Hellwig RAS Rancho 9000's installed
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Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 4,892
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From: Ohio
Hellwig RAS Rancho 9000's installed
Installed my suspension mods yesterday. It was all pretty straightforward, I love air tools!
The Hellwig instructions as had been previously mentioned aren't particularly usefull. In fact, after puzzling over the instructions and the horrendous pictures I pretty much just gave up on them. Slid the D bushings over the bar and stuck it under the truck. It all makes a lot more sense once there and it's just a matter of removing the old U bolts for the shock mount, installing the new and bolting it all together. There is only one hole in the frame that makes sense to mount the end links, so a little zzzzzipp zzzzzippp with the air ratchet and all seems to be well. Changed the shocks at the same time, I will say it's a lot easier to reinstall the shock mounts if there isn't a shock attached.
Note to Hellwig, a decent picture or 2 and a parts diagram showing what goes where is all the intructions needed. Enough with the bracket A attached with nut B nonesense!
Also changed the diff cover and added the RAS. Those instructions are excellent, not that it's very complicated. Overall the job went well, immensly helped by the fact the truck came from the south. If it was a 10yr old Ohio truck, probably would have needed torches to get some of that stuff off.
I had a bit of a rumble while coasting around 45-55 before, now it is almost completely gone with the fresh lube. (Mobil 1) I did see some wear on the axle gears when I had the cover off, no doubt that is where the rumble was coming from. Hopefully it's good for a while. Pinion seal leaks a bit, but I'm not going to worry about it as long as it's not dripping.
Got the oil at Advance auto. Worthwhile to buy it online and pick it up in the store. Not sure what the in store price is, but it is $18.99 qt online. Easy to find some sort of online coupon for them, in this case it was $20 off $50, so worked out to $55 with tax for 4 qts and they had pulled it and put it in a box when I picked it up. (sign here, have a nice day) I had called them about a part for my kid's car the other day, and the price the guy gave me was more than the online price without any coupons. So it pays to buy from them online and dig up a coupon code (google) rather than just walk in.
In the end, the RAS lifted the rear exactly 1 inch as others have stated. I set the shocks on 3 initially, will have to try some other settings sometime just for grins. The diff cover is pretty, but well hidden on my non-lifted 2WD. If it runs cooler, then it's done it's job. All in all, it seems a bit more stable in general, but wasn't a huge difference empty that I could notice in the short initial test drive. It is pretty locked down in my swerve tests, but I never tried that without so hard to tell how much difference for sure. Added this stuff with towing in mind, so we'll see how it feels with the trailer hooked up sometime soon.
Hope the pictures help somebody someday!
The Hellwig instructions as had been previously mentioned aren't particularly usefull. In fact, after puzzling over the instructions and the horrendous pictures I pretty much just gave up on them. Slid the D bushings over the bar and stuck it under the truck. It all makes a lot more sense once there and it's just a matter of removing the old U bolts for the shock mount, installing the new and bolting it all together. There is only one hole in the frame that makes sense to mount the end links, so a little zzzzzipp zzzzzippp with the air ratchet and all seems to be well. Changed the shocks at the same time, I will say it's a lot easier to reinstall the shock mounts if there isn't a shock attached.
Note to Hellwig, a decent picture or 2 and a parts diagram showing what goes where is all the intructions needed. Enough with the bracket A attached with nut B nonesense!
Also changed the diff cover and added the RAS. Those instructions are excellent, not that it's very complicated. Overall the job went well, immensly helped by the fact the truck came from the south. If it was a 10yr old Ohio truck, probably would have needed torches to get some of that stuff off.
I had a bit of a rumble while coasting around 45-55 before, now it is almost completely gone with the fresh lube. (Mobil 1) I did see some wear on the axle gears when I had the cover off, no doubt that is where the rumble was coming from. Hopefully it's good for a while. Pinion seal leaks a bit, but I'm not going to worry about it as long as it's not dripping.
Got the oil at Advance auto. Worthwhile to buy it online and pick it up in the store. Not sure what the in store price is, but it is $18.99 qt online. Easy to find some sort of online coupon for them, in this case it was $20 off $50, so worked out to $55 with tax for 4 qts and they had pulled it and put it in a box when I picked it up. (sign here, have a nice day) I had called them about a part for my kid's car the other day, and the price the guy gave me was more than the online price without any coupons. So it pays to buy from them online and dig up a coupon code (google) rather than just walk in.
In the end, the RAS lifted the rear exactly 1 inch as others have stated. I set the shocks on 3 initially, will have to try some other settings sometime just for grins. The diff cover is pretty, but well hidden on my non-lifted 2WD. If it runs cooler, then it's done it's job. All in all, it seems a bit more stable in general, but wasn't a huge difference empty that I could notice in the short initial test drive. It is pretty locked down in my swerve tests, but I never tried that without so hard to tell how much difference for sure. Added this stuff with towing in mind, so we'll see how it feels with the trailer hooked up sometime soon.
Hope the pictures help somebody someday!
Lead Driver
Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 5,420
Likes: 16
From: Ouray, CO
Looks exactly like my job yesterday too (minus the RAS).
I also notice you didn't have to worry about the driver's side
emergency brake bracket. Mine was also mounted as yours
appears in a different hole.
Interestingly, my end-links didn't attach as nicely as yours did.
I only have about half-an-inch space above the rear bump stops.
I suspect, with more lift in my rear (aka RAS) the sway bar
would even out perfectly with how yours looks.
I also found replacing the u-bolts was MUCH easier w/o the shock
attached. I installed the top bolts first, left the shock hanging,
then installed the hellwig and then muscled the shock into position.
Great photos! I think a single picture showing the
HW assembled is really all that's missing also:
nut | thick washer | frame | thin washer -| bushing |thick washer | bolt
I didn't think about using up the extra nuts - great idea.
I also notice you didn't have to worry about the driver's side
emergency brake bracket. Mine was also mounted as yours
appears in a different hole.
Interestingly, my end-links didn't attach as nicely as yours did.
I only have about half-an-inch space above the rear bump stops.
I suspect, with more lift in my rear (aka RAS) the sway bar
would even out perfectly with how yours looks.
I also found replacing the u-bolts was MUCH easier w/o the shock
attached. I installed the top bolts first, left the shock hanging,
then installed the hellwig and then muscled the shock into position.
Great photos! I think a single picture showing the
HW assembled is really all that's missing also:
nut | thick washer | frame | thin washer -| bushing |thick washer | bolt
I didn't think about using up the extra nuts - great idea.
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