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A novice installs AEV DualSport RT Suspension Kit - DIY writeup w/ photos

Sarge502

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Those nuts may just be a crimp style mechanical locking nut. If its round on the flange side and gets oval on the opposite side in a kinda taper, then its a locking fastener.
Correct. Or at least that's also what I assumed after I noticed the oval shape as well. I was kind of loosing my mind at first not going to lie.

I (for now anyways) am going with the AEV 2" spacer lift but it has nearly the same hardware for "most" of the kit as the Dualsport does. I initially wanted and still may go with the actual Dualsport hence the reason I'm following this thread to begin with. But as of last week a good friend of mine who was running AEV 2" spacer lift for little over a year, got a Skyjacker 3.5 lift and gifted me the spacer lift for free. Over $500 value so wasn't complaining. Plus it gives me an option to actually try this out beforehand. Who knows I may actually keep it. Only thing is he kept the 3 drive shaft spacers for his new lift and was missing a bolt or two with the hardware. Contacted Joe at AEV who advised that I could purchase the drive shaft spacers and a new hardware pack separately to make my kit complete. No biggie since I'd rather had new hardware anyways. Paid like $60 shipped for an otherwise free kit.

Was literally sorting through the hardware yesterday and was hand tightening nuts on the corresponding bolts in preparation for the install next weekend I'm free, and noticed the nuts had that oval shape as well and would only screw down by hand so far. The contents on some of the hardware packing list did say locking nuts of various size. So I figured it was just that and would shape to the bolt once actually torqued down with pressure and not just hand tight. But I was tripping for a minute myself. Lol. Glad it wasn't just me. No trips to the hardware store ha!

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Glassco

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OP, Any tricks on getting the rear U Bolt nut to tighten, since a regular socket will not fit because of the stupid "Wall" of the Rear track bar bracket gets in the way of a regular socket and wrench?
 
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AmosMoses01

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OP, Any tricks on getting the rear U Bolt nut to tighten, since a regular socket will not fit because of the stupid "Wall" of the Rear track bar bracket gets in the way of a regular socket and wrench?
I'll have to look when I get home, I don't recall having challenges in this area, but I did change to a Clayton adjustable rear track bar to allow my 37" Mickey Thompson Baja Boss spare to fit. Not sure if that made a difference or not.
 

Glassco

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I'll have to look when I get home, I don't recall having challenges in this area, but I did change to a Clayton adjustable rear track bar to allow my 37" Mickey Thompson Baja Boss spare to fit. Not sure if that made a difference or not.
I am referring to the U bolt bracket that holds the rear track bar bracket to the axle.
One of the nut you cant put a regular socket on to tighten, because the wall of the bracket is in the way.
 

AZnative24

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If you have the same scenario I did, you can make things work by keeping the original bolt and nut in use together and using the kit bolt and nut together. (That may not make sense reading it here, but once you're at that point in the install it will make sense.)
This saved me from a huge headache. The instructions tell you to use the factory flag nut with the AEV supplied bolt on the bottom mount and the factory bolt with the AEV nut on the top mount. As OP explained, the thread pitches are not compatible. Use the factory bolt and flag nut on the bottom and the AEV hardware on top.

Jeep Gladiator A novice installs AEV DualSport RT Suspension Kit - DIY writeup w/ photos IMG_9418


Jeep Gladiator A novice installs AEV DualSport RT Suspension Kit - DIY writeup w/ photos IMG_9420


Jeep Gladiator A novice installs AEV DualSport RT Suspension Kit - DIY writeup w/ photos IMG_9419
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