body lift installed

top_sgt · Post by **top_sgt** » Sat Jan 22, 2005 5:45 pm

reed and i installed a PA body lift on my crewcab today!!! went well!

truck looks a whole lot better. and the best part.....my fiancee said i "need" new tires!!!

time to go shopping, i guess!!!
and thanks again to reed for his help today. we will be doing his later this spring,, on a warmer day!!

Post by **HenryJ** » Sat Jan 22, 2005 6:10 pm

Aww, come on there has to be more of a story than that!

Any probelms, insight, things that you will do differently on the next one?

How did the day go, conditions , time, animal attacks, etc. ?

F9K9 · Post by **F9K9** » Sat Jan 22, 2005 9:56 pm

HJ, not one pic today

David was ruthless in his pace

Actually, he did ask me if I needed to take pics and I said something that could be interpreted as a definite "no"!

top_sgt is one of those that must be gifted in more than one field

In wrenching he is one that can look at an application and decide what socket will fit

Most of the 6 hrs it took to do the BL I merely handed stuff and got the h_ll out of the way

Even when I was entrusted to put the stock front shield on solo, I had 3 to four " are you okay"s

It was a very good day and I was suprised at the ease of the BL and amazed that he has run across so few CCs in his city that is easily 10x the size of mine.

Top has seen one or two CCs and I have seen two sitting at a stoplight within the same block

If top is as good in the medical field as he was wrenching today then, I feel a whole lot better about seeing a "doc"

That is saying something when it comes from a spouse of the best ER RN on the planet

border man · Post by **border man** » Sun Jan 23, 2005 1:28 am

Now you guys can do mine.

jeff024 · Post by **jeff024** » Sun Jan 23, 2005 4:31 am

Did you fellas use the PA instructions?

Did you need to use the gas filler extender? (I didnt use it )

Did you need the front bumper side brackets? ( I didnt use them )

I thought the hardest part was getting the bed to line back up how was it for you guys?

and my 2 cent on tires Yokohama Geo 2s are great and are fairly cheap with little road noise. and dont forget new shocks .

AZS10Crew · Post by **AZS10Crew** » Sun Jan 23, 2005 6:29 am

It only took 6 hours? Holy cow! That's got to be a new record or something.

jeff024 · Post by **jeff024** » Sun Jan 23, 2005 6:47 am

that was fast did your watch stop

F9K9 · Post by **F9K9** » Sun Jan 23, 2005 7:05 am

jeff024 wrote:Did you fellas use the PA instructions?.

Instructions?:lol:

Actually we used both of them

jeff024 wrote:Did you need to use the gas filler extender? (I didnt use it )

No but did need to relocate the ground strap

jeff024 wrote:Did you need the front bumper side brackets? ( I didnt use them )

No, we just used the upper frame bolt location with the bracket's bottom
mount location

jeff024 wrote:I thought the hardest part was getting the bed to line back up how was it for you guys?

Well, top will have to answer that one. He did it while I was outside in the blizzard taking one of the 3 smoke breaks I was allowed to take.

AZS10Crew wrote:It only took 6 hours? Holy cow! That's got to be a new record or something.

Actually David spent 2 hrs on friday evening getting it ready. It was up on jack stands when I arrived and ready for the actually lift. Even the mount bolts were all broken loose.

We could have been a little faster and with pictures but we were in a small one car garage and had little room to work. Had to fold in the mirrors just to move around....

The only other thing that we did per instructions that allot others didn't have to do is use the bracket extension on the firewall ground.

jeff024 · Post by **jeff024** » Sun Jan 23, 2005 7:20 am

I also used the bracket on the firewall. How about the 2 lines connected to the trans did you remove it then reinstall after the lift , it was hard to get a wrench on and get a turn on it, after I was done I didnt put them back just strapped them up and I have checked them a few times and they are fine so far.

How about a before lift and after lift pic?

top_sgt · Post by **top_sgt** » Sun Jan 23, 2005 9:12 am

OK!!!! you want details........i'll give ya details!!!!

first off..... thanks the the forum gods for moving my post to the "right" section. i appreciate it(i'm not the best of computer geeks)

total time was about 8 hours, maybe a little less.. i did spend some time friday night removing the bumpers and stuff. i had the truck on jack stands ready for the lift on saturday.

the PA instuctions were very helpful in the order of doing things. i thought the BDS instructions had much better pictures. the PA photos appear to be taken at "odd" angles.

as for "difficult things........ the lines and bracket for the lines attached to the oil pan were the worst. GM and their better ideas!!!!!! i did leave the wiring harness loose...should case no problems.. i did reattach the lines back to the bracket.....key there is not to completely remove the bolt. it could be rather difficult to start back. also a 10mm fine tooth ratchet wrench would be nice......thanks reed for that wrench!!!

also.... the PA instuctions tell you to move the bed to gain access to the gas filler neck. wrong!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! remove to two plastic pins to the left rear fender liner....pull the panel out and you have a much easier access to the hose!!!! also the ground strap to the filler tube had to be repositioned....i reattached it to a bracket on the frame rail that is holding a cable!!!!

on the front bumper.....did not use the kit bumper brackets...(still haven't figured out wether we even had them!!

) anyway.... simply attached them back using just two bolts......worked out ok!!!

still haven't decided what to do with the tow hooks....figure that one later.

i do have a couple of ideas as to how to move the nerf bars... will let you all know what i do and how later!!!......if it works.

and....... watch out for the ground wire on the right rear harness..... i "broke" it when i reattched the right side of the bummper.....a quick fix though!!!

so..... hope some of these points wiil help ya'll out ... if you have any particular questions about the BL, let me know.

when we do reed's lift it probaly will go a little quicker!!!!! looking forward to getting his done this spring..when it is "warmer"!!!!!!!!!!

and yes......a bigger garage would have been nice, but it still worked out... might have to angle reed's truck into the garage.. had mine kinda straight in!!!! made it tight on the drivers side!!!

all in all.... i think it went well....fortunateely i had all the sockets we needed(saved them from my mechanic days), along with my impact!!!!!

thanks again to reed.......yes he did help!!! and if you all have questions,, let me know!!!!!!!

ps.. the truck does look much better......and my fiancee did say "you need new tires!" what a woman!!!

Post by **HenryJ** » Sun Jan 23, 2005 9:21 am

No animal attacks

Perhaps Reed was not outside smoking, he was waving off the swarm of killer wasps? Wait a minute it was too cold for bugs.
I guess you guys have that to look forward to in the warmer weather

(I know that you think ..this guy has lost it , right? You'll have to ask Mike H. , although I think he may have "moved on" )

top_sgt · Post by **top_sgt** » Sun Jan 23, 2005 9:36 am

also...... both sets of instructions say to drill holes to reposition the differential actuator and the positive wiring box......NOT>>>> both boxes fit back into the original locations without difficulty.

and come to think of it......i did hear reed yelling while he was outside "smoking" once!!! he may have been chasing off the snow monkeys, or something!!!! but i did not notice any wild animals or any growling of animals!!!!!!

jeff024 · Post by **jeff024** » Sun Jan 23, 2005 1:21 pm

The front bumper brackets were completly flat with 4 hole in it. My buddy removed the nut on the oil pan lines and I couldnt get it back it didnt wanna stress the lines to much pulling on them the brackets on them and zipped tied to something under there I forget what but they seemed ok.Sounds like everything went ok for you guys and fairly fast congrats.

F9K9 · Post by **F9K9** » Sun Jan 23, 2005 2:25 pm

Thanks, Jeff024:D

jeff024 wrote:....... My buddy removed the nut on the oil pan lines and I couldnt get it back it didnt wanna stress the lines to much pulling on them the brackets on them and zipped tied to something under there

Do you mean where the relocated oil filter mount is attached to the kit's brackets?

If that is what you are referring to then yes, it was a major pain in the rear.

I could see that David hated to be bogged down on it and I was tired of getting out his way so I got permission to deal with it

Those tolerances are really tight! I guess that is a suggestion for all invovled.

If anything has more than one attachment point. Do not tighten any one point down until all the other points (be it a nut, bolt or screw) has been started..

top_sgt · Post by **top_sgt** » Sun Jan 23, 2005 3:38 pm

jeff.... on the bolt to the cooler lines by the oil pan.... if you removed the bolt, i can see where it would be a pain to restart!! fortunately.... i got the lines loose from the bracket and did not remove the bolt!! i did take the clamp off the wiring harness and left it hanging....do not see a problem with the harness--- no where for it to go!!!!

and yes!!!! the oil filter brackett was a "pain in the ...!" reed and i both fought with that one....to look so simple,, and be so difficult!!! but then.....could have been we could see the end near and...............well!!!

but this mod is a must in my opinion...makes it feel like a truck!!!!

i will look for tires and shocks in a couple of weeks!!!!!!!

jeff024 · Post by **jeff024** » Sun Jan 23, 2005 3:40 pm

no the 1 for the oil filter was fine im talking about the 2 lines that are connected to the bottom of the oil pan , I almost wanna say they were refered to as trans cooler lines.

top_sgt · Post by **top_sgt** » Sun Jan 23, 2005 3:45 pm

yep!!! those lines!!

2bunik · Post by **2bunik** » Mon Jan 24, 2005 9:30 am

Since this topic is all about BL I got a question that haunts me... If you look in the drivers side front wheelwell area. Just in front of the shock bracket, there are two lines that run up to ABS.. Well my lines are chaffing on the shock bracket .. anyone else have this problem .. Since they are hard lines I can't exactly move them around.. any one have a fix ..

top_sgt · Post by **top_sgt** » Mon Jan 24, 2005 9:33 am

you say "chaffing"...you mean rubbing??? if they are rubbing you can "move them a little with a little nudge. wouldn't try to bend them out of the way or anything like that!!!!

coffeedrnkr · Post by **coffeedrnkr** » Mon Jan 24, 2005 10:47 pm

*cough cough* dont buy new tires yet.........buy the c00l person's lift in the other thread and then you can put some monster tires on it and the fiancee won't say your tires are too small

camelott112 · Post by **camelott112** » Tue Jan 25, 2005 10:09 am

i got my pa on this weekend i didnt have a buddy which kinda stunk everyone in the auto hobby shop was looking at my truck like i was in deep then they realized i was just doing a body lift and they were like oh alright i thought you where trying to trouble shoot your engine hahaha yeah lots of ppl totally disassemble a truck to work on it hahaha anywho by my self i got her done in 8.5 hours but i forgot to reattach the fan shroud and now it sounds pretty bad but ill get her hooked back up this weekend im gonna wait til i get her shoes on and ill get some pics up on here

jeff024 · Post by **jeff024** » Tue Jan 25, 2005 12:19 pm

dont feel bad I forgot the airdam so it is no longer on my truck didnt really see a need for it anyway

Eric H · Post by **Eric H** » Tue Jan 25, 2005 1:47 pm

I forgot to put my airdam on as well... so I torn apart the front end again and reinstalled it.

-Eric H

jeff024 · Post by **jeff024** » Tue Jan 25, 2005 2:27 pm

I never put mine on maybe thats whats killing my gas milage. Oh and by the way go back and check all your bolts in a month or so I just got finished and was able to turn every nut and bolt several turns by hand and I installed everything with an impact then tried to turn them by hand when I was finished , so they did loosen a bit.I had a squeek comming from the bed and thats what made me check everything.

camelott112 · Post by **camelott112** » Tue Jan 25, 2005 4:21 pm

my airdam is busted off from a ford but i still had the rubber eyesore sticking out which was a royal pain to put back in the push pins and i dont really know why