Well, I've already got the diff back in. If it ever starts leaking, I'll be sure to use that steelstik stuff. Glad to hear you've had some good luck with it

 

Ah somehow I managed to miss that last post with it sitting on all 4s again lol. The front end looks nice sitting that high. Its gonna look sweet when its finished !

 

I just got it turned around a backed into my garage, about to start on the rear. Gonna try to get it done today!

 

Didn't take a ton of pics of finishing the front, was hurrying yesterday trying to get it done. Ended up wasting two hours at Pick N Pull trying to find some steel rims, and hunting down a new lower ball joint all over town.

Anyway, there's a few things I wanted to point out.

You have to cut a bracket out for the shocks to fit:


Cut the red lines on both sides, or the shock doesn't fit.
What you end up with:



One thing that kinda pissed me off was their skid plate. I was excited, since theirs is steel, and mine plastic. Here's how it looked mocked up:


Now, I didn't have the top two bolts in, so it's kinda sagging down here, but it would leave the remote oil filter totally exposed! Seemed stupid to me, so I went back to the stock plastic one. I'll try to find a factory steel one at the yard one day.

The kit did come with a smaller skid that just covers the diff, so that's nice, at least.

Here's the brake line extensions installed. Not sure if that's how the clip goes on the bracket or not, didn't take note before I pried it off:


Also, I'm sure y'all are all aware, but you will need to bleed the brakes after you install the extensions.

I eyeballed the alignment, since it was downright spooky to drive last night when I backed it out for the pic. Toe was way off, and the passenger tire camber was off as well. Luckily the shop is 0.8 miles from the house, so I think I can limp it there once I'm done.


I'm about to go start the back now, with any luck I can post a pic of it all done tonight!

 

For the front, do the wheels stay at their stock spacing? Just gets lifted? I'm wondering if that's what throwing off the handling and such. I think with that kind of lift, would be better if the wheels came out more to balance the COG.

 

I'm going to get new rims with the new tires. The factory 4wd rims have 6" of backspacing, and will rub with a 10.50" tire. Rough Country recommends 4.5-5.0" backspacing. The rims I'm going with will have 4.5", so hopefully no rub at full steering lock

 

I finished up the axle flip today. Was fairly easy, for the most part. I'm lucky to live in Texas, where we don't get ice, and the roads don't get salted. Not much in the way of rust; plus I had changed out the leafs about five years ago, so I wasn't dealing with 20+ year rusted frozen bolts.

To start off, remove this bracket from the driver side frame:



Take the old u bolts off. You don't reuse these, so feel free to cut them off if you can't get the nuts off:


Support the diff, before dropping the leafs. I went ahead and put a jackstand under the driveshaft as well, since the diff wanted to roll forward:


Now you can drop the leafs. On the driver front spring hanger, the bolt head will be to the inside, and the nut on the outside. It will not come out without dropping the gas tank. When I changed leafs previously, I placed the bolt where the nut was to the inside:


I did this to make the leaf chageout easier, but it makes dropping the gas tank more difficult. It worked out for me today, though, since I didn't have to drop the tank like I did before!

Leafs removed:


Assemble the spring perches/shock mounts like so:


You will have to remove the leaf spring center pin, and install it upside down, since the leaf pack will now be on top of the axle. I had some janky C clamps lying around, they did the trick just fine:


I reamed out the u bolt plate a little since I was having trouble getting the new u bolts in it:


I had to cut this bracket to give me enough slack in the park brake cable:


Why? Why make the u bolts this long? Even with a deep socket, I ran out of socket. And with lock nuts, they have to be wrenched all the way on:


Screw that. I got a brand new Ingersoll-Rand reversible air cutoff tool for Christmas, and I ain't afraid to use it. I cut all eight u bolts short, and ran them in with my impact!

Fully installed:


Driveshaft angle doesn't seem too bad at the diff, but it's steeper at the front u joint. Hopefully it doesn't let go once I get the big tires on:



So, all done except for brake bleeding, alignment, and patching up the exhaust:


In person it looks goofy as hell with the little tires and stock rims. I'll be sure to post pics once the new rims and 33s are on! Also, the back sits just a little low, I've been needing new leafs, once I get that, it should sit a little better.


Edit: Didn't include any pics of the shocks, or the new brake line brackets. They're fairly easy to figure out, but I can always provide pics upon request

Edit #2: Post #1,000! Go me!!

 

One more thing! I want to give a big shout out to my wife, for not giving me too much trouble when I want to drop $2500 into my $400 truck, and putting up with me ignoring the family for the last several days.

A shout out goes to my air compressor, as well! Even with running a cut off wheel nonstop, I never had to wait to let it catch up! Made this job so much easier, and I definitely recommend getting one for anyone who plans to do any halfway serious wrenching!

 

Fyi... looks funny in the pic too...

but I'm happy with your end product! I love the lift. I cant wait to see what its. Like with the tires...

P.s.

the wife agrees with you... I regret showing her the post, might affect me getting the lift...

 

Thanks for the great posts. I predict this will continue to be a popular thread.

But about the tires, I think you should put on SMALLER ONES! LOL That'll make you really stick out!