esp660

How come when i get the 3 inch exender and the strut in the housing it seems like the bolt on the upper ball joint wont even come close to fitting back in.

Ftruck05

That is where the prybar or getting crafty with the ratchet strap come in. You jack the lower up until the truck is almost floating and then pry the upper down and put the nut on....It's a good time.
and the upper A-arm is a bit of a trick and this is how I did it. You can jack the lower A-arm up a little but not too much as to lift the rig and then pry the upper A-arm(balljoint) down into the knuckle, If your crafty enough you could use a ratchet strap to help you out if you can't tighten the nut.

esp660

If you have a second could you take a pic of the ball joints and axels so i can compare it to my truck when i get the install going?

SC_Native

Finally installed my 2.5" HBS Leveling kit last night. With the help of this thread and a few instructions I managed to get it all done. Took me a little longer than probably should have but to be honest I knew nothing about what I was doing when I started. The first side took me about 2 hours and the other side took like 20 minutes. Its really not difficult once you figure out what your doing. Thanks for the great thread! Just got back from the Tire shop and my new tires are on as well! Nitto Trail Grappler M/T 305/55/20 (33.4" and have room for 35").



Better pictures once it quits raining....

dcwyles

Just finished installing a 3" leve;ing kit on my 2004 F150 2WD. Didn't need to remove the sway bar at all. Tried to start it without a couple of metric wrenhes and wound up going back to the auto store to by them. These tools are a must
15 mm wrench and socket
17 and 18 mm deep welll socket
20 mm deep well socket
30 mm socket
1-1-16"
a good ratchet and breaker bar
4 lb mall
ratcheting strap
rented a 30 mm socket
and a pitman arm puller (the one I rented was a little to small and would not press the ball joint out , had to use a hammer instead but it wasn't too hard.) The;ower strut bolt is by far the tightest bolt and need a cheater pipe to break it free
Putting the the pittman joint back together required a lot of muscle , suggest getting the rachewting strap to assist.
The AS kit from Hellbent steel lifted the truck perfectly. looks great. I;m real happy with it. I;ll try to post before and after oics when I get my tires and rims, looking for 33;s or 35's and rims

jeb99ta

Glad you got 'er done. Just a note to everyone. My 2008 took a 3" leveling kit and I used the kit from Hellbent steel, as well. I now have a 2010 F-150 and fortunately I consulted with them before ordering a 3" kit from them. Thankfully I consulted with them and didn't make assumptions or I'd have ended up re-doing the install.

The 3" kit will make the '09-'10 modeel truck sit higher in the front ... not level at all. I went with the 2" like was recommended and it leveled right out, perfectly. Just don't want someone else to make the same mistake I almost made.

bobkyle2

Was your 08 2wd or 4wd

jeb99ta

The '08 was 2WD and so is my '10 ... hope this helps.

bobkyle2

you dont have a picture of it do you...i just ordered the 3inch hell bent steel

Fordtruckman88

heck this looks easy ftruck like u told me