Removing Home made lift kit from previous owner

[KaBoom]

So i got 00 500 with "hockey pucks" used for lifting. Only problem is buddy actually just installed them on the shock by compressing the spring. So in reality all he did was stiffen the front end up. Not lift it. I think he lifted the body(fenders and plastic) up a bit because the fender will not line up with the fuel on/off switch.

My question is this: What is the likelihood that the front shocks would go back to normal if i was to remove the pucks? Could i at least pull them back some way or would they spring back? I do not want to replace the shocks but they are beyond rigid atm.

[KaBoom]

oic....

[elmerkit]

You will be needing a lot of thinks and work on restoring to its original spec but it is do able.

[Smoothbassman]

You can take the pucks out easy. If a body lift was done, you need to tear down all the plastics to see how that was accomplished. It might be some simple spacers in there to make it happen. It wouldn't be a big deal. You have to get the plastics off to tell though.

A good weekend project.

I had all of my plastics off of my 2011 XP in about 20 minutes. Had to do some modifications!!!

[KaBoom]

Yea i did a lot of pre inspection and it is not very legitimate at all. It is indeed a front end body lift with 1 inch spacers on the floor panels. This in turn makes the plastic overlap the fuel shutoff valve making it near impossible to turn without removing it.

Tricky part about removing the plastic is that there is an aftermarket front bush guard with plow attachment. I have no idea how i can get the two bolts off that are holding on the plow plate. That should be interesting.

The thing that concerns me the most is the hockey pucks. They were installed on the bottom of the spring, not on the top of the shock where you would actually get a lift. Basically all these two pucks did was stiffen up the spring tension. I am wondering how probably it is that the springs will go back to normal if i cut the pucks out?

I took both front tires off last night and removed the hubs/bearings so i could get the 3 inch wheel spacers off. Did some inspection on the sway bar and steering column and it looks like i also need some new bushings so i will just replace those while i have everything off.

[KaBoom]

Here is a pic of the shocks.

[KaBoom]

Do you think if i remove those pucks the springs will go back to original compression?

[Rickl1968]

I am not a mechanic but, i would think the springs would be weaker if the hockey pucks were on there for a while.

[KaBoom]

Wouldnt the pucks be the equivalent of having the springs adjusted to max tension? So if i was to take out the pucks logically they should go back. I would hope...

[Rickl1968]

That could depend on the weight of the previous driver and or how hard it was driven. Take a measurement from the ground, remove and remeasure. If not you could always put them back in until you can find new springs.