hey guys dont forget about my brush gaurd, i put it on after the BL

all i did was weld it to the brackets the way i wanted it.

JK: I wouldnt recommend yanking from it. Ive got a GO RHINO brush gaurd that bend, when i got pulled from it. Then i hit a piece of semi retread going down I-75 and it bent the bottom bar slightly.

I had tow hooks in the frame, went i got pulled at an angle the strap would bend the brackets.

I have solved this problem just recently, i took a hit off my 87 Bronco and cut the brackets off and welded it to the frame, then welded the tow hooks to that.

 

Alright guys...I know it has been a while since this one was brought up but...I FINALLY ORDERED IT!!! it should be here sometime between tuesday and thrusday of next week. so next weekend i will probably be putting it on. i will definetly use these hints and suggestions to make it go easier. i bought some "liquid wrench" today to start spraying it on all the bolts...because my truck is RUSTY under there. i think that will be the hard part...is gettin all them things off. otherwise i think i have the instructions memorized. lol

does anyone else have any last minute suggestions for me? lol and i will definetly post up pics when i get it done.

 

well it came in today and i started all the prep work for the lift. I got everything done to the point where im gonna take off the bed bolts tomorrow and start on all the lifting. seems like everything makes sense and is pretty straight foward. getting the bumpers off was fun...lets hope that was the hardest thing. Hopefully i will get done with it tomorrow and post up some pictures.


P.S. i dont understand what tabs im supposed to cut off the fan shroud. does anyone have better pictures than the ones that came with my instructions? they are black and white and hard to see. Thanks!

 

and yea it came in a lot sooner then what the original delivery estimate was. which is good because if it would have come in during the week, i would have had to wait til next weekend to do it. i was so excited when the fedex truck showed up today.

 

you will have to wait to ask someone about the tabs on the radiator shroud. Me and Minimonster17 couldnt get my shround to fall down after it was cut and i ended up shattering it into a million pieces in frustration (it was a long night)

I still havent replaced the stupid thing yet....


your truck should look good once its done.

 

haha that sucks. but i guess i will just save it for last and figure something out. then i still have to figure out a bracket for my brush guard...

 

When you get to the fan shroud part and you unbolt it, the tabs that need to be trimmed should be pretty visible because they'll be the only things that are getting hung up and keeping it from being lowered with the rest of the fan.

 

thats what i thought... i had 4 people that had done the stupid PA body lift telling me that and yet i still couldnt get the stupid thing to fall.

but then agian i was TIRED and wanted to get the thing finished...

oh well it worked out well lol im gonna make a shroud out of sheet metal... that should be pretty cool.

 

alright guys...all i have to say is...wow! haha

i dont even know where to start...today has been...ummm long to say the least. I am still not done with it yet. I am going to start from the begining of the day...well after i got out of church and ate breakfast this morning, i had to go to sears to buy another torx head socket cause i broke the other one last night (oh and the size of my bed bolts was a t-50 not a t-47). so i got that home, and went to get the bed bolts off, and snapped the thing right in half. so then i was stuck...so we tried a lot of things to get the bolts out. we tried cutting the head of the bolt in half and using a piece of angle iron basically as a giant flat head screwdriver...but guess what, it bent the angle iron. so after that, we decided to just cut the whole head off the bolts and cut the brakets off the frame. so then i needed to get nuts for the bolts. went back to sears to get those. now that the bed was dissconected, i was feeling good and started working on the cab bolts. well the back four cab bolts came out with no problem...but then came the bolts on the inside of the front of cab...those were a PITA to get out!! took us for ever to finally get them out. so then im feeling really good cause those were supposed to be the hard bolts...WRONG!! lol when i went to take the bolts off the very front of the truck, both of them snapped right at the head. so then i had to pull the radiator out to get to the top of the bolts...but those things were STUCK!! so we worked on that for hours. not getting anywhere. then decided to cut the nut in a couple spots to try and release the stress...and that actually worked. so after that was out, i realized that because the bolt broke, i couldnt get it out of the bushing. so what to do now? i went to the local autoparts store and none had them. so i went back home and took out the rubber part of the bushing and cut the threaded part out of the metal piece (good thing i thought to go ahead and buy 14 nuts for the bolts ) so then after that was done, we were feelin pretty good cause we had everything disconnect from the truck...but then we went to drill out the 2 bushings that needed to be drilled threads out...and guess what, I didnt have a 1/2 drill bit. i have EVERY other size but that one! so that was at 8 tonight and i decided that was a good stopping point. so tomorrow after work, i will be ready to lift the truck and then the reassembly starts. that doesnt look too hard though.

and i have another question about the fuel filler...if i understand the instructions right...you take the tube out of the truck and there already is a part of the "flexible" hose on it....thats what i cut in half and put the metal piece in and clamp it on both sides right? other then that, i think i understand it all. and the fan shroud, i will just figure out when the time comes.

I CANT WAIT!! lol

the only other thing that could be a "problem" is my brush guard...i got to find some thick enough metal to make a braket to move it up.

 

sounds like you had the same problems i had. But i finished mine in a DAY lol hahaha

sorry man.

i didnt extend my filler tube, but you might have to.

and i want to see pics

 

With the fuel filler tube, don't cut it directly in half. My brother tried doing that part of the install while i was putting something else back together to save with time, it ended up taking over an hour because it was such a PITA to fit in there right. If I remember right, I think its easier to cut it closer to the top of the hose, that way the metal "extension" isn't in a spot where the hose needs to be flexible to clamp back onto the fuel cell.

I agree with trimble, we need pics!

 

u know how much i would LOVE to have pictures right now?! lol but it aint done yet...but believe me as soon as it is, there will be pictures. I promise

but anyways, so today i had to wait til after work to continue working on it...and get this...2 of the bolts werent long enough!! idk if yall remember or not, but the "180mm" bolts that go in the core support or what ever were about a half inch too short. i believe this is due to the year of the truck. mine is a 97 and the floor of the cab is made differently then my dads. my dads is a 99. it is hard for me to explain but the my dads cab and the pictures in the instructions, there is a rubber plug that you have to take out and the bolt is under that. in mine, there is no rubber plug and the bolt is on the surface of the floor...i think that would explain why it is a little too short. so i had to go buy more bolts. so after that, everything went pretty smoothly. we only had time to do the cab so the bed comes tomorrow after work.

alright so another problem i ran into today...i went to connect the shifter bracket on the transmission but when i went to try the shifter in the cab all the points were off. and in the instructions, it says there is a wheel on the line under the dash...mine doesnt have that...i swear! i have followed that line from the point where it connects to the shifter to the tranny. that wheel doesnt exist. but i did see this where the cable connects to the tranny:

looks like it moves cause it has little teeth on it that seem like it would lock it into a position..but i couldnt get it to move. so i couldnt figure that out. but then as i was lookin at the cable, i realized that the plug where the cable goes through the floor could be pushed through, so i did that and then connected the tranny back up "stock" and it seemed to work fine now. so is that considered "fixed"? or would that end up getting messed up?

so now the only thing that i am worried will give me any problems is figuring out how to install the brush guard back on. trim, you did your brush guard after the body lift right? how did you get it to work? did you just make a bracket that moves it up...pretty much like what the new bumper brackets do? that is the only thing that has me stumped at this point. Thanks

 

well guys...its almost done! i have the whole thing lifted and everything is re-installed...except the bumpers. the back bumper is giving me hell so i gave up and will continue tomorrow. It looks like to me that the front bumper will be pretty straight foward. the part that is killing me on the back bumper is you have to drill the hole on each side. of course where i drilled it the first time, it was close but not quite right...and the instructions tell you to make it a wide hole so you can adjust but it took me forever to just drill into that metal so it is even harder to make it wider so it will fit. but i think tomorrow i will be able to get that done. and i think the brush guard will be pretty easy also. i think i have it figured out. other than that, it should be ready to drive. i have one picture of it with the body lift on it. this was right after i put the bed up. i couldnt get any farther away because its in our driveway. but here it is:


i love the clearance it has now in the fenders. i just cant wait to drive it now...i wont have to be careful around every corner about rubbing the fenders i can really drive it like i stole it!

but of course i will have to wait til after work to continue working on it. it has been some really late nights lately let me know what yall think about it. i will definetly get some good shots of it once it is running.

 

its looking good

 

truck looks good.

and on my brush guard i just welded it to the bracket that was already there. its hard to explain, but i put one bolt in and rotated the brush guard up and tack welded it there. I had planned on cuttin it off and making a bracket but never go around to it. Then i weled that hitch on the front of the frame and that solved ALOT of problems.