OK, I did my 5' MBRP turbo back w/o helper. Did the new SD bed w/o a helper, been known to rebuild a Harley half drunk and without any smokes. Modified my wheelwells for 35's, no lift. Used an old blender and chainsaw to make a margarita machine. Once put a 350 in a Jaguar (OK, that was easy) Anyone who put the difficulty level of installing a leveling kit at 1 out of 5 must put "total engine rebuild in the field" a 3, converting a Focus to 7.3 turbo motivation a 4 and understanding the new healthcare plan a 4.5. God only knows what would rate a 5, probably being the creator of everything, he would know. Total carnage to date, 3 snapped straps, 2 snapped come-a-longs, 1 snapped vice grip, 1 snapped Ford owner, 1 creeper now in pool, 1 BFH in pool as well, and I still have to pull my downpipe because some previous owner mother@$#$ put the bolts in backakards. just like I had to pull front driveshaft for the same reason. But, dang, the truck sho is looking taller. I was running 35's with minor fenderwell mods, now I think my new 37's might just fit.

As long as I'm halfway there I'm going to do the ball joints as a relaxing finale to this weekends thrash. Bring on the air hammer, homegrown pipe flange seal tool, beer and chuck-able tools!!
As long as I'm on my rant, if someone borrow/steals your impact wrench, go to Harbor fright, theirs beats the heck out of that gnome depot crap, just saying, if 140psi wont remove a LUG NUT, they need to change the name from Husky to P*#$y.

Rant over and out

LL from deep in the heat of Texas

 

I feel your pain. Just finished installing a leveling kit on my co-workers truck. It was not fun. We also broke his come-a-long, but it looks good.

 

Someone clue me in to why the leveling kit install is so hard?

 

The springs shift left upon disconnection, then it requires a team of mules to move them back. I got one side on bay jacting the axle up over and over until it was close enough to lever it it. First attempt with come-a-long actually SLID the truck on jackstands towards my anchor (and me), changed my shorts and went back at it.

LL

 

what type of kit? shackles, spring pack........?

 

Shackles, the parts are great, its just the install that can be a bear, for some people it apparently goes well.

 

So if it is known that the springs shifts left (to the outside of truck, no?) when the eye bolt is removed, why not just chain the spring pack and secure it to the reverse side of the truck suspension or even the other spring? Then put the shackle in, re-bolt and your done.

 

If it is anything like my adventures it is never known before it happens. Then there is always a comment something like "if I would have known that would have happened....."

 

Dang Lucas, a 5' exhaust? 60" is pretty big

I still need to install a leveling kit on my wife's truck. Luckily I don't have a pool to lose stuff in so perhaps my install will go a little easier. So what brand kit did you go with? Have you taken it for a spin yet, or are you waiting till tomorrow for the test drive?

Chainsaw into a margarita machine, sounds interesting.

 

Tried that, snapped the come-a-long cable

 

The 5" MBRP was on sal ethat week, its big, and LOUD. Truck's performance started to suffer then I notice the Prius stuck in the tip, once I prized it out all was well

 

No, I meant that it sounded like a known problem when doing this job. I never really read about doing the install, just given a little thought to doing it.

 

Wow. OK, so if I get this right, you tied off the come a long and when you removed the eye bolt the spring shifted and snapped the cable?

Wouldn't all that pressure have made the eye bolt very hard to remove?

I guess if I do the kit in the future, I will be removing the U bolts from the axle and then removing the eye bolts (thus releasing any torque prior to pulling the eye bolts)

 

Sorry, couldn't resist. You lawyer types are supposed to be a stickler for details.

Of course speaking of performance starting to suffer, you might want to think about letting Tony reburn your TS chip to get you some better tunes. He's local, North of Fort Worth (outside Justin) and his tunes will be an improvement over TS.

 

Do/Did your 35's rub the leaf springs?