wesley_burks

iTrader: (1)

So we all know how this goes. You wake up on sunday morning and flip on the tv to your favorite car shows(muscle car, horsepower tv, trucks) There they are in there beautiful shops, waxed floors, thousands of dollars in lifts, air tools, the right TOOLS! It starts with all the parts laying out on a table and the host explaining what they proceed to do in the next scene. first scene/ camera captures the parts coming apart with ease, everything clean with minimal or no effort, second scene, parts is places together with ease, no tugging,banging, cussing! third scene/ vehicle is lowered to the ground and host prides himself on his good work. NOW TO THE REAL WORLD!

after getting my truck airborne and on jackstands, i proceed to undo shocks and front leaf springs bolts and lower axle down. from the initial tool grab to this point, almost an hour(getting sockets, extensions, wrenches, finding them once you lay them down). So, by this point, everything is going good. #4 on instructions - grind off rivets that holds the hanger on the remove. It amazes me how much they understate this step. i proceed to grind off the ones that i can reach, but they failed to mention that you can only reach 10 of the 12, 8 of which still put up a stiff fight. SO THE LAST 2 RIVETS, 6 hours later, i remove the second hanger, still to find plugs still in the holes that i need for the new hanger install. i eventually punched them out with a BFH and moved onto install of the new hangers. step #4 - lower gas tank carefully to gain access to driver side hangers bolts. So 200lbs of gas doesnt move easily, especially laying on your back. i eventually get the gas tank out of the way. its time to install the new hangers, or so i thought. you must install the leaf in the hanger before you install the hanger on the frame so after taking the hangers off the frame for the second time, i install the springs and raise them into place. (ha everyone knows better then that, i had to raise and lower and raise and lower and vise versa a million times to line the holes up. so now 8 hours into the install, and i have only driver side done. i head to bed and try to sleep on it. i awake bright and early and get back to work, only to run into another huge mountain to climb. i work another 4 hours to put together odd ends, install the axle shims to correct pinion angles and install the bump stops. i reinstall the wheels and move to the front.
i tear down the front end including calipers, discs, hubs and what i thought would be a quick, breath of fresh air compared to the rear end. i use a pickle fork the remove the upper tie rod end and also the steering rod end. i proceed to use the pickle fork to remove the lower tie rid end and remove the spindle. i beat, and beat, and banged and tugged and heated and hit and banged and to no avail, the spindle did not move. 5 hours later, im reinstalling the tires and throwing my new spindles into the back of my truck. 23 hours later, my truck is extremely low in the rear, and not a bit different in the front. on the ride back to the house, i am shocked to find out that the ride is awful. every bump and dip causes my axle to slam into my frame. its tha biggest mistake i have ever made, and i plan on returning my truck to stock ride height in a days time. i had the tools, i had the know how, but all in all, it was a complete disaster. I am considerably knowledgeable in mechanics and what i don't know, i ask someone who does. It was a terrible weekend.

Mangled03gmc

iTrader: (95)

Hey its ok man, I am pretty good at performing mechanical tasks aswell. Atleast it didn't take you two hours to get the fuking trans dipstick back into the tranny pan.. I seen red, was ready to beat the hell out of the truck.... LOL

John

outlawz2004

iTrader: (18)

If you want to go thru with the front,start fresh in the morning. As far as the rear, get yourself a c notch. I removed my kit because of the ride also. I just went with a 2" rear shackle and I am happy with the ride.

95 bright teal

Yep that is how most repairs go for me, it took me 10 hours to replace the starter on my camaro the first time due to broken bolts and tools that werent perfect for the job.
but for some reason i go back and do it again

did you get new bumpstops? if you did then just do a cnotch and it should ride like it did before just real low

KySilverado

iTrader: (7)

Sounds a lot like my rear drop install. Including the different pinion shims and literally weeks afterward changing them around along with shims under the tranny to cure a vibration. Couple that with front torsion bar suspension.

BigCountryx

iTrader: (3)

Don't bail on it too quick... If you want the look, be patient you can have it all. A lowered stance with a good ride usually takes a little playing around. Get you some belltech bump stops (2990's I think) They are soft and squishy.... and cheap. Don't be scared of a c-notch if you need it. Make sure you've got the right travel on your shocks. You can work it out if you want to. And the only thing that will get that lower ball joint loose is a BFH and the ***** to swing it, lol. I'm 6'5" 250lbs and havent broke a spindle yet. haha

But.... if it's not that important to you.... you'll never be happy with it.

magnetized

iTrader: (5)

What drop were you trying to install?

jhe2003

iTrader: (7)

Oh no It took me and my buddies around 2.5 hours to do my drop
Rear= shackles and hangers
Front= just coils but one of the balljoints has to come off, they way I always do it is to beat the sh*t out of it with a heavy hammer and eventually it will let loose

I did have access to tools and lift though since I'm a Tech. Jag and Land Rover

wesley_burks

iTrader: (1)

I guess it makes me feel a little better that yall have had similar problems. AND i had a full size sledge beating the *** out of those spindles. i agree that it takes time and (money) to get that golden combo on looks and ride quality, but to be honest with you, i don't think you can say good ride quality and that perfect height in the same sentence! along with more frustration and a bruised and cut body, i got the truck back to stock height. DOES ANYONE WANT TO BUY MY NEW BELLTECH HANGERS AND TRY IT THEMSELVES! its very humbling to say the least!! ha

95 bright teal

how much do you want for them?