Rubicon RE6130 User manual

RUBICON MANUFACTURING INC. 3290 MONIER CIR., RANCHO CORDOVA, CA. 95742 916-473-4600
INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS FOR:
RE6130 XJ 4.5” SUPER-FLEX SUSPENSION KIT W/ REAR LEAF SPRINGS
Safety Warning:
Suspension systems or components that enhance the off-road performance of your
vehicle may cause it to handle differently, on and off-road, than it did from the
factory. Care must be taken to prevent loss of control or vehicle rollover during
sudden maneuvers. Failure to drive the vehicle safely may result in serious injury
or death to driver and passengers. We recommend you always wear your seatbelt,
drive safely and avoid quick turns and other sudden maneuvers. Constant
maintenance is required to keep your vehicle safe. Thoroughly inspect your vehicle
before and after every off-road use.
Installation Warning:
We recommend that certified technicians perform the installations of our products.
Attempts to install these products without knowledge or experience may jeopardize
the safety of the vehicle. These instructions only cover the installation of our
products and may not include factory procedures for disassembly and reassembly
of factory components. Read instructions from start to finish and be sure all parts
are present before disassembling the vehicle. Included instructions are guidelines
only for recommended procedures and in no way are meant to be definitive.
Installer is responsible to insure a safe and controllable vehicle after performing
modifications. Do not perform test drives on public roads with partially completed
installations. Always double and triple check your work before use.
KIT CONTENTS:
1 RE1141 Gen2 sway bar disconnects
1 RE1310 Front coil spring set
1 RE1380 Front 2” bump stop extension pair
2 RE1463 3.5” extreme duty leaf springs
1 RE1515 Brake hose rear
1 RE1550 Brake hose front pair
1 RE1600 Adjustable front track bar
1 RE2120 Transfer case lowering kit
1 RE2421 U-bolt kit (Dana 35/44) or RE1225 (Chrysler 8.25)
1 RE2700 Pair rear shackles
1 RE3700 Pair SF2 lower front control arms
1 RE3781 Pair upper front control arms
REQUIRED TOOLS:
Basic mechanics hand tools
Jack stands and floor jack
Drill motor and drill bits
Spring compressors
INSTALLATION:
Note: 1984-1986 vehicles may require modifications to the front drive
shaft for proper installation. These vehicles use a double offset joint,
while later vehicles use a double cardan (spicer) style CV joint. The
spicer CV joint may be retro fitted to the earlier vehicles by changing the
transfer case output yoke for the later model. Lift heights this tall may
require modifications to the rear drive shaft – see troubleshooting.
1. Raise vehicle and support with stands.
2. Remove wheels.
3. Remove front shocks.
4. Remove front sway bar end links.
5. Disconnect front track bar.
6. Disconnect steering linkage at pitman arm.
7. Remove front spring retainers (at bottom) and springs.
8. Support the front axle with jack stands.
9. Remove and replace your front factory brake hoses with the
supplied stainless steel lines. Some require positioning the block and
line vertically at the caliper. Watch line routing, use angle brackets
and e-clips.
10. Remove the factory upper and lower control arms.
11. Install the lower control arms with the rubber bushing at the frame
(use factory bolt at this end, and don’t fully tighten until vehicle is
back on the ground). The super-flex assembly bolts to axle bracket
with supplied hardware. The offset tube is to be located as low as
possible, with zerk fitting on top (SEE PHOTO 1).
12. Install the new upper control arms using supplied hardware at axle
end and factory bolt at frame end (don’t fully tighten until vehicle is
back on the ground).
13. Install the front bump stop extensions by drilling a 5/16” hole in the
center of the lower coil spring mount, then tightening the self-
tapping bolt to cut the threads. Next remove the bump stop
assembly and place it into the center of the coil spring.
14. Install the coil spring with the bump stop extension in the center.
15. Tighten the bump stop extension bolt.
16. Install replacement track bar by drilling the tapered hole in the
factory upper mount to 5/8”. Next install the replacement track bar
with the heim end at the unibody. Do not connect the lower bolt at
this time.
17. Install longer front shocks. Some require bar pins to be installed
through the bottom shock eyes (use light grease).
18. Install sway bar quick disconnects per instructions supplied with
disconnects (SEE PHOTO 2).
19. Torque all bolts to factory specs and double check your work.
-REAR AXLE-
20. Remove the rear shocks.
21. Remove the rear sway bar (this will not be used).
22. Support the rear axle.
23. Remove rear brake hose and install supplied stainless steel rear
brake line.
24. Remove the u-bolts and rear springs.
25. Install new rear springs with new u-bolts in the same manner as
factory springs – SEE PHOTO 3 (don’t fully tighten spring eyebolts
until vehicle is back on the ground). The 3/8” center pins are
stronger than stock and usually require enlarging the spring pad
hole. The pins usually come with spacers installed for use w/
floating type degree shims (see troubleshooting for typical
shimming requirements). If required, remove spacers so pin does
not bottom out on axle tube. If using steel Rubicon MFG’s shims,
remove the spacers and replace with the shims (SEE PHOTO 4).
These steel shims will require reaming to 3/8” for 3/8” pins.
26. Remove and replace the rear shackles (SEE PHOTO 5).
27. Install longer rear shocks. Some require bar pins to be installed
through the top shock eyes (use light grease).
RE6130E Page 1 of 2

28. If installing RE2120 transfer case drop kit (see troubleshooting)
install it now. Support cross member with floor jack. The cross
member is factory mounted with two studs and two bolts. The studs
will have to be removed with a stud remover or by double nutting
them and backing them out. One side at a time, lower the cross
member just enough to insert the spacers at each bolthole and
install bolts and washers.
29. Reconnect the steering.
30. Install tires.
31. Lower vehicle.
32. Center the body over the front axle. A convenient way to
accomplish this is to have a helper rotate the steering wheel left or
right until centered.
33. Adjust the track bar to fit into the mounts with the axle centered.
34. Tighten track bar bolts.
35. Thoroughly bleed brake lines and check for leaks.
36. Torque all bolts to factory specs (or specs supplied with parts) and
double-check your work.
37. Test drive and note location of steering wheel.
38. Adjust drag link to center steering wheel.
39. Align vehicle as soon as practical to minimum factory caster and
maximum factory toe-in specifications.
40.
Retighten all bolts after 50 miles and again after every off road
excursion.
41.
Reminder: The rear sway bar will not be reused.
RE6130E Page 2 of 2
< FRAME END (RUBBER) - PHOTO 1 - AXLE END (ZERK ON TOP) >
PHOTO 2
< FRAME END (LARGE BUSHING) – PHOTO 3 – SHACKLE END >
PHOTO 4
< TOWARD FRONT – PHOTO 5 – TOWARD REAR >
LIFT KIT TROUBLESHOOTING
Rear driveline:
Acceleration vibration: Caused by the pinion being too high in relation to
the transfer case output shaft. On leaf sprung vehicles, install axle shims
to lower pinion accordingly.
Deceleration vibration: Caused by the pinion being too low in relation to
the transfer case output shaft. On leaf sprung vehicles, install axle shims
to raise pinion accordingly.
Slip yoke vibration: Caused by excessive angle on the transfer case slip
yoke. Very common on vehicles with 2” or more of lift. This can
sometimes be cured on 4.5” lifts with a transfer case drop kit and an
RE1822 high travel slip yoke (84-95 XJ’s only since later XJ's already
have the high travel slip yoke and may instead require an SYE and CV
drive shaft). Note that pinion adjustment may also be required- see
acceleration and deceleration vibration troubleshooting above. For best
performance, install a slip yoke eliminator (SYE) kit and CV drive shaft.
Adjust pinion so it is 2 degrees below parallel with CV drive shaft (see
acceleration and deceleration vibration troubleshooting above).
A
transfer case drop kit can usually be omitted with a CV drive shaft.
Drive shaft bind (84-95 XJ's): Condition of interference between slip yoke
and tube yoke. A high travel slip yoke (part #RE1822) may remedy this.
Later XJ's already have the high travel slip yoke and may instead require
an SYE and CV drive shaft (see above slip yoke notes).
High speed wobble:
This is fairly common with y-type steering on lifted XJ's. It is a condition
where front tires will shimmy after hitting a bump. Avoid bias ply tires
and wheels with excessive offset. Check for worn or loose parts. In most
cases a reduction of positive castor will eliminate this condition. A good
rule of thumb is minimum factory caster and maximum factory toe in.
Note that lift heights increased with coil spacers (or taller coils) may
exhibit wobble that cannot be corrected with alignment.
Bump steer:
Caused by improper relationship of drag link and track bar. To correct,
center axle again following the instructions supplied with the track bar.
Next determine the neutral position of the steering wheel. Adjust the
drag link to center the steering wheel.