Help-My daily driver is taken apart and I need a hand! Leveling kit....

Evillseed · 01-13-2013, 04:11 PM

My T is a 2006 4x4 and I'm trying to install a 2.5" leveling kit.

I know that pushes the limit for CBC, but here's the thing-I ground off the lip on one of my coil buckets and I still can't get the bottom of the strut to fit back in.

My real problem at this point is that I have no idea how I'm going to "persuade" the bottom of the strut assembly to get back where it belongs. I had a hell of a time getting the sway bar disconnected-that took me literally hours. I love Wisconsin salt on the bolts exposed to it....

Does anybody have any helpful hints? I would really appreciate some guidance here. I already tried unhooking the UCA and then jacking up the lower suspension to meet it. My truck nearly fell off the jackstands b/c with the strut in place the whole truck comes up....

Help?!

jtrick · 01-13-2013, 04:17 PM

You don't need to mess with the swaybar. You will jack the lca up to get the uca and spindle to reconnect. It's not uncommon for the truck to come off the stands. Good luck.

Sent from my T

Evillseed · 01-13-2013, 04:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jtrick

You don't need to mess with the swaybar. You will jack the lca up to get the uca and spindle to reconnect. It's not uncommon for the truck to come off the stands. Good luck.

Sent from my T

So you're saying to disconnect the uca ball joint, put the strut in and then jack up the lca to bolt them back up?

thing is, my truck didn't almost LIFT off the stands, It almost FELL off the stands lol.

I'll give that another try.
In the meantime any other suggestions are welcome.

kmr481 · 01-13-2013, 04:29 PM

Try prying down on the lca and tapping the shock into place. I had an issue with mine where some of the metal in the lower mount got mangled up, had the grind a little.

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trivo · 01-13-2013, 04:30 PM

I'm running a 2.5 on my 06 and

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trivo · 01-13-2013, 04:30 PM

No issues or

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kmr481 · 01-13-2013, 04:31 PM

Yeah jack it up to reconnect, you'll have to pry down on the uca to get the nut started on the upper ball joint

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jakejc · 01-13-2013, 04:35 PM

when i used my 2" spacer and 5100's i had to jack the truck up a good bit to get the shock to compress to have everything meet

**beason** · 01-13-2013, 04:44 PM

yea the UCA bushing makes it kind of springy. pull down on it, after you get all the weight of the truck on the jack on the lower. A second set of hands may help.

kmr481 · 01-14-2013, 09:17 AM

You get this thing back together or what??? Oh and don't forget the before and after pics

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Evillseed · 01-15-2013, 10:13 AM

Thanks for the advice guys. Sorry for not updating but I went back out there and got my arse to work-had to be driveable by Monday morning, ya know!

For whatever reason the first jack that I was using was not letting the LCA articulate (move up) and the whole truck was getting jacked up while the LCA stayed put. Then the jack basically slipped off and I got scared when the truck fell an inch or two onto the jack stands. Nearly had a Titan in my lap, which would have been bad for both of us.

So, being scared, I pulled the lower strut mount back apart and started trying to get the UCA and LCA both bolted in without jacking the LCA and hub up. This was the wrong call. I spent a hell of along time trying to get that lower strut back in place, including ratchet straps to pull the strut toward the mount on the frame (which actually got kind of close but still a bad idea). jtrick has it right-and after reading his advice I grabbed a different jack and for whatever reason it worked. I put the strut in, jacked the LCA up and screwed the spindle back on. Still had to use a little of my ample manliness to push the UCA down to make the connection but it worked fine.

I have a before pic, no afters yet but it's 100% better. I'm very happy with the mod. The 2.5" worked fine on my '06 4x4, with the caveat that I do get CBC on the side that I did not yet grind down. I'll need to fix that sometime, but the only time I get CBC is over speed bumps. Regular roads cause no trouble at all. I seldom go off-roading but that would cause CBC too, I'm sure.

I'm really surprised at how much the leveling affects driving position and positively so. I feel like I can see better and that my arse is further back in the seat as opposed to tipped forward. Honestly makes the truck feel bigger too-reminds you of driving a 3/4 ton or Super Duty. For shorter people this could actually be a bad thing, but I dig it.

My kit was one of the $57 generic billet ones off of eBay. It seems sturdy and I'd recommend it for bang for the buck. The height of my truck from floor to fender at the center of the hub went from about 36.5 to about 39, so the 2.5 inches was right on and the spacer was roughly 1 7/8 or so tall.

Pics will come up soon. Before is basically in my signature but I'll get afters up.

Thanks very much to everybody who helped me out-this would have been a really bad deal without good advice from you all. Thanks, TT!