2023 HD Lift

[Grump Fish]

As Ive posted in other threads, I just bought one of the 2023 HDs to tinker with. I started working on the lift yesterday and decided I should start a new thread to document what I am finding so that others can benefit.

Initial Parts Purchase:
Rough Country Roxor 2" Lift (Used to be 2-1/2" (Not sure what the difference is since the components measure the same as on my 2019)
1-1/2" Wheel Spacers
Max A Front and Rear Lift Shackles

Measurements:
OEM Spring Shackles- 3.375" bolt hole center-to-center (My 2019 are 3")
RC Lift- Spring Bracket- 2" center of original spring mount to new location. Lift Shackles- 5" bolt hole center-to-center.
Max A Lift Shackles- Front 5.5" bolt hole center-to-center. Rear 5" bolt hole center-to-center.

Based on all of this, I would have gained just over 2" in the front and just under 1" in the rear using the RC front spring bracket and Max A shackles front and rear. This is a little less than I wanted, but I was ok with it. All went well with installing the RC spring bracket, other than being a pure pain in the butt to drill the holes. Then I started to install the shackles; no good! Mahindra has changed the spring bolt size on the 2023s. My 2019 has what appears to be 18mm bolts and the new ones are 14mm. I tried searching all over town to find some bushings I could make work but no luck and it seems like a bit of a sketchy solution anyway.
After sleeping on it overnight, I had my friend do some measuring of the shackles on his YJ and read some posts from 2018-2019 on the forum about using CJ/YJ spring shackles. I think I can make this work since the bolts are 1/2". I ordered a set of 1-1/2" front and rear CJ/YJ lift shackles and a couple of 14mm drill bits.

Based on my calculations, keeping the RC front spring bracket, the CJ/YJ shackles will give me 2.8" in the front and 1.8" in the rear. I will have to do some measuring after I get them installed to figure out the degree shims I need to correct pinion angles.

More to come......

 

[Grump Fish]

Things are going slow as I wait for parts to arrive, but I do have one small victory to report today. The OEM sway bar links were obviously going to be way to short so I researched as best I could for some that would be a good replacement. I found that ones for the rear of a TJ with 4-6" lift appeared to meet my needs. I installed them this evening and they fit great. They are 2.5" longer than stock so they should match up with my lift plan.
The ones I got are Rough Country #1015. See picture of label.
OEM links are 7.5" eye center to eye center. RC ones are 10" eye center to eye center.

 

[Grump Fish]

Sneak Peek of the Monster Roxor. Still a lot to do, but its coming together. I think I am going to experiment with taking the wheel spacers off. I may have enough clearance from the new wheels without them.

 

[Grump Fish]

Made some progress today. I tried taking the spacers off but there isn't enough clearance; tire hits the leaf spring. I could probably go with 1" instead of the 1-1/2" ones I have, but no point in buying another set and I'm not sure if the wheel studs would have to be trimmed, which I don't want to do.
I installed KYB 343-403 shocks in the front and have a pair of 344-090 to put on the back. I ended up with 26-1/2" from the floor to the body in front of the rear tire and 26" to the body behind the front tire.

 

[Grump Fish]

Got the rear shocks installed today and measured for degree shims. I zeroed my angle finder on the back machined surface of the T-Case and checked against the flat part of the front and rear differential covers. 5.7 degrees in the rear and 8.6 degrees in the front.
I ordered some 6 degree for the rear and 8 degree for the front. This should keep me on the good side of drive line geometry front and rear.
I was somewhat surprised that the front was so far off after essentially dropping both ends of the leaf springs the same amount. Makes me wonder what the stock angle is, but not curious enough take the lift apart!