How to: 3rd Gen BODY LIFT. Install.

[RoadBully]

I would not like to risk not completing the lift properly. But this is not the intended use of this apllication could-would an off road shop do this lift for me and what would be the hours for a pro and the cost

Yes, a 4x4 shop would do this for you.
I was quoted $1000 to have it installed on mine... which is the reason I did it myself.
There is really not much you can do wrong.
Make sure everything is tight...
Most all of the kit is a direct fit for this application, just the bumper brackets and some slight shaving of the steering extension.
There's still people using hockey pucks to body lift their vehicles, this is actually one of the more vehicle specific ways to do a body lift.

 

[jutgin]

I would not like to risk not completing the lift properly. But this is not the intended use of this apllication could-would an off road shop do this lift for me and what would be the hours for a pro and the cost

I had a body lift installed at a shop here on my sport trac and it cost about 500 bucks. He wouldnt tell me an exact hour time but just said it took all day. I'm pretty sure it took him over 10 hours and he actually cut me a break on price at 75 bucks an hour.

 

[pickupman]

found a guy here in Cedar Rapids who rents out his garage for $35 / weekend.

wife says he has tools and a lift (though i don't need the lift) - i have a weekend scheduled, and i ordered the 883 off amazon tonight... Jan 9 should be fun - the goal here is to fit some 285/75R16s on by the end of Feb...

I'll be looking at the spacers form Roadbully next - though i need to figure a way to get my Clas IV (2") receiver bumper fitted.

Does anyone have any pictures of what the bumper looks like now, and what the Ranger kit brackets look like?

I've also been considering if there was a way to modify (if i can find one) a bronco or bronco II spare tire carrier to fit - something that swings out - i saw one on sale at work that a guy had on his K5 blazer, the biggest issue is that i don't have any real fab facilities (or skills - though i'd like to learn to weld eventually)... thinking out loud... i DO have a couple jeep bumpers around...

 

[Layinhp]

it says right in the directions to not use the bumper for towing after the lift im asuming its for the actual bumper and not an aftermarket hitch like a Reese, if you do modify the mount make em strong enough to tow with

 

[pickupman]

haven't towed anything since i towed my Jeep from IL to STL - i keep a hitch hauler in it for hauling deer... might leave the bumper in place and play with what options i have to fill the gap - i'm wondering if i can build a spacer between the step and the current bumper to mount a spare tire carrier to... (swing out carrier, of course) this is gonna take some finesse and research - but it's too damned cold to go outside and screw around under the truck!!

 

[pickupman]

will the Class 3 Hitch bumper NOT FIT when flipped over, or does it just interfere with something?

I'm planning on putting on a U-haul hitch when this is all over, if need be... but i need to try and get all my ducks in a row while i can... i guess i may end up driving around with no bumper cover, if need be....

 

[djbrown88]

the class three hitch will work when flipped you just have to shave out some of that black styrofoam thats inside, also you really have to work at getting it mounted on the two sides, but it does work, i did it. and as for not towing anything after the lift, thats if your using the brackets, if its flipped and you re drill holes and use the same number of bolts, your fine. i also added some welds for my own personal happyness.

 

[pickupman]

the class three hitch will work when flipped you just have to shave out some of that black styrofoam thats inside, also you really have to work at getting it mounted on the two sides, but it does work, i did it. and as for not towing anything after the lift, thats if your using the brackets, if its flipped and you re drill holes and use the same number of bolts, your fine. i also added some welds for my own personal happyness.

duh moment... I have a class IV - what about the class IV WON"T allow it to be flipped?

thx

 

[guitarfrk741]

duh moment... I have a class IV - what about the class IV WON"T allow it to be flipped?

thx

if i had to guess from my class II id say its bc the III/IV have the 2" reciever which would push into the plastic part or the bumper cover little bit ( if that makes sense)

 

[djbrown88]

ya im talking about the larger class3, the one that came with the 7 pin connector. from what i read either one can just be flipped, just the bigger one takes some convincing... the biggest issue i actually had was the damn steering shaft extention..

 

[pickupman]

did mine today.

couple of notes:

1) would have taken a LOT less than 8 hours, had the bolts not been so rusted into the mounts. We tried buying one of the chain vice grips - didn't work worth a damn. couldn't get them to grip the mounts. after fighting with the mounts for several hours, we started hitting the mounts & bolts with a torch - just a regular propane torch. not enough to melt the rubber mounts, but the heat either melted the threadlock that Ford used, or caused the metal to warp enough to make it really easy to get the bolts out.

2) mixing & matching the bolts is a pain - the shortest bolts go in the back. the bolts inside the b and c pillar (rear passenger floor board)require a couple extra washers under the bolt head to snug up.

3) the front bumper mounts didn't work out for me - we found it easiest to cut them in half and remove ~1" of metal from the middle.... this moved the bumper up 3" as required, and it was STRAIGHT up. the bumper cover hides it all, and since it's snug, it doesn't move.

4)the soft rubber part of the front wheel wells needs some trimming to not get caught up in the suspension. It may also help to punch a hole or two on the ridgid plastic and either relocate the push in fastners that hold it together, or add a few (the rear half of the front wheelwell)

5) We had access to a lift. this made the steering extension REAL easy.
keep a few things in mind:
*the steering shaft that gets extended is a telescoping rod - after unbolting it from the firewall, just collapse it to move it out of the way to work on it.
*we ground the inside of the extension to fit over the part coming out of the firewall AND the part that fits inside the telescoping rod.
*the steering rod is KEYED - it only fits one way - be careful that it all goes back together the way it came apart, otherwise the wheel won't be straight when your truck is driving straight.

6) the body mount that is aligned with the B pillar is a BEAR to work on.... those vicegrips wouldn't allow us to get the vice grip chain around it.

7) when heating the mounts with the torch on the crivers side WATCH OUT FOR THE BRAKE LINES.

8) we flipped the back bumper (I have a class IV hitch) - i'll take pics of anythin i do to get the bumper cover back on - if it works.

 

[chris's2005]

did mine today.

couple of notes:

1) would have taken a LOT less than 8 hours, had the bolts not been so rusted into the mounts. We tried buying one of the chain vice grips - didn't work worth a damn. couldn't get them to grip the mounts. after fighting with the mounts for several hours, we started hitting the mounts & bolts with a torch - just a regular propane torch. not enough to melt the rubber mounts, but the heat either melted the threadlock that Ford used, or caused the metal to warp enough to make it really easy to get the bolts out.

2) mixing & matching the bolts is a pain - the shortest bolts go in the back. the bolts inside the b and c pillar (rear passenger floor board)require a couple extra washers under the bolt head to snug up.

3) the front bumper mounts didn't work out for me - we found it easiest to cut them in half and remove ~1" of metal from the middle.... this moved the bumper up 3" as required, and it was STRAIGHT up. the bumper cover hides it all, and since it's snug, it doesn't move.

4)the soft rubber part of the front wheel wells needs some trimming to not get caught up in the suspension. It may also help to punch a hole or two on the ridgid plastic and either relocate the push in fastners that hold it together, or add a few (the rear half of the front wheelwell)

5) We had access to a lift. this made the steering extension REAL easy.
keep a few things in mind:
*the steering shaft that gets extended is a telescoping rod - after unbolting it from the firewall, just collapse it to move it out of the way to work on it.
*we ground the inside of the extension to fit over the part coming out of the firewall AND the part that fits inside the telescoping rod.
*the steering rod is KEYED - it only fits one way - be careful that it all goes back together the way it came apart, otherwise the wheel won't be straight when your truck is driving straight.

6) the body mount that is aligned with the B pillar is a BEAR to work on.... those vicegrips wouldn't allow us to get the vice grip chain around it.

7) when heating the mounts with the torch on the crivers side WATCH OUT FOR THE BRAKE LINES.

8) we flipped the back bumper (I have a class IV hitch) - i'll take pics of anythin i do to get the bumper cover back on - if it works.

nice dude, i cant wait to see the pics. i also cant wait to see how the back bumper works out, cause i might have to do the same.

 

[pickupman]

with regard to my point 1 above -

by "mounts", i mean the DISK below the mount (the "nut"). (It'd take a hell of a lot more than a pair of pliers or propane torch to remove the mount from the frame!!!

(edit) - almost forgot.... in order to get the bolts out, we used a prybar to push the disks down, so wedge the prybar between the mounts and the disks.... when we applied heat, this did a great job. BEFORE we did that, there was no way to get those things apart....



another reccomendation might also be to have several extra grade 5 bolts on hand (same length as the ones in the kit plus or minus 1/4"... possibly to eliminate having to stuff several washers under bolt heads.


We put my push bumper back on it's mounts with the original brackets - it sits 3" lower than the body (or the same place it was before the lift) - the damned brackets were a pain enough to mount!

now if only i had some good before pics....

 

[chris's2005]

with regard to my point 1 above -

by "mounts", i mean the DISK below the mount (the "nut"). (It'd take a hell of a lot more than a pair of pliers or propane torch to remove the mount from the frame!!!

(edit) - almost forgot.... in order to get the bolts out, we used a prybar to push the disks down, so wedge the prybar between the mounts and the disks.... when we applied heat, this did a great job. BEFORE we did that, there was no way to get those things apart....



another reccomendation might also be to have several extra grade 5 bolts on hand (same length as the ones in the kit plus or minus 1/4"... possibly to eliminate having to stuff several washers under bolt heads.


We put my push bumper back on it's mounts with the original brackets - it sits 3" lower than the body (or the same place it was before the lift) - the damned brackets were a pain enough to mount!

now if only i had some good before pics....

wow all you need to do is combine both of you write ups and bam you got yourself a great guide to the body lift. nice work wait till Ben aka Roadbully sees this. i bet he'll copy it to the first post. what you wrote up was exactly how my lift went. to get the "nuts" of i use a plumbers pipe wrench, it worked ok.

nothing to say other than

Chris

 

[pickupman]

if i have some time in the near future, i'll add a few notes and some photos/diagrams.....

the bumper cover is going to have a lot of photos taken...i didn't take any in progress because we were so busy trying to troubleshoot the "problems"

I do have to give the garage owner a LOT of credit for the work, he was awesome about helping - if anyone in the Cedar Rapids area needs a garage to work on a weekend project, let me know and i'll put you in contact with him - he has all the tools one can need, i think - he does a few restorations in addition to all this - his prices are reasonable, and he has a lift!! (the type that the car stradles, and the arms swing under from the sides to lift the vehicle!)

 

[pickupman]

after some checking, i should be able to hog out some of that foam pad to make the bumper cover work fine with the 2" receiver bumper flipped... it's too dang cold outside right now.... the ONLY issue i see arising is the hoops for the safety chains... and for those, i could put a couple of locking links on them, and just let them hang down.

at this point, i WILL admit, i only have 2 bolts on each side - we had to vertically elongate the 2 holes we used (the holes closest to the front of the vehicle)... the third hole (the one closest to the rear of the vehicle) would not line up. I'll probably drill through to get that to line up for the 3rd bolt, but i don't tow much, so that's a minor issue.

 

[pickupman]

here's the front mount bolts:

here's the hogged out foam

here's the trimmed plastic in the opening for the receiver and hoops

here's the final results

i need a warm day so i can get the clips on the sides to drop into place, and i need to do a little more trimming for the bottom of the frame - just going to notch for them on the bottom of the bumper cover... too damned cold tonight... it fits now,. but is stretched.

 

[hitithard]

hey quick questions when tightening the new bolts on the body lift did you guys just tighten them as far as you could or did you a have a value in ft lbs.

 

[chris's2005]

as far as i could

 

[hitithard]

thanks alot chris for the quick response cuz i just wasnt sure what to do but now i know just turn til i cant no more