Do they know what they are talking about?

[Derf00]

Okay guys how about a little input. I have read carefully virtually all posts concering lifts. After carefully sifting through all the info I ordered a 4" ProComp lift, Rancho 5000 shocks, steering arm, and have the wheels and tires all sitting in the garage waiting for Saturday.

I realize instructions weren't meant to be read until you have parts left over and you can't figure out where they go, but I read the Steering Arm instructions. What I found interesting was based upon all the posts, steering arms are a little difficult to remove.

PROCOMP - GM 400 Steering Arm
Step 4) Remove the three self-locking nuts which hold the steering arm(Some tapping may be necessary to loosen the taper wedge locks which hold the arm to the studs.

SOME TAPPING! Do you think they have ever installed one?

Can't wait till it's finised.

 

[jcg]

Usually when they write instructions for these things they're talking as if everyone in the world has a brand new truck right off the showroom floor. If that were the case, some tapping is probably all it would take! Wouldn't that be nice, working on a K5 right off the factory line

Well, I'm starting to daydream, I better go now.

Joe
Rochester Institute of Technology Team Mini-Baja
88 Jimmy

 

[stephan van leir]

They mean a little tapping with a 13lb sledge hammer! No really they just want to sell there parts. They are afraid that if they told the truth you would think twice and not buy the lift.

 

[78k5]

Actually the steering arm was the easiest part for me, wait till you get to the rusted spring bolts, u-bolts, and shock bolts. Can you say breaker bar!!!!!
Hope you have good luck though.

 

[ggallin13]

They use the term "a little tapping" so as to cover themselves. "A little tapping" means something different for everyone, if you think about it.

Good luck with your lift, but I can virtually guarantee you will have to wail on that steering arm! Have a buddy help you and work in shifts so you don't burn out.

 

[k5beast]

My steering arm was a pain. My buddy held a peice of brass on it while I BEAT on it. A little tapping and it came off. LOL

The Beast, feed me a Jeep!
79 K5 project

 

[Grim-Reaper]

I had fairly good luck with this by removing the nuts the night before and flooding the cone washers with BP blaster. I took a cold chisel and worked around the cones and they popped out without much trouble. A few pops later with a 2lb sledge and it was off.
A few other tips is to snug up the u-bolts and then torq them when you got the weight of the truck on theaxle with a jack under the axle. Don't tighten the bolts on the spring eyes till the full weight of the vehicle is on them either. Leave them finger tight till then. Come back a week later and retorq ALL the bolts.

Diging it in the dirt with my K5's
Grim-Reaper
http://grimsk5s.coloradok5.com/

 

[Depdog]

ROFLMAO... Well maybe some 400 lb monster weight lifter named Olaff wrote their instructions. Course tapping to him may be a 20 lb sledge with one hand.

Tapping, thats funny. Course I guess writing down "Beat the living [censored] out of it and cuss it like a sailor" would not exactly inspire confidence.

Depdog

<font color=blue>"Lead, Follow, or BECOME the Trail"</font color=blue>

http://depdogsk5.coloradok5.com

 

[Eric78K5]

It's reading posts like this that have helped me make up my mind about paying someone to install a lift for me! I'm going to give the guys at Clemson 4 Wheel a call, and see what they charge!

Eric78K5
K5-Because Size Matters!

 

[laketex]

Heck, Eric...the way I look at it is it really isn't that bad....just a little extra work. Besides it's good to know how to do it when yours is broken down on the side of the trail and you're leafing through the chiltons manual. I prefer to do my mods myself wherever possible, that ensures that it's done the way I want it done....just my .02

Bryan

Durant, Ok
'79 Blazer in progress

 

[Derf00]

Eric,
I agree with laketex. I am not a mechanic, and sometimes some of these mods are not exactly fun, but as long as I have the tools and a enough sense not to get in way over my head I like to do everything myself. The more first hand knowledge you have of you vehichle, the less you have to rely on others when it's broke.

This web-site is one of the best I have seen about being able to get specific first hand info from people who have already done what alot of us are trying to do. I read every post about lifts on this web-site. It won't make the job any easier, but I do know what to expect and have alot of excellent first hand knowledge about problems that have occured to others while installing their lifts. I can't wait to get started on mine.

 

[Adrock]

yesterday me and two of my friends just put a 4 inch lift on his Joop, it took us 11 hours of torchin, pickle forkin, sledgin, kickin,burning metal fun. one thing i can say is dont forget about the little use pickle fork, it helped us with almost every spring eye bolt. since the bolts were melded together into the sleve after 10 years of use they wouldnt come out, so we torched the ends off as far into the spring eye we could,which wasnt very far, and used the pickle fork to separate the spring eye from the shackle by hammering one on one side of the spring eye, and one on the other side and kicking or hammering the spring out. and for the U joints, we just cut them off with a grinder or sawsall. but for some reason we had alot of fun doin it cuz we never took everything very seriously, and we kept eachother laughing, so it wasn't that bad of an experience.

Adam
a.k.a. Adrock
88 Chevy Blazer FI 383
Aint nothin' like the sound of Chevy Thunder

 

[Rockblazer]

Funny thing when I installed mine over 5 years ago, I beat the heck out of it for about an hour. Got real discouraged, sprayed the heck out of it with WD-40, went to lunch. When I came back from lunch, I slipped with the sledge I was using and hit it real crappy like and it almost fell off! Funny how that stuff works! Todd

"You're right... I don't understand that Jeep thing!"