root cause, but maybe I'm missing something.

ETA: Just,read that you have a BODY lift, and yeah, that makes sense, then. Free bump!

hi LD, you know, it was a new one to me too. but, yeah i see you ETA. It didn't occur to me at all that it would be a problem. I'm not sorry to see the body lift go. I think they might have done it to get clearance for big off-road bumpers, but I traded those to @mesa man for some sweet factory bumpers. There is a one-inch gap on bumpers all around.
It looks like there are eight mounts. IDK if I need access on the interior side of the bolt, but I'm hoping I can do the job entirely from underneath. I'm off to go watch a video on it.
Thanks for your reply.
David

 

[lelandEOD]

You could just swap out the 2 inch lift for a 1 inch lift. That's what I have on my truck and I have no problems with fan/radiator clearance.

 

[mesa man]

You’ll finger it out!

 

[Shipwreck]

Removing the body lift is potentially a bigger job than you might anticipate. There are 10 pucks that go in between the frame mounts and the body bushings. You will need to replace the existing hardware with stock hardware because the lift requires longer bolts. You might also want to replace the stock body mount bushings if they are old and cracked. A couple of the rear bushings are nla, but can be replaced with hzj80 bushings I believe. I would take a look at some of the old threads here on installing body mount lifts as it will give you an idea of what you need to do to remove the lift.
Product review: 4Crawler (Roger Brown) 1" body lift. - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/product-review-4crawler-roger-brown-1-body-lift.206908/

Definitive 1" Body Lift How To - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/definitive-1-body-lift-how-to.589776/

 

[ghostofamerica]

You could just swap out the 2 inch lift for a 1 inch lift. That's what I have on my truck and I have no problems with fan/radiator clearance.

@lelandEOD upon further inspection, it actually is a 1" lift.

 

[PIP]

@lelandEOD upon further inspection, it actually is a 1" lift.

The 1" bodylift I sell includes brackets that lower the radiator 1". It would be a lot easier to install the correct radiator drop brackets than remove the entire bodylift. If you're interested in just the radiator mounts send me a message.

 

[ghostofamerica]

The 1" bodylift I sell includes brackets that lower the radiator 1". It would be a lot easier to install the correct radiator drop brackets than remove the entire bodylift. If you're interested in just the radiator mounts send me a message.

hi @PIP , I would like to go back to yesterday and choose this option, but I am stuck in today. Here's to tomorrow!

 

[ghostofamerica]

does 9 out of 10 count? i was wondering why that one bolt was short.

the two by the radiator were easy with a telescoping magnet and a long enough extension with a loosey end. i don't know what it's called. it's not an articulating adapter, though i'm sure that would work too.
the ones in the back gave me the most trouble. but, got em' (except i left the puck in on the p-side by accident).

most of my bushings were okay. the one in front of the rear d-side wheel is trash, but i didn't think ahead to have any replacements on hand. so, you know, 2 steps D, 1 step R.

i read about lifting the body form the floor pan. i tried it, but it just wasn't working for me. so, i did what every post said not to do and jacked it on the rocker. it worked fine. i am very good at finding the center of the bottle jack and a 2x4. not recommending it. know enough to stay out of the direction of travel of a flying bottle jack.

still have ten fingers. i'll have to wait a couple days to get back out there and take that oopsie out. had two wisdom teeth violently plucked from my skull today, so i'm not feeling any activity.

thanks to everyone who responded or previously posted on this. there are some excellent threads on the topic.

david

 

[Mandrake]

You can also just drill holes 1" lower than the ones for the upper radiator mounts and use nuts and bolts to hold it in place.

 

[ghostofamerica]

I did get #10 out. Had to loosen 7 out of ten to get it. Once again, I happily jacked on the rocker seam. This is how a radiator change took me over a week. Taken individually, none of this was hard, but a lot of it was unexpected.
cheers,
david