Competition Suspension Lift
- Place truck on flat level surface.
- Disconnect left and right front sway bar end links and rotate front sway bar up and out of the way. (Picture 1)
- Lift the front end of the truck off the ground making sure the front tires are 2 to 3 inches above the ground and secure the frame with jack stands on both sides and place blocks in the front and rear of rear tires so the truck will not roll.
- Remove driver’s side front tire.
- Place a jack under the driver’s side lower control arm and raise the jack 1 to 2 inches. Note the distance between stock upper a-arm to coil bucket with stock coil over assembly.
- Unbolt 3 nuts that secure the upper coil over assembly to upper mount that is a part of the frame. Make sure not to unbolt the large center nut holding strut assembly together. (Picture 2)
- Remove cotter pin from upper ball joint, unbolt nut securing upper ball joint to spindle assembly.
- Using ball joint puller , dislodge upper ball joint from top of spindle and rotate the upper a arm up while making sure spindle does not move.
- Unbolt coil over assembly from lower a arm.
- Gently lower jack located under lower a arm and slide out stock coil over assembly.
- Locate two holes in the upper control arm. Using 3/8” tap with 16 pitch thread tap the hole closest to upper ball joint.
- Make sure to thread one of the low profile bump stops provided in the kit from below the a arm into the hole closest to the upper ball joint. (This will not be necessary if uniball upper a arms are used.) (Uniball arms are not included in this kit; they are optional and are sold separately). (Picture 3)
- Using appropriate coil compressor, compress your stock coil located in stock coil over shock.
- Only when the coil is compressed can the upper nut holding upper coil mount to coil over shock be removed.
- Compress new coil provided with the kit. (Picture 4)
- Adjust the height of the lower spring seat on new extended coil over shock using the two adjustment lower spring seat nuts so that the bottom of the lower spring seat is approximately 2.25” away from the end of coil over shock tube. This is the starting point for setting the ride height of the front end. (Picture 5)
- Slide the new coil over shock inside newly compressed heavy duty coil. Reinstall the upper stock coil seat which was removed from stock coil over assembly.(Picture6)
- Line up the indentation of the lower spring seat with the mark on the stock upper spring seat and tighten the assembly with the new upper nut provided in the kit. Marks must face forward so the lower coil over mount and the upper spring seat studs line up with appropriate mounting locations. (Picture 6)
- Gently release the coil compressors and the tension on new heavy duty coil assembly.
- Your new coil over shock comes with heim joints built into the lower mount; it also comes with two step down adapters, one on each side, which are used to reduce the diameter of the lower mount hole to 14mm. It also comes with 4 washers which are to be installed two on each side. All of the parts are strapped to the lower coil over mount and will need to be installed when attaching lower coil over mount to the mount in the lower a arm. (Picture 7)
- Slide the upper portion of the coil over assembly into the upper coil over mount. Using 3 small nuts that came with your stock upper coil spring seat secure the new coil over assembly to upper coil over mount, hand tighten first.
- Secure the lower coil over assembly to the lower a arm mount with stock 14mm bolt and nut. (Picture 8)
- Reconnect the upper ball joint/ a arm assembly to the upper spindle mount. Install the stock retaining nut on the shaft of the stock upper ball joint, torque to factory specifications and install cotter pin as before it was removed.
- Tighten the upper and lower coil over mounts to factory specifications. Note the distance is reduced between upper a-arm and upper coil bracket with new coil over shock. This demonstrates increased scoop with new coil over and this is why new bump stops are needed.
- Repeat steps 4 to 24 on passenger side.
- Install the front sway bar end links and front tires.
- Set all four tires on level ground. Check the distance between the stock upper a arm and upper coil bucket, it should be no more than 5/8”.
- If the distance is less than 5/8” lower the lower spring seat. If the distance is more than 5/8” raise the lower spring seat by adjusting the two lower spring seat nuts. (All adjustments should be done while coils are being compressed with a coil compressor). When desired ride height is reached, lock the two lower spring seat spanner nuts from moving. Adjusting the ride height to the maximum possible will result in a loss of downward travel; this will cause a rougher ride and possible damage to suspension & shocks.
- Make sure all nuts and bolts are tightened to factory specifications.
- Once the front end suspension components are installed, have a qualified alignment shop align the vehicle.
Note: Alignment is performed by adjusting lower a arm cam bolts which come stock on most 2005 models, some of the newer models do not contain these cam bolts from factory and will need to be purchased and installed to perform alignment (they are available for purchase through AC at www.4x4parts.com or through your local dealer.
Note: If upper a-arm is allowed to sit on coil bracket when adjustment is done this can damage new coil over shock when vehicle is driven hard.