Did the PA883 Body Lift this weekend, really was straight forward. This thread was an immense help to get me through the lift.
First bolt took us 80 minutes.
That’s the #3 position. We determined that these looked the hardest to get out, not only because of the rust, but because of how they are tucked up over the frame. We figured if we could get these apart, the rest should be easier, and they were.
Once we got through the two #3 mounts, things started going much quicker. The trick to this is to heat the protruding bolt until your PB Blaster starts to smoke. Heat and a good bite on the spinning mount is key.
Front mount.
The other side broke from the top side, and we could not break free the bolt in the bottom side mount. We had to cut the head off the bolt to get the mount apart.
The steering extension went on with minimal mods. I did not have to grind the female end of the extension at all, it fit perfectly. I did need to file generous chamfers on the male side, but otherwise the extension fit as snug as the OEM connection.
Here she is, all lift blocks in place and snugged down (except for the broken front mount).
Radiator Fan Shroud, cut to clear for body lift. What a pain this was to take out. When I went to put it back in, I took out the top half and dropped it in from the top. It was much easier than trying to put it in from underneath.
I flipped the rear bumper/hitch, and had to trim the foam filler inside the bumper cover, as well as some of the cover.
The installation of all lift blocks took two of us all day (about 8 hours), including two trips to Lowe’s and stopping to eat lunch and dinner. The next day I did the Fan Shroud, installed the Front Bumper, flipped the Rear Bumper and installed the Rear Bumper Cover. Then I applied Loctite and torqued positions 2, 3, 4, & 5 to 60 ft lbs. once I remove the broken bolt in the front mount, I will torque them to 41 ft lbs. I also put all the interior trim back together.
Next to do is the front upper ball joints (the passenger side is so bad I stopped driving the truck). Then a right rear wheel bearing, and four Moog struts with spacers for 2” more lift.
Making plenty of room for a set of 265 75 16 Dirt Commanders that are getting lonely. I have a set if American Outlaw rims with a -6 offset for them. Should look awesome.
