To those of you who have ever said a leveling kit install was easy on our trucks... YOU LIED!!! With all jokes set aside I finally got around to putting on my 2" leveling kit, and well it could have gone better. Five hours later in 90 degree weather, and I finally completed the job. It's currently getting aligned, and all my work is getting double check (that's the scary part). A few quick notes I wanna give to those thinking about doing this, because I wasn't able to find any information.

1. Air Tools are a must.

2. 1 1/16 and 1 3/16 sockets are the required sizes for the lower mount.

3. 351 ft/lbs of torque is the torque spec for the lower mount.

4. Note the coil and upper control arm will be touching, but this will not happen once lowered on the ground and the weight is put back on the suspension.

5. A non-marring hammer isn't required to break the upper ball joint loose.
Always hit the steering knuckle never the arm or joint.

6. Pry bars are extremely helpful, and leverage is an absolute must (I know this is obvious, but it can be easily forgotten).

7. There maybe a possibility that you have to jack up on the lower control arm to mate the upper ball joint and arm back to the steering knuckle. Human strength just isn't enough (unless you're Hulk Hogan). Also be weary because you have to make sure not to put all the weight of the truck on the lower control arms...

8. Try to do it on a cooler day because it sure as hell ain't fun if you don't.

9. Don't use a pickle fork because it will shred the boots on the joints badly. Always use a hammer to break the seal of the joint and knuckle.

That's all I can think of, and I know I will think of more in a bit ha. Overall something I never will go through for as long as I live for as little gratification I got from the job.

 

From what I've read, the Daystar 1" doesn't require removal of the lower shock mount which should make it much easier.

 

See the problem is The strut top will not come out unless you remove it from both arms. I really thought you were able to just put the strut down underneath the upper control arm and install everything. There was just no getting around it though. However I have seen the Daystar installation video, and they were able to just lower the strut without removing the entire assembly. It's what I was shooting for, but things just didn't work out that way.

 

I bought a spacer, but never installed it. Instead, I installed Rancho's 3" replacement coilovers (stupid idea cuz it made my ride crappy).

Anyway, it wasnt THAT hard. Also, airtools? naw. you just need some leverage. I used a breaker bar AND a pipe on the end of that to remove everything.

 

Here's the tricky part about it though. Ball joints will just sit there and spin all day long if you use hand tools of any kind. I'm sure there are strange techniques to making it work with just hand tools, but by far air tools are way superior to any technique with hand tools.