Dean's '11 Crew Cab Budget Build

I didn't torque anything and mine was fine for the 30k miles in put on it. Just tightened everything with a 1/2" drive socket set. Small tip, when you dis-assemble, don't completely take off the nut on the upper BJ, leave it threaded on but loose and give the spindle a big whack to dislodge it, it'll allow the UCA to separate but not fly apart. If it's just you, use a floor jack to support the spindle.
 
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Jordan said:
I didn't torque anything and mine was fine for the 30k miles in put on it. Just tightened everything with a 1/2" drive socket set. Small tip, when you dis-assemble, don't completely take off the nut on the upper BJ, leave it threaded on but loose and give the spindle a big whack to dislodge it, it'll allow the UCA to separate but not fly apart. If it's just you, use a floor jack to support the spindle.
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Thanks for the advice! Another quick question, will any hammer do, or do I need a ball pein or dead blow?

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Kit came in the mail today. Hope to install Monday and get alignment Wednesday. Main thing that may hold me back would be weather.

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Dealership wants 70 for alignment, does that sound about right?
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70 is good, its 90 here. ive put a couple of those kits in and they seem to be decent quality kits, install is pretty straight forward to.
 
Had some budget setbacks recently, but finally got some money to put towards the truck.

Leveling kit should be going on early next week if the weather cooperates. Also got a drop in K&N filter and did a quick engine cleanup since it was nice out.

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Easiest way to install that leveling hit is to unbolt the strut on the bottom, with the two bolts, get a prybar and push the shock up just enough to push in the spacer, and let it back down.
 
iTzTy said:
Easiest way to install that leveling hit is to unbolt the strut on the bottom, with the two bolts, get a prybar and push the shock up just enough to push in the spacer, and let it back down.
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How easy is that to do by myself? Also, how important is it to get those bolts torqued properly?

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You just need to be able to lean on the bar with either hand and some pressure and be able to push the spacer in with the other. I installed my 2.5 on top of the strut by myself and had to pry a few things while I tightened the bolts. It was fairly easy, but another set of hands would of been okay at a couple points. It took me about 3 hours with both sides, but I removed my whole strut along with a lot of other stuff. Should be able to do yours in an hour easily.
As for torquing, I don't worry about it really. I got the bolts off by hand, so if I can tighten them back by hand and an maybe an extra 1/2 turn, that's more than enough imo.
 
How stout of a pry bar do I need? This is the only one in have but it can probably borrow one from one of the guys in the shop if needed.

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Truck: 1
Me: 0

Tried installing the leveling kit via the prybar method and failed miserably. After 45 min of wrestling the strut around and ruining a prybar., I gave up and threw it all back together. May just have one of the local places install it. There goes 150 out the window.
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Oh god no, by pry bar I mean a slate bar, I shouldn't assume people know what I'm talking about. You can get one for like 30 bucks usually, its what I use for a ton of stuff, they have many uses.
 
iTzTy said:
Oh god no, by pry bar I mean a slate bar, I shouldn't assume people know what I'm talking about. You can get one for like 30 bucks usually, its what I use for a ton of stuff, they have many uses.
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I ended up getting a 36" wrecking bar and that's what ended up bending on me. I didn't even attempt to use that flimsy excuse for a pry bar.

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Do you have to unbolt the upper ball joint as well? I tried doing that as the instructions, but couldn't get it to release from the uca

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DeanH1290 said:
Do you have to unbolt the upper ball joint as well? I tried doing that as the instructions, but couldn't get it to release from the uca

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Yes, It took me and my buddy a little to figure out the best method. We took out the bolts on the lower strut mount and then loosened the upper. Then loosened the sway bar up and got that out of the way. Took all of an hour to do the second side and bolt everything back up.


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Thanks for the advice guys. One of the guys at the shop is going to help me with it when we get off, so I should actually be able to get it on. We will try just removing the sway bar first, then the ball joint if that doesn't work.

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WooHoo! Got it on in under an hour and a half. Loosening up the sway bar solved all of the issues I was having. With that loose, we were able to use the pry bar to maneuver the strut into place over the spacer. Once we got the The first side done, the second side only took about 20 mins. Getting it aligned after work tomorrow and maybe a wash if it's warm enough out.

Before pic
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After pic
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