First, I bought this kit early in 2020, and it sat on a shelf for a while. Project got stalled.
Second, I was not using it on an 8.8, but an axle of the same tube diameter. So the instruction measurements for width were hit and miss. Not a big deal. I'm an engineer and been fabbing things for a decade or two. I know how to use a tape measure and angle finder.
Here were my problems:
-The LCA mounts measure dead nuts 2 1/2" ID before a welder ever touched them. Stock mounts are 2 5/8". That 1/8" may not seem like much, but I'm using heim joints. The joints are for the stock 2 5/8" ID. Guess what I had to grind down...
-The UCA mounts were the correct ID, but the angles on them simply just do not line up with the factory geometry. Followed the instruction measurements inside to inside exactly, within 1/32", which matched the D35 I removed. And no amount of contorting, twisting, articulating, beating with a hammer could get them to line up with the provided mounting holes and get a bolt all the way through. I gave up and drilled new ones. Probably should have just ignored the measurement and moved them outboard a little bit.
-The track bar setup could be a little better. I mounted UCA and LCA's, set the axle at ride height, and used that to position the track bar. It's a 20 year old Jeep, with trimmed tub. My lift amount is a guess at best. Instruction measurements are inapplicable. But when you put the two pieces of the track bar mount together, as shown, the tabs do not reach each other. I literally bolted both pieces to the lower end of the track bar and there was a 3/16" gap on both sides. So I ground the track bar sleeve down, because it was a poly replacement and I thought it might be the problem. That was a mistake. All on me. I got the gap to close enough to weld it all up, but now my track bar binds something awful at droop because there's no room left for it to deform. I should have just spaced them out and used something to bridge the gap. Now I'm looking for some sort of track bar with a flex (heim or JJ) style joint so my driver side will actually droop to full potential. Might be able to remedy this more adjusting out my UCA's and screwing up my pinion angle (set per instructions)
-The shock mounts were not bent/cut to the same angle. Took me a while to figure this out. Even breaking the tacks back off and laying them side by side. They should me mirrored parts, but my passenger side is ~8° more canted than the driver's. I did some grinding and finally got them somewhat equal, so now I can get my driver shock to line up.
Overall, pretty unhappy. Would not recommend. Feels like the parts were designed and even cut well, and then bent by the new guy in training, unsupervised on a Friday afternoon. Pretty much every complaint I have could have been fixed at the press brake. But this was far more headache than I signed up for.
The only reason it's a 2 star instead of a 1 star is because when I bought it last year, it was $165 vs the $310 it is now. So at least it was cheap.
