SOunds good, looks like you will be winning soon. Where are you now?

Saw the other thread about stripped nut, the little thing is sometimes a BIG pain but makes it worth it in the end.

Good luck.

 

So is the lift complete?

 

nah, not yet. front passenger side is done though. we had no trouble reinstalling the re-assembled shock/strut into the tower. that was actually a piece of cake!

be sure, bulldog and whoever else plans on doing this, that you have the top three bolts lined up correctly before you decompress the coil -- i had mine about 3/8" off the mark and we had to pull it back out and compress the coil again (which is even more of a PITA once the spacer is on) so we could turn the spacer and bolts to a different position.

other than that ... soon as we got that right, it was simple to reinstall. stopped for the evening after that because i need to study for an exam. but, hope to have the lift finished in the next day or two. sure have been missing getting to drive my truck!!

'cept how do you reattach the tie rod end balljoint?

 

okay ... before I finish this up, I have to ask ..

am I going to be the first girl around yotatech to have put the 3" RevTek lift on her xreas'd 4th gen. by herself? (actually, since you all have been helping me, I haven't actually been doing this alone at all ... ! but i have been turning the wrenches and ratchets and torquing and hammering and pulling and installing and all)

cus really, if I'm just one in a long long line of girls who have lifted their trucks themselves, well, I see no point in completing it. just kidding.

i'm incompetent! but i'm almost done!

 

You will have to complete the lift, document it, takes lots of pics and post it all.

I you dont we will have to take your keys away for 6 months and make you walk or give you a good

Pretty cool what you are doing, so keep it up and finish. By the way where are you now?

 

I will, sir. But the is fine too!

Tonight in about an hour I took apart the driver's side stuff and will be installing that tomorrow ... then all I have left is the back, which I may also get done tomorrow depending on what problems await me there.

Trying to get the bottom bolt/nut loose on the strut proved injurious tonight - one hand with a wrench and the other with a ratchet and the bolt popped and my arm scraped across the brake and was cut up pretty badly.

Have you gotten yours yet, bulldog??

 

You dont have to bleed for the cause , hope you are OK.

I am now getting pretty , as I still dont have my kit. Still back order. If it is not shipped by the end of this week, I will have to cancel my order and try to get it somewhere where they have stock.

 

Where did you order from???

Soon as I get my lift done, I'll poke them with a stick.

By the way ... I realized I'm missing a part on my shock! A big big washer! I hope it is safe to drive without it until I can replace it ...! eeep.

 

Bulldog, I haven't gotten my full lift as well. The problem is with the rear spacers, they seem to be back order all over the place.

4route, you are doing an awesome job. Hope your injuries were'nt that bad.

 

Victor, where did you guys order your lifts?

Hm. Sorry it is taking so long, but I guess there is a reason to be appreciative of the lethargy -- I get to make all the mistakes first so you guys can avoid them. hehe. Also, I'll have all of this freshly on my mind so I can help you guys out easily if you need help.

 

I got mine from Wheelersoffroad.com. Daystar must be dragging there feet on this because its been a few weeks.

 

Ordered mine at MacSpring.

Will unleash you with the pickle fork on them , I will tape it should be a blockbuster, can call it Walking Tall 2 revenge of the pickle fork

WHat washer are you talking about?? Was it there before and gone AWOL during your wrenching?

 

Okay I just got my Daystar lift. Maybe Daystar heard me complaining last night. After watching all the work that 4route has done, and knowing I'm not as smart as she is and would probably make all her mistakes again, I've decided to do this the easy way. I'm paying Inland trucks, which was highly touted by Anthony, and Lance $370 for the full install and alignment. I figure do it right the first time.

 

Victor: you are aware how far inland truck is right? i only went to them because I wanted the a-arms. If it wasn't for that I wouldn't have gone out there to get my alignment done.

You can get a regular alignment done for like 40-75 bucks and do the install yourself or do it with someone or have it done for less than 370.

If you change your arms then I'd say get it thru inland so they can realign your truck but for simple suspension installs i don't think you need to fork out that much for the alignment/install.

Just some food for thought.

EDIT:
Inland Truck is a great company. Just doesn't seem reasonable to go way down there to do the install. I'm sure you can find closer places to do the install (if you're looking for a shop to do it). Alignment... try discount tire (69.99 I think) - and they cover for 90 days! (i've done it a few times hehe)

 

Yes I'm aware its about an hours drive. I've been looking for someone around here that can do it and I can trust them to do it but have come up empty. Only reason I'm doing Inland is that you & Anthony said it was a good company. I have to go with someone I can trust. You think $370 is to much

 

Victor:

I stand by my words and say Inland is a great company. But there are many other shops (4x4) that can do the same task. I.e. Camburg in Huntington Beach does lots of custom work like what Inland does so you might want to ask them for a quote. I know they're not the cheapest but atleast they're closer.

Like I said before, the installation should be no more than 200 I think. Regardless if you have xreas or not. As for alignment, take it to discount tire for 69.99 (w/ 3 month warranty).

Hopefully others will chime in on where else you can do the install on the suspension. Try posting a new thread to see if anyone knows any reliable shops that can do the install. If not, you can just rent the tools that 4route did and do a mini wrenchathon If she can do it, then we all should be able to do it (because she's done all the r&d on what to do woohoo! thanks 4route!)

 

Victor, Andries, and Lance --

Yes, it's true, if dumbass incompetent me can do it, then you guys surely can. Thanks Lance.

Really though, Victor if you have a weekend available, you could do this easily on your own. With all the mistakes I've made and all the struggling I've done, I have installed one of the front sides about 10 different times now and it is like second nature. Really, the toughest thing was not having any visuals for the most important parts ... and it was also rough trying to loosen all the bolts. Other than that, the actual installation itself has been easy enough. If everything had gone smoothly from the beginning, I think I'd have finished it a day or two after starting. Unfortunately, I had to keep going out to get a tool I didn't have, or a tool to help me with a problem I ran into, and that took up a lot of my free time during which I could've gotten a lot farther on the lift.

The XREAS thing is not as big a deal as it sounds. The line is much stronger than all the hype suggests, and there is ample room to get it all done. The main problem would be if you were wrenching a little too excitedly, or if you enjoyed using the pickle fork a little too much and wanted to see just how many uses you could find for it under there. Keep in mind, too, that for 96% of the time I have not had any extra hands to help me. The other 4% of the time, my brother was able to help me hold things, or I'd hold the strut to reinstall it while he jacked up the lower arm or jacked down the upper one ... and that made it go much quicker. Other than that, I have had only my own two hands and have been able to get this far. It's also true, as Doug stated, that once you get the first one done, everything else goes soooo much more smoothly.

Also keep in mind that I don't have any air tools, so the spring compressing has taken a lot of time and a great deal of energy because I'm having to use a ratchet and tighten one side a little, then the other side a little, and so forth, while also keeping it steady and applying the necessary power to turn the ratchet (and it gets tight pretty quickly) ... so if you had an air tool, or if you were even able just to go someplace for a day and have them compress the coils for you, you would be able to breeze through that part.

Furthermore, I have no problem giving out my number so that I could help with any questions you had along the way. I just hate to imagine you paying so much for something that I know you could do on your own. I would of course still very much respect you even if you went that direction, but I know that $$ is important - especially around yotatech where new ideas for mods come up just about every day!

I am fixing to start typing up my write up and I am going to make it PAINFULLY DETAILED, so as to help everyone get through this without as many stumbling blocks as I faced. Also, it was always sooo helpful to know that if I had a problem, I could come inside from the garage, post on here, and have a bunch of helpful replies within an hour or two (or even less!) ... and everyone is so patient.

I apologize if I have discouraged you by my troubles in the beginning and by my mentioning that I wanted to kill myself with a pickle fork ... it was just absolutely frustrating to me because I kept getting so close but just couldn't figure this one part out ... but then Doug mentioned something, I tried it along with one of my own ideas, and it worked easily to put things together for me and really move me forward on the work.

Anyway. If you don't want to spend the money, and want to save it up for some cool new mod in the future, then I know there are many of us here who will help you get through this. I believe in you, and I know that if I can do this, then anyone can -- just like Lance said.

I know you want things done right, especially with the xreas and all ... but don't forget to consider this-- I am doing fine with the xreas, and have gotten everything done right thus far on my own with my own two hands and my own tools. I hesitated to take it to a shop because I knew that even though I was a little ignorant about the sturdiness of the xreas stuff, I would trust myself working with it a lot more than I would trust a shop that hadn't had much time yet to work with the xreas system. I figured with all the knowledge there is to find here on yotatech, and all the willingness of people like Lance who understand the xreas system, it would be much safer for my truck to do this myself, as opposed to leaving it in the hands of a shop who might know nothing about the system, and who would be so used to not having to worry about it that they mightn't know exactly how important it would be to be careful. Also ... I figure if they ran into all the problems of figuring out how to position the strut correctly in regards to the xreas line, they might end up rushing through or doing a poorer job in general.

So, I dunno. I just think that if you have any willingness to do this yourself or with the help of a friend or two, you would be much better off going that route. If you do end up deciding to take it somewhere, be sure it's a reputable place and it wouldn't hurt to mention some of the details of how to position the strut to work on it (as in laying it on its side within the wheelwell ... or as in taking it out by pushing the upper a-arm down, pulling out the bottom of the strut toward the front of the vehicle, and then jacking up the lower arm to free the top of the strut, then laying it on its side, possibly using a jack stand to support the top, and letting the bottom be supported by the lower arm) ...

Anyway, I wish you the best of luck either route - just remember that where I struggled in the beginning, I now know exactly how I could've avoided all that trouble, and it is simple as pie to me now. So, it's probable that you'd be able to breeze through that part now because I could explain it in advance to you.

 

Thanks 4route, can't wait to read your write up. If I do go this route I will end up getting the air tools to help speed the process up.

 

Victor, absolutely, and the good thing is, you can get a decently priced air ratchet and a tiny air compressor and it'll take a lot of the grunt work out of the whole process. Anyway, keep us updated on what route you think you'll go. I'll try to post some more pictures soon (like tonight or tomorrow) in order to show more of the process. It's actually kind of fun once you get things started.

 

the mess in my garage:



but man, it is going well now!