Actually getting to the lift
So Saturday morning, the 15th, after we got together and made a big breakfast, me and two buddies headed out to the shop and got working.
I'm going to throw out the obligatory "use jack stands", chock wheels, wear PPE, etc here first.
Ok, that's out of the way. So we got the truck jacked up, parts out of the box and got on our way.
Here's my step-by-step to a 4" Rough Country front lift from a guy who's not really a mechanic. Just a wannabe with trying to impart some knowledge based on firsthand experience.
Tip before you start; get a box of sandwich baggies and a permanent marker. Label the bags for every nut and bolt you take off and keep those parts together. It will make life easier later.
1. Remove front wheels, unbolt shocks (completely, if you're changing them, just the top of you're leaving the old ones on for some reason), and remove the coil springs. Good, let's continue. By now you should be building some false confidence that this is going to go really, really well
Strategy for getting coil springs out...this doesn't have to be dangerous if done "correctly"
2. Begin taking off the driver side axle pivot bracket. Ok, this is my first tip for the non-mechanics out there. Ford has a TTB front end. That stands for twin traction beam. Basically, take a step back (or a scoot if you're on a creeper) and look at the front end. There is basically a long flat 'X' made by the axles. The driver side hub is connected to a pivot point on the passenger side and vice-versa. It took me like 10 minutes to realize that. At first I just thought the instructions were wrong, lol. (Yes, I will be admitting all my idiotic mistakes along the way.)
Anyway, that bracket goes pretty smoothly. Another hint though, get on Rough Country's website and print off color instructions. The one in the box look like they were photocopied off a 1970s Xerox from a picture taken with an old Polaroid. Really. Anyways, this step is wonderful for building some more false confidence.
2A. Put on the new bump stop extension when this bracket is off. The instructions will have you do it later but it's much, much easier without that bracket in the way.
Tip for getting the new bracket in; use a bottle jack on top of the radius arm and a floor jack under the driver side hub to give yourself some clearance. But for God's sake, USE CAUTION and COMMON SENSE. It's kind of unsafe but can be accomplished safely.
3. Remove the drag link from the pitman arm. Do yourself a favor and just get the pitman arm puller from Autozone. It's $14 and you get the money back when you return it (loan-a-tool service). You might need to use some rubber mallet persuasion but it comes off pretty easy.
4. While we were under there we completely removed the sway bar for some more clearance. Went ahead and sanded and repainted it too, because it "freshened" up the look for not much money.
Lonely little sway bar...
Front end minus sway bar
5. Now it's time to tackle the passenger side axle pivot bracket (this is on the driver's side of the vehicle). Ford used rivets instead of bolts and this is where it gets dicey. My advice? Go buy a cutting wheel for a hand grinder and an air hammer with a punch attachment. If you don't have one, get one. You can order them from Lowes for $15. Not great, but if you're not using it every weekend it will do the job. We spent an hour and a half on one rivet before we decided to do that. With grinding off the rivet head and air punching them out we got the others out in 5 minutes.
***Note, you will need to repaint the frame a little where you grind it. Just spray some primer on there. Don't leave shiny metal. Seriously. It takes like 5 minutes. Ok, moving on.
Here's where I'll admit some stupidity. I put the bracket on backwards first...Ya. Couldn't get the damn axle pivot point to line up....Sometimes when you work past midnight just stop.
5A. Do the other bump stop now. If you've researched Rough Country kits at all, this is the one that matters. Otherwise you risk cracking the top of your differential.
6. Time for the new radius arm brackets. If you've followed my helpful hints maybe you're moving a little quicker than I did lol.
More grinding and punching rivets. Yes, use a grinder with a cutting wheel and an air punch. Makes life so much easier. The instructions are pretty self-explanatory at this point. Once you undo the crossmember bolts it's just a lot of using jacks and finagling to get the bolts lined up. If you followed my baggy tip you should have no problem getting all your original hardware back on that you need, by the way.
7. Put in the new coil springs. If you don't have spring compressors, good luck. I'm not totally sure how you do it without them. Since I've admitted my stupidity along the way I'll point out that my buddy put in the coil seat upside down. But it's his shop & he's donated like 24 hours of his time (and it was after 11PM) so I'll let this one slide
(Yes, we took it off and put it back correctly).
8. Now you can put on your new shocks and it will look like you've really done something up there, what with the new springs and shocks
9. Duh-duh-duh (and other ominous noises).
Now it's time to tackle the friggin steering pitman arm. I don't have much good to say about this step.
The nut you need to remove is 1 1/4. You will prob need a breaker bar. The Autozone pitman arm puller I told you to get earlier? You'll need it now. By the way, consider it purchased. You will need to grind it down to make it small enough to fit in there. And then just tons of PB Blaster, muscle, and patience to get the arm off.
Getting the new arm on is a little easier. Throw some never seize on there and once you get it started just tighten the big nut and it will pull the arm up the shaft.
My friend had me turn the wheel from inside with the key forward and truck off once we got it on. It spewed power steering fluid all over, looks like from the cap. I'm really, really, really hoping it's just a weep hole in the cap and not something we permanently screwed up from banging the hell out of that arm in our frustration.
Ok, that's where I'm at now. All caught up. Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday night working past eleven. (1:30AM) three of those. Totally worth it!
When I get the chance I will put up some pictures and from now on this will be my current registry! Yee-haw!!!
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(ya, still a little pent up anger here)
