M.O.R.E. 1" Jeep JK Wrangler Unlimited Body Lift
Installation Write-Up

May 29th, 2008 | Category: Jeep JK Write-Ups, Interior/Exterior Mods

 

 

 Even though I have a Full Traction 4″ Ultimate suspension lift on my Jeep JK Wrangler Unlimited, I found that my 37×13.50 Toyo M/T’s were still causing some minor rubbing of the fenders at a full stuff. Of course, having a heavy PUREJEEP bumper with WARN PowerPlant winch up front and an extremely heavy PUREJEEP rear bumper tire carrier on the rear didn’t do a whole lot to keep my Jeep sitting at 4″ of lift. Needless to say, all I really needed to eliminate the rubbing I had was about an inch of clearance between my tires and fenders and that’s why I decided to install a 1″ body lift from Mountain Off-Road Enterprises or M.O.R.E. for short. 

At a little over $100, the M.O.R.E. 1″ Jeep JK Wrangler body lift really is a perfect solution to giving your rig just a bit more breathing room to clear a set of bigger tires. It’s cheap, super easy to install and can be done by yourself with basic tools and in about an hour. You will not need to relocate your radiator, AC hard lines, or fuel filler hose and you won’t need to address your transmission shifter (if you have an automatic) or transfer case shifter. If you have a manual transmission,
some minor trimming of the rubber inner shift boot will be necessary but thats
about it.

NOTE: The following installation write-up was done on a 2007 Jeep JK Wrangler Unlimited. If you have a 2008 JK and/or a 2-Door JK, the procedure you will have to follow may differ just a bit.

What You Will Need


• M.O.R.E. 1″ JK Body Lift
• 16, 18mm Sockets
• Ratchet
• Torque Wrench
• Phillips Screwdriver
• Flathead Screwdriver
• Pry Bar
• Hammer
• Bench Vice
• 2×4 Wood
• XACTO Knife
• Marker
• Loc-Tite 

 

What You Will Get


(12) Aluminum Pucks
(12) 12-1.75×130mm Bolts
(2) 12-1.75mm Lock Nuts
(2) 1/2″ Flat Washers
(2) OEM Body Mounts 

 

Where to Buy It


You can purchase your Mountain Off-Road Enterprises or M.O.R.E. Jeep JK Wrangler 1″ Body Lift from the following sponsors: 

Northridge4×4
   

Instructions
Here’s a pic of all parts you will get with your new M.O.R.E 1″ Jeep JK Wrangler Unlimited body lift. Please verify what you have with this pic and parts list to the left before proceeding.
1. Park on level ground, open your hood and then using a phillips screwdriver, loosen the plastic retaining screws securing the top of your grille to your Jeep JK Wrangler. 2. Unfortunately, you may find that a majority of these plastic screws simply turn in place. If this is the case, use a flathead screwdriver to help pry them up and out of their holes as shown in this pic. 3. Once loose, the entire plastic screw and expansion sleeve should pull up and out of their mounting holes.
4. Carefully pull your Jeep JK Wrangler’s grille forward to separate the lower trim tabs from their mounting slots. 5. Lean your Jeep JK Wrangler’s grille forward a bit to gain access to the indicator lights. Then, take the wiring harness plug and pull the red locking tab back. 6. Squeeze the wiring harness plug and pull it out of your Jeep JK Wrangler’s indicator light socket.
7. Pull the grille completely off your Jeep JK Wrangler and set it someplace where it won’t get damaged. 8. Go to the driver side of your Jeep JK Wrangler and find your O2 sensor wiring harness which is located below the brake master cylinder as shown in this pic. 9. Slide the wiring harness plug off the mounting tab as shown in this pic. This is done to provide enough slack for the wiring harness after the body of your Jeep JK Wrangler is lifted 1″.
10. Using an 18mm socket, loosen but do not remove the forward most body mount nut on the driver side of your Jeep JK Wrangler. 11. Using an 18mm socket, loosen but do not remove the 3 body mount bolts along the driver side frame rail of your Jeep JK Wrangler as shown. 12. Moving towards the rear of your Jeep JK Wrangler, use an 18mm socket to loosen but do not remove the body mount bolt located on the 2nd to the last cross member between the driver side rear shock and coil as shown in this pic.
13. Use an 18mm socket to loosen but do not remove the last body mount bolt on the driver side of your Jeep JK Wrangler which is located on the rear corner of next to the muffler as shown in this pic. 

14. Repeat steps #10 through #13 on the passenger side of your Jeep JK Wrangler.
15. Back on the driver side again, use a 16mm socket to remove the 2 nuts securing the forward most body mount to the body of your Jeep JK Wrangler. 16. Remove the nut and washer securing the forward most body mount to the frame of your Jeep JK Wrangler. 17. One by one, loosen the other 5 body mount bolts along the driver side frame rail of your Jeep JK Wrangler to the point were they are just dangling in place. Then, using a pry bar, separate the bolt and washer from the body mount as shown in this pic.
18. Take all 5 driver side body mount bolts and separate the washers from them by placing them in partially open bench vice and striking the bolt with a hammer as shown in this pic. 19. Stack cut lengths of 2×4 on top of a floor jack, position them under the body and just behind the pinch seam of your Jeep JK Wrangler. 20. Slowly lift the body of your Jeep JK Wrangler up off the driver side frame rail and go just high enough where you can remove the forward most body mount and be able to slip in a 1″ puck between the body and all the other body mounts.
21. With the body of your Jeep JK Wrangler raised up a bit, you should be able to remove the forward most body mount on the driver side with ease. 22. Now that there is a gap created from the lifting of your Jeep JK Wrangler’s body, reach up on top of the other 5 body mounts and remove the thin retaining washers that were previously preventing your body mount bolts from being removed. 23. Take the body mount that you just removed, place it in a bench vice and knock off the large washer attached to the end of it with a hammer as shown in this pic.
24. Install one of the new OEM body mounts provided with the M.O.R.E. 1″ body lift up into the forward most position. 25. Using a 16mm socket, secure the new body mount in place using the factory nuts. Tighten these nuts to 40 ft. lbs. of toque. 26. Insert a M.O.R.E. 1″ aluminum puck in between the OEM body mount and frame of your Jeep JK Wrangler as shown in this pic.
27. Take one of the new 12-1.75×130mm bolts provided with the M.O.R.E. 1″ body lift kit and then slide one of the 1/2″ flat washers onto it as shown.
28. Insert the bolt and washer you just assembled up through your Jeep JK Wrangler’s frame, the M.O.R.E. aluminum puck, and OEM body mount. Then, take the factory washer you removed back in step #23, place it on top of the body mount and secure everything in place using the supplied locknut. Leave the bolt and nut finger tight for now.
29. Insert a M.O.R.E. 1″ aluminum puck on top of each of the 3 OEM body mounts situated along the driver side frame rail of your Jeep JK Wrangler.
30. Insert a M.O.R.E. 1″ aluminum puck on top of the body mount located on the 2nd to the last cross member between the driver side rear shock and coil as shown in this pic. 31. Finally, Insert a M.O.R.E. 1″ aluminum puck on top of the body mount located on the driver side rear most corner of your Jeep JK Wrangler. 32. Take the remaining 12-1.75×130mm bolts provided with the M.O.R.E. 1″ body lift kit and slide the large factory washers (previously removed back in step #18) on to them as shown in this pic.
33. One by one, apply some Loc-Tite on to the threads of your new M.O.R.E. 1″ body lift bolts. 34. Install all the new bolts up through the factory body mounts and M.O.R.E. 1″ aluminum pucks and then secure then finger tight to the body of your Jeep JK Wrangler as shown in this pic. 35. Lower your floor jack so that the body of your Jeep JK Wrangler is sitting on top of the new M.O.R.E. 1″ aluminum pucks. Repeat steps #10 through #35 and then, using a 19mm socket and wrench, tighten all the body mount bolts to 80 ft. lbs. of torque.
36. Hold your grille up to the front of your Jeep JK Wrangler and then reconnect the wiring harness for your indicator lights and lock them into place by sliding the red tab in. 37. Secure the bottom of your grille to the front of your Jeep JK Wrangler by pushing the trim tabs in place. 36. Using a phillips screwdriver, secure the top of the grille to your Jeep JK Wrangler by inserting and screwing in the plastic retaining screws.

6-Speed Manual Transmission Owners


If your Jeep JK Wrangler came equipped with a 6-speed manual transmission, you will need to do some minor trimming of the inner shift boot. Failure to do so will make shifting into 2nd, 4th, 6th and Reverse quite difficult. Below are instructions on how to do this.
1. Firmly grab your Jeep JK Wrangler’s shifter knob and pull up until it pops free of the shift lever. 2. Grab the edges of your Jeep JK Wrangler’s plastic transmission shifter bezel and pull up until it is free of all the trim tabs. 3. Take your Jeep JK Wrangler’s transmission shift lever, engage 2nd gear and then use a marker to indicate how far over you will need to cut.
4. Shift your Jeep JK Wrangler’s transmission into Reverse and then once again, use a marker to indicate how far over you will need to cut. 5. Shift your Jeep JK Wrangler’s transmission into 3rd and then using an XACTO knife, carefully cut the rubber inner shift boot as shown in the pic. 6. Cut into the plastic trim ring and clear out as much material as needed to allow your Jeep JK Wrangler’s shifter to stay in gear.
 

And that’s it - you’re done. The body of your Jeep JK Wrangler is now sitting 1″ higher up off the frame and away from your tires too. Please let me know if you have any questions.

After Pics


Thanks to the addition of the M.O.R.E. 1″ body lift, my Jeep JK Wrangler is now able to clear its tires at a full stuff and without any more rubbing of the fenders. As far as the new 1″ gap between the body and frame goes, it really isn’t so bad as the pinch seam comes down about that much as well.

 

10 Comments so far

  1. JKTyrant May 31st, 2008 12:08 am

    Hey WOL I’ve never been a fan of body lifts you say it doesn’t look to bad, can you not tell to much?

  2. robncar May 31st, 2008 10:27 pm

    Nice write up, as usual! A small thing but… don’t you mean “OEM”, not “OME”? Might confuse folks with Old Man Emu when I think you mean Original Equipment Manufacturer.

  3. wayoflife June 1st, 2008 10:15 am

    hey jktyrant, the 3 after pics i have above will show you what it looks like and as you can see, it doesn’t look too bad as the pinch seam comes down enough to hide an obvious gap.

    robncar, yes, i did find about 3 instances where i mistyped ‘oem’. i think i got them all but if not, please let mek now :)

  4. Adam G June 1st, 2008 3:52 pm

    quick question- whats the time approx to do the whole job in hours and also can this be done alone or does it take 2 or more people? Please reply back im very interested in this.

  5. wayoflife June 1st, 2008 7:39 pm

    hi adam, you can easily do this job by yourself and in about an hour. super simple mod :)

    eddie

  6. Jamooche June 3rd, 2008 7:33 pm

    Awesome writeup! Do you know what is different on the 2008 4-door vs. the 2007? I plan on doing this to my 2008 4-door Rubicon.

  7. Dave June 4th, 2008 8:06 pm

    Hi Eddie,
    Thanks for the write-up. I was looking forward to it and will use it as soon as my M.O.R.E. BL arrives. The order is in. Have you seen Shortbus’ forum post about eliminating the rear bumper gap? http://www.jk-forum.com/showthread.php?t=32592&highlight=body+lift+pics

    Nice idea! As always, thanks for all you’re doing.

    Dave

  8. Big Clint June 9th, 2008 5:12 pm

    Great write-up. Just one question though…Forgot to lift the passenger side? Might be leaning a little…lol.

  9. Joe August 12th, 2008 1:06 pm

    Thanks for the write-up…doing my M.O.R.E. body lift this afternoon ;)

  10. Joe August 13th, 2008 1:57 pm

    Write-up was helpful…thanks again Wayoflife :)

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