Well the first stage of the transformation is complete. The rears probably gave me more fits than the front. I snaked the left front spring and shock assembly out without removing the battery, but had to pop the air cleaner out for the right front. In the process, I had the lone casualty of the job, I broke the breather line at the three-way, ugh. Put Ironman springs in front, with OME shocks, and Ironman springs in the rear, and Reflex shocks for a Dakota/Durango in back. Installed the hockey puck bumpstop spacers in back as well. While doing it all, I swapped out my well worn sway bar bushings as well. In the process, I loosened the lower control arm bolts for the rear axle to allow the bushings to relax to the new ride height, as well as the upper arms up front, and sway bar links. As a result, no squeaks or groans. Installed 30x9.5 Cooper STTs on 15x7 wheels that were already in use on the vehicle. Checked the alignment, and sure enough my toe was way positive, caster was almost even at 2.3* and 2.4*, but camber is another story. I'm right at 0* camber on left, and -0.8* on the right, with the cams on the right lower arm already maxed. I left it for now, and got my toe in line. It does have a little pull to the left, but I will address that in a few weeks once things settle some. I should get my new front bump stops, top plate, and rear iso on Tuesday.
Only gripe I have, other than new tires really drive funny till they break in, the front sits lower than I'd like. Granted, no clevis lift, and no top plate either. I also haven't actually done a re-measure since the lift today yet. 2 years ago, I posted on here I was hovering around 18" on the front and rear, at 45k miles. I would say at 78k miles now, that I was closer to the 17" mark, with well worn shocks. Shocks were not leaking, but routinely bottomed out on some of the roads in the area. Typical of late model shocks and struts, they wear out internally and do not dampen as they should. Now, no bottoming out, bumps are soaked up so much better with new shocks front and rear.
The Ironman springs, are a little longer than stock springs, and considerably heavier than stock. JBA did a great job packing everything, so absolutely no damage via shippers. Marlin sent me an email letting me know the Ironman shocks were out of stock, and he took care of me. Kudos to him and JBA on that.
I'll probably order some JBA arms, and do them, the top plate, iso, and possibly the clevis within a month. Wife was pleased with the difference in the ride, and didn't mind the nice tire hum I have now. Pics to follow