Rebuilding the front

Having previously re-built the rear suspension it is time to sort the front. Again this is a KAP 3" lift with Pro-comp shocks and this is where the main "sag" is. 

As you can see IN THIS POST I have a lot of weight up front so the suspension needs every bit of help it can get. Also the new 3" lift springs from Trailmaster are shorter (but stiffer) than the KAP ones so I added some spacers from Dave at Bits4vits.

First I fitted the shock absorber which was a straight replacement for the old one. A common debate is whether to keep the shock boots on or off, for off-road use I would definitely consider leaving them off as they just fill with mud. However we are going for a more road use vehicle so I have kept them on for now. 

I also fitted a pair of Trailmaster bump stops. These drill into the bottom spring mount. Its quite fiddly to get the nut tightened but I achieved it in the end.

 To fit the spring spacers you need to remove the old rubber mount that is at the top of the spring. As you can see, when I did this I found a home made spacer cut out of a piece of vinyl (see first picture below). Daves spacers have an extended collar that wraps around the top bump stop which matches the collar that the original rubber has, not all spacers have this (See picture 2)

​In order to get the spring back in you could use a spring compressor. However I used used a jack to push the lower suspension downwards instead (you may not be able to do this if you have the original anti-roll bar installed).

With the suspension pushed down I could slot the spring and spacer in. Make sure the spring sits nicely in the shaped lower mount and also in the cut-out in the spacer (again not all spacers are made as nicely as these)

 As its is a rebuild, I took the opportunity to replace the disks, pads and calipers along with the pad mounting hardware. Its good to have everything shiny and new.