My BDS 6" lift Install Thread
 

Well it only took 7 months :D But I started into my lift kit install today at 2pm, its not 9pm and I ate supper and took a break to talk to a friend. I removed the old leaf springs, and added my new ones, left everything loose, so I can go around with a torque wrench once the front is complete. I even put my shiny new rims and tires on as well! :D

Back End
That part took me about 4 1/2 hours just putting away and not rushing. Very easy to do, infact the hardest part about the back end lift, is having the strength to undo the front bolts on leaf spring! They are loctited on from factory, and it took a 4 ft snipe to break them! That was the worst of it all. I was nervous about cutting the brake line bracket with a side arm grinder, but I never hurt anything!

Front End

Wow there is a lot to undo, and remove and tighten up there, but so far it is going great, removed the sway bar completely for extra room, undid the traction bar at the frame side, and the frame mount for the traction bar. Undid my drag arm linkage, and used a pickle fork to separate it, didnt damage the rubber for once!

Got the pitman arm nut off, and I went to slide my pitman arm puller on, and it was too small :'( Gonna have to find a larger one tomorrow from a friend. So I also got my steering stablizer frame mount removed, and thew new drop mount installed and torque to 55ft/lbs. Next up I guess is to install that new pitman arm, and removed the stock shocks, and then loosen the radius arms. I have to block the truck up though before I do anymore though, jack stands arent anywhere near tall enough now.

Pretty easy kit to install, but I am a little disappointed in my dealer though, they didnt include my shock boots, and I wont get them outa them now, since I no longer want to do business there anymore.

Drive shafts and U joints look actually pretty fine! I thought theyd have some crazy angle on them, but not that I notice yet! Next I will have to get a wheel alignment, wheels rebalanced, and adjust my recon headlights!

Very excited to finish this up tomorrow! This has been my dream truck since my parents bought their 6.4 back in 2008, always wanted my own truck, and to do all the work my self!

Now for the pictures!

http://i1064.photobucket.com/albums/...psddd3b3a5.jpg

http://i1064.photobucket.com/albums/...ps04552e26.jpg

http://i1064.photobucket.com/albums/...psceb8d05a.jpg


http://i1064.photobucket.com/albums/...psed08dbbc.jpg


http://i1064.photobucket.com/albums/...ps886fa466.jpg

http://i1064.photobucket.com/albums/...ps9edc48f8.jpg

http://i1064.photobucket.com/albums/...ps7d857613.jpg

Keep up the hard work...it looks like it will be worth it :)

Looking good so far

All déjà vu for me since I got the same kit (except 4 link front) haha... and yup, having too small of a pitman arm puller was an issue for me as well.

It IS worth it all when it's done though! Took me a week to finish it, all through not having the right tool for the job but really you only find out that you don't have a tool WHEN you need it, and then for me it always seems to be on Sunday at 7pm when no one is open.

Thanks Guys!

Yes! First time being on the forum since I last talked to you! You truck looks nice Trent!! I hope to have it wrapped up tomorrow, granted I find the proper tool tomorrow! haha but thats how it goes all the time! I may just make my own puller, doesnt look terribly hard to make either. I know the drop pitman arm has 4 wide notch splines, the steering box have the same thing I assume, so I cant have it one small splineway out when I reattach it? I tried to mark it, but usually that wears off once it is off :p

The master splines make it pretty difficult to mess up. I think I counted three of them though. Also, afterwards, check the tightness of the nut that holds this drop pitman arm on. I was retorquing it for several weeks before it would finally stop turning. The local tire shop here told me to check for that since they see a lot of Ford and Dodge trucks come in with loose pitman arms, which is obviously not good because vehicle steering kind of requires it!

http://img.ahtr.net/DSCN9311.JPG

You can make a puller with a few bits of flat bar and ready-rod if that's what is handy.
And now that I've been through that mess, the correct tool is the version that has the bolt and butterfly nut to clamp the jaws together, it's adjustable width. Alternatively, there's the cone style which I think is what Snap-On offers.
http://www.matcotools.com/ProductImages/pa643.jpg

Strangely enough I helped out with a buddy's BDS kit install a few weeks later and THAT pitman arm literally just FELL off and I'm like :-X15 .

Thanks Trent! Yeah I noticed they say to keep checking it, and torque it to 350ft/lbs, not a big deal I got a good torque wrench, but how do you get in there to retorque it with the traction bar drop mount right there? is there enough clearance that you can get in or do you just remove it and put it back on?

My pitman arm felt a little loose I thought it might drop right off, but no luck! Can't get ahold of my mechanic friend so im gonna try my hand at making a puller this morning.

Nice to see someone doing their own work, looks good.

The factory ford thread locker is heat sensitive. Just a little heat and it lets go. Even propane will work.

Last time I put an aftermarket drop pitman arm on, I marked the nut with paint so I could verify if it had moved. The drop arm puts way more loading on the sector shaft bearings, and cause them to be completely shot after 50k miles.

Thanks for the tip! I will try that one a few bolts that I think have thread locker on them!

I am not sure but my steering box shaft might be loose even, like a little bit of play, unless it is my pitman arm, have to check once I get the new one all tightened up if it still has play, I doubt my dealer will give me warranty on it even though my truck only has 13,000 miles.

Got ahold of my friend with the pitman arm puller, just have to wait til tonight for him to get home.

Way to go Mikey!
Anxious to hear about the ride quality with the new rear BDS leafs, they look beefy for sure. Hurry up and get it done would ya... :)

Thanks Scotty! As am I! I always find fords ride rough to be honest, but this truck wasnt terrible before, so I hope it stays the same if not better. Not sure what to do about my TPS, I am gonna carry the tires around in the back of the truck until I take it into my dealer for its 24,000 km check up. Maybe I can get that disabled, very useless I found.

Anyways I worked on it a bunch more, now I am in the home stretch!

Got my drop brackets for the radius arms installed, new coils in, and new shocks! Wow that went way easier than I though, loosened the back bolt on the radius arm, dropped it down, lowered that side of the axle to the ground, and then lowered the other side slightly, popped the spring out, jacked on the frame lifted the truck up, slide the new coil in, lowered it, drilled out one side of the radius arm bracket holes, so the bolt would slide, put the drop backet in, and got the bolt started back into the radius arm, once I did the other side the axle was level again and I could just slide both bolts right through the radius arms! Slicker then heck, I was very worried about doing that!

Only thing I had trouble with was when I rotated the junction box for the brake lines on the drivers side, the flat edge on the new drop brackets was backwards, so I bent it down as far as I could, and re-rotated it back to halfway between. I may get longer brake lines made up, but this seems to give it enough slack I think it will be fine.


But now I am hung up on three main things.

1. Pitman arm, I made a tool, and it broke the threaded rode, but that was partly my fault ( should of tapped the threads on the nut after I welded it) so now I am borrowing my parents truck to go to town and get the proper tool tonight :-X04

http://i1064.photobucket.com/albums/...psaaa09b5a.jpg

http://i1064.photobucket.com/albums/...ps1f6b105e.jpg

http://i1064.photobucket.com/albums/...psf4dc9018.jpg

2. These pesky alignment cams for the top ball joints! the nut comes off easy enough on the top ball joint, but the stock cam doesn't. They say to just hit the ear of the axle and it pops up, then you can remove it slide the new one in and tighten it up. Not that easy.. Now I am wondering how many people actually through this in? I am gonna need a wheel alighnment after and tires balanced, but I like to save my self as much money as possible doing this. so any suggestions to removing that?

http://i1064.photobucket.com/albums/...psdc47146e.jpg

3. My dual steering stablizers, I have to figure out how they mount up. I only have instructions for the single steering stabilizer, but I have all the parts to do everything, anyone added this on before?

http://i1064.photobucket.com/albums/...ps32bcab14.jpg

4. Where in the heck does this go? My lift kit wont work without I dont think :D
http://i1064.photobucket.com/albums/...ps8f7a8e03.jpg

Other than that, its basically tightening everything up to the proper torque and then I'm golden for a test drive!

Heres some more pictures!

http://i1064.photobucket.com/albums/...ps8bb4e457.jpg

http://i1064.photobucket.com/albums/...ps2bdc9477.jpg


http://i1064.photobucket.com/albums/...ps531a39eb.jpg

http://i1064.photobucket.com/albums/...psded952f1.jpg

http://i1064.photobucket.com/albums/...psef8d8c4a.jpg
I'm 5'10' by the way

Lookin' good, lookin' good!
BDS plate will look good on the front of the steering stab with a 6" lift you will actually be able to see it...
Way to fab your own tools, HaHa, grade 8 bolt would of been nice along with the thread chase.

there is a tool specified here:
http://www.spcalignment.net/instruct...20-INS_WEB.pdf


Why the cams? are the drop brackets not enough? If you get it aligned afterwards, they will likely get replaced with a different degree sleeve anyhow.

I thought the drop brackets would be enough too, but I wasn't sure if most people install the cams or not, I may just leave them out and see how it fairs with the wheel alignment on wednesday, and just bring them along to show them.

I do not have the tool to do this part either, so I may just leave it, should be fine to drive around anyways, was curious what Trent did on his as well.

I also found this video on the dual steering stablizers! Exactly what I needed!

I think the dual stab is a must for the 6.7's, especially with lift & tires.
I went for the TopGunCustomz with Bilsteins, I like the BDS system also...

http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps57aacf1a.jpg