I installed a 2wd leveling kit on my 01 2wd over the weekend, and just wanted to share my experience with you guys.

I bought it through ebay from fatbobsgarage, which i believe is a site sponsor.

First thing i noticed, was that the stud extension was about 1/8 too long.




This allowed the washer to sit too high and allowed the coil spring to float around and not sit square.



I knew there wasn't a chance I was going to shorten that extender, I'm guessin it's grade 8. So I took the stock spacer / washer and ground the oblong part off, and put it under the plastic spacer. This made the spacers more like 2 1/8.




After that, I was able to take up most of the distance between the washer and the spacer, and the coils lined up nicely.




Before:




After:




Looking at it this morning, it looks like there is still a bit of a gap between the spring and the spacer,
hopefully it isn't enough to let the spring move around.

I've got her scheduled for an alignment in the morning, it's clearly way, way out.

 

Good work Joe ,you think you can get under her now to change the oil without a jack ?

 

Yea, definitely.

As a matter of fact, while under it this weekend, I noticed that someone had
installed a transmission cooler. BONUS!

 

Cool

 

Looks good, Joe. I'm not sure I understand the part about "grinding off the oblong part".

Oh... I have confirmed with FB's that the extenders are in fact Grade 8.

I received my kit from FB's last week, and will be investigating the options of purchasing UHMW round stock and making my own spacer kits.

Turning the UHMW stock on the wood lathe will be a snap, and I think I can improve on FB's design by not using a square shouldered recess underneath the spacer... have to check it out carefully, though, before I know for sure. I also have a neighbor who has his own thermoplastics company and he may be able to custom machine the pieces for me for less than I can buy the plastic myself.

The real trick is in geting a good price on the stud extenders - those little buggers have been really hard to find. I've also been looking for a single hardened replacement bolt of the correct length as an even better option because that would let you get away from the two-part fastener created by using the extenders. No firm info on either the stud extenders or the replacement bolts yet, though, but I'm still investigating.

Either way, I have a kit and I will definitely be installing it before much longer. Need to wait and see if I can go ahead and get a set of 4 Bilsteins to go in at the same time before the Shockwarehouse sale ends this month. If I can't get the shocks, the kit will go in as-is.

 

Once you get your stock rubber / plastic insulator off, you'll see that it has an egg shape that is designed to keep the coil spring from moving around.

Mine didn't have a square shoulder, it had a flat side that I assumed was to line up with the flat area of the spring, but it would seem that it was mfg. to such loose tolerances that it didn't matter what way you turned it.

Also, you'll find that without the extender in there to fill the slop, the spacer moves around on the bottom mount too much.

 

In the second pic, it almost looks like too much up front! Probably the angle and the way the wheels are turned. Did you get it aligned yet?

 

Here's another angle:



I'm getting an alignment 1st thing tomorrow morning.

 

Thanks, Joe. The fit is one thing I will definitely address if I start making these things. I DETEST sloppy fits, and it just doesn't make sense to me to allow for sloppy fit on a suspension part.

I'm looking forward to digging in on mine and seeing just how much I can improve the fit.

 

did you keep the stock alignment cams? I am interested to see if they can get it back in alignment without aftermarket cams.

 

Looks great Joe. I was wondering why you didn't come over and help with my heads....you had your hands full Sorry I missed out on the install.

Looks like you got the yard mowed before it rained too.......I was not so fortunate.

 

Pete, when you get a kit together, I'm your Huckelberry.

Just lemme know when it's a go. Cash is tight right now so I'm in no hurry, besides, if you can get the cost of your kit even close to the ebay kits, it's a no brainer.

Stewart

 

Looks good Joe, nice work.

 

Stewart... thanks. I won't be doing anything with the kit at all unless I can offer either "a significant design improvement at the same price" or "an improved design at a lower price" than that on eBay.

I'm short on time right now, too, so this will be a spring/summer type project for me. In fact, now that I have the stud extenders, I want to visit a few local machine shops to see what they can do for me on a small quantity basis.

 

Good job Joe. I bought the same kit from him and installed it within one hour when The brown truck brought it. I love the way my dually looks now.