It's even worse here in Chesapeake, Va. I got a quote of $650 for the kit and installation. Walked right out. I don't mind someone making a coupla bucks, but I'm not putting their kids to college by myself.

 

Cool! ...but what about the sunny beach? Ha I thought so...the deal is off! LOL!

 

Holy sheep *****!!

I'd put those on all day long for $500 a pop labor! At a stadard mechanic's hourly bill rate of $40, that says the install will take 12.5 man hours!!!! Even in my driveway I doubt it will take me more than 3-4.

Tell those dudes to go pound sand!

 

They quoted you that to install the poly spacers only???? Dang!!!! I need to raise my prices. I have a dealer special right now for $1200...we pick up their truck, they get our front 2.5" lift installed, set of (4) 285/70R17's all mounted on OEM wheels, balanced, aligned, washed and delivered back to their dealership.

And people say California shops are high priced... I think we in Cali are forced to be very competative because their are just too many very hungry shops willing to do work for less since less profit always beats no profit.

As a shop owner and 16+ years as a dealership tech/machinist/racer/fabricator...This is what I would concider a fair price range. If I was installing our products I would either greatly reduce the labor or install for free in most cases. I do this not because I make so much on the products...it is more for the good word of mouth advertising I would get, which eventually relates to increased sales/profits.

Spacer Kit $130-175
Install labor $75-100
Alignment $40-50
Total $245-325

Take Care,
Brian at www.ProtechEZLift.com

 

It is actually "best" but not necessary to do a full 4wheel alignment whether the rear is adjustable or not. The readings just tend to be more accurate with alignment heads on all four corners. Most trucks/SUV's rear are "not" adjustable at all so whether you lift it or it is stock you really do not need to pay extra for a four wheel alignment if the two wheel alignment is cheaper. Two wheel is sufficient.

Another note: Basically the Toe setting is the most dramaticaly changed when lifting most trucks/SUV and it could be set with a good tape measure stretched across the front then back side of the tire with the truck driven straight then stopped slowly with the wheels straight ahead. I usually set the toe before even taking to align.

Take Care,
Brian at www.ProtechEZLift.com

 

nice design Brian, how thick do the spacers need to be for a full 2.5" lift. I ordered the Autospring 2" spacer that mount on top of the strut plate because I wanted the same stock preload and springrate but the 2" spacers give over 3" lift and when going over speedbumps or potholes the upper control arm overextends and hits the coil. I'm ready to send them back and go with the preloaded spring design that prevents overextension. Problem is I want to maintain as much of the stock soft springpreload as possible. You have manufactured both designs, whats your opinion on this? Thanks

 

Hello 04abqscrew,

Thanks! I tried some designs with top load style spacers on the F150 and quickly learned that is not the best design for this application. I personally would not go over about .5-.75" of top spacer because of the hyper extension issues. This suspension is not very forgiving when trying to force more down travel than what the OE strut will allow. You mentioned the issue with the upper control arm hitting the spring. This I am very familular with since it has always been an issue with lifting late model Toyotas...especially the Tundra/Sequoia since like the ford the spring diameter is very large. Our answer was a limit strap to slow/stop the down travel just shy of contact. This has worked well for the people whom wheeled their trucks hard and heard contact often. As for the F150 ...along with the noise from this I would also question the effect on CV and ball joint life. They do not have much travel before binding solid.

Our 2.5" lift is just over 2" thick overall but 1/3 of that thickness is where the OEM rubber spring seat is resessed into a deep pocket. The actual preload aspect of our design is about 1.5". As stated the ride quality is very good and there is no overextension problems at all. Our 3" design...still in R&D will have a small .250-.350" top spacer as well to gain another .5+" over the 2.5" all preload design. I am also going to test a slightly thicker (.5-.75) top spacer today with longer studs in the top mount and check it out wheeling this weekend. This should net 3.25-3.5" of very useable lift without overextension. I may include a limit strap with this kit just to slow the down travel so it does not feel like the shock is topping out over very rough terrain or speed bumps etc.

I would never say anything bad about another company...but the 2" all top load design is doomed from the start and I am sure you will see a redesign very soon after they get some feedback about the noise issues etc...

Tke care,
brian at www.ProtechEZLift.com

 

PS...I added some photos of our spacer kit to my gallery...

 

protech03... I used just the top half of the Daystar kit which is 1 1/4" thick and have not noticed any problems. When you put a larger spacer on top of the coil spring you will lose shock extension because the shock is extended(when your truck is parked) by the amount of the spacer. The coil spring will still be compressed the same as stock once the weight of the truck is back on the strut assembly. The coil spring does not get compressed more by the spacer, the shock piston just extends upward. Granted when the assembly is out of the truck you have to compress the spring to get it back together because the shock is fully extended. If you went and measured a stock trucks coil spring length(on the truck), say its 12". Now add a 1.5" spacer right on top of the coil springs. The length of the spring will still be 12", not 10.5". When the strut assembly is out of the truck the coil is say 15"(with the shock holding it because the shock is topped out) put a 1.5" spacer in, now its 13.5"(preloaded). Put it back on the truck, let the weight of the truck back down on it, and its back to 12". Same stiffness as stock, but less shock travel.

 

Brian, thanks for all the feedback, it's great to get all the feedback from somebody who has so much experience with all these combinations. David, the owner of Cornfed told me the same thing in regards to overextension(topload) issues versus stiffening up the ride(springload), he's steering completely clear of putting any topload spacer on the F150's, better to have a slightly stiffer ride than overextend your CV's and balljoints. I like the idea of trying get a little more lift with a small topload spacer.
have to disagree on that spring length with a spacer Dgdee, if you have a two inch spacer in the springpack, the spring will only be 12' with the weight of the truck on it versus 14" without the the spacer, so the spring has two inches more preload on it making it a little stiffer. Brian and David would know, they've been doing this for many many years on the Toyota's. I've seen the Toyotas with the 3" spacers crammed into the springpack and it's obvious they are compressed way more and under a tremendous amount of preload, with the weight of the truck on them, the spring is alot shorter with the spacer.
Brian, I'll get back with you on ordering some ProTechs when I return these Autosprings.

 

04abqscrew... You might go take a look at the 04' front suspension design. The shock will have to extend upward to make room for the spacer. If the shock could not travel upward any further, while the truck is sitting there in your driveway, then you would have to compress the spring down in order to fit the spacer in. If it did what you are saying... quote
" if you have a two inch spacer in the springpack, the spring will only be 12' with the weight of the truck on it versus 14" without the the spacer, so the spring has two inches more preload on it making it a little stiffer."

where does the lift come from?? The length of your coil spring determines your ride height, compress your coil spring down to 6" and see how high your truck sits. Here's another way to see it more clearly. While your truck is sitting there, put some spring compressors on the coil springs so they can't expand. Now jack up the front of the truck, the shock will extend out/upward(because its attached to the plate which is attached to the frame) which will leave a space between the plate that sits on top of the coil spring(where the rubber cup sits up in, and will still be up in there) and the top of the coil spring. Now insert your spacer in this gap and let the truck back down. Now take off the spring compressors and the coil springs will be exactly like they were before. The only difference is that your shock is now extended upward because your truck is sitting higher because of the spacer you stuck in there. If you compress your coil spring 2" then add a 2" spacer you are right back where you started from, where's the lift? You're losing shock travel with this design, trust me. Go out and jack your truck up. It takes awhile before the front tire comes off the ground, why? Because this is when your shock has run out of travel. Now if you were to install a spacer with the shock fully extended then you would have to compress the spring to get it to fit. But these shocks are designed to be at mid stroke with the weight of the truck on the coil springs. Hope this helps. I would love to hear you or protech03's detailed desription of how you think it compresses the spring more than a stock spring.

 

PROTECH - I was getting ready to purchase daystar's full 2.5" lift kit. I noticed on your web site that you only have a leveling kit. Do you have a full lift? What would make your product better than daystar?

Thanks

 

to all the self installers- anybody have the torgue specs for the steering linkage, ball joints and lug nuts? if not, is there a link i can go to find? i'm putting the daystar on and my dealer is not the easiest place to get something done, i don't even want to ask them any questions. also, how many of you guys' salesman told you about fords' free front end alignment anytime before 12000 miles? they told me this is a fomoco policy. thinking about using it after daystar install.

 

Tie rod end nut 111 ft/lbs
upper ball joint 85 ft/lbs
Shock absorber upper mounting plate-to-frame nuts 35 ft/lbs
lug nuts 150 ft/lbs
shock absorber-to-lower arm bolt and nut 351 ft/lbs ?????
This last one is questionable, I would guess its a misprint. I got these from a guy on the other site who has the shop manual on cd. I tightened my lower shock nut to 150 ft/lbs and then tried to get it tighter with a break over bar, it was tight. I took my truck to the Ford dealer and told them I thought it felt like it was pulling left. So they checked it out and said the toe-in was way off. Most new vehicles have a free alignment for the first 12k miles. I even carried my strut assemblies to the dealer and had them compress the springs down in order to replace the 3 bolts.

 

As per the Helm F150 workshop manual, page 204-00-3, the shock absorber-to-lower arm bolt and nut torque value is indeed 351 lb-ft. No typo.