Suspension Lift Required/Recommended Tools and Parts?? (1 Viewer)

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Pics don’t work. Are you still wrenching with your arm in a cast? Lol
Nope cast free this time but after the rear suspension my knuckles felt like I needed one :)
 
looks really clean down there... how's the ride?
the OME shocks came with the washers?

Yep the ride is amazingly clean, I really got lucky. I did find a few little rust areas and just blasted them with PB for the time being since it was handy.

The ride is hard to gauge at the moment. I haven't driven far and the alignment is clearly out. I get it aligned Friday so will have a much better idea after that. It is firmer and more stable and glad I went with the medium vs heavy for the moment. I think I am going to be very happy with it. The biggest surprise was how much higher 2.5" looks and feels than I thought it would.
 
Nope cast free this time but after the rear suspension my knuckles felt like I needed one :)


Lolol, was gonna say, amazing if you did suspension work with 1 hand. Btw your truck is absolutely meticulous underneath, make sure you treat it and keep it that way since you're in the rust bowl now. That torsion bar adjustment bolt is so clean you can eat off it.
 
looks really clean down there... how's the ride?
the OME shocks came with the washers?
Oh and yes the shocks came with new washers and bushings.
 
Lolol, was gonna say, amazing if you did suspension work with 1 hand. Btw your truck is absolutely meticulous underneath, make sure you treat it and keep it that way since you're in the rust bowl now. That torsion bar adjustment bolt is so clean you can eat off it.

No kidding I wash it a ton and am trying my damnedest to keep the salt off of it. The rain last weekend helped but the parking lot at work has been pure white for a month! I am going to have to hunt down the best way to treat it but for now it's covered in PB :)
 
Nice work, I’m actually planning to do this real soon but I’m in the middle of should I go medium or heavy kit? Any suggestions? Did you remove your AHC? Do you have step on how to disable AHC? Pictures before and after suspension replace? Thanks for sharing
 
Nice work, I’m actually planning to do this real soon but I’m in the middle of should I go medium or heavy kit? Any suggestions? Did you remove your AHC? Do you have step on how to disable AHC? Pictures before and after suspension replace? Thanks for sharing

My preliminary (still haven't driven far and not aligned yet) feeling is that the medium 2.5" kit is perfect for me at the moment. I thought I would need the heavies since I have drawers, a fridge full of beer, fridge slide, and bunch of gear. I got a tiny bit over 2.5" in the rear and I can tell the ride is firm but not harsh. I think the heavies would be a bit rough until I get a lot more weight on it.

@sleeoffroad did a great job of talking me through things and I would highly recommend talking to them. They suggested I wait on the heavies and swap the springs when I really need it. I have seen lot's of guys on here do that and now I know why. Replacing the rear springs is easy and is the only difference from medium to heavy. I suspect if I get around to the rear bumper I will order heavy springs at the same time.

I do not have AHC so I don't have any experience there but know there are lot's of how-to threads on here.

These pics aren't the best but
Here's a before:
20180202_152245.jpg

and here's the after
20180214_161824.jpg
 
My preliminary (still haven't driven far and not aligned yet) feeling is that the medium 2.5" kit is perfect for me at the moment. I thought I would need the heavies since I have drawers, a fridge full of beer, fridge slide, and bunch of gear. I got a tiny bit over 2.5" in the rear and I can tell the ride is firm but not harsh. I think the heavies would be a bit rough until I get a lot more weight on it.

@sleeoffroad did a great job of talking me through things and I would highly recommend talking to them. They suggested I wait on the heavies and swap the springs when I really need it. I have seen lot's of guys on here do that and now I know why. Replacing the rear springs is easy and is the only difference from medium to heavy. I suspect if I get around to the rear bumper I will order heavy springs at the same time.

I do not have AHC so I don't have any experience there but know there are lot's of how-to threads on here.

These pics aren't the best but
Here's a before:
View attachment 1633280
and here's the after
View attachment 1633289

Thats awesome, I just pulled the trigger and order the medium kit but not the control arm< I hope I can get away without the UCA if not ill go ahead and order. I saw couple guys from other thread with only suspension and springs and not even diff drop. Any suggestions will be appreciated, Im new in this world of LX but i'm loving the heck alot.
 
Thats awesome, I just pulled the trigger and order the medium kit but not the control arm< I hope I can get away without the UCA if not ill go ahead and order. I saw couple guys from other thread with only suspension and springs and not even diff drop. Any suggestions will be appreciated, Im new in this world of LX but i'm loving the heck alot.

You can find tons written up on the advantages of both the UCAs and Diff Drop on here if you search around.

Here are sort of the main ideas.

Diff Drop - keeps CVs closer to stock angles and will help prevent CV boots from leaking/failing. This can be a pain to fix and costly. I will be rebooting mine soon just as a precaution, they have leaked some prior to install.

UCAs - Provide additional down travel over stock UCAs meaning you can maintain the necessary droop and expected performance. UCAs also allow for caster adjustment which will be out of tolerance and can't be corrected to spec on the stock UCAs, This can result in squirrely behavior.

So you can go without but you will likely sacrifice performance and road manors, and have some near-term/recurring maintenance to do. My goal is to have a reliable as possible cruiser and I intend to keep it for the long haul so it made sense to do it all to include the sway bar drop links.

Hope that helps
 
You can find tons written up on the advantages of both the UCAs and Diff Drop on here if you search around.

Here are sort of the main ideas.

Diff Drop - keeps CVs closer to stock angles and will help prevent CV boots from leaking/failing. This can be a pain to fix and costly. I will be rebooting mine soon just as a precaution, they have leaked some prior to install.

UCAs - Provide additional down travel over stock UCAs meaning you can maintain the necessary droop and expected performance. UCAs also allow for caster adjustment which will be out of tolerance and can't be corrected to spec on the stock UCAs, This can result in squirrely behavior.

So you can go without but you will likely sacrifice performance and road manors, and have some near-term/recurring maintenance to do. My goal is to have a reliable as possible cruiser and I intend to keep it for the long haul so it made sense to do it all to include the sway bar drop links.

Hope that helps

Any plans putting 35 tires? would it fit
 
and I am sure now that I have done it once I could do it again in half the time.
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Well since you were planning on coming down this way at some point...
 
Well since you were planning on coming down this way at some point...
Absolutely, give me a little notice and I'm there with tools! I am generally am paid in local micro brews
 
Got the alignment today, squirrely as hell on the way there and felt like I was driving a tank home. Very stable, firm but not harsh and tracks so nice, should have done this a while ago! Thanks again for the help!

@Lexie470 33s are it for me, there are guys on here at 35s but to do it right it takes quite a bit more work.
 
Absolutely, give me a little notice and I'm there with tools! I am generally am paid in local micro brews

I can make that happen, Chattanooga has quite a few now that are extremely good. I'll be sure to stock up ha. Now to convince the wife of why her DD needs an OME suspension overhaul...
 
I can't get the UCA to disconnect from the spindle. I tried hammering, PB blast, etc. The nut is already off, but the threading part is still connected to the spindle.
stHnPDJ.jpg
 
I can't get the UCA to disconnect from the spindle. I tried hammering, PB blast, etc. The nut is already off, but the threading part is still connected to the spindle.
stHnPDJ.jpg
Thread the nut back on the ball joint a couple turnes and then hit the flat spot on the spindle, the nut will stop the spindle from falling when it breaks free.
Hard to tell from the pics if you have already tried this or not.
If that doesn't work than a pickle fork should do the trick but will likely destroy the ball joint.
 

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