sorry man. you didn't necessarily **** it away...but there were better options available. go ahead and install it. just watch your CV boots. you've already dropped the money...no reason to not use it


try it on eBay though if you decide to sell.




as for the leveling kits. figure about 1 1/2 hours per side on the front to install yourself. and maybe 1 hour for whole rear-end....all in the driveway (like I did)

it's easy (relatively).

 

holy i have a hard time giving 60 bucks an hour
i wish hmfic was on the board, i dont think he had any trouble with his skyjacker kit except for the shocks leaked, early flaw. i'm not saying its a good kit, personally i think its highway robbery not that i'm more educated about the newer f150's.

 

the skyjacker kit is highway robbery. it's 3x or 4x the price of a good leveling kit and does the same thing.

but some people want something different...nothing wrong with that either

 

well, like you guys said, i have the kit and so i'm going to use it. unless someone thinks i could get some money out of it on ebay. personally, i like the idea of having brand new coilovers and platinum series skyjacker shocks instead of a little spacer sitting between my stuff. seemed like a great idea at the time for a simple 3" lift. how much strain it will put on joints and bearings i do not know, i'm not a professional. how quickly they would wear out, i have no clue.

i found one guy on here who had the kit on for 72,000 miles before either selling his truck or switching to something else and emailed him. he said he never had a problem and would do it over again. his words were that the angles the skyjacker 3" lift #f4301k puts on the truck are no worse than the fabtech 6" lifts that everyone raves about. i think skyjacker replaced the one i have w/ one that just replaces struts and makes it 2-3".

 

cool. try the install yourself. you can rent the spring compressor from most parts stores

the install is pretty easy actually. you just need some wrenching experience. the install really is a matter of unscrewing some bolts and swaping parts, and then retightening the bolts.

 

well hopefully maybe nobody misunderstood my wording, but i was just meaning that on the market and their web site, skyjacker replaced the f4301k kit w/ a kit that has strut replacements for the front. i have the f4301k 3" kit that has been discontinued.

tylus, yeah from what i can tell, if i can rent a spring compressor or something and get all that stuff off the front, then the rear should be a breeze.

 

I liked that kit from the beginning, but did not do it based on the amount of lift. The fact of the matter is that the AS spacers give different amounts of lift for different trucks. There are people that observed 3.0 inches out of a 2.5 inch AS, while others had less. So really, the end result out of your "3-inch" kit may only be 2.5 which is the same as a spacer. Anyway, you do get the shocks and coilovers that requires a little more cash than just a spacer. The guy that you talked to may not understand the difference between a spacer/aftermarket coilover setup and an actual suspension lift. The 6 inch Fabtech does not change any angles from stock. This lift just moves everything down in the front, including the differential/steering to achieve the same stock angles. The kit that you have, and the AS spacers, do not have drop brackets for lowering the control arm attachment points on the frame. Instead, these kits use the existing suspension only adding a few inches to the coilover to push the arms down to lift the vehicle. This is were you can run into problems, but not always. I have a 2 inch AS on for 45K now with no problems. The original problem with the 2.5 AS spacers was the stock coil contacting the upper control arm (offset version fixed that). That is what happens with too much downward articulation on a stock setup. Just something that one has to watch for, but I think that you will be fine with this setup. Everyone has their opinions, but don't let that bother you.

On the side...I went with a spacer setup for two main reasons: 1) The cost of the spacer/install is far less than a suspension lift kit, even if I have to replace two sets of ball joints in the future (not so far). 2) Once you go to a 6 inch lift, there is some cutting/welding involved that does not easily allow one to go back to stock setup, meaning easier to reverse. I actually was not looking for much of a lift, so the spacer was great.

Good Luck!

 

we are $120 here, and one of the lowest around !

Alright OP,think of your suspension like this >---< in the front. The "spacer" kits put a farther distance between your little > and the < making the tips that are spread, spread even farther. You can do this, but there is a limit. Ther farther you go, the more stress that is put on the suspension system. People (me included) feel that 2.5" is the max, and if I were to do a leveling kit, I would stick with 2" MAX, and would prefer the adjustable shocks such as bilstein.

does that make sense to ya ?



BTW, you don't need to lengthen your brake lines when you install the 6" lift !

 

so how much of that do you actually pocket? i have always wondered how much a mechanic makes off of the hourly rate.

 

gets confusing, and VERY long explaination.

I am paid salary, I take the same check home every Friday, no matter how much or how little work I put in (mostly how "little ).

Labor is completely pocketed by the shop, 100% goes into the bank account (vs. selling parts, where we make roughly 10% ). Now, of that 100%, an amount is used to pay for electric (damn high) water, sewage, new tools, fixing tools, different greases and oils that we can't actually sell or charge the customer (ya, we are honest, go figure) and amount goes to general up-keep, office supplies, phone lines, internet, different odd-jobs for the place that again, can't be put on a customer's bill. I could go for DAYS with this list, and things we have to buy, you'd really be surprised. Heck, I just sent out over $10,000 in random bills alone ! People don't understand that, and feel we make 100% profit on labor, where that is FAR from the truth. Labor pays to keep the shop up and running.

There's a tiny, miniscule look into our shop !

 

ya i knew it went towards bills, but i also figured most shops over charged a lot to get extra money. do you actually own the shop or do you just work at it?

 

Hey guys thanks for explaining. I am trying to see it but w/o pics it is hard to get it. I understand that a certain amt of lift w/o using some other components that create better angles for the lift, that a lot of excess strain will be put on the existing components.

I chose the 3" skyjacker because (1) at the time I bought it 2-3 yrs ago there were tons of problems w/ the spacers and everyone on here was downing them, and (2) because I wanted a true 3" of lift and w/ a new coilover assembly that was built taller to replace the factory one, you are pretty sure to get the stated amt of lift instead of wondering how much lift you will actually get out of your 2-2.5" spacer, and (3) I chose it because w/ the spacer it is just a spacer and levels the vehicle out I guess, but I wanted to add some inches in the rear as well and still have the vehicle level- the 3" skyjacker is true 3" front and 1.5" rear to level it out...and it will sit bigger than the trucks w/ spacers on them. On top of all that, the ride quality was supposed to be superb as well w/ my kit. So, extra money, yes, but I was going for the extra benefit.

On a good note, I contacted skyjacker today and they told me that if I contacted the company I bought the kit from, that the company could then contact skyjacker and that skyjacker would permit me to trade them my kit for the new kit they have out now- because I never installed my kit yet. The new kit has struts in it instead of the coilover replacement, and the new kit uses the existing coil springs. The guy said the strut was adjustable up to 3" or something because of a ring of some sort that fits in there- can you guys explain that to me because I'm not understanding how it works. Is it just going to be a taller strut or what? They just told me they'd do that since the f4301k kit is discontinued and I hadn't used mine, and that the new one would provide a better ride- but they wouldn't tell me why or what was wrong w/ the old kit. I am just interested to know just how bad the f4301k kit truly is.

 

my old man owns ther place, I am a partner

Some places do over charge, some places put misc charges and extra crap on top. We don't. We pride ourselves in our honesty.

 

The strut (or shock) is longer, the seat for your stock springs is in a different location, to give you added lift. You still are simply preading the gap "bewteen your fingers". Until you use a true drop braket to keep everything fine, you might see some issues running 3" lift. Things will wear and tear faster then normal, thats all.

I hope that helps. If you need more, you might want to start using google to help better understand IFS and suspension in general.

 

honestly? holy crap batman i don't even wanna know what it costs to install a set of tires on rims