dry_kill

iTrader: (12)

im gonna be buying the parts for a 2/4 drop pretty soon and was thinking about saving some money and installing it myself, i got a buddy thats gonna help me, he knows a ot about cars and trucks, i know enough, anyways would this be something i could do myself? any special tools i'll need or should i just pay someone to do it for me? thx fellas, by the way truck is a 5.3 ext cab 2001

TXsilverado

iTrader: (19)

im assuming you went with springs, hangers and shackles. a good set of tools, spring clamps, enough friends to remove the bed(easiest way) and enough beer to last the duration of the drop. not a big deal at all. have a good drill and chisel ready. the hangers can be a biotch.

ap2002

iTrader: (8)

I think the hardest ones are the hangers.... I would definately rather pay a shop to do atleast the hangers..... shakles are real easy, I have never done springs but dont seem to be too bad???

smooth sierra

hangers are not that bad........here is the best method I found for those awful rivets. DRILL them first, I went all the way up to a 3/8" drill bit. If you have a good drill (I used my good ole milwalkee) and some good bits......this should not take all that long. Say an hour each side. Then come behind that with an air chisel to cut the heads off and pop them right out.

You may be asking yourself why not just cut the heads off to begin with, well I tried that. They will come out that way but it can take forever and your ears will probably bleed. I also ground the heads off with 50% success.

By drilling them you are allowing an area for the rivets to collapse in on themselves and they come right out. If I had it to do all over again, no doubt this is the procedure I would use.

If you are using spindles on the front, I put the jack under the lower control arm leaving approx a half inch between the cradle of the jack and the control arm. I then smacked the hell out of the old spindle with a mini slege and the upper ball joint popped right loose within 2-3 hits. The lower control arm should now be in contact with the jack. Basically you are using the spring to help break the upper ball joint loose.

Then smack the spindle directly from the top and the bottom ball joint should come loose. Install new one. took me less than half an hour per side. Good luck. Best tool to have here is an air compressor with a nice assortment of air tools.

dry_kill

iTrader: (12)

Thx fellas, anybody else got any opinions?

white1

iTrader: (5)

Ive onlyt gone 2/2 so far, but plan to go 4/4 but I have a 4wd, so its easy for me. Shackles, remove blocks in the back, loosen tortion bars in the front. Most of my friends have 2wd's though. We just did a 2/4? on a buds truck using the Hotchkins leaves, and springs. It wasnt too bad. a little more beer drinking than a 4x4, but not hard.

jchorner99

the hangers are a biotch did the rear my self do what smooth said , i agree to drill first (ugh all i had was a grinder and hand chisels. It sucked and i'm somewhat of a moron) a good drill and chisel are a must. I had to drop the gas tank, dunno if you guys found a way around that. I didnt have the tools for the front and the shop that installed it for me said compressing the springs was difficult.... But I have a control arm kit. Knowing what I know now I would be willing to tackle the rear end again but if I had it to do over I wish I would have paid someone. IT SUCKED!!

silver-mod-o

iTrader: (15)

I just loosened up the tank and made it able for me to go behind and tighten the new bolts. I used an angle grinder and cut most of the heads off and used an air chisel to take off what I couldnt get with the grinder. The front is no problem though. I did it @$$ backwards in that I loosened the back of the control arms. (where they mount to the frame) and slid the old spring out and replaced it like that. I just replaced the new one and jacked the lower control arm back up and put the arm bolts in. It was cake. Make sure you have someone helping you though. Dont tackle this yourself. I left the bed on which was probably why I had to move the tank around but, I think taking the bed off would be easiest. its a snap to remove.

smooth sierra

as far as the tank goes......I took the straps loose and the filler neck loose and then put a 3 gallon bucket under the tank and slid it over. Not a major issue. It helps if your tank is damn near empty. I would say you will spend the better part of a day doing the drop, time well spent though.

If you do plan to pull the bed plan on having at least 4 buddies. FWIW I did my entire drop by myself and it took me around 8 hours. I probably could have got it down to 6 if I had drilled them all first. Oh well life's lessons learned. hopefully, someone else can benefit from my suffering