You bought what?? 88 Eagle Wagon - Overlander Build

[Prafeston]

First 3 and last 1 photo not showing! Hey, at least I'm following the thread! Would love to get my hands on a hitch!

[amarshall]

First 3 and last 1 photo not showing! Hey, at least I'm following the thread! Would love to get my hands on a hitch!

What the heck?  I even checked them from another computer, they looked good to me.  I edited, let me know if they still aren't showing for you.  Really don't know what else to try.

They are hosted at Google photos, and I've made sure they are in a shared album so there shouldn't be any permission issues.  I have checked on another computer which is not signed into my Google account and they show up.

Only thing I can think of now is my habit of hitting "preview".  I notice that the image code gets modified slightly when I post, but not sure why.  Maybe the forum software is doing some filtering or "simplifying" the HTML of the link?

Anyway, thanks for letting me know, Prafeston. 

[amarshall]

It's weird for me. Sometimes certain ones show up and others don't or they all show. I use different devices and it happens on all of them.

I'm re-reading this with a different angle today.  I had thought you were saying that you have also had trouble with your posts, but maybe you are talking specifically about problems with my images?

[Prafeston]

Images are showing now. Bummer you had to trim that square section out to make room. Glad you found a solution though!

[eaglefreek]

Yes, some of your images sometimes don't show. But, it's random.

[amarshall]

Bummer you had to trim that square section out to make room. Glad you found a solution though!

Another solution popped into my head:  Since the hangers need to be re-drilled anyway to match the Eagle bolt pattern, I could have drilled the new holes off center and "cheated" the bracket outboard a bit.  It would only have taken 1/8" or 3/16" max to get enough clearance.  I had already drilled the holes before I found the interference, so I didn't get to do it that way.

I was also nervous about messing with the alignment of the hanger bracket, in case that little bit made the leaf crooked.  Also, the hanger bracket bolts would be slightly off to one side, and I don't know if the forces involved would be a problem.

[amcfool1]

hi check out TEagles build here. he did the Jeep shackle and reinforcement route. btw, that rear shackle mounting  point is possibly THE weakest piece of engineering on our Eagles. It's essentially a piece of stamped steel welded to another piece of stamped steel (the trunk floor) This creates a perfect little steel "bowl", which is ok as long as NO water ever gets there, but, eventually, water gets everywhere, and once it does, it's game over. Since it will rust from the inside out, you will not know it until you hit a nice bump/pothole, and the rear shackle/spring rip up through your trunk floor. Yes, been there, seen that, fixed that. Not fun. this is one area to really pay attention to, and reinforce if possible. good luck, gz

[amarshall]

Thanks, I went looking for TEagle's version when you suggested it earlier.  It looks very solid, and I can see that it would be much stronger.  I just don't have the skils yet to do that kind of fabrication.  My wagon seems very solid in the rear, but I will keep an eye on the mounts to watch for signs of decay.

At some point I just try to remind myself that this Eagle isn't supposed to compete in the Baja 1000.  It just needs to cruise easily on forest service roads and the occasional easy trail.  Of course, it's a slippery slope and it's good to know you guys are out there, and many have done this stuff before.

[amcfool1]

hi, on my 82 sedan, years ago, I saw some rust bubbling on the trunk floor in that area. had a roughly 1' square piece of 1/8" steel welded in. not the best, but kept car alive for about another 10 years. My 84 has stock set up, still good. btw, if you get those extra heavy duty Stengel springs, and have them arched another 1/2" or so, they will give you about 1-1 1/2" lift over stock, or seem to me anyway. I put in new FRONT coils from Espo, and they lifted up the front over 1", (this was unintentional), so car was nose high with old, tired leafs. did not look good!  The new leafs really picked up the rear, car looks good, folks always asking me if it's "lifted", it's not, just new front coils, and EHD rear leafs.  In AWD, thing will climb a tree!
You are correct, Eagles are not designed to be rock crawlers. They are ROAD cars!, that can on occasion handle some really rough  roads, but still ROADS! I understand that a man's car is his to do with as he likes, all good, but that is a personal peeve of mine,( please,I don't mean any disrespect here!)  If one wants a Jeep, get a !@#$%! Jeep! Eagles are ROAD cars! This eternal quest to turn Eagles into Jeeps has me a bit baffled, really, Jeep offroad parts are so easily available, and Jeeps are so easily available, why try to mess up a great road car to go offroad! Eagles and Eagle parts are NOT so easily available!
Anyway, good luck, I think you will really like those new leafs! gz

[amarshall]

Had some delay due to travel, but I was back in the shop last night and got the rear springs in.  I was nervous about all the pieces coming together, but in the end I got a solid 2" lift in the rear from where it originally sat.

Here is my recipe, for anybody else out there that wants it:
1. Jeep CJ rear shackles and hangers.  3" shackles are shorter than stock Eagle, so this drops the rear about 1/4".
2. New rear leafs from StengelBros, bone stock option.  They were a little flatter than the springs in my wagon, by maybe 1".
3.  A full length add-a-leaf from Iron Rock Offroad, advertised as a 2" Jeep Cherokee kit.  Also got new u-bolts from them.

StengelBros offers different spring options (heavy duty, more arch, etc) but I had already bought the add-a-leaf kit.  I was hoping to use it with my original springs but found that one eye was snapped when I took them out.  Return shipping on the add-a-leaf was too high to bother, so I used the kit with stock springs.

I bought some "stock" rear shocks, the KYB 343149 Excel-G.  They are about 1-1/2" too short after the lift, and I intend to use some shock extensions to stretch them.  I just didn't feel like making a wild search for a different shock option.

The 2" lift is really about the max possible in the rear without changing to a longer brake line or e-brake cable.  At full axle drop, the brake line is almost too short.

Finally, at full drop in the rear the driveshaft is hitting my exhaust.  I think the car would have to be flying for this to really matter, but come on AMC!  Why did they run the exhaust under the driveshaft in the first place? Looks like there is plenty of space to run the exhaust on the passenger side alongside the driveshaft.

Here are a bunch of random pics from the latest project.  Fingers crossed that you guys can see them this time.

[Prafeston]

All pics are viewable! Springs look good man! Well done!

[amarshall]

Spent lots of time in the shop over the weekend, but it was one of those times where you don't have a lot to show for it.  I was finishing up little bits of the rear spring installation, torquing bolts, reconnecting the park brake, etc.

I put in the new rear shocks with an extension to handle the 2" rear lift.  I made sure to check them at ride height, they have about 5" of compression available.  Old ones were pretty crusty.









I almost got the front shocks installed, but one of the lower studs snapped off.  Not sure why, since the torque spec is only 20 Ft-lbs and I wasn't even close.  I'll have to get another shock.  Length on these replacements is about 1-1/4" longer than my old ones, so I did not put extensions onto the front shock.  This way the shock is still the limiting factor and acts as a stop before the upper A-Arm pinches on the subframe, when the tire is at full droop.



I also wrestled the hitch back into place and bolted it up with new Grade 8 hardware.





I'm almost done with the lift, so close I can taste it!  Or maybe that's just all the dirt and grime that's fallen into my mouth working under the Eagle, hah!  I'm a little nervous that the front is maybe 1/2" higher, but I need to take it out of the packed garage and step back a few feet to tell for sure.  I also need to load it up with some weight and see which end sags more.  If the rear needs to come up a little more, I will have to find longer shackles or maybe modify the Jeep CJ versions I used.

Not sure what's next but wheels and tires are getting closer!

[eaglefreek]

The front will probably settle a little once you get a few miles on it.

[Prafeston]

Second photo and last two not showing.

So you bought some different shocks to try to better match your 2" lift? I'll be following to see how well they work out.

[amarshall]

Second photo and last two not showing.

So you bought some different shocks to try to better match your 2" lift? I'll be following to see how well they work out.

Man, I really appreciate you checking my pics all the time.  Wish I could figure out why some don't show.

The shocks I bought are all listed as stock replacements on RockAuto.  They ended up being a little longer than the ones I took off, but who knows what those crusty things were.  The KYB's were long enough in front, but in the rear I added some extensions that made them about 2-1/2" longer at full extension.  Didn't need all that, but they were the cheapest extensions I could find.

The front will probably settle a little once you get a few miles on it.

That would be good, I'll see how it goes.  I'm also hoping to sneak a winch onto the front somehow so maybe that will help balance things.