1. Disconnect negative battery
cable, then positive battery cable.
2. Remove air bag fuse from the fuse
box.
3. Remove the air cleaner assembly.
4. Strap your steering wheel securely to both grab
handles and the brake so that it doesn't move after you have
loosed the top bolt on the steering shaft.
5. Mark the steering shaft at the top with chalk to ensure
proper alignment after the lift in case any movement
occurs. In the picture below for Step 6, you can see the
chalk marks above and below the splines on the steering
shaft.
6. Loosen the top bolt holding the upper splines of the
steering shaft in place. (Circled in yellow above.) This
will allow the steering shaft to extend when you lift the
body.
7. Disconnect the power steering reservoir from it's mount.
(Slide it up and out.)
8. Remove the two screws and brake vacuum line guard from
the passenger side of the frame located just inside the
passenger side fender well.
Picture taken after the lift was installed.
9. Remove the two bolts holding the line brackets in place.
The bolts in the yellow circles are from the removed line
guard. (I screwed them back into their holes so they
wouldn't get lost. The bolts in the blue circles are what
you want to remove to allow slack for the brackets to move.
10. Follow the lines above rear-ward along the frame rail and
pop out the brackets from their attachments along the
frame rail.
|
 |
 |
11. Remove the two bolts holding the
driveshaft safety loop to the floorboards.
Just leave the safety loop hanging downward for now.
12. Remove the front bumper. The following is a picture with
the front bumper removed.
13. Remove the wheel well liners.
14. Remove the lower radiator fan shroud. It is about 2"
wide by about 18" long.
Removing
the lower fan shroud allows you to skip all of the radiator
relocation steps. You will just leave that lower fan shroud
off after the body lift is complete.
15. Remove the one screw and one clip from the passenger
side floor kick panel. Peel back the carpet to expose the
middle cab body mount bolt cover.
|
 |
 |
16. Remove the one screw
and one clip from the passenger side floor kick panel. Peel
back the carpet to expose the middle cab body mount bolt
cover.
17. Remove the two upper bolts attaching the outside support
bracket to the body. Do this for each side. The support
bracket is located on the rear cab body mounting bolt.
Although I removed mine, you can leave the nuts circled in yellow alone. The bolts
you want to remove are located directly above those and are
attached to the body.
18. Remove the rear bumper and disconnect the rear license
plate lights.
19. Remove the bumper brackets and tow hitch if you have one
installed. NOTE: This step may not be necessary if you do a little modification
invented by KingSlayer over on NOR, but I had to do it to
get my torque wrench to fit in the tight space.
20. Remove the three screws from the fuel filler neck and
the bed. (Screw locations circled in yellow) The vent lines
and guard do not need to be removed.
Some people may
have enough slack in their fuel filler line to accommodate
the 2" of lift, but mine didn't.
Just leave the
fuel filler lines resting on the tire for now.
21. Remove the 2 nuts from the 2 front most cab body bolts.
Do not remove the bolts. There will be two (one on each
side) in the front.
(Picture shows block and new longer bolt already
installed)
22. Remove the 2 nuts (one on each side) from the 2
middle cab body bolts. Do not remove the bolts.
23. Loosen the rear cab
body bolt on the passenger side. Do not remove the bolt.
(Picture shows new bolts and brackets already installed)
24. Remove the rear cab body bolt from the driver side. The
outside support bracket will come off now that the bolt is
out.
(Picture shows new bolts and brackets already installed)
25. Attach two of the four outside body support bracket
extensions using the same stock bolts that held the support
bracket to the body. Do not tighten. The four brackets
inside the blue square pictures below are the four outside
support bracket extensions.
26. Remove the middle cab body bolt from the driver
side. I used a hammer to tap the bolt upward to loosen in
from the plastic cover on top of it.
27. Remove the front driver side body bolt.
(Picture shows block and new longer bolt already
installed)
28. Raise the driver side slowly with a jack and a block
of wood on top of it. This is where it helps to have someone
watching the engine compartment for things getting too tight
and listening for things straining while you are raising the
body.
29. When there is enough space for the 2" round blocks to
fit between the mount points and the body at the thee cab
locations, insert them. Do not lower the body yet.
30. Add lock-tite to the threads and place the rear cab
driver side body bolt through the bolt opening on
the outside body support bracket and install the bolt up
through the block and into the threads. Do not tighten. I had to use more
washers than pictured because the supplied bolt was a little
too long.
31. Install the nuts onto the bolts that are attached to the
support bracket and secure the bracket to the bracket
extensions using the 5/16" x 1" bolts, 5/16" washers, and
5/16" nuts. Do not tighten.
Here's a pic from the side:
32. Insert the middle cab driver side body bolt down through
the hole by the kick panel. Screw the nylock nut onto the
bolt. Do not tighten.
33. Insert the front cab driver side body bolt down through
the front body mount hole. Screw the nylock nut onto the
bolt. Do not tighten.
34. Lower the driver side body onto the blocks.
35. Remove the rear cab body bolt from the passenger side. The
outside support bracket will come off now that the bolt is
out.
36. Attach two of the four outside body support bracket
extensions using the same stock bolts that held the support
bracket to the body. Do not tighten.
37. Remove the middle cab body bolt from the passenger
side. I used a hammer to tap the bolt upward to loosen in
from the plastic cover on top of it.
38. Remove the front passenger side body bolt.
39. Raise the passenger side slowly with a jack and a block
of wood on top of it. Watch out for the clips holding the
brake and vacuum lines snapping in the engine compartment. I
had to loosen the lines from their snap-in mounts in these
locations:
Also watch out for the lines that are behind the line guard
that you removed. I had to remove one of the snaps that was
holding four of them together.
Lines behind the line guard in their stock position:
Lines behind the line guard after the lift:
To a certain extent you can uncoil the lines inside
the engine compartment after you're done with the body lift
and try to get them close to where they were in the stock
positions.
40. When there is enough space for the 2" round blocks to
fit between the mount points and the body at the thee cab
locations, insert them. Do not lower the body yet.
41. Add lock-tite to the threads and place the rear cab
driver side body bolt through the bolt opening on
the outside body support bracket and install the bolt up
through the block and into the threads. Do not tighten.
Again, I had to use more
washers because the supplied bolt was a little
too long.
42. Install the nuts onto the bolts that are attached to the
support bracket and secure the bracket to the bracket
extensions using the 5/16" x 1" bolts, 5/16" washers, and
5/16" nuts. Do not tighten.
43. Insert the middle cab passenger side body bolt down through
the hole by the kick panel. Screw the nylock nut onto the
bolt. Do not tighten.
44. Insert the front cab passenger side body bolt down through
the front body mount hole. Screw the nylock nut onto the
bolt. Do not tighten.
45. Lower the driver side body onto the blocks.
46. Measure the cab to bed distance to make sure it matches
the measurements taken earlier. If it doesn't then nudge the
cab until it does. I also looked down each side of the truck
from the rear to make sure one side of the cab wasn't
sticking out more than the other.
47. Tighten the 6 cab body bolts to 55Lb/Ft.
48. Tighten the bolts for the side support brackets to
19Lb./Ft. (Bolts circled in yellow bellow) The bolts will
crimp into the lower body seam. Don't worry about it.
49. AC's directions tell you to use the two brackets with
one screw in them to "install the brake and vacuum lines"
behind the line guard. Here are those brackets:
I still have not figured out how these friggin' things are
supposed to be installed. I just uncoiled the lines in the
engine compartment enough so that I could put the clip back
on that holds the four lines and put the line guard back on.
50. Tighten the bolt holding the upper splines of the
steering shaft in place. (Circled in yellow above.) You will
notice that the shaft has probably extended approximately
1/2".
51. Secure the power steering reservoir to its bracket two
inches lower. I used three zip ties.
I need to figure out a better solution. The zip ties work,
it just seems cheesey.
52. Remove the loosened driveshaft safety loop from its
holder and bend it so that the ends are closer together. I
did this by putting one of the ends with the hole against my
concrete driveway and putting all my weight on it in a
progression of ape-like squats. I had to bend and unbend the
loop as I climbed under the truck each time to see if it
would fit.
53. Put the safety loop back into it's holder. Have fun
figuring out how to twist it and turn it so it gets back in
there.
53. Attach the safety loop using the two 2" metal tubes, two
washers, and the two bolts.
The driver side safety loop bolt was easy, but the passenger
side was difficult to get threaded because it is so close to
the fuel filter guard. (trouble spot circled in yellow). I
had to turn the bolt using an open end wrench in 1/8 turn
increments until it got past that fuel filter housing.
Passenger side & driver side safety loop bolts installed
with extensions:
54. Install the passenger side and driver side interior
floor kick panels.
55. Remove bungee straps from steering wheel.
Steps
for lifting the bed:
56. Loosen but do not remove the six bed mounting bolts and
nuts.
57. Remove the three passenger side bed body bolts. There
will be circular rubber pads that come off with the bed
mounting bolts - keep these to reinstall with the lift
blocks, otherwise your bed will end up being that little bit
lower than the cab. I know - I left them out the first time
and had to redo the bed.
58. Raise the passenger bed side slowly with a jack and a
block of wood on top of it.
If you don't have a shell on your bed you may be able to
just lift up the bed while a second person slides the blocks
in.
59. When there is enough space for the 2" round blocks to
fit between the mount points and the body at the thee bed
locations, insert them. Do not lower the body yet.
If you are close to being able to insert the blocks, but
have run out of lift on your jack, you can push down on the
frame and it should give you the clearance to insert the
blocks.
60. Install the three passenger side bed body bolts up
through the holes and blocks. Unlike how the OEM bolts go
down through the frame with the head of the bolt on top, the
new longer body bolts get inserted up through the frame with
the bolt head on bottom and the nut on top. Do not tighten.
61. Lower the passenger side bed body onto the blocks.
62. Repeat steps 57 - 61 for the driver side bed body bolts.
63. Measure the cab to bed distance to make sure it matches
the measurements taken earlier. If it doesn't then nudge the
bed until it does. I also looked down each side of the truck
from the rear to make sure one side of the bed wasn't
sticking out more than the other.
64. Tighten all six bed bolts to 85lb./ft.
Pictures of bed body blocks installed: Driver side
front bed body blocks:
Passenger side front bed body blocks:
Diver side middle and rear bed body blocks:
Passenger side middle and rear bed body blocks:
Comparison of stock rear bed body bolt and one for the lift:
Middle and rear bed body blocks installed:
65. To install the four bed overload blocks on the frame
over the wheel wells, remove the four stock pads from the
frame. They have two bolts each.
66. Have the new overload blocks tack welded to the frame
only.
I had this done at a local muffler shop for $5.
67. Remove the stock fuel filler line from the gas tank and
gas cap end and replace with the longer hose and real hose
clamps.
68. Re-attach the gas cap end back into the door with the
three stock screws.
69. Do not re-attach the rear hitch or bumper yet - I will
show you below how to raise it.
70. Re-install air cleaner assembly.
71. Re-install air box fuse.
72. Connect battery cables.
73. Check all your body bolts to make sure they are torques
to the correct specs. Do this again after 500 miles.
74. Start up your truck and make sure everything is
functional and nothing is rubbing/leaking/exploding.
Modifying the
rear bumper brackets for the 2" lift:
On the stock bumper brackets I drilled two new holes 1"
higher on the end the bumper attaches to.
I drilled two new holes 1" lower on the end that attaches to
the fame.
I only had to drill two holes on the frame end because there
was already a hole 1" lower for the third, (rear-most,) bolt
hole attaching it to the frame.
The yellow circles are the stock bolt hole locations:
Shortly after performing this mod, I noticed two wear marks
on my tailgate. They were from the tailgate resting on the
bumper. Apparently for my truck the two inches of bumper
lift this mod gave me was too high. I put the bumper end
back into it's original holes. (The ones in yellow on the
left in the pic above.) Now the tailgate doesn't hit the
bumper anymore and it still looks better than if I'd left it
at the stock height with the 2" BL.
DIY front wheel
well liner guards for the 2" lift:
I bought some 40mil PVC flexible bathtub liner from Home
Depot. It comes in a four foot wide roll and I bought a four
foot length of it for $20. That gave me two 2'x2' sections.
I also picked up some extra plastic snaps/fasteners form the
hardware store.
I placed the stock liners onto the 2'x2' sections and used
the holes as a template to cut slits in the new liner. Once
I attached the new liners, then I trimmed off the excess.
Driver side liner:
Passenger side liner:
I left the excess liner circled in yellow to help protect
the lines behinds the line guard that are still a little
exposed. I have since trimmed that excess off.
Bumper
Relocation Bracket for Stock Front Bumper:
(Pictures courtesy of Yell01fronty from NOR)
You can buy the front bumper relocation brackets for the
stock bumper or you can make your own. These are the
brackets you can buy:
Bracket installed:
2 in BL Radiator Drop Down
(Write-Up
by Yell01fronty from NOR)
1. Battery should still be disco'd from BL install,
remove battery from tray. Remove overflow bottle and
radiator cap.
2. Under the truck, remove the skid plate (10mm)
3. Once removed you can access the lower portion of
the fan shroud, it's a half circle that snaps into the
upper shroud about half way up. There are 2 clips that
push in towards the fan and pull out to remove.
4. Remove gap liner from cross member- it's held in
with plastic body clips. (carefully so you can re-use
them).
5. Using a suitable container drain the radiator.
(Use a funnel so it doesn't splash off cross member)
6. Remove upper radiator supports (10mm) and upper
shroud bolts from radiator.
7. Loosen upper radiator hose clamp and remove from
radiator.
8. Remove upper shroud being cautious not to
damage/bend radiator fins.
9. Loosen lower radiator hose clamp at the block
extension, leave attached to radiator.
10. Auto trans - Remove lower transmission cooler
lines if so equipped.
11. Remove foam from around radiator.
12. You can now remove the radiator...clean out any
debris that may be collecting between the radiator and
the condenser.
13. (optional) I took the time to clean out the
radiator fins of numerous bug parts and debris as well.
There was a ton in there.
14. Now looking down into the space where the
radiator sat you will see a ledge w/ 2 holes for the
lower radiator mounting pegs to sit in. This is what you
will be cutting off. (re-use the stock rubber grommets)
15. Using a plasma cutter...uhhh ok,
ok - in a perfect world. LOL! Use a high speed 3 in cut
off wheel, cut off the tabs and approximately ¼ in of
the ledge x the length of the radiator. This needs to be
removed so the radiator can slide down past this ledge.(
Measure the length of your radiator for the right
distance and go about ¼ in on each side farther.)
16. Spray the cut edge with black spray paint to
prevent rust.
17. The instructions say to mark and drill the lower
bracket and lower core support and attach with provided
self tapping screws. Mine came with one screw. I decided
to weld the bracket instead. I placed it and clamped it
and tack welded it in and checked the fit, then tacked it
in with 3 ½ in welds, one in back and 2 in front.
18. Place the bracket evenly on the lower core
support and sticking into the engine compartment ¼ in
past the ledge. (If looking straight down into bay you
should see it slightly) Mark your holes and drill and
attach or clamp and tack it in place. Test fit radiator
to ensure it will sit straight.
19. Modify upper radiator shroud. There are 2 molded
tabs that need to be cut off to allow the shroud to fit
flush with the radiator.
20. Re-install the radiator into the lower bracket
holes using the stock rubber grommets. Attach radiator
up top with supplied square tubing spacers and stock
upper radiator brackets. (You may have to slightly re-bend
brackets for good fitment.)
Upper Mounts:
Lower Drop Bracket:
All back together...you can see the bottom of rad
close up against the lower core support:
21. Re-install upper fan shroud, test fit the fan to
shroud to radiator fitment to ensure proper clearance
for operation.
22. Re-install lower hoses, upper hose and verify
radiator drain plug is tight. Re-install battery and
then the overflow bottle. The bottle has a nipple on the
bottom that fits into the fender if it isn't lining up
for you.
23. Check all hose connections and bolts, refill
radiator and overflow bottle accordingly.
24. Re-attach lower fan shroud and then lower liner
with stock body clips.
25. Re-install skid plate. Recheck for any clearance
issues or leaks. Congrats, it's done! Top off coolant if
needed.
|
