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5/12/01 - Body Lift Installation

Stock Photo:

2. Safety First! Set the emergency brake and disconnect both battery cables from the battery. My negative had a short 3 inch lead connecting to the body that I disconnected as well.

3. Steering. Center the front wheels. Pop joint protector cover out of its bracket. Scribe lines for alignment where intermediate shaft connects into power steering unit and connection point at firewall. Remove bolts at either end of intermediate shaft. Slide intermediate shaft towards firewall until splines disengage from power steering unit. Once free, slide intermediate shaft forward until disengaged from firewall assembly. Scribe definitive line where inner shaft slides into outer shaft. Using a drill press, drill out the pins with a 1/8" drill bit. Slide the inner shaft out 1 1/8" from its original position. This may take the application of a vise, wrench and hammer to strategic points to extract it the proper distance. Drill new holes per instructions. Use vise as a press to push new pins in the holes. Grind pins down flush with intermediate shaft. I suggest you paint the intermediate shaft at this point to prevent future rusting. Do not paint the splines!

Completed shaft before painting. Notice the white band and the old hole.

4. Remove Valence panel, Bumper and Grill. You should be able to see an have easy access to the front two body mounts. Loosen radiator mounts but do not remove. Release parking brake cable clip from firewall. Release clutch line from clip on lower firewall behind carburetor. This clip consists of two "C" shaped clips arranged facing each other like []. One is welded onto the firewall, the other is free and will slide out towards the front of the truck. Do not attempt to loosen the clutch line. Simply pull the clip out. The instructions say to relocate the clutch line under the heater hoses. There is no need to do this! Once the lift is completed, you can reshape the line with your hands and still allow enough reach for the lift.

5. Loosen and remove the clips holding the Power Steering cooler line. Push the lines towards the firewall so as to get as much hose slack as possible. When the lift is complete, these lines will be extremely tight. A new, longer Power steering hose, IMHO, is one part that the lift kit should have included, but was not. This issue will be addressed later.

6. Relocate the the engine ground strap from its original position to the lower parking cable assembly bolt on the firewall.

7. Check and double check the entire vehicle for any other wires or connections that may bind during the lift. Some of the hydraulic lines (clutch, brake, etc) have loops of extra length in them. Spread these loops out so that the loop does not collapse on itself and kink when the body is raised.

8. Remove Center Console. Remove door jamb plates on both doors and tailgate. Remove both front kick panels. Pull carpet inward so you have access to the bolt covers. The covers are black plastic, similar to the floor drains, and about 2 1/2" in diameter. I n my project, I already had all of the carpet, as well as all of the seats out, which made access inside the cab much easier. Remove the panel from the lower half of the radiator fan shroud.

9. Loosen, but DO NOT REMOVE all ten of the body bolts. Remove the bolts from one side only and keep all of the hardware. As you remove the bolts, washers and bushings, put them back together and keep them together. You will be reusing certain parts! Using a floor hydraulic jack and a 4x4x18" post, place the post next to the body mount point just behind the front door. Gently jack up the body about an inch and check for anything that is binding - wires, hoses, brackets, etc.. Lift another inch and check. Lift another inch and check. Lift the last inch and check.

10. Get the bolts that you pulled out and remove the washers from them. To get the washers off of the bolts, you may have to invert them over a socket and gently tap the bolt out of the washer. There is also a washer between the bottom rubber bushing and the bolt. Obtain this washer as well. Now install your new longer bolt and original top washer through the body, next comes the lift block and the large washer included in the bushing kit. Follow that with the top bushing. The bolt then goes through the body mount point on the frame, then the lower polyurethane bushing, the lower stock washer, and finally the nylock nuts.

Here is a diagram, courtesy of John Evaskovich of StoneFish Design that illustrates how this all goes together. The Instructions that came with the lift kit were very vague on this point. DO NOT TIGHTEN the bolts at this time. Leave them loose.

Here you can see the difference where the driver's side has the lift kit and the Polyurethane Bushings installed and the passenger side does not. At this time, remove the five bolts from the other side and raise that side. Remember to watch for anything that is binding as you raise it. It is better to go slow and careful than to break something! Install the last five bolts in the same manner as the first five. Do not tighten yet!. Align the body on the frame if necessary. A few good pushes one way or the other while the bolts are still loose will do the job. Tighten all ten bolts. Reinstall the eight bolt hole covers, the carpet, the kick panels, and the door scuff plates.

11. Remove the radiator from its mounted position and gently set down on the frame. A second pair of hands will be handy here to hold the radiator while you remove the bolts. Install the radiator drop down brackets, reusing the original four bolts. The four 1/4"x1" bolts will be facing the firewall. Hang the radiator from these four bolts and fasten the four nylock lock nuts. Verify clearance between fan and fan shroud. (Note: the instructions say to use the included Locktite compound on the 1/4"x1" bolts and nuts. I chose not to as I will be installing a Chevy 350 engine and will have to remove the stock radiator in the near future.)

12. Install and tighten the brackets for the power steering cooler. If necessary, hand bend the cooler lines so they will lay flush and in the proper position. In my case, the hose was very short and tight and required quite a bit of bending to get it to lay flush. I will be replacing the hose with a longer one in the near future.

13. Tighten bracket on firewall behind carburetor holding the clutch line. If necessary, hand bend line to accommodate the difference in height due to the lift. Leave the lower clip unattached and the line hanging free. Make sure it is not in a position to rub on anything.

14. Using the supplied bracket, install the bumper. (This was the most frustrating part of the entire installation for me. The supplied brackets have predrilled holes that did not line up in any direction or orientation. I wound up having to loosen the brackets inside the bumper to get them to line up with the holes in the brackets and the brackets lined up with the holes on the frame. After essentially forcing the bumper, brackets, and frame to line up, I got the bumper reinstalled.)

Here you can see the bumper brackets as installed and the front body mount point with the lift kit installed.

15. Check your gear shift for clearance on all sides in all gears. Check your transmission as well as transfer case shifts. You may need to grind down the body metal surrounding the hole. I had to grind down the areas where the transmission shifter contacted the metal in 1st and 2nd gear, as well as the transfer case shifter contacted the metal when in 4low.

Various Pictures:

Comparison Picture showing the stock height and the lifted height together.

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