I honestly would give it
at most but that is based off my wrenching experience. A front axle job or head gasket replacement is just another day for me. R&R drum brakes is more difficult than a lift
Banana Question
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I honestly would give it
at most but that is based off my wrenching experience. A front axle job or head gasket replacement is just another day for me. R&R drum brakes is more difficult than a lift
I would not recommend that at all! The shocks are the only thing that stop the axle downtravel. If you have a large enough breaker bar and rusted nuts, you can twist them off, that's how I did mine, vice grips on the old shock shaft and a breaker bar until it either came loose or twisted the shaft off. Not that hard. Or you can grind them off, the lower ones off isn't that hard. I haven't had to deal with the upper nuts being seized but that could be more annoying to deal with.
bushings on the front are the known difficult part if you don't have access to a press and proper tooling.
unknown is the shock bolts (a friend snapped off both rear lowers and they had to be drilled and tapped). rear uppers are always a concern too, although it can be done without pulling the plates (a sawzall will cut the stem of the old shock and you can use a ratcheting wrench to install the new shock).
front left upper sucks to get off because it's right under the master (the creator of the stud style shock needs a swift kick in the a##) and you have all the abs lines all around, the lowers and right hand upper are not an issue.
springs are crazy easy...get shocks loose, get sway bars loose and let the axle hang (if you're installing new brake lines now, take them off first, if not, make sure you don't over stretch the old ones). you will scoop one spring out and scoop the other one in.
from there, install the drop brackets for the sway bars, new shocks, and extend the breathers.
unknown is the shock bolts (a friend snapped off both rear lowers and they had to be drilled and tapped). rear uppers are always a concern too, although it can be done without pulling the plates (a sawzall will cut the stem of the old shock and you can use a ratcheting wrench to install the new shock).
front left upper sucks to get off because it's right under the master (the creator of the stud style shock needs a swift kick in the a##) and you have all the abs lines all around, the lowers and right hand upper are not an issue.
springs are crazy easy...get shocks loose, get sway bars loose and let the axle hang (if you're installing new brake lines now, take them off first, if not, make sure you don't over stretch the old ones). you will scoop one spring out and scoop the other one in.
from there, install the drop brackets for the sway bars, new shocks, and extend the breathers.
this, and i used a bottle jack on top of the axle to get it to really separate... worked awesome...
I did the stock height kit. It was really easy. They only thing I'd stress is safety. Make sure your jackstands are strong enough and everything is stable. You will have to push on it a bit to get the springs out and you don't want to take any chances the vehicle could fall on you.
+1 for safety.
I picked up a pair of 12-Ton stands at Harbor Freight (around $100) along with a Daytona 3-Ton floor jack (so-called Snapon clone for around $200). I got these specifically for working on the 80. The jack has no problems lifting the truck as high as I need and the stands go higher than I'll ever need and they are beefy as hell. The only drawback with the stands is they do have a very large footprint and can make things a little tight at times squeezing around them when working underneath. Struggling with under-rated or old tools is a recipe for headaches, busted knuckles (the ones on your fingers) and trips to the E.R. Do yourself a favor and get the right tools for the job.
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I agree I did the medium lift a couple summers ago and had access to a lift and it was easy probably would be easier if you soak the bolts down with pb blaster or something the week prior to doing this daily. When I installed my rear bumper I did put in heavies in the back using just a 3 ton jack and the same 12 ton jack stands under the frame to allow axle drop to throw in the new springs.
Maybe I'm just slow, but the caster correction bushings took me a while. The hardest part was finding all the right pieces to press them out. Plus, I had never used a press before and even with all the right pieces it was pretty scary hearing the pops and squeaks so I went slow. Since then I've helped friends do two more and it's not that bad, but if you've never used a press and don't have help it will take a while (a friend holding the back of the control arm helps while you line up the cups for the press). Also, I took out one arm at a time to press the bushings. When putting them back I found it helpful to have a friend push the wheel toward the back of the truck while I placed the last bolt (pushing it made it easy to line up the last hole).
Other than the bushings the job is 1 bananna in my opinion (I'm in Socal, never heard of rust).
Good luck.
Other than the bushings the job is 1 bananna in my opinion (I'm in Socal, never heard of rust).
Good luck.
A tip I saw after installing my lift (so I have not tried it myself) on how to get the front left shock out:
Remove the bottom end of the shock, so you can tilt the angle of the top bolt out from under the master cylinder. Then you should be able to get a deep socket or ratcheting open end wrench on the top nut.
The Slee instructions linked by others worked fine for me. 1 or two banana job unless you break a bolt because it stuck. After that, it could be all the bananas you want.
Remove the bottom end of the shock, so you can tilt the angle of the top bolt out from under the master cylinder. Then you should be able to get a deep socket or ratcheting open end wrench on the top nut.
The Slee instructions linked by others worked fine for me. 1 or two banana job unless you break a bolt because it stuck. After that, it could be all the bananas you want.
Lucky for me that was the only bolt on the front shocks that wasn't seized. The other 3 may as well have been welded.
