Had great weather and my brother in law this weekend so we were able to get the swap done.
Followed the instructions and tips posted here as well as used the Roughcountry 4/6" install instructions since it had good instructions, listed the tool needed and a few pictures.
My good jack failed so ended up using two smaller jacks, wood blocks etc on the project that slowed things down some. I forgot to soak the bolts that hold the AC lines up on the back passenger side, so we broke the bolt free and couldn't get the nut off on one clamp. Just had to move the line around enough to get the spring bolt out of the front.
Ended up using the X-code with an extra leaf in the front and the B-Code with mod in the rear - added the two lower leaves from the Ex and 3 of the thicker spacers per spring.
Front now sits at 40.75" - gain of 3.75" and the Rear is at 42.5" - gain of 3.25". On the back I used the tapered 4" block so most of the rear lift was from the pack mod and the 2" taller blocks.
I had the spring shop make me some heavy duty U-bolts at a little over 15" and still needed to cut about 2" off of them to get the socket on them - sawzall didn't like those hardened bolts much.
After we got it all back together I realized I forgot the lower radiator support bolts, so will have to pull the bumper again - more of a pain now since we put on the front two hitch also and it has two more bolts per side.
Test drive was good, little thump somewhere that I need to chase down. Steering wheel is about 40 degrees off now, but need to replace the tie rod so I'll get that fixed afterwards.
Ride was still stiffer than I expected, but I did use the X-Code plus leaf instead of the V-Code like others have done. Still rides better than it did before, goes straight down the road, no shakes or anything at full speed - so I think it was a success.

 

Pics? Did you take pics? I cant do anything without pics!!!

 

Ok, the new pictures are posted in my gallery.
Question for those that have done the rears before - when I got the springs there was about 1/2" of space between the springs and the nut in the center pin. So if they are sitting on the ground arch up, you could push down on them and collapse them about a 1/2 inch. After adding the extra leaves I left some of that play in there, but only 1/4"
I thought maybe that is what I was hearing on the bigger bumps - but then I wasn't sure if the top plate and U-bolts would drawn that down and eliminate the space anyway. Just a thought.

 

I got this message when I clicked on "see ____ gallery"


This user has not created their gallery.

 

Ha, I guess Albums and Galleries are different. If you click on my profile you will see the two Albums on the right.

 

What determines "full speed?"

 

Is it just me or does it seem that you have almost no room for your new shocks to compress?

The noise that your hearing on the bigger bumps might be the longer leaf on the rear hitting the rest of the spring pack. Might want to put something under there and then test drive again to rule that out.

 

Full speed was 70mph. Didn't want to go over that until I've gone back under to make sure everything is still tight. But I'm hoping that no shakes or vibrations up to that speed means that if I get up to 80 that I still won't have any issues. Not that I really like having it rolling that fast anyway.

I thought about the longer springs in the back smacking each other or the exhaust. No sign of it hitting the exhaust when it flexes so I think that's OK. I left the little pads and things on the leafs I put in the back - but I'll double-check the longer ones. It only does it on the drops into a pot hole type bumps, not on the normal driving.

On the shocks, the silver bilsteins were probably overkill - they were meant for a 6/4" lift and I only went up about 4" in the front and just over 3" in the rear. They still have plenty of upwards travel as we determined compressing them to install. Not sure if it will overwork or overstress the shock to be a little longer than needed - but my thinking was that it would be better to be a little too long, than too short and have them always stretched to their max.

 

When I got my springs the center pin as tight, and the spring pack was tight also. I would tighten the center pin so everything is tight. I dont know why yours would have all that space in them.

Brian

 

I tightened up the Ubolts again yesterday and checked all the spring bolts. Also put the radiator supports in, and found the front bumper bolts were only finger tight, whoops. Everything else on the trucks looks good and solid still. I did notice that the adjustable trackbar can rock a little in there since it's a hymn joint now, so you can rotate it against the front and the back of the bracket. drove it this morning and it made less noise - i think the bumper was a big contributer.
I'm going to see if I can fashion some type of rubber ring to go on the bracket to absorb some of the hitting. will also stick something in that rear overload spring.
I eyeballed the rear spring centerpin and it doesn't look like the hole in the perch/top plate is wide enough to get a socket in there to crank that nut down, but might be able to get some needlenose in there. didn't really want to have to pull it all apart again to tighten it up.

When I was happy that most of the clunks were gone, or identified this morning I did test the bodyroll on an empty stretch of road. held it at 40 and sawed back and forth on the wheel, truck followed nicely without any roll or oh-crap feeling when the springs load up and toss you the other way - so very happy about that!

 

Good to hear everything is good. I know that we have enjoyed the nicer ride that we have with the new springs on. Even the wife noticed right off the bat. It is good to look at the front bump stop and not see that worn out spot on the spring plate from it bottoming out all the time.

 

yeah, it's nice to have some space between the frame and stops. I was able to get the needle nose in on the rear spring center pin and tighten it up a little more.
wife didn't even notice the truck was sitting higher till she went to hook up the trailer sunday and found we needed to lower the ball. I am liking the better ride and stability now too.
gonna see if I have time to get the 285s on this weekend too and finish the look.
I'll get to the tierod one of these days.

 

Had to make a 30 mile run down the interstate last night and traffic was rolling so I pushed the truck up to 80 to see if it was still smooth. At 82 though it started to shake. I went up to 86 to see if it would smooth back out, but it got bad enough that I slowed back down for fear of shaking something loose.
I haven't gotten the alignment done yet and it was a brief enough shot that I didn't have a chance to determine if it was something in the front, or the rear causing the vibration. Usually never go over 75 in the truck anyway, but it sounds like there is something that still needs tweaked, so I'll check it out after I replace the tierod and realign the front. I guess realign isn't technically correct - the truck drives straight, it's just the steering wheel that is off now. but I'm sure the alignment will need touched after the tierod.
is the only way to pull the wheel back to center - if nothing else is off - to make the adjustment at the pitman?